Newbie Merchant - Big Decisions!

[Adam_R]

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Hi Guys,

I am currently looking at becoming a merchant as part of an affiliate program, in the past i have ran PPC, but from looking at the costs/performance of affiliates, it looks like a massivly cheaper and more effective option. The only problem is out of the 20+ Companies who the hell should i go for? I am looking at TradeDoubler at the moment, they are doing quote for me and have been very helpul to date, Commission Junction also, but they seem much more US focused.

Also, any tips for a newbie merchant entering into the dog-eat-dog world of affiliates would be greatly appreciated!

So far i've learned it can be quite competitive over commission rates, and can be quite difficult shelling out the start off money without having much real idea of how well my business will perform!

Thanks,

Adam

[Malcolm Cowley]

Hi

Welcome to the forum .

Your from the North east like us and TD is being helpful to you so you must be Northern Rock maybe only kidding TD :-)

What company do you represent Adam?

There are lots of options for a network or an inhouse scheme and plenty of potentials kicking about in the forum where you cant hide your failings :-)

A quick check of all the network forums here should give you a good idea of whats what.

Also if you ask a few affiliates you will get a no nonsense review of the main networks

Thanks

Mal

[Zanox]

There is indeed a huge choice of networks to go with in the UK but i think to help your decisions it might be worthwhile looking at a network in a slightly different light.

A network is purely the mechanism or the platform in which to operate your own affiliate scheme, whilst most networks have an affiliate base which makes your task of reaching the network much easier you still have to work at it as much as any other part of your business.

Affiliate marketing is an artform in itself, its not complicated but when you get into it you will see this is a whole new ball game and as such you will not only be competing with other merchants but you will be competing with every affiliate scheme out there for the affiliates attention, offering good commissions to affiliates will always help, but thats really little point if your prices are so high that people are not buying from you in the first place.

It is always a balance, but given that you are starting it might be worth looking at other UK networks with much lower startup costs and using the money you saved to plough back into affiliate incentives/promotions. I trust you have looked at networks such as buy.at, affiliate window and affiliate future, they are very good networks that have a big following in the UK, i am sure the setup costs are much less and you can use your hard earned savings to invest in furthering your affiliate package.

Regards to all