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As an affiliate marketer, there is a tendency to want to maximize conversions and profits, and it’s sometimes difficult to see the forest through the trees and easy to lose perspective of the greater goal of growing your business and expanding its scale.
Ultimately affiliates overcome five challenges to bring their business to the next level:
1) Master Plan and Consistent Action:
Having a list of goals/resolutions at the start of the year is pretty useless… unless you put in the action to back that up. Consistent, focused action, and refusing to get sidetracked by small, more interesting projects is what separates serious affiliates from those who have a myriad of “interesting” hobby affiliate sites.
2) A Systems-based Business Architecture:
As your marketing campaigns, with their components involving research, set up, tracking, analytics and optimization, become more sophisticated, so too will the need to document the processes and have step-by-step procedures to not only increase the probability of success when launching new campaigns, but it will also reduce the time taken to set them up.
Sitting down once a month to map out your business processes will give you a clear blueprint and help you identify your strengths which have led to successful campaigns.
Building on these strengths will likewise build your business. Checklists, flowcharts and procedures can aid in this process.
3) Business Leverage:
No matter how superhuman your resolve and physical endurance, you’re still limited to 24 hours a day. Looking at options like hiring employees, automating repetitive elements of your business by developing software or scripts to reduce manual labor, and outsourcing tasks outside of your expertise to experts can increase your effectiveness and efficiency.
This will free you to focus on high value activities like sourcing for new offers, as well as negotiating for better terms from merchants and networks.
4) Joint Ventures/Collaborations:
Partnerships are one of the best, and sometimes worst, ways to grow your business. In some cases, the partnership will not work out because each side had different expectations from the project and the reality doesn’t match up to it.
However, if the partnership works out, particularly if your partner complements your strength, this could be a classic case of 1 + 1 = 3.
5) Building a Long-term, Brand-based Business
Affiliate marketing is growing up. Thin affiliate sites created with appropriate About Us, Contact, and Privacy information pages to meet Google AdWords requirements are still out there, but the writing is on the wall. As the industry matures, users will look for full fledged destination/portal sites that they’ll be returning to for repeat purchases.
Success will be measured not just in conversions, but ultimately in repeat purchases.
Long term affiliate success will lie in rolling with the five forces that will help you shift your game to a higher level.
Andrew Wee blogs about blogging, affiliate marketing, and social media at http://WhoIsAndrewWee.com.
Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5
Running a membership site has exploded in popularity as an Internet business model. Online business owners are finally recognizing what the “early adopters” discovered years ago: membership sites can be extremely profitable, have a low startup cost, and can actually be fun to run.
The concept is easy enough. You have some information, knowledge, or passion about a topic that others are interested in, as well. You set up an exclusive community and charge whatever fee you want to allow entry. Your members benefit from having access to, not only very specific information on the topic but also, a community of others who share their interest in that topic.
As an example, RestaurantOwner.com was started by a friend of mine, Jim Laube. Jim had 20+ years in the restaurant industry and frankly was burnt out from the long hours.
He decided to leverage his experience in the industry and started a membership site. Jim provides a wealth of information for his members, such as articles, interviews, downloadable excel spreadsheets, and PDFs.
Topics range from how to start a restaurant to cutting down on employee turnover, picking a location, pricing etc. You name it and Jim will write about it.
He charges $99 to join and then under $20 a month to stay on as a member. Jim’s site has thousands of members. I’ll let you do the math.
They all pay him month after month to stay on.
That recurring revenue brings up a crucial point about running a membership site. You have a steady, consistent stream of income coming in, month after month.
With a normal business, regardless of how good last month was, on the first day of the new month you are basically starting from scratch with revenue. With a membership site, you know that if last month you pulled in say $15,000 for the month that this month is going to be very close to that number. Perhaps even more with a bit of marketing.
In my work, I have a bird’s eye view of over 920 active membership sites. I know what these sites are making. Quite a few are making tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, and are often run by one or two people.
