Performance Marketing Association has posted an important news earlier today. Apparently, the state of Virginia that faces a close to 4 billion budget deficit this year, has not included the affiliate tax (the bill for which was tabled by the House finance sub-committee on 24 February) in the budget bill. PMA wrote:
We just received hopeful news: the Virginia budget conferees did not include the ad tax language in the budget bill they submitted today. There is one more step to go: the governor needs to sign the bill into law. We don’t expect him to ask for the ad tax to get put back, but this isn’t over until the budget is signed.
We’ll now wait for Governor McDonnell’s signature, knowing that he rules out tax increases as a solution for Virginia’s budget shortfall, and trusting everything goes well for Virginia-based affiliates.
Tags: advertising tax, affiliate sales tax, affiliate tax, amazon tax, virginia affiliates
In the U.K. an ad agency has developed a tool that seeks to leverage the growing popularity of Social Media introducing affiliate marketing to the wider masses (essentially, anyone who is on Facebook can use it, and earn money through it).
Dan Clays of BLM Quantum that has created the tool says that the “Social Affiliate” tool “will open up affiliate marketing beyond typical channels to anyone who has a web space” as brands will benefit “by aligning with sites run by fans who are more likely to drive a sale, while site owners can generate revenues from their Facebook page or blog.”
The first brand to try the tool out will be Domino’s Pizza. They have already signed a contract with BLM Quantum to be the pioneer here. MarketingWeek.co.uk writes:
The pizza delivery firm has signed a deal with digital agency BLM Quantum, part of Arena BLM, to test a new “social affiliate” tool, a widget that combines social media and affiliate marketing.
Any consumer that uses the widget will be able to promote products or services within a framework of designated brand guidelines. They can then earn money whenever a sale is driven from their ad.
They will be able to track the sales generated through their web page on a dashboard, which has been created by BLM Quantum and runs on the Affiliate Window network reporting system. [underlining mine]
It is being claimed that this is the “world’s first” tool in its class. This may be a good PR move, but I do not believe this to be any kind of breakthrough. Widgets that have sought to monetize on Social Media’s popularity have been out there for a while already. Amazon has been offering affiliate widgets since 2007 [see here], and many blogs are using them alongside Google AdSense units. Also, a post by Linda Bustos that goes 2 years back, and talks about monetizing Facebook and MySpace profile pages, comes to mind. Additionally, some affiliate networks (and stand-alone affiliate programs) also offer merchants (and/or affiliates) capabilities of creating their own widgets. So, neither the thought of monetizing “sites run by fans”, nor the idea of doing it through widgets are new, but it will be interesting to see how this develops.
Tags: affiliate tool, affiliate widget, blog widget, social media affiliates
Some of these have been announced earlier elsewhere, while others are really fresh baked, but here are the 4 new tools I haven’t yet blogged about, and want to mention them before I get swamped with other topics for blog posts:
1) NexusAware Database — it is a brand new (and one of a kind) database created by the good folks at GTO Management for affiliates to be able to find out by state what any specific merchant’s nexus status is.
2) Affiliate Aquarium by ShareASale — a new social network for affiliate marketers. Created for ShareASale-based merchants and affiliates as a “more open communication platform” where mutual interests would facilitate a deeper level of interaction. More at ShareASale’s and AffiliateTip blogs.
3) Deeplink Generator by Buy.at — a FireFox add-on which makes deep linking as easy as a click of a button. Read more about it at Affiliates4u and AffiliateTip blogs. Also, here’s an excellent comparison of all similar tools by Keith Bond: One Click Deep Linking – Affiliate Network Tools.
4) Gift Cards Database by LinkShare — a compilation of this particular network’s advertisers, which shows publishers/affiliates which merchants pay commission on gift cards, together with info on trademark bidding and direct linking restrictions.
Have I missed a tool (or development) that has recently come out? Feel free to post about it below.
