Affiliate Marketing Strategy: Participating In Banner Exchanges

Business owners who want to take advantage of Internet marketing strategies such as banner ads but are on a limited budget may find banner exchanges to be quite useful. The ideal use of banner ads would include placing your banner ad on a website which receives a great deal of traffic and attracts an audience who will likely be interested in your products or services. Additionally, this website should not directly compete for your business. This scenario may be difficult to find and even when a business owner is able to find this type of situation, purchasing advertisement space may be expensive especially if it is a highly competitive niche. These business owners may find banner exchanges to be an affordable alternative.

The most appealing factor of banner ad exchanges is the cost effectiveness of these situations. Most banner ad exchange groups are free to participants. Unlike placing a banner ad independently, there is no financial cost for the appearance of the banner ad on another website but the business owner does have an obligation to fulfill. Most banner ad exchanges will find another website to post your advertisement without charging a fee but they will require you to post at least one banner ad, and sometimes more, on your website in exchange for having your banner ad displayed on another website. Many banner ad exchanges will work to attempt to match your banner ad to a relevant website but this is not always possible and your banner ad may wind up on a website which is not relevant to your products or services. This will likely mean that the banner ads will generate very little interest in your products and services. Similarly the advertisements you are asked to post may not complement your website well. You will likely have the opportunity to reject advertisements in particular categories you find to be offensive but will have little control beyond that to moderate the banner ads on your website.

Another very affordable option for placing your banner ads on the Internet may include starting an affiliate marketing campaign. This is an Internet marketing campaign in which website owners, or affiliates, post your banner ad on their website and attempt to promote your products and services for you. The banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click through the ad to your website and also include embedded code which provides you with feedback detailing which affiliates generated the website traffic. This information is necessary because affiliates are typically not paid unless they achieve a desired result such as enticing Internet users to click through the banner ad or make a purchase. The affiliates are typically compensated either on a cost per click basis or a cost per sale basis. Cost per click means the affiliate receives a predetermined amount of money each time a user clicks on the ad. Cost per sale means the affiliate receives either a flat fee or a percentage of the sale for each sale generated by the affiliate. Affiliates may also be paid on a cost per lead basis which means they are compensated when a user performs a specific action such as registering with a website or filling out a survey. Most people favor affiliate programs because it is a cost effective way to place your banner ads online and because they only have to pay affiliates who are successful.

Good Luck
Dr. Ande
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Marketing Radio with Dr. Ande

Just Some Tips on Smart Affiliate Marketing Advertising

Happy birthday to me, and today I’ve decided to post some points that are givens that all affiliate marketers, nee all marketers, should be aware of. I just thought I’d throw it in as this is the start of a new year, which will hopefully bring new rich rewards for all.

Affiliate marketing is really about the promotion of products with an online company.  The affiliate will sign up with the advertiser or marketing arm of the company, then the affiliate will become an active looker of clients. 

Advertising is the means to making a great number of consumers aware of certain products.  Therefore, advertising should be both attracting and appealing to consumers.  If the advertising isn’t appealing enough, it won’t be effective.  If the advertising manages to pull the attention of consumers, then it’s considered to be powerful.

To make advertising powerful and effective, the affiliate must use smart methods of advertising.  An example of smart advertising is the re-use of one key concept of affiliate marketing – the harnessing of human resources.  What this means, is that an affiliate may tap on the capacities of others to bring more visitors to the website.

The economics involved of making an affiliate marketing program beneficial can be simple, yet unquestionable.  Say for instance, when a visitor ups a form to the website of the affiliate, the affiliate may be earning .50 cent from the company that he’s promoting.  In a single day, he may refer ten visitors – which is equivalent to $5.00.

Keep in mind, the affiliate may increase his income by utilizing others as well.  The more people an affiliate manages to recruit or get to make purchases or fill out forms, the more money that affiliate will make.

To have a significant increase in income in affiliate marketing, an affiliate can actually do three things. 

1. First of all, the affiliate must search for a profitable site. 
2. Next, he’ll need to link with companies that are generous with their leads. 
3. Last, the affiliate will need to locate a progressive and rising company online then recruit affiliates for the company.

