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    Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing
    Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing
    Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing
    Ebook155 pages1 hour

    Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing

    By Pete Prestipino

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    About this ebook

    Affiliate marketing is something that seems so very accessible - buy a domain name and website, put up some affiliate offers, and wait on the check to arrive. The reality is more complicated. Website Magazine's Affiliate 360 book addresses the fundamentals of performance-based marketing and provides access to proven strategies, and the most powerful tools and reliable techniques available today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPete Prestipino
    Release dateMay 31, 2012
    ISBN9781476096537
    Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing
    Author

    Pete Prestipino

    Peter Prestipino is the Editor-In-Chief of Website Magazine, a print and online trade publication founded in 2005 for Internet business professionals. Prestipino is a long-time Internet marketer with over twelve years of experience, a regular speaker on Web technology and entreprenuership, and is a respected writer and expert on a variety of Web-related topics including the development, deployment and promotion of Internet properties.

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      Book preview

      Affiliate 360 - Pete Prestipino

      AFFILIATE 360: FUNDAMENTALS OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING

      By

      Peter Prestipino

      * * * * *

      PUBLISHED BY:

      Website Magazine on Smashwords

      Affiliate 360

      Copyright © 2012 by Peter Prestipino

      *****

      AFFILIATE 360: FUNDAMENTALS OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING

      *****

      Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: Before Getting Started

      Chapter 2: Affiliate Fundamentals

      Chapter 3: The Rules of Engagement

      Chapter 4: The Right Program and Products

      Chapter 5: Models, Networks and Merchants

      Chapter 6: Content in Affiliate Marketing

      Chapter 7: Affiliate Tools and Skills of the Trade

      Chapter 8: Email, Community, Getting Social

      Chapter 9: Advertising and Arbitrage

      Chapter 10: Key Analytics for Affiliates

      Chapter 11: Affiliates and Domain Names

      Chapter 12: Web Design for Affiliate Marketers

      Supplements:

      Being the Merchant

      20 Challenges for Performance Marketers

      Final Thoughts

      Affiliate Glossary.

      Introduction

      I After 12 years as an Internet professional – as a content producer, project manager, Web designer, application developer, search engine optimizer, Internet advertising specialist and Editor-in-Chief of Website Magazine, I realize that the majority of Web workers have at one time or another considered affiliate marketing. Generating revenue either by directly assisting in the sales process or by referring end-users to the products and services of merchants, content publishers and software providers can be an inviting and extremely lucrative endeavor.

      If you have not considered it yourself, it may be because you are unaware that the practice even exists. Or, you may be one of many website owners who know about affiliate marketing but are struggling with its execution. Affiliate 360 from Website Magazine will change that.

      Website Magazine conducted a Facebook poll in the summer of 2011 to gauge our readers’ awareness of affiliate marketing, and the results were surprising to say the least. While over 90 percent of respondents were familiar with affiliate marketing, 25 percent indicated that the practice is something they have never attempted. Most disconcerting was the fact that just 8 percent considered themselves super-affiliates who are incredibly successful at performance-based marketing, while over 60 percent indicated that affiliate marketing is something they struggle with and/or will not try again.

      Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the practice of affiliate or performance-based marketing, is it?

      But opportunities abound for affiliate marketers on the Web today. It is often through affiliate programs that aspiring online superstars gain their first exposure to massive or even substantial ’Net profits. While it can be argued that there are easier ways to generate an income or supplement existing revenues, affiliate marketing remains the best option for many who are looking to make their way onto the Web without substantial up-front investments of time and money.

      Too many digital workers seeking the immense affiliate profits that are so routinely promised do not understand the first thing about how to turn their virtual goals and dreams into realities. As a result, many of them fail. That is not only unfortunate but also, more importantly, unnecessary. These marketers invest both time and resources – sometimes heavily and often hastily – and spin their virtual wheels while getting little to nothing in return. This does not have to be the case, regardless of their level of expertise or the niche in which they will be competing.

      If there were actually a secret to affiliate success, besides working hard, it is the importance of setting expectations and mastering the fundamental elements of success on the Web. Expectations are important, but nothing is more essential than mastering the fundamental techniques and tactics of marketing on the Web in general. This is what Affiliate 360 aims to provide – a foundation for you, the reader, to understand the challenges and opportunities in affiliate marketing so that you can shorten your road to Web success. This book provides practical tools and effective strategies for achieving success as an affiliate from some of the best minds in the performance-marketing industry. Affiliate 360 is not only a business book but also an action plan for achieving success as an affiliate marketer.

      Perhaps an explanation of Web success is in order. Just as every person is different, each person’s definition of success will also be different. For some, earning money will be the ultimate objective, while for others, earning lots of money will be their goal. Still others will claim their definition of success is to avoid having to work in an office every day so they can spend more time with their families, or to earn the respect of peers and colleagues within their industries. However one defines success, the fact of the matter is that there are many definitions.