Today I have had a chance to interview Jen Goode, a Colorado-based affiliate marketer and business owner, to get her inside perspective on the Colorado Internet sales tax bill, Amazon’s termination of Colorado affiliate accounts, and other related questions.
Here is the interview:
GP: Once again, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed on the topic, Jen. I know how passionate you are about it, and I really appreciate you dedicating the time to this.
JG: Geno, thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective on this issue. Getting involved in fighting the Ad Tax in Colorado has definitely been a learning experience and whirl wind at that. Let me preface all this by saying I am by no means claiming to be an expert on this topic. I am not a political guru, nor do I know the exact thought processes or reasonings behind what Amazon or the legislators are doing — I am merely sharing my views as I see them.
GP: Jen, besides being a good friend, a talented artist, blogger, and a great affiliate marketer, you’ve been an active advocate for affiliate marketing in Colorado. Could you give us a quick overview of what has happened in Colorado as far as the so-called “Amazon tax” goes?
JG: I came home from a series of business trips in early February to hear that HB-1193, the Colorado Internet Tax bill, was on the table and being debated/discussed down at the capitol. It literally popped up overnight. Before I had returned home, there had already been a hearing in the House where there was a fantastic turn out of Colorado affiliates opposing the bill and testifying on behalf of the industry. The Colorado affiliate community began working together to contact legislators — sending letters, making calls and even visiting the House and Senate offices to speak to legislators in person. The bill then moved to the Senate Finance Committee where again the troops were rallied to show support and testify. At this point, with the help of countless people, the legislators and affiliates had worked together to drastically change the language of HB-1193 so that the affiliates were removed all together. The state government knew they would be passing the bill regardless — so the primary goal was to help protect the residents of Colorado, the Affiliates. The bill then moved on to the Senate floor — and again it passed. The bill traveled back to the House for a final vote and then on to the Governor for his signature.
The State officials were satisfied that the bill no longer endangered the livelihoods of the affiliates and the affiliates were happier that they were no longer a direct piece of the bill’s language — although many were relieved, I believe the affiliate community was still in a “wait and see” mode. The fact there was a bill at all that passed, we’d never crossed this bridge before so we didn’t know where it would lead.
GP: Monday morning (8 March, 2010) all Colorado-based affiliates were terminated from Amazon.com’s affiliate program. I’ve seen you say you’re “very tired of all the ignorant comments by press and opposition that Amazon is holding CO affiliates hostage or using CO affiliates”. What exactly is your take on all of this? What is Amazon doing, and what should Colorado affiliates do now?
JG: First I have to say that statement was made because I am tired of the media sensationalizing the story� against the “big bad Amazon”. 
I realize the media is being media, but it’s irritating. Yesterday I had the chance to speak with the Denver Post — the reporter didn’t particularly like that I was not simply agreeing with him about evil Amazon. I’m not mentioned in any of the stories the Post published today (grin). The media is reporting from very biased angles, sharing information yet not understanding the industry. When we cried for media help during the bill debates and hearings, they weren’t interested. But now that there is a big corporate America guy appearing to avoid paying taxes, it’s all over the news.
I’m also tired of legislators again pointing the finger at Amazon as being greedy and bullying. Over and over we’ve heard that “it’s just not fair” to our local businesses. In the business world, sales tax is not the biggest obstacle to becoming competitive. I don’t want to come across as disrespectful. I sympathize with the local business owners struggling to keep up with internet retailers. I can relate — I am a local business owner — I even sell in brick and mortar retail shops. But sales tax is not the differentiator and definitely not when it’s handled on a state by state case.
I feel that Amazon is purely working on their own agenda — which to many can be construed as bulldozing over everyone else. I don’t like the tactic and I am not happy that I can no longer promote Amazon products, mainly because it’s a brand everyone knows and trusts and the prices are fantastic… So from a business perspective, it’s a great merchant to work with. But Amazon has bigger issues than just Colorado’s take on Sale Tax or Use Tax or any Internet related legislation. Amazon is in a batter across the country. I don’t know the logistics and I don’t know the details. I am just looking at it from a very speculative business view — a federal tax would better serve the cause.
