Hi all,
I
am a merchant looking to set up an affiliate scheme and would welcome a few pointers from you guys to help me decide whether to sign up with one of the big 5 UK affiliate networks or go for developing my own independent programme. Here are the pros and cons of each option as I see it:
Option 1 - Sign up with affiliate network
Advantages
1. Instant access to a pool of affiliates, with scheme advertised by affiliate network
2. Independent management of sales records and payment of commissions through a network trusted by both affiliates and merchants
3. Affiliates are able to manage wide number of programmes through one point of contact.
4. Hosting of banners and buttons saving bandwidth on merchants site
5. Not sure on this one but it is possible that larger more experienced affiliates may only be interested in working through affiliate networks and will not look at independent schemes
Disadvantages
1. Initial set up fee £1000 to £3000 with monthly fee £200 and 30% rake off the affiliates commission
2. Possible barrier between merchant and affiliates, keen to promote business only through the network and if the merchant changes to a different network, possible leaving penalties and loss of affiliates.
3. Merchant less able to provide high commissions due to networks commission.
4. Google
PR is driven by links, with an affiliate network affiliates link back to the networks site so there is no benefit of extra links for the merchants Google
PR. The opposite side of this argument is possibly that the merchant is also protected from links from bad affiliate sites which have been dropped by Google.
Option 2 - Set up own independent scheme
Advantages
1. Reduced cost. I have been looking around for an affiliate management system based on PHP and MySQL, my current favourite is iDevAffiliate (
http://www.idevdirect.com/software/ ), have any of you guys any experience of this, any other suggestions would be welcomed. Cost $140, I guess would take around a day to set up and integrate into my site
2. Control over affiliate selection, content supplied, integration of click recording, and payment to affiliates.
3. Text, buttons, deep links would feed back directly into my site increasing Google
PR. Generation of the Product links could be integrated into my cart software.
4. Communication direct with affiliates with feedback on how to improve feed and conversion rates
5. Offer higher commissions to affiliates increasing popularity of scheme in affiliate community
Disadvantages
1. Effort required to set up, manage, and promote, the scheme. Organising efficient affiliate payment and managing interaction with affiliates of who 95% may not actually provide any sales according to some sources.
2. The possibility that larger affiliates capable of delivering high volumes of targeted traffic will not consider the scheme as it is not on one of the big affiliate networks and has not been established long enough to build up trust within the community
3. The Legal T&C's will need to be created and checked as will the implementation to prevent errors or abuse.
4. Possible come back if any affiliates include our content in spam emails or aggressive marketing techniques
Any comments on the above would be appreciated, particularly the issue of whether so called super affiliates would consider working with an independent scheme, and how best to promote an independent scheme. It seems top me that some of the most successful schemes such as Amazon and Ashford run their own schemes so why not the small to middle sized companies if we are able, and prepared to spend the time to make it work.
Great forum by the way, learnt a lot in the last couple of days but probably have a long way to go.