Affiliate program success

[Bone-Clothing]

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Hi there,

Very new here, so apologies if this post is in the wrong forum!

Just like to ask some advice and opinions if I may on a couple of things.

We've recently gone online as an addition to the bricks and mortar business and have seen a degree of success with traffic and sales etc and are now looking into the possibility of starting an affiliate program.

Should we go Independent or use a Network?

How successful are affiliate programs? (They must be otherwise people wouldn't do it! Sort of answering my own question here, but it would be great to hear from people who have already done it).

Any other advice? Do's and Dont's??

I'd be most grateful for any feedback, advice.

Cheers

AJ

[drivetowin]

Hi AJ

Welcome to the forum.

Just been to your site and it looks good though if I was you I'd look to see if you could lose that first screen that just says your site is loading - only normally see that sort of thing for sites using flash which your's doesn't appear to....

Also - minor point probably but your site does not load at all in Netscape.

But to answer your question - I would recommend you go with a network as this will boost your credibility and help you reach a large number of affiliates quickly.

My personal recommendation would be to speak to affiliate future - from your viewpoint they offer a low setup fee and from my viewpoint they offer me security of payment of commission.

I have no connection with affiliate future other than as a very satisfied affiliate but please tell them that I sent you

With regards to what affiliates look for:

a) a realistic commission level
b) a product feed is always good
c) no telephone numbers blatantly displayed on your site or ad creative
d) a range of ad creative

If you can achieve that you should have a good programme.

Does affiliate marketing work - most definitely - as many merchants here will no doubt tell you...

[aly]

Originally posted by Bone-Clothing

Should we go Independent or use a Network?

Indie is good IF YOU HAVE THE TIME FOR COMMITMENT otherwise go with network.
I wouldn't expect instant success with a network just cos they have loads of affiliates. Quality not quantity that counts but it will be a quicker start to the affiliate game.
If you have the time to do it yourself you can obviously get a better realtionship and knowledge of the affiliates and the business but it is a long term thing. You should get much more help and feedback from individual affiliates then a network (I'm not knocking network help here, just stating the obvious when dealing with individuals rather than companies)
Otherwise, from an affilate point of view, I quite like AffiliateWindow - not perfect but who is?

You have some good brands and prices there so I'm sure a few of us would give it a fair trial.
Best of luck whichever way you go.

Cheers
Aly
ps PM me if you want any help/feedback

[Bone-Clothing]

Many thanks for the advice so far kbudden and aly

I've already sorted out that 'loading' screen. It was annoying us let alone everyone else who visits!

As to Netscape not loading the site, I'll look into that

Why no obvious phone number, if that's not a stupid question?? (It's certainly no problem to alter our contact number placing though!)

I've got time to dedicate to starting an independent affiliate scheme but not the experience.....yet, hence looking at using a network and utilising their experience.

Food for thought. Thanks for the warm welcome and helpful advice. I'll keep you posted about what we decide to do.

Cheers

AJ

[renegade]

I'd like to echo what's been said already.

The reason affiliates don't like phone numbers on site is because anyone who phones and orders is a lost sale for us - unless you put a referral system in place which is, at best, only a partial solution.

The other reason many affiliates, myself included, prefer merchants on networks on our sites is where we have hundreds of merchants and keeping track of indie commissions (or even reaching the minimum payout levels) for individual programs is hard going. With a network we get one consolidated payment with just once invoice, a lot less hassle all round.

You may not be aware of the spyware debate amongst the affiliate and merchant forums and in the media. The UK networks which are suitable for your program and also spyware free are Affiliate Future, DMG, Paid on Results and Affiliate Window and I'd be happy to recommend them all to any merchant.

[Edit Buy.at also spyware free - sorry Malcolm!]

Good luck with your program and welcome to the board.

[Bone-Clothing]

Thanks for that renegade.

We would certainly move the telephone number so affiliates would not lose a sale. We definately would want to do the right thing to make an affiliate program as successful as possible.

Been reading about spyware. We won't be going down that avenue and will stay spyware free!

Thanks again

AJ

[moogie]

Hi Bone-clothing
We have a number of merchants and we have them all on Affiliate networks. The best ones are Paid on results. Buy.at, Affiliate Window and Affiliate future. I have listed these in no particular order of preference, they are all of high quality. The support you get from these guys is second to none. If you are new to affiliate marketing it is important to have good network support and having your own independant programme might be difficult.
I must admit Tradedoubler have took some stick with the spyware issue, from a support point of view they have been good to us. If I were you I would contact them all and see which one you feel comfortable with and sign up and get started.

[Bone-Clothing]

I'd just like to say many thanks for all the advice.

Very helpful and we hope to have an affiliate program in the near future!

Best regards

AJ

[SillyJokes]

Well done Bone Clothing (and Royal mail for once).

Hong Kong Fooey Shirt ordered yesterday, arrived today.

Now Phil is the Number One Super Guy.

Website needs a bit of tweeking - a frequently asked questions page would be handy and the checkout process was confusing - there was an extra page in there and it wasn't clear which button to click to proceed to payment pages. I ended up getting about half a dozen emails as I registered and then got sent one everytime I ended up on the wrong page.

I personally think it a bad idea to force people to register to shop but I know it can be a good way to track sales for affiliates.

[Bone-Clothing]

Glad all was received SillyJokes.

We're building an FAQ section at the moment to go on the site as soon as possible.

We're still in debate about 'anonymous' checkout! Should we, shouldn't we? It would certainly reduce the checkout procedure time if we did allow it though.

Hopefully the FAQ section will tidy up the Membership process and give a clearer indication of how it works.

More good advice SillyJokes, thanks for your comments and custom

Best regards,

AJ

[jess1]

V nice website.... good luck

[Bone-Clothing]

Thank you Jess

Appreciate your kind comments.

Best regards,

AJ

......Well, with all the advice and information I think I'm going to be very busy over the next few weeks!!