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COVER STORY 34 Building Online Revenue with Affi liate Programs
Another popular affi liate marketing network is oper-
ated by Chicago based ShareASale (
www.shareasale.com). T e company maintains over 2,500 merchants in its net- work, all of whom sell a diff erent type of product, and are willing to share a commission with businesses who success- fully refer their customers to those merchants. ShareASale divides its merchants, includeing
DropShip.com, Discount-
Mags.com, and
FatWallet.com, into easily perusable “pay- per-sale,” “pay-per-lead,” and “pay-per-click” categories. Also worth noting is New York based LinkShare
(
www.linkshare.com), which claims it has created the largest network of affi liate partners of any program pro- vider (over ten million), and is the fi rst affi liate network provider to achieve sustained profi tability. Its client list includes iTunes, Macy’s, Avon, and Offi ce Depot. Is it possible that search behemoth, Google, is missing out on the affi liate party? It is not. In 2007 the company acquired Doubleclick Performics, and rebranded it the Google Affi li- ate Network. T ough still something of a Johnny-come- lately to the affi liate space, as can be seen at its homepage (
www.google.com/ads/affi liatenetwork), GAN is already viewed as a potent player in the affi liate space. On July 20, Shopatron, a provider of eCommerce
solutions to branded consumer goods manufacturers, introduced its Shopatron Affi liate Network, whose sites range from large platform affi liates such as the Google search engine, to small content affi liates who run websites dedicated to such subjects as camping, surfi ng or moth- erhood. T ese affi liates send highly targeted visitors to Shopatron online stores, looking for a product listed or mentioned on the affi liate site, resulting in incremental online sales. T rough the Shopatron Affi liate Network, Shopatron clients receive free brand exposure on partici- pating affi liate sites. Fees are paid only when that exposure turns into a completed sale. As opposed to some ecommerce ventures, affi liate
marketing does not necessarily need to be restricted to one provider. Even if a retailer already off ers an affi liate program, they may consider adding another to increase potential sales growth. A second network can draw new affi liates, competitive recruiting benefi ts, and additional promotional opportunities and other features. Since some potential partners will only join affi liate programs overseen by Commission Junction or ShareASale, off ering both
those options will obviously increase your chances of net- ting those affi liates. In addition, networks can diff er in the features they supply to affi liates. By broadening the scope of your affi liate programs, you can help them take advan- tage of multiple options like RSS and coupon feeds. However, as is the case with any additional technology
based venture, there may be some crucial technological issues to consider. Just as the two affi liate programs will off er diff erent options to users, so too will they off er diff er- ent options on the backend. T is can result in more work for you, as you at empt to maintain clearly delineated lines of communication with the affi liates of each program. T e usual pitfalls of ecommerce, including fraud and other like service violations, will be multiplied when adding a second affi liate program. As with anything web related, there are always new
players and new solutions from established players coming along. In late July, a new URL shortening service, Edeems, launched (
www.edeems.com), encouraging users to fi nd a link to an item on a website from one of Edeems’ 3,500 affi liate partners, shorten it using their service, and share it. If someone clicks on the affi liate’s link and makes a purchase, the affi liate receives a percentage of that sale, normally in the three to seven percent range. Edeems is also looking to capture some of the ecologi-
cally friendly trend that drives so much business of late. It’s partnered with Virginia’s nonprofi t National Wildlife Fed- eration to allow affi liates to donate their commissions to its wildlife conservation eff orts. Ninety percent of the dona- tions will go to the charity, with the remaining ten percent being used to cover Edeems’ operating costs.
For more information: Amazon Associates https://affi
liate-program.amazon.com Commission Junction
www.cj.com ShareASale
www.shareasale.com LinkShare
www.linkshare.com
Google Affi liate Network
www.google.com/ads/affi liatenetwork
Shopatron Affi liate Network
http://ecommerce.shopatron.com/en/solutions/shopatron- affi liate-network
Edeems URL shortening service
www.edeems.com WholesaleCentral.com www.wholesalecentral.com
Find other great ideas for running your business at:
www.wholesalecentral.com/wholesale–news 36 September 2010
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