Merchant Affiliate is a resource for Merchants focussed on increasing sales and profits on-line. Merchants who might be contemplating an affiliate partnership can have their questions answered here in a straight forward manner with no pushy sales talk or other high pressure techniques.
INTRODUCTION
A Merchant is a store or business which promotes or sells goods, products or services online. Merchants reap enormous benefits by striking up partnerships with Affiliate Marketers’. These Affiliates use various techniques to promote the Merchant brand or products, promotions or services in order to drive customers to the Merchant website store. More traffic will increase sales. In return the Merchant rewards their Affiliate with an agreed commission based on the affiliate program to which both parties have agreed. Merchant Affiliate has carefully researched questions that Merchant’s are certain to ask.
HOW DOES AN AFFILIATE DRIVE CUSTOMERS TO THE MERCHANT?
Affiliates typically have their own websites which are tailor-made to specific sectors or niches. The best Affiliate websites are rich in original content so they are relevant and therefore rank highly on search engines such as Google or Bing. The Affiliate would place banners and images on the Affiliate website that advertise the Merchants products or service. These banners and images link directly to the Merchant’s store; to either the Merchant home page, or a specific product page within the Merchant website. A good Affiliate website therefore encourages the prospective purchaser to click through to the Merchant site and increase the chances of a sale for that Merchant.
HOW DO I KNOW WHICH AFFILIATE HAS GENERATED WHICH CUSTOMER TRAFFIC?
A mechanism is put in place to track the electronic cookies that are associated with Affiliate facilitated clicks. Outsourced companies specialise in this type of tracking leaving the Merchant to concentrate on the Merchandise and the Affiliate to concentrate on driving the customer to the Merchant store.
HOW DO I DETECT FRAUDULANT AFFILIATE ACTIVITY?
Unfortunately there is fraudulent activity across the internet and the battle against malware, spyware and adware is perpetual. By having your account managed by an industry leading outsourced Affiliate Program, Merchants enjoy the latest cutting edge in on-line security. The best Affiliate Programs vet and monitor their Affiliate’s activities and robust terms and conditions are put in place which sanction the withholding of Affiliate commission payments and lead to Affiliate account closure. Most Affiliates are Professional Marketers and robustly defend their integrity and the industries reputation to the point that their tight groups act as a ‘Neighborhood Watch’. Merchant Affiliate recommends Merchants join an Affiliate forum such as A Best Web which has an excellent section for FAQs and members keep up to date with the latest malpractices.
HOW DO I PAY MY AFFILIATES?
By having your account managed by an industry leading outsourced Affiliate Program, Merchants commission payments are managed through a comprehensive accounts section within the Affiliate Program. All a Merchant has to do is click ‘approve’ and the payment is made to the correct Affiliate seamlessly.
HOW CAN AN OUTSOURCED AFFILIATE PROGRAM HELP ME?
As a small or medium sized enterprise it is unlikely that you will have adequate resources to manage your affiliates directly. By outsourcing to a specialist affiliate marketing program you negate the need for in-house technology such as expensive hardware and software setups, tracking tools and the associated HR to run the systems. Merchant Affiliate recommends that the outsourced Affiliate Program should typically provide:
- All the Information Technology hardware, software and staff required to run the program
- A suite of security systems to combat spyware, malware, adware and other fraudulent activity
- Program Agreement = The Affiliate Contract
- A Merchant Account Manager providing day to day support for the Merchant
- A Merchant newbie checklist with timelines that will assist in development and the building of a solid foundation for their affiliate program launch.
- A forum where Merchants and the outsourced company can openly communicate with each other – normally a great place for hint and tips and best practice.
- Affiliate recruitment strategies
- Monitoring of Affiliate Applications
- Building and facilitation of the Merchant/Affiliate relationship
- Seamless communication links with the chosen Affiliates
- Support with Merchant Newsletter that will reach out to Affiliates
- A database of the Merchants’ inventory for Affiliates to utilise
- Datafeeds for Merchant store replication for use on the Affiliate website – with all products linking back to the Merchant shopping trolley.
- Processes to manage coupons, deals and special discounts
- A ‘Links’ database where Affiliates can grab the Merchant banners, images, deals and logo’s
- Comprehensive reporting tools giving the Merchant the ability to quickly see who their top affiliates are.
- Merchant report generator providing comprehensive account data
- A tracking system that ensures every sale that is made is confirmed and validated before the Merchant pays any commission
Merchant Affiliate recommends that great care is taken in selecting an Outsourced Affiliate Program. Use the list above as a check-list to ensure your chosen company can deliver what Merchants really need.