I had the opportunity to speak with Senator Johnston for a few minutes yesterday — he is one of our opposition. Right now those who like this bill are claiming that Amazon “simply doesn’t want to pay sales tax and is holding affiliates hostage to avoid paying taxes”. I believe this is simply not true. His argument was that Amazon is already dealing with taxes for Target. I believe the technical tax aspect for Amazon is much more complicated and involved than any of the legislators comprehend. I wish Amazon could explain it more clearly and obviously than the big bully actions they have to take. I asked Senator Johnston if he had spoken with Amazon about their view of paying sales tax and if he has asked them if they would pay a sales tax if it were a nationwide/federal mandated tax vs individual state taxes. He said “no” but did say he would contact them. Let follow up on that in a few weeks.
Right now those on our side understand the pain and the need to fix the problem, they are in the minority, their hands are tied. Those against us (even when claiming they are for us) are simply putting the blame on Amazon and won’t budge. They are claiming they are fighting for the little guy. So there isn’t much we can do in the way of expecting the law to change. We won’t be heard and we’re only be fueling the fire that Amazon is bad. The more we show how much we’ve lost or the impact because of Amazon, the worse Amazon looks and the more they want Amazon to pay.
What I think we can do, however, is let those legislators on our “team” know that we are here if they need us. Ask them how we can help. Currently the Republicans are on our side. I think a few Democrats might be as well, but Colorado is too partisan right now to really tell. But more importantly take care of our businesses and families first. Don’t wait for the government to fix the problem, be proactive and work on a solution for your own situation. If you are looking for replacement merchants and want to be extra protected, there is a new service provided by GTO Management that allows you to search for merchants based on their involvement in state tax or nexus status called Nexus Aware.
I also recommend — with any business — diversify. It’s important not to put all your eggs in one single basket (to be a bit cliche) without a plan “just in case”. If you build your business entirely around one merchant, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to issues out of your control. Not a good idea.
Some other things affiliates can do to help:
- Educate your merchants. Let them know that the Colorado internet tax does not apply to affiliates nor nexus.
- Get to know your legislators so you can educate them on the way this industry works, most really have no comprehension of the enormity of this industry let alone how it all works.
- Build relationships within the industry so that when issues like this arise, you’re not alone trying to figure out what to do next.
GP: What do you recommend online merchants do in connection with the ever-growing number of states considering similar, or most of the time more affiliate-focused tax laws?
JG: This is a tricky question. I am not very versed in legal terms and definitely not in the position to give business nor legal advice. However, I think it is extremely important that merchants really understand these laws and how they will impact their businesses. Prior to Amazon’s termination I received notice that I was not longer eligible in two other programs… Just because I am in Colorado. Merchants need to not simply hear “ad tax passed” and have a knee-jerk reaction. In the case of Colorado, affiliates or nt, the bill applies to all online merchants — so dumping affiliates does no good. Amazon is acting out of of a bigger cause than simply affiliate nexus issues.
GP: Thank you, Jen. I certainly echo most of what you have said above. Once again, thank you for your time.
Here are my 5 questions:
Geno, thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective on this issue. Getting involved in fighting the Ad Tax in Colorado has definitely been a learning experience and whirl wind at that. Let me preface all this by saying I am by no means claiming to be an expert on this topic. I am not a politic guru nor do I know the exact thought processes or reasonings behind what Amazon or the legislators are doing � I am merely sharing my views as I see them.
- Jen, besides being a good friend, a talented artist <http://www.jgoodedesigns.com/> , and a great affiliate marketer, you’ve been an active advocate for affiliate marketing <http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com/blog/2010/02/17/shout-out-jen-goode/> in Colorado. Could you give us a quick overview of what has happened in Colorado as far as the so-called “Amazon tax” goes?
