HAVAH HOPE WROTE:
> I was looking into affiliate marketing programs and
> wondering if they really work.
>
> BeFree wants a $5000 set up fee plus 2% commission
> subject to monthly minimums. Am I really going to
> generate the kind of sales I need to justify such an
> expense?
>
> We can't go for the free programs, because we have a
> policy of not placing other's banners on our site, so I
> am not looking for an exchange program.
Regarding Affiliate Programs - If you are selling
anything online I'd strongly recommend you seriously
consider affiliate programs.
I'm coming at this from the affiliate member side of
things, DVDTalk.com is a member of a TON of affiliate
programs (see the complete list:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/support.html) and so I've seen
how different business have used their affiliate
channel to grow their business. Here are some lessons
learned from the best affiliate programs we are a
member of:
- Affiliates aren't just an inexpensive way to make
sales, they are a team of sites which you can leverage
to build your brand.
- In a recent DVDTalk.com survey we found that 50% of
all our customers visit a site directly when we mention
it. So you'll get sales from your affiliate channel
that you don't pay anything for.
- Your Affiliates are a sales channel both to sell
through and to sell to! If you play your cards right
(market to your affiliates as customers) your
affiliates can also be some of your top customers.
- Treat your Affiliates like an extension of your team:
this means regular e-mail communication with them to
keep them informed and motivated.
- Separate your affiliates in to two groups, take your
top 10% performers and treat them like top sales
people, it will pay off and then some.
- Send free stuff to your affiliates, goodies are like
gold and you can get people to display links and
banners often for the cost of a book, CD or DVD.
- Dedicate a resource to interacting w/ your
affiliates, if you don't have the resources for an
affiliate problem it may do more harm than good.
Hope these lessons learned are helpful.
Geoffrey Kleinman
talk_at_dvdtalk.com
Founder
http://www.DVDTalk.com
Received on Thu Dec 23 1999 - 13:27:26 CST
