Associate Programs Newsletter #30
CONTENTS:
1. Where to find the best newsletters
2. How to link to sections at Amazon.com
3. One or two-tier programs?
4. Outpost.com 3% – or Adguide 33%
5. Adguide offers $125 commission
6. TeknoSurf says no to 40 out of 40
7. Warning about CyberThrill – and more
8. Ways to get more traffic
9. Snippets
10. Articles at Asscociate Programs.com
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1. Where to find the best newsletters
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WELCOME to all the new readers who subscribed as a result of seeing the Associate Programs Newsletter mentioned on Scott Owen's new site, http://www.BestEzines.com .
If you're curious about who I am see
https://www.associateprograms.com/About-Us
Thanks, Scott, for ranking the Associate Programs Newsletter in your top six. I'm honored to be included among such illustrious company.
Scott asked me to review his site. It's neatly designed, has easy to understand navigation, and provides a good answer to a common question: “Which are the best newsletters?” Scott gives brief and in-depth reasons for his choices. If you have a list of links to useful resources, BestEzines.com deserves a place.
Scott says: “I am also producing an ezine of my own (imagine that, an ezine about ezines!) and your readers can subscribe by sending a blank message to:
subscribe AT bestezines.com .”
Highly recommended:
BestEzines.com
http://www.BestEzines.com
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2. How to link to sections at Amazon.com
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As regular readers know, this is a newsletter but sometimes I receive so many helpful contributions it looks more like an e-mail discussion list. I prefer to publish material which has not been sent anywhere else.
Lawrence Kellie generously shares information which will be useful for Amazon.com associates:
Hi Allan
Jenny Richard stated in the Associate Programs Newsletter #29 that one was “not able to link to sections of Amazon.”
I first thought that when I joined. However, I really wanted to link to Tom Clancy's August 1988 interview, so I wrote them and asked how to do it. It is really quite easy. You can do this for any page on Amazon's site.
First get the URL of the page. Below, is a “before” URL (cut into two lines).
amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/categories/
bestsellers/august-1998-clancy-interview/299881776648
Now you want to split the URL into three parts:
1. amazon.com/exec/obidos/
2. subst/categories/bestsellers/august-1998-clancy-interview
3. /299881776648
Throw away part 3, it's just the session ID.
Now, insert between parts 1 and 2 this phrase:
redirect?tag=YOUR-AMAZON-ID&path=subst/
Substituting your amazon ID for YOUR-AMAZON-ID.
When you are done, you will have a link looking something like this (cut into two lines):
amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=calacreekonlineb
&path=subst/categories/bestsellers/august-1998-clancy-interview
One thing to remember, do NOT have a closing forward slash. Notice there is none after the word “interview”.
This works for ANY page.
Lawrence R. Kellie
Sweepstakes! Free!
http://www.calacreek.com
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3. One or two-tier programs?
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Hi Allan,
…I am completely new to associate programs. I am starting one for my website but I don't know if I should go with a one or two-tier program…
Dave Roberts.
I reckon you have at least four options to consider:
1. The Amazon.com-style system where you aim to have many thousands of associates. Because there are so many of them you'll have very little control over how they promote your company. Some idiots will promote you using spam. Some who own extremely low-traffic sites will complain bitterly that your program is useless. However, you do have control over which sites you approve or reject, so you can reject people who look too amateurish. The huge advantage is that you will receive an enormous amount of very cheap publicity. Craig Belcher can set up a good, reliable budget-priced system for only $250.
affiliatezone.com/al/affiliates.cgi?associ
2. At the otherextreme, you could do what Declan Dunn did and choose a small, select group of associates whom you think are in a good position to achieve sales and who have a satisfactory image. Pay them very generously. That way you stay in control, knowing what everyone is saying about you and you can offer advice to anyone whose sales lag. Because you pay them generously, and they don't have much competition, they tend to promote your product with great enthusiasm. You don't have to cope with dumb questions because you are dealing only with experienced webmasters. This system will work well only if you can persuade reasonably busy sites to sign up, so you need an excellent product or service, such as Declan's “The Complete, Insider's Guide To Associate & Affiliate Programs”
[UPDATE:This product is no longer available. For the latest products I recommend see Affiliate Resources ]
3. You could maintain good control over what your associates are doing by giving them the exact code to paste into a page. For example, the Network Solutions graphic for domain name registration on the main page at AssociatePrograms.com today works that way. Network Solutions uses the sophisticated Be Free system. For details see http://www.befree.com Other companies do the opposite and encourage their associates to be creative in their promotions. They win friends but lose control – the choice is yours.