Some of the topics of the sites we have may come as a surprise you, including craft sites (embroidery, cross stitching), health, fitness, education, sports, dog enthusiasts, and how to get a cruise ship job.
One of the most consistently successful is the _____owner.com type sites. That is, choose a niche business and provide the tools for people in that industry. The previously mentioned restaurantowner.com is one example but that can be applied for almost any industry: hair salons, gas stations, CPA’s, handy man business, affiliate managers etc.
Everyone has knowledge or interests. Why not consider leveraging it in a very profitable way?
Tim Kerber is CEO of MemberGate Solutions and also runs MembershipSiteOwner.com
Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5
There will be a convergence of two worlds, MLM and affiliate marketing. If you’re only in one world, you need to understand the other so you can get beyond the misconceptions and better compete.
Know that there are legitimate MLM (“network marketing”) companies. These differ from pyramids which are illegal.
When a firm pays new independent reps (or “networkers”) for sponsoring others into the program or mandates that new reps must each purchase a certain amount of product to receive the right to sponsor others into the opportunity, then the company can be vulnerable to pyramid challenges.
Most mainstream MLM companies do require the purchase of a start-up kit containing sales materials to become an approved independent rep.
To stay within legal parameters, MLM companies have extensive policies and procedures for their reps. In addition, they have compensation plans that, because of their tiered structures, have some complexities that have to be accurately explained.
Also, disclaimers and disclosures regarding the income opportunity and the products are needed.
That’s why mainstream MLM firms will have start-up kits whereby the reps are given information needed to help them operate their businesses within ethical and legal parameters. A manual is included along with brochures, business cards and other sales materials.
Note that reputable companies sell these kits at cost without any bonuses made to reps. This is done to avoid any possible legal challenges relating to monies being made purely for the act of recruiting.
From a marketing perspective, having a start-up kit also helps to screen reps from those who just impulsively sign up as opposed to those who show some real interest since there is this minimal purchase involved. (Many of the kits sell for $49 or less.)
MLM companies without start-up kits have a far greater number of people who sign up and never get active selling products as opposed to those mainstream firms that do require the purchase of a kit.
Affiliate marketers can relate to this. You know that since people can become affiliates for free, resulting in an overabundance of inactive affiliates in a given affiliate program.
Hence, how one enters an MLM program as opposed to an affiliate program differs. Agreements, along with the policies and procedures, are usually more stringent in the former.
If you participate in the upcoming convergence of MLM and affiliate marketing, you’ll want to utilize the best strategies and tactics to create a synergy between the two to expand your business.
This article serves as a start to a more vivid understanding of both worlds.
(This article is for informational purposes only and no legal advice is given as an experienced MLM attorney should be consulted for such matters.)
Debbi A. Ballard is a well known MLM consultant, expert witness, speaker and author who is educating people about the upcoming MLM and affiliate marketing convergence, and spearheading the development of MLM best practices at www.MLMconsultantsblog.com.
Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5
With more than 3,200 in attendance, Affiliate Summit West 2009 in Las Vegas goes down in the record books as a sell out and the largest show to date.
Opening up the conference on Sunday was the Affiliate Meet Market; the room was full of energy. A scaled down version of the exhibit hall (tables instead of booths), the Meet Market was the place to be for networking and continues to be a show highlight.
Concurrent breakout sessions took place on Sunday as well. Hot topics of the day included monetizing chat, automating websites, merchant mindsets, ethical issues, and expected trends.
On Monday morning, Gary Vaynerchuk spoke with vigor and intensity. His excitement and motivational keynote set the tone for the rest of show. You’ve got to love how he said “I think what I’m passionate about, is crushing it every day for making yourself happy. And I think when you talk about, and you build a business around a passion, that’s when you can really knock it out of the park.”
Gary oozed enthusiasm and it was infectious.
Days 2 and 3 also brought a full agenda of breakout sessions via panels and solo presentations. Session themes included anything social media, SEO, PPC, videos and mobile. Audiences were thrilled with the lineup of speakers and the rooms were packed with eager attendees ready to learn.