I came home from a series of business trips in early February to hear that HB-1193, the Colorado Internet Tax bill, was on the table and being debated/discussed down at the captial. It literally popped up overnight. Before I had returned home, there had already been a hearing in the House where there was a fantastic turn out of Colorado affiliates opposing the bill and testifying on behalf of the industry. The Colorado affiliates community began working together to contact legislators � sending letters, making calls and even visiting the House and Senate offices to speak to legislators in person. The bill then moved to the Senate Finance Committee where again the troops were rallied to show support and testify. At this point, with the help of countless people, the legislators and affiliates had worked together to drastically change the language of HB-1193 so that the affiliates were removed all together. The state government knew they would be passing the bill regardless � so the primary goal was to help protect the residents of Colorado, the Affiliates. The bill then moved on to the Senate floor � and again it passed. The bill traveled back to the House for a final vote and then on to the Governor for his signature.
The State officials were satisfied that the bill no longer endangered the livelihoods of the affiliates and the affiliates were happier that they were no longer a direct piece of the bill�s language � although many were relieved, I believe the affiliate community was still in a �wait and see� mode. The fact there was a bill at all that passed, we�d never crossed this bridge before so we didn�t know where it would lead.
Then Monday morning (March 8th, 2010), Amazon terminated all of the Colorado affiliates. The exact reasoning, I don�t know. I can speculate that it�s not personal, it�s not Amazon against Colorado � it�s Amazon against state mandated sales tax laws.
—————— this might be a completely different question 
� sorry to ramble ———————–
First I have to say that statement was made because I am tired of the media sensationalizing the story against the �big bad Amazon�. I realize the media is being media, but it�s irritating. Yesterday I had the chance to speak with the Denver Post � the reporter didn�t particularly like that I was not simply agreeing with him about evil Amazon. I�m not mentioned in any of the stories the Post published today (grin). The media is reporting from very biased angles, sharing information yet not understanding the industry. When we cried for media help during the bill debates and hearings, they weren�t interested. But now that there is a big corporate America guy appearing to avoid paying taxes, it�s all over the news.
I�m also tired of legislators again pointing the finger at Amazon as being greedy and bullying. Over and over we�ve heard that �it�s just not fair� to our local businesses. In the business world, sales tax is not the biggest obstacle to becoming competitive. I don�t want to come across as disrespectful. I sympathize with the local business owners struggling to keep up with internet retailers. I can relate � I am a local business owner � I even sell in brick and mortar retail shops. But sales tax is not the differentiator and definitely not when it�s handled on a state by state case.
————————————————
I feel that Amazon is purely working on their own agenda � which to many can be construed as bulldozing over everyone else. I don�t like the tactic and I am not happy that I can no longer promote Amazon products, mainly because it�s a brand everyone knows and trusts and the prices are fantastic… So from a business perspective, it�s a great merchant to work with. But Amazon has bigger issues than just Colorado�s take on sale tax or Use tax or any internet related legislation. Amazon is in a batter across the country. I don�t know the logistics and I don�t know the details. I am just looking at it from a very speculative business view � a federal tax would better serve the cause.
I had the opportunity to speak with Senator Johnston for a few minutes yesterday � he is one of our opposition. Right now those who like this bill are claiming that Amazon �simply doesn�t want to pay sales tax and is holding affiliates hostage to avoid paying taxes�. I believe this is simply not true. His argument was that Amazon is already dealing with taxes for Target. I believe the technical tax aspect for Amazon is much more complicated and involved than any of the legislators comprehend. I wish Amazon could explain it more clearly and obviously than the big bully actions they have to take. I asked Senator Johnston if he had spoken with Amazon about their view of paying sales tax and if he has asked them if they would pay a sales tax if it were a nationwide/federal mandated tax vs individual state taxes. He said �no� but did say he would contact them. Let follow up on that in a few weeks.
Right now those on our side understand the pain and the need to fix the problem, they are in the minority, their hands are tied. Those against us (even when claiming they are for us) are simply putting the blame on Amazon and won�t budge. They are claiming they are fighting for the little guy. So there isn�t much we can do in the way of expecting the law to change. We won�t be heard and we�re only be fueling the fire that Amazon is bad. The more we show how much we�ve lost or the impact because of Amazon, the worse Amazon looks and the more they want Amazon to pay.
What I think we can do, however, is let those legislators on our �team� know that we are here if they need us. Ask them how we can help. Currently the Republicans are on our side. I think a few Democrats might be as well, but Colorado is too partisan right now to really tell. But more importantly take care of our businesses and families first. Don�t wait for the government to fix the problem, be proactive and work on a solution for your own situation. If you are looking for replacement merchants and want to be extra protected, there is a new service provided by GTO Management that allows you to search for merchants based on their involvement in state tax or nexus status called Nexus Aware (http://www.nexusaware.com).
I also recommend � with any business � diversify. It�s important not to put all your eggs in one single basket (to be a bit clich�) without a plan �just in case�. If you build your business entirely around one merchant, you�re leaving yourself vulnerable to issues out of your control. Not a good idea.
Some other things affiliates can do to help:
- Educate your merchants. Let them know that the Colorado internet tax does not apply to affiliates nor nexus.
- Get to know your legislators so you can educate them on the way this industry works, most really have no comprehension of the enormity of this industry let alone how it all works.
- Build relationships within the industry so that when issues like this arise, you�re not alone trying to figure out what to do next.
3) What do you recommend online merchants do in connection with the ever-growing number of states considering similar, or most of the time more affiliate-focused tax laws?
This is a tricky question. I am not very versed in legal terms and definitely not in the position to give business nor legal advice. However, I think it is extremely important that merchants really understand these laws and how they will impact their businesses. Prior to Amazon�s termination I received notice that I was not longer eligible in two other programs… Just because I am in Colorado. Merchants need to not simply hear �ad tax passed� and have a knee-jerk reaction. In the case of Colorado, affiliates or nt, the bill applies to all online merchants � so dumping affiliates does no good. Amazon is acting out of of a bigger cause than simply affiliate nexus issues.
Once again, thanks in advance, and looking forward to your reply, my friend.
Tags: advertising tax, affiliate tax, colorado affiliates, colorado internet sales tax, internet sales tax
Brad Crooks, a Colorado-based photographer and affiliate marketer, has posted an important link on his Facebook wall — a link to Tax Foundation’s new report on the harm and failures of the affiliate/advertising tax:
I have purposely highlighted, Brook Schaaf’s comment which I echo 100%. I agree that calling it an “Amazon tax” narrows (and shifts) the focus, and does a disservice to the affiliate marketing industry, hiding the real damage done to thousands of small businesses. I was happy to see though that the Tax Foundation has actually got their conclusions right, stressing that that such “taxes are unlikely to produce revenue in the near term”, burdening interstate commerce, and harming economic growth. Also, some states have already “seen a drop in income tax collections due to the law” instead of the originally projected budget increase [more here]. They will, because in states that decide to collect the affiliate tax, merchants (sad, but true) instead of collecting the tax, often choose to terminate their business relationship with affiliates, thereby removing their liability for the tax collection. Such merchant solutions cause a great harm to thousands of local affiliate marketing businesses, negatively impacting their income.
Tags: advertising tax, affiliate tax, amazon tax, internet sales tax
Earlier today Colorado-based affiliates participating in the Amazon Associates program (Amazon’s affiliate program) have received a notice of immediate termination. Shawn Collins posted the full text of it here. Here’s an excerpt:
Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.
