Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate programmes (also known as associate or reseller programs) are a business arrangement where anybody with a website can apply to promote the product or service of another company in exchange for a commission on any sales. 

These result from people who follow the affiliate’s links to the site of the merchant.

Affiliate programmes were first introduced by large companies like CD Now (www.cdnow.com) and Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) and have proved enormously popular. The rapid growth of affiliate programmes means that almost any product or service that is sold online now has an affiliate programme.

For companies selling products or services on the Internet, affiliate programmes offer a low cost method of increasing brand awareness as well as a more effective alternative to banner advertising. 

Merchants can recruit a commission-only sales force at low cost. The risk for merchants is that their reputation may be damaged by the use of unscrupulous methods of promotion used by affiliates. 

The disadvantages are outweighed, however, by the opportunity to increase sales and expand customer databases from having thousands of affiliates working on selling the product or service.

Linking to Affiliates

For an affiliate link to work the banner or hyperlink to the merchant's website should be an effective marketing tool - relevant to the customer and including a real incentive to follow the link. 

Typically, the purpose of a Web banner ad, like a direct response ad, is to get people to act - in the Web's case, to click on a banner and go to the advertiser's site. For that reason, Web advertising experts say a strong call to action and a strong message are the most important elements of an effective banner.

Though it may seem obvious, simply adding "click here" to a banner ad can increase response rates twofold. That is because a lot of users still need to know that it's a banner that leads somewhere. 

Other enticing words include "press" or "enter," Web advertising experts say. Animation can improve response rates while bold colours like green, red and yellow will outperform black and white. The links that work best are interactive, urgent and change regularly or those that are intriguing or contain the word "free".

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Joining a Programme

Good affiliate programmes are easy and uncomplicated to join. For an affiliate classroom With step-by-step instructions to a good affiliate marketing program try Affiliate Market.

Most established affiliate programmes have powerful backend software that manages the entire relationship between the affiliates and the parent company. The system should give the new affiliate a password, username and a sample banner or hyperlink (coded with a unique affiliate password).

The biggest operator is Commission Junction. 

Bigger UK/European operations include networks such as Tradedoubler, Affiliate Window and UK Affiliates. 

Any of these programmes will explain how the process works. But for a more unbiased comment, albeit from the point of view of the affiliate rather than your company, go to Affiliates World.

Running Your Own

You can also buy and manage your own affiliate programme software package.

A list of some includes: