Why Your Website Needs Its Own Affiliate Program

posted by INSTANT // May 14, 2009 // Market Your Website

It seems that everywhere you look, a new affiliate program is being announced. Why are so many websites starting affiliate programs and what are the steps you need to take to launch your own?

You need an affiliate program - sooner or later. But before we get into the reasons for having an affiliate program, let's take a step back and look at what's happening on the digital marketing landscape of today.

It's a fact that total media ad spending is rapidly being taken over by Internet advertising. In fact, according to eMarketer (April 2009), investment in online advertising is rising by at least 1 percentage point every year. The main reasons for this shift are that online advertising is easier to measure than traditional print media, and it delivers a higher return on investment to the advertiser. It's been projected that the online share of ad spend will continue to grow, rising from almost 10% this year to just over 15% in 2013.

But this isn't just the talk of big business -- it directly affects your website marketing as well. As more and more people are using the internet to research and shop online, there are more opportunities for marketers and their affiliates to be found.

Some of the best marketers are affiliates -- they understand how to use effective online advertising to match up online buyers with the products they are looking for. Affiliates are advertising savvy because they usually only get paid when the sale is made, so they don't waste money on advertising that doesn't work.

How do affiliates make money?

Affiliates have websites, email lists, and advertising of their own which they use to send qualified traffic to your website. Your affiliates are typically paid for sending you leads and sales.

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you can set it up to be almost risk-free. In other words, you don't need to pay the affiliates until the sale or lead signup occurs. This is why affiliate marketing is also known as "performance marketing." This means that you only need to pay your affiliates when sales occur. So your advertising is very low cost and highly scalable.

So how do you start?

In order to establish a successful affiliate program, there are some investments that you will need to make in:

• Defining your strategy
• Hiring staff or outsourced affiliate program managers to manage your affiliate program
• Technology such as an affiliate tracking system
• Advertising and recruiting affiliates

If you're just starting out with your website, and don't have experience in selling online, then it's usually better to wait before launching an affiliate program. With untested conversions and no track record, it can be very challenging to find affiliates willing to share the marketing risk with you.

However, websites that are already selling targeted products that convert to sales are well positioned to start an affiliate program and boost their sales while keeping their ad spend low.

A well planned affiliate strategy can increase your sales, but it does take time and an investment in people and technology. Eventually you might want to consider starting your own affiliate program. It can be a great way to increase your sales and expanding your marketing reach. Just make sure to do your homework before you start.

Peter Koning is an e-commerce expert and specializes in affiliate marketing from a merchant point of view. For more information visit www.affiliate-software-review.com.

Author
Peter Koning

Article Source: Affiliate-Software-Review.com

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