Internet
Marketing Strategies > Accepting Credit
Cards > Setting
Up an Affiliate Program > Pay Per
Click
Part Six: Setting
Up an Affiliate Program
If you're marketing
your own product on the Internet, you can dramatically increase your sales
with an affiliate program.
An Affiliate program will enable you to recruit an unlimited number of
individuals to sell your products. The key to obtaining affiliates is to
offer a nice commission for each sale. The higher the commissions, the more
affiliates you'll recruit.
There are thousands of affiliate programs on the Internet. In order to be
successful you must sell your affiliate program just like your product. In
other words, your affiliate letter should be written like a sales letter.
You must persuade your visitors to join your affiliate program by packing
your affiliate sales letter with benefits. Tell them exactly what your affiliate
program will do for them, how much commission they will receive and make
the sign-up process simple.
One Tier Verses
Two Tier Affiliate Programs
One tier affiliate
programs pay commissions on one level. For each sale an affiliate makes,
they will receive a commission. For example, if you offer your affiliates
30% commission and your product sells for $39.99, for every sale your affiliate
makes, they will receive a $12 commission.
Two tier affiliate programs pay commissions on two levels. Affiliates will
receive a commission for each sale they make and for each sale their recruits
make. Two tier affiliate programs usually divide the commissions over the
two levels. For example, if you want to give your affiliates a total of 30%
commission for each sale, you would offer 20% commission on their first level
sales and an extra 10% commission for second level sales. If your affiliate
makes a $39.99 sale, they would receive a $8 commission. If one of their
recruits makes a sale, they would receive an additional $4
commission.
Increasing Affiliate
Sales
Nobody knows
more about your product than you do. Provide your affiliates with banners,
sample ads, articles or anything that will assist them in making sales.
To further increase sales, create an ebook that is directed towards your
target audience and allow it to be freely distributed. This ebook should
be packed with valuable information and, at the same time, used as a sales
tool for your product. Customize a copy of your ebook for each of your affiliates
and allow them to freely distribute it. You can customize the ebooks yourself
or purchase an ebook compiler that enables your affiliates to customize your
ebook themselves. Not all compilers will allow customizations. I highly recommend
Ebook Edit Pro. You can find it here:
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=2894
To keep your affiliates motivated, set up an opt-in list to enable them to
subscribe and receive new promotional methods, sales letters and articles
to assist them in making more sales. This will not only increase their sales,
but it will also enable you to keep in contact with your affiliates and introduce
new products.
Setting Up
Your Affiliate Program
When you're ready
to set up your affiliate program, there are basically two options. The first
option is to purchase an affiliate software program. Affiliate software will
track your affiliate sales and enable your affiliates to view their stats.
This option requires that you run your affiliate program and you are responsible
for accepting payment and sending out commission checks.
The second option is to use a third party affiliate tracking company to run
your affiliate program for you. These companies will track your affiliate
sales, enable your affiliates to check their stats and send out commission
checks for you.
Affiliate
Program Tracking Software
AssocTRAC- A
great affiliate tracking software that features real time tracking of stats.
It tracks both visitors and sales for each associate to determine not only
the quality of visitors, but also if your sales copy is turning visitors
into buyers. It includes an easy sign up process that instantly creates accounts
for associates so they can be up and running within five minutes. An autoresponse
email message is instantly sent out with linking instructions and other detailed
information. This powerful software tracks through the use of cookies and
CGI scripts.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=2333
Pro-TRACK - A great affiliate tracking software that will enable you to keep
track of sales and which affiliate the sale originated. Although the standard
version won't compute any sales data (owners manually keep track of sales),
it is an excellent way to track and compensate your affiliate sales. The
Pro version will not only track where your sales originate, but also provide
you with the statistics you'll need to track how well your affiliate program
is doing.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=61
Affiliate
Program Tracking Companies
ClickBank - This
Company will not only enable you to accept credit cards, but they will also
run your affiliate program. Over 60,000 affiliates can choose to sell your
products for you. ClickBank enables any web seller to automatically pay sales
commissions to affiliates. They will bill your customers, pay you, and pay
your affiliates a commission. They charge a one-time $49.95 activation fee,
and a $1 + 7.5% fee per sale. There are no monthly fees.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=196
Click Trade - Lets you create your own affiliate program to allow others
to send paying customers to you. Your business can reach new customers by
being featured on thousands of affiliate sites. They have over 120,000 affiliates
already interested in participating with your affiliate program.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=194
Take your time and select the best option for setting up an affiliate program
for your business. If you're just starting out, you may want to use one of
the third party affiliate companies, as this is the easiest route. You won't
have to worry about anything, as everything is taken care of for you. This
will enable you to concentrate on making more sales and developing new
products.
Copyright © Shelley
Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design
Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
http://www.ebookstarter.com
Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips
and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing
Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print,
in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author
bylines are included.
Part Five
Part Seven
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