4. Have a two-tier commission structure with an automatic self-replicating web page and let the whole thing spread like wildfire (or a leapfrogging virus). Because of the two-tier structure, people promote you keenly, but because of the rapidly growing number of associates you may lose control over what they say. Some idiots will promote you using spam. All the amateurish beginners will love you, because even an intelligent eight-year-old can sign up. The self-replicating web page system makes things very easy for webmasters so you shouldn't have to answer too many questions. You could end up with a lot of associates who earn very little and some will say rude things about you, assuming that it is all your fault. From an associate's point of view, I like this system because I can make money from the efforts of people who sign up under me, although 80 to 90 percent of them won't make money for me. A fairly new example is “Auto Repair Rip-offs Exposed!” – kbs-direct.com/
5. Maybe the best answer is a two-tier commission structure which allows you to approve or reject sites. John Ferber of TeknoSurf operates his that way (although TeknoSurf pays out in FOUR different ways). John upsets the people he rejects and also upsets webmasters whose sites attract lots of beginners because there's a high rejection rate. However, the ones you approve will promote you keenly because of the two-tier structure. As an associate, I'm also keen on this system and tend to respect companies which choose associates carefully. As a merchant, this system would be my choice. I'll even go to the trouble of trying to persuade a top-rate e-marketer to sign up, because I will earn commissions on the money he makes. Paul Galloway will set up a two-tier system for you for $US199 if you do the installation and file preparation yourself or $US549 if Paul installs the software and prepares your files for you.
https://www.associateprograms.com/yoap
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4. Outpost.com 3% – or Adguide 33%
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Jim Morris of http://www.salesearcher.com complained to Outpost.com about its commission structure and asked me what I thought of the reply he received.
Jim wrote:
> I wish you would offer a higher payout. Your 3% payout is
> not very generous and does not get me motivated to sell!
> . . . I like your site but . . .
and received this reply:
Hi Jim,
. . . it's always helpful to hear from affiliates . . . makes us a better team! . . . unlike a lot of other computer related affiliate programs out there, our program is directly related to the fact that we sell both software AND hardware. And as anyone in the industry will tell you, the margins on hardware sales are incredibly tight – in fact, when put together with software, it generally averages out our margins at 10%. But the thing that is most important to keep in mind is that because we DO sell hardware, our average order size is $250 to $300. Even at 3% cash commission or 5% store credit commission, this adds up MUCH more quickly than books or CDs or software alone . .
Alissa
What is your feeling on this, Allan? I will give them one thing, they responded to me right away! However, with an answer that I expected. I would appreciate any comments you have on this. Thanks!
Jim
http://www.salesearcher.com
A huge problem with associate programs is that the customer is likely to buy from you only once, and then next time go straight to Amazon.com or Outpost.com or wherever. So if the company is clever enough, it is paying you a low fee to find a customer for life. ( PulseTV.com is one of the rare exceptions, paying commissions on subsequent visits.)
[UPDATE: The PulseTV affiliate program has been discontinued.]After experimenting with various programs, I've found that I tend to earn much more from companies with high commissions. (However, Irv Brechner, who has a great deal more experience than I have, disagrees. See Small payouts can be OK .) I also like pay-per-lead offers, where people don't have to buy something before I get paid.
There's a lot more to consider than just the commission, of course. If you have tried some of the products sold at Outpost.com you could write first-hand recommendations for them, which should increase your sales.
Why not try a test for a month or so? And I mean by being creative, not just putting up a banner or two. Act like a true partner, not just a banner host. Remember the example of ipromote.com – which was the top associate out of 1860 for the Internet News Bureau recently. You can build trust and achieve sales WITHOUT posting banner ads. ( ipromote.com does have an Internet News Bureau banner there, but the words play a far greater role.)
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5. Adguide offers $125 commission
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On the other hand, have you seen the new Adguide program, paying a generous 33% commission?
It could be worth while creating a new page, new section or even a new site to try to get a few of those commissions. Adguide's College Recruiter Employment Site says it pays an average of about $US125 on each sale.
(The Adguide program is new and I have no experience with it or its services, but I reckon the company deserves a medal for offering such a generous commission.)
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6. TeknoSurf says no to 40 out of 40
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Brooks Douglass writes:
Hi Allan,
We signed up for TeknoSurf and like the concept but dropped it after poor results. We referred 40 people in November but not a single one was approved. I know they can't accept every site but it is obvious that we are better off referring people to a program where we can benefit.
Brooks Douglass
BizBotWeekly.com
Sounds pretty disastrous, but I still like TeknoSurf. Here's why:
Everyone you send there won't apply to join. As well as that, John Ferber is very selective and the program obviously works much better for some people than others. I presume if you send a lot of beginners with amateurish sites you'll have a low success rate. John says he has “the fastest growing pay-per-click network in the world”. If that's true, he must still be signing up lots of sites, and that means lots of $5 and $2 referral fees.
I just checked my online stats. In December I've sent 361 people to TeknoSurf. Of those who applied to join the network, 19 were approved, earning me $95 (US). As well, I earned another $24 from the $2 second-tier payments.
In December I've given TeknoSurf banner 1,644 impressions on the bottom of Best two tier affiliate programs – a page with a lot of competing good links. From those 1,631 impressions, I earned $12.98, and the click-through ratio has kept improving steadily.
John says he uses intelligent tracking which decides which banners perform best on individual sites – and then serves more of them. It's certainly true on my site. The income has steadily increased, as has the click-through ratio, which is now 3.52%.