      Understanding what motivates and compels you to succeed will help ensure that you are on the right path towards achieving the level of success that awaits you. Do not proceed without knowing what you really want.

      It is important to take heed and know that the road to true profitability as an affiliate is a long one, but that it can be successfully traveled. In fact, what is still amazing to me is the number of stories I continue to hear about affiliate marketers who achieved their initial expectations and then went on to exceed them in extraordinary fashion. It is an exciting and inviting prospect that should inspire you to keep your virtual nose to the Web grindstone, but such levels of success cannot be obtained without a formal structure and a great deal of hard work. This is where Affiliate 360 will make a difference.

      Affiliate 360 from Website Magazine will provide startup affiliates with a framework to achieve greater profits from the beginning. It will also provide intermediate-level affiliates who are struggling with the monetization of their Web properties ideas on how to take their activities to the next level. For advanced and even super-affiliates, this book will provide ways to secure their positions and ideas with which to extend their dominance.

      Affiliate 360 comes at an important time in the evolution of the Web. With mounting legal challenges, growing consumer trust obstacles and dwindling revenue shares, only the savviest marketers who are genuinely excited about future possibilities remain competitive. Now is the time to monetize through affiliate programs, so let’s get started.

      Best Web Wishes,

      Peter Prestipino

      Editor-in-Chief, Website Magazine

      Author of Web 360 and Affiliate 360

      Chapter 1

      Before Getting Started

      From a distance, affiliate-marketing riches can appear easily attainable: buy a domain name, launch a website, put up some affiliate offers and wait for the checks to arrive. The reality is far more complicated, which is why the preparation phase is so critical to long-term success.

      There are three very important lessons addressed in this chapter, and they should all be taken seriously before proceeding into an affiliate-marketing practice. Even if you are an experienced affiliate – no matter what your current level of success – these are important points to revisit from time to time. A formal definition of affiliate will be established, some dangerous myths will be discredited, and the beginnings of a formal plan to actually become a working and profitable affiliate will begin to emerge. These are the first steps for affiliate marketers and they are, without question, the most important to realizing your goals.

      Know before proceeding that affiliate programs are just one method of generating income on the Web. For many marketers, it is their reason for being and their sole source of revenue, but you will discover throughout Affiliate 360 that there are dozens of ways to profit from websites and online businesses, affiliate marketing warrants the greatest interest among Web professionals – both novices and experts throughout numerous industries.

      The reason? Monetizing a website in the affiliate way is both efficient and, when done well, can be immensely rewarding.

      A Working Definition of Affiliate

      So what exactly is affiliate marketing? In its simplest explanation, affiliate marketing is a practice in which a business compensates a person, website or other business for each online visitor or customer that results from the affiliate’s Web marketing efforts. It is also known as performance marketing, because the rewards are based directly on these measurable results. Sounds pretty simple, but there is more. Much more.

      There are four key groups in the affiliate marketing industry, and there can be quite a bit of overlap in some instances. The four groups include the following:

      1) the merchant – the entity looking to sell something or generate a lead for its sales team;

      2) the affiliate – often known as the publisher;

      3) the affiliate network – the intermediary between publishers and merchants, and, the most important group,

      4) consumers/buyers/website visitors.

      To understand how it works, let’s look at an example. Let’s say that I am a merchant selling car parts. There is a segment of the population, often a large segment, to which I am unable to market based purely on limitations such as budget and time – perhaps even geography. I know, however, that I can increase my sales with little risk by employing independent workers/salespeople (affiliates) and establishing an affiliate program. While going directly to prospective affiliates is an option, for our purposes let’s say that I use an affiliate network.

      Due to my budget and time constraints, I estimate that I can currently access only 25 percent of the potential buyers of car parts. But through the use of an affiliate network, which recruits and manages my affiliate partners, those affiliates will market my products to their existing audiences in exchange for a commission or bounty. For example, perhaps one such prospective affiliate operates a weblog on automobiles and another on auto repair tips. Expanding a sales force in the affiliate way presents a low-risk, high-reward opportunity for merchants and service-providers looking to accelerate and maximize sales – as affiliates are only compensated when the end-users they refer take the predefined action.

      Affiliate marketers are the individual vehicles by which a vast amount of sales revenue is generated each year on the Web. Most merchants are well aware of this community’s Web knowledge and appreciate a good affiliate’s ability to drive buyer activity and to understand the opportunities that are present, as well as the threats that exist.

      There is simply no way that merchants can reach all of the potential buying population on their own. Affiliate marketers can effectively come to their rescue, but merchants do pay for the privilege of accessing those potential buyers that only their affiliates can reach.

      Get Rich Quick? Get Real First

      The industry of affiliate marketing has been of great importance to the Web business world since its inception and now accounts for billions of dollars annually. Marketing Sherpa’s research team estimated that, even back in 2006, affiliates worldwide earned $6.5 billion in bounty and commissions from

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