Like I said, these are not new concepts for the seasoned pro affiliate marketers; but remember there are some newbies out there and visiting this site. And my goal is to help them understand the affiliate marketing arena and help them carve out a successful place in it.

More prosperity in 2012,
Dr. Ande
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Marketing Radio with Dr. Ande

Making the Most Out of Your Affiliate Tracking Software

Hello,

In keeping with this new year’s theme this week, let’s talk about how you can make the most of your affiliate tracking software.

All around the world, including in the United States, there are a large number of business owners who rely on affiliate programs. If properly implemented, affiliate programs can help to increase the number of sales an online business sees.  If you are a business owner who already has your own affiliate program, it is likely that you also have affiliate tracking software.  If you are a business owner who is interested in starting your own affiliate program, but has yet to, you will soon learn the importance of affiliate tracking software.

Affiliate tracking software is vital to the success of an affiliate program.  With affiliate programs, business owners, such as yourself, rely on website owners to help increase their sales. This partnership often involves the displaying of your ads and links on your affiliate’s website.  Affiliate tracking software tags those ads using a unique affiliate id. Every time one of your affiliates helps you generate a sale, the software you are using will record that sale.  Often times, the date, time, and amount of the sale is also recorded. This information will allow you to know how much you should compensate your affiliates for their work.

If you have not already purchased affiliate tracking software, you will need to do so.  However, it is important to be aware of what you are purchasing. There are many business owners who find out that they purchased the wrong type of affiliate tracking software, too late. Most affiliate tracking software programs accomplish the same goals, but they do so in different ways. This is by incorporating different services and features into their software.  To make the most out of your next affiliate software purchase, you are advised to familiarize yourself with these services and features.

Perhaps, one of the first things you should look for is customer support.  Most software programs come with customer support, but not all do.  If you are using a software program for the first time or even if you develop a problem later on, you will want to be able to talk to someone who can assist you.  Therefore, it is important that you find and purchase affiliate software that includes customer support.  Once this is done, you are advised to use that support for any questions that you have, even the smallest ones.  You will find that this support is more important than you ever imagined.

When examining the services and features of particular software, you will likely come across programs that offer varied commission levels. When starting your own affiliate program, you will assign a commission percentage to your affiliates. This percentage is often a flat rate for all, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Affiliate tracking software with varied commission levels can allow you to compensate your affiliates in different ways. This is ideal, especially if you want to reward the affiliates that are brining in the most sales.

While it is important to make the most out of your affiliate tracking as soon as you get it, there is also a way to make the most out it before you even do. This is by fully reading and understanding all software descriptions, included services and features, and the costs of using that software.  This is the best way to prevent yourself from being stuck with a software program that you cannot use, especially if it does not have features that you want or need. It is also important to determine the cost of affiliate tracking software and payment options.  You will want to be on the lookout for monthly fees, yearly fees, and onetime fees.  You should also determine ahead of time whether or not a cancellation notice is required. In the event that you decide to end your affiliate program or change tracking software, these fees may be more than you can afford or are willing to pay.

The above mentioned points are just a few of the ways that you can get the most from your affiliate program and its tracking software.  To sum it all up, the more you know about what your affiliate tracking software can do, the more you will be able to do with it.

Good Luck
Dr. Ande
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Marketing Radio with Dr. Ande

Got a Business: Use Affiliate Marketing To Promote It!

Welcome back, let’s talk about using affiliate marketing to drive traffic to your business website plus increase your income.

Even if you are already using the Internet to market your business, you should consider adding affiliate marketing to you Internet marketing campaign. Affiliate marketing, when done right, can yield a great deal of positive results for your business. Furthermore, even when affiliate marketing is not done right, it will not likely be financially detrimental to the business. This is because affiliate marketing is essentially an advertising program in which you only pay the affiliates when their marketing efforts yield financial results for your business. This article will take a look at affiliate marketing and explain how it works and how you can maximize the benefits of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing essentially involves having website owners, known as affiliates, post advertisements for your website on their own website. You can learn more about affiliate marketing by checking out my eBook, Dr. Ande’s 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success or right here at www.affiliatemarketingwhattosell.com for weekly updates. Affiliate advertisements encourage visitors to click on the link and visit your website. The advertisements are specially coded to allow you to determine how many visitors enter your website through this advertisement. Unlike other types of Internet advertising where the business owner pays for the opportunity to place the advertisement on the website, an affiliate program does not work this way. Instead the affiliate is paid when the advertisement yields a desired result.