Oh, and I nearly forgot, I'll earn an extra one cent from each of the clicks on all those other sites belonging to webmasters I've referred.
Over all, it still looks good to me. Sorry, this one is not suitable for low-traffic sites.
[UPDATE: TeknoSurf is now Advertising.com.]=======================================
7. Warning about CyberThrill – and more
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Bryan Butler writes:
CyberThrill.com is such a cheat!!!!! I am very, VERY unhappy with CyberThrill's dishonest ways. They stopped recording my clicks, and when I e-mailed them about it, all I got was an automatic response saying they would e-mail me back ASAP. And that was quite a while ago! Also, beware of Fantasy Casino. It is the same as CyberThrill! Actually, they are made by the same people! They try to hide it but they don't do a very good job at all. Do NOT sign up with CyberThrill! You will be sorry!
Bryan Butler
HotBot – Search smarter.
http://www.hotbot.com
Thanks. I've had a warning about CyberThrill posted on AssociatePrograms.com for quite a while. The news about CyberThrill is so bad there's even a web ring devoted to spreading warnings.
If you wish to avoid the busy CyberThrill people, also avoid their other creations: Avatar Casino, CasinoLove, Cash for Clicks, and CasinoClassic. (Mark Welch of MarkWelch.com did the research that provided those names.)
As a general rule, if webmasters are not prepared to put their name on their site, that lapse should start warning bells ringing. Ask yourself: “Who are they? What are they ashamed of?”
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8. Ways to get more traffic
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JP Sauve writes:
Hello Allan,
Thanks again for your newsletter. I receive about a dozen monthly, and always look forward to yours the most . . . [could you please]
1. List some sponsors that are geared to entertainment sites.
2. Is time better spent increasing traffic to your site, or creating new sites?
Thanks,
JP Sauve
http://www.justsurfing.com
Nice to hear from you. In answer to your questions. . .
1. Perhaps you could try writing reviews of the products sold by PulseTV.com. [UPDATE: Program closed.]
2. More sites give you more chances of being found in search engines and more linking opportunities, but so do more good pages. Somehow, you have to try to stand out from all the millions of pages out there. Whatever you do, remember that it's the high quality, useful sites which get lots of wonderful free publicity when people recommend them. For example, consider all the people willing to give http://www.wilsonweb.com a free mention because of the usefulness of the marketing advice and links.
3. Another way to get attention is to do something a little unexpected, such as Sunni Freyer has in the relaxation area at http://www.cfnaonline.com . If you're lucky, people will talk about such things.
[UPDATE: For much more comprehensive, up-to-date techniques on getting website traffic, 2008-style, I recommend John Reese's course, Traffic Secrets 2.0. Here's my review of Traffic Secrets 2.0.]===========
9. Snippets
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Simple Replicator
David Hasbrouck has launched a Simple Replicator program in which you can start your own affiliate program for $49, plus a set-up fee of $30. Looks tempting . . . I can join up and not pay the $30 set-up fee, and just sell his program. But wait a minute. That means I would be paying $50 to join his program when most are free to join. I think I'll give it a miss.
replicator2000.com
Cheap long distance rates
Among interesting programs added to the Associate Programs Directory this week was one for RateSaver, which promises to find you “the cheapest long distance rates anywhere in the world”. Could be worth trying. I've added it to the list of two-tier commission programs at
Best two tier affiliate programs
Better commissions
The Net One – Search Engine has improved its payout rate. As well as paying a pay-per-sale commission on advertising sales it now also pays two cents per click. I'll leave the cute little button graphic on my main page at AssociatePrograms.com and see how it performs.
How usable is your site?
I was interviewed recently by John S. Rhodes of http://www.WebWord.com . John, a “Human Factors Engineer and Usability Professional”, asked me to explain how associate programs can be used to improve the usability of web sites. “It is a great interview. Folks are going to really benefit from it,” John says.
http://www.WebWord.com/interviews/gardyne.html
B&N has magazines
“Anonymous” comments on my praise of Amazon.com: “Yah, but you can't get magazines at Amazon.com. Thus, your revenue potential is greater at Barnes & Noble.”
New search engine
Worldprofit, Inc. has launched a new search engine – worldsearchcenter.com . Co-founder George Kosch says the power of the engine to search out and index web sites “is unmatched by ANY existing search engine”. I was planning to submit my URL but discovered that AssociatePrograms.com is already listed. It must be a pretty smart search engine!
Promotion ideas
I keep receiving more questions than I have time to answer. Many of them can be answered by Joshua Reimer's Internet marketing tutorial:
http://www.promotionworld.com/tutorial/
Baby Center pays 20%
The Baby Center has launched a new affiliate program tracked by Be Free. It looks a well designed, professional site with a huge range of products. The Baby Center is offering 20% commission on sales if you sign up before January 31, 1999. It looks a good one if it suits your site's theme.
http://www.babycenter.com/affiliates/
Top money-earners
People keep asking me, so here they are: My top money-earning associate program is Corey Rudl's “The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet”
https://www.associateprograms.com/corey
It is being strongly challenged by the AIS programs.
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