Traffic and networking in the exhibit hall were awesome on Monday and Tuesday, with attendees visiting over 100 booths. New products and tools in the industry were demonstrated and lots of business cards were exchanged.
One of the culminations of the show was the annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards, which were given to affiliate marketing leaders in six categories.
Congratulations to this year’s winners: Affiliate of the Year – Mike Allen, Affiliate Manager of the Year – Angel Djambazov, Exceptional Merchant – CelebrateExpress.com, Affiliate Marketing Advocate – Melanie Seery, Best Blogger – Scott Jangro and Affiliate Marketing Legend – Kellie Stevens.
As the show drew to a close, everyone let loose and had some fun to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation at the Affiliate Summit Triathlon. Dozens made donations to enter the 3 events: adult tricycle, virtual golf and basketball challenge.
Congratulations to the winner, Charlie Calabrese of Buy.at.
Lastly, special thanks to all of our distinguished speakers, exhibitors, general sponsors and metal sponsors: AzoogleAds, ShareASale, OneNetworkDirect and Buy.at. Your contributions helped make Affiliate Summit West 2009 a huge success.
Like folks did at this past show, instead of concentrating on the country’s troubled economy and uncertain future, focus on working smarter and more efficiently. Learn ways to adapt and grow despite the nation’s challenges. This will be pivotal to making it a banner year.
See you in the Big Apple, Affiliate Summit East 2009 – August 9-11, Hilton New York.
Amy Rodriguez is the Conference Director at Affiliate Summit.
Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5
I was recently reading a post that my business partner, Shawn Collins had up on his blog, AffiliateTip.com, entitled “Cynical Marketing.”
In the post, Shawn talks about how there are some marketers out there that simply don’t get the fact that not everything they do has to revolve around making money. They forget that sometimes, it’s more important to just give back.
The content of his post was dead on and the timing in which I read it, couldn’t be more ironic.
You see, earlier that day, I was approached by a marketer who read a post on my blog, MissyWard.com, that discussed me coming out of affiliate management retirement to help support breast cancer research and treatment – a cause that is very close to my heart.
This marketer had the chutzpah to ask me “what my angle was and why on earth would I bust my a** to grow someone else’s company when there was absolutely nothing at stake for me”.
Rather than chastising him for his ludicrous implications, I simply told him how I felt.
Giving is in my DNA and since affiliate marketing is what I do best, it seemed like a natural fit.
He followed up with a “you’re nuts.”
You know what, Mr. Cynical Marketer? Maybe I am.
But I keep very good company.
Aside from the folks that Shawn mentioned in his post that give back to the online marketing community without ever asking for a thing back (Haiko de Poel, Jr. of ABestWeb.com, Scott Jangro of Jangro.com, Jim Kukral of JimKukral.com, Melanie Seery of NYAffiliateVoice.com and Kellie Stevens of AffiliateFairPlay.com), I can think of dozens of marketers, including Shawn, who neglected to name himself) who do the same.
Chris Brogan who takes the time to answer every single questions he’s asked on Twitter; Brian Clark who provides amazing free content on CopyBlogger.com everyday; Brian Littleton of ShareASale who takes the time to educate his merchants and affiliate marketers to both make the affiliate marketing industry better and push it forward.
Also, all of the folks that walked 60 miles with me to raise money for breast cancer research on behalf of AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com ; Jeremy Schoemaker who provides dozens of case studies and tips to marketers to grow their businesses — the list goes on and on.
Now, it’s not to say that I’m averse to making money. I think I do a pretty good job at it. So do all of the people that I’ve mentioned above.
Maybe I’m just an idealist, but I believe that when one does well, there is an inherent responsibility to give back to the industries that have helped us get to where we are today and to help the less fortunate.
So, to all of the other idealists out there that give so much, with no strings attached – I salute you. Please keep doing what you’re doing. You ARE making a difference.
Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.
Missy Ward is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine. She also manages the ThesisAffiliates.com program in which all of her management fees are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5
