Affiliate recruitment / management needed for Sports Travel Affiliate Program

[pintofmilk]

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I am looking for an affiliate management company to recruit affiliates into the MATCHhotels affiliate program.

MATChhotels affiliates earn 50% of hotel commission and I propose paying the affiliate management company 10% of hotel commission for X months after recruited affiliates go live - number of months of revenue share depending on extent of ongoing affiliate management after recruitment.

I would appreciate opinions on this scheme.

Please PM me if interested.

Thanks
Ben

[hpops]

Hi Ben
I'm sure you'll get lots of responses to the thread, I'll jump in first and state an interest, I do think its worth providing some general feedback regarding your proposed payment structure in a public forum.

There are quite a few of us affiliate management companies in the marketplace now, several of whom provide a great service. One of the biggest challenges that we face is ensuring that our resource allocation is sufficiently worthwhile, ie that a clients yield to us is enough for us to provide quality work.

Although a performance only option on a relatively unknown program may seem sensible it is extremely unlikely to attract quality management services in a relatively vibrant market. And if the program is small, there is relatively little incentive for your chosen company/consultant to perform.

A hybrid fees/performance structure is more likely to be beneficial to both parties.

[Geno_AMNavigator]

I may be interested too. PM sent.

Geno

[pintofmilk]

Thanks for your feedback hpops, disagree with your comments about a small program though for these reasons:

1. MATCHhotels only has a handful of affiliates so far, but one of them is converting 4.2% of visitors. This is a very strong conversion ratio in the travel industry where you typically see only 1%.
2. Program is new, unique and adds value to sports sites - an easy sell.
3. Site currently covers football and rugby - sports that have lots of passionate fans travelling week in, week out. We are adding more sports over the next few months.

Just one quality affiliate will generate significant sums on a paid for performance model.

Would be interested in your thoughts on this.

Cheers
Ben

[Brad123]

Thing is with this type of proposal a lot of factors are out of the affiliate managers hands that can affect sales etc.

I know people think an incentive style payment role will enourage the manager to get results but theres a reason most seo, ppc and affiliate roles are set pay, in my opinion incentive based pay does not work in 99% of cases.

We spoke last year on this role and whilst its a nice product there's too many questions on if its financially worth doing with a risk of getting no pay for the hard work, what about the close season when people dont travel, rugby league is only a northern sport really, rugby union season ends in a few months as does the football season, so then won't sales drop off anyway?

I have worked on a few incentive schemes but these were backed up with a set pay structure, I've been offered incentive only deals from companies that promise the world etc for someone with seo, ppc and affiliate experience and strangely enough I see these same companies advertising every other month for the same role.

[breathe]

Hi,

You said you would like opinions, so here goes.

When I set up my business I decided to take the risk that I would not earn any money from it.

I did not set up my business to manage the risks of your business. I do not like the idea that someone can "outsource" the risk of operating a business or sales force!

I charge by the hour, I am not the most expensive and certainly not the cheapest. Should you wish for me to do some work for you then I expect to be paid for that work!

Fair is fair.

[Brad123]

Pretty much sums it up for me, good post.

I often get asked to do link bulding and get paid per link, I turn this down as I could spend 30 hours sending out link requests to viable locations after extensive link research, if i get 3 links as a result then I don't see how i should get paid for 3 links when I have put in the effort, after all, there's only so much I can do, the rest is out of my hands.

[pintofmilk]

Brad123, every sector is affected by seasonality!

Breathe, its risk vs reward - if the numbers are right then it works.

[breathe]

Quite!!!

That's what I was saying I have risked not having any reward when I started my business, so why should I risk no reward again to help expand yours.

I put the question back to you.

No risk = No reward

[pintofmilk]

MATCHhotels has set up a 2nd tier on its affiliate scheme to pay anyone referring affiliates to us - referrer is paid half of whatever their affiliates earn in first 6 months. e.g.
- First 6 months gross commission is £4000
- Affiliate receives £2000
- 2nd tier payment to referrer is £1000
- MATCHhotels receives £1000

Affiliate sign-up is now an online process and all referrals are also tracked online.

We would love to hear from anyone that has links to sites related to football, rugby, cricket and horse racing. And we would love to pay you the 2nd tier commission.

Please PM me if interested.

Cheers
Ben

p.S. Breathe and Brad123, we think the potential reward on this is high enough to cover the risk. Hope you agree!

[Brad123]

I'm promoting superbreak now and doing well.