Affiliate advertisement can work on a pay per impression, pay per click, pay per lead or pay per sale basis. Pay per impression means the affiliate earns a profit each time the affiliate advertisement is served. This means for each unique visitor who views the advertisement the affiliate is given a predetermined amount of money. This amount will depend on a number of factors and will be agreed upon by the business owner and the affiliate before the advertisements begin appearing on the affiliate’s website. Pay per click programs reward the affiliate each time a visit clicks through the advertisement. Pay per lead programs reward the affiliate when a visitor not only clicks on the advertisement but also performs a desired action such as filling out a survey or registering with the website. Pay per sale programs reward the affiliate each time a visitor clicks through the advertisement on the affiliate’s website and also makes a purchase during this visit. The compensation plans associated with affiliate programs are so desirable because the business owner can have a number of affiliates and they only have to pay these affiliates if the advertising on the affiliate’s website is effective.

Affiliate marketing does not always work. When seeking out affiliates it is important to look for a number of different factors. An affiliate with a great deal of experience, a website with high traffic and a proven track record for producing positive results will likely be a good choice for an affiliate marketing program. These affiliates rely on their advertising knowledge to promote the businesses and do not necessarily have to understand the business they are promoting. Another excellent choice for affiliate marketing is to select another business that is closely related to your own business but does not compete with your business. This is a good idea because they may share your target audience and their website visitors will also likely be interested in visiting your website as well. For example if you sell running shoes you may wish to run an affiliate marketing campaign on a website that promotes road races such as marathons, half marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks. This website does not directly compete with your business but they are likely to attract an audience that would be interested in and have a need for your products or services.

Deciding whether or not to implement an affiliate marketing campaign is easy. As we previously mentioned there is very little risk in this type of campaign so it is worthwhile in just about any situation. A more important decision to make is how you plan to compensate your affiliates. The compensation for pay per impression programs is typically pretty low because your business is not necessarily generating a sale from each impression. Conversely, pay per sale programs usually compensates the affiliate better because the business does directly generate a profit from the advertising on the affiliate’s website. This amount may a flat fee or a percentage of the sale depending on the affiliate agreement.

Good Luck

Dr. Ande
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Marketing Radio with Dr. Ande

From Dr. Ande to You: Here’s Your 2012 Web Marketing Plan

With the New Year right around the corner, we often resolve to improve our behavior, health, or personal relationships. Let me tell you, you’re wasting your time. Let’s get this out of the way. I’m OK, you’re OK.

Now down to brass tax: it’s your Web marketing that’s a mess!

This is what I mean by that previous statement… out-of-shape Web sites, directionless Web marketing, and being lost in the search engines. It’s time to stop worrying about self-improvement and start worrying about Web marketing-improvement!

While every business has different goals and needs, please consider these twelve items in creating your own Web marketing plan for next year. Rearrange the order to fit your own schedule in 2012. The items listed below don’t have to be rushed; but to offer maximum impact I grouped them as 3 goals per week, but you can use them as you see appropriate for you and your business.

January Week 1:

Tuesday – Set up a Web marketing budget. We all know this is your favorite part: the budget. However, once you’ve decided how much money you plan on spending quarterly or monthly, deciding what to spend your marketing dollar on becomes much easier. You’ll also want to carve out some time for your Web marketing endeavors. After all, a lot of the following items are more about time than money.

Continued on Dr. Ande’s Step Up 2 Success Blog, click here to continue reading.

Happy New Year, see you soon,

Dr. Ande,
Creator of: The 30 Hour Business Plan
Teacher of: How to Write a Book in 30 Hours
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Dr. Ande’s Marketing Radio & Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
Associate Editor: Writerstopia Magazine