We and many others strongly oppose this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states…
Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date… [key points underlined by me]
The law Amazon is referring to is the Colorado Internet Sales Act signed by Governor Ritter on February 25, 2010 [more here]. What surprises me is that amazon is intending “to continue to sell to Colorado residents”, but not through Colorado-bases affiliates. Upon reading Brian Strahle’s post on the matter, Melanie Seery’s post, and this article at TheDenverChannel.com, I was under an impression that this law affects all online merchants doing business with Colorado residents. However, Amazon is making it clear that they are not withdrawing from Colorado altogether, but are ceasing relationships with their Colorado affiliates only.
Is Amazon doing this to draw the Colorado government’s attention to the matter once again, and do this through affiliates (again)? It certainly seemslike it, as the above-referenced letter to Colorado-based affiliates also says:
…we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.
You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly [http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/directory?openframeset=] and to Governor Ritter [http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovRitter/GOVR/1177024890452], who signed the bill.
I thought affiliates have already expressed their views loud and clear [more here], and it was because of their effort that the focus on affiliate marketers has been removed from the bill. Yes, it is true, that a law like this makes things extremely burdensome for the merchants that sell to Coloradans, but why remove the affiliates? Does a step like this resolve the issue, and make a merchant non-responsible for the compliance with the new Colorado law? Nothing in what I’m reading is pointing to this. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Tags: amazon affiliate program, colorado affiliates, colorado internet sales tax, internet sales tax
A number of interesting posts and articles have appeared online during the first week of March 2010, and I have not touched on any of these in my daily posts. So, I am posting the list below:
Affiliate Marketing
- Webinar on affiliate legislation by Affiliate Advocacy – March 9 at 12:00 EST << reserve the date!
- New affiliate marketing conference appears (SBWire)
- SEO-friendly affiliate links might not be so friendly (Econsultancy.com)
- Skimlinks targets online publishers with new tool for affiliate marketing (Journalism.co.uk)
…. and Other Fun Stuff
- Sexy numbers: measuring ROI in social media campaigns (Revenews.com)
- Sony generates over £1 Million in sales through Twitter (NMA.co.uk)
- Facebook could surpass $1 Billion in revenue this year (Mashable)
- America’s Most Wired Cities map (Forbes.com)
- Targeting to become dominant online marketing tool (MediaPost)
- More referrals from social media than from search? (Social Media Today)
- Comprehensive guide to the social landscape (10 social media channels compared side-by-side)
- Facebook and Twitter access via mobile grows by triple-digits in the past year (comScore.com)
- B2B interactive marketing spending will double in 5 yrs hitting $4.8 Billion by 2014 (Forrester)
Have I missed an article that came out during the past week, and is a must read (or a must know) for online marketers? Please post it in the “Comments” area below!
Tags: useful links
As any marketing program, affiliate program requires a budget. While it is true that comparing to many other types of online advertising, affiliate marketing generally requires a significantly smaller budget, it does require one. Below you may find a basic breakdown of expenses that you should be prepared to incur:
- First of all, you will have to pay for the platform on which your affiliate program will be run. Be it an affiliate network or an affiliate program tracking/management software, you will be either charged some setup fees, or have a choice of one-time or monthly fees [more on networks in this post and on software here].
- Secondly, you will want to put together a creative inventory for your program (banners, deep-linked text links, and possibly even Flash and video creatives). If you will have to hire someone to do this for you, this will be an additional investment.
- Thirdly, (a) if you’re a online retailer, you will want to supply your affiliates with a detailed product feed, or (b) if you sell services online, you’ll want to experiment with different landing pages. Depending on your in-house capabilities, this may cost you something in programming, or web-design and conversion optimization fees.
- Finally, and most importantly, you will have to have someone manage your affiliate program (from its announcement and recruitment of first affiliates on through the ongoing policing of affiliate compliance with your program’s rules, activation of stagnant affiliates, keeping the program fresh and attractive, etc, etc). Non-management is not an option. You may either have one of your in-house staff handle this, or hire an outsourced affiliate program manager [more about OPMs here].
The sum total of all of the above 4 expenditure points can vary anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars; and much will depend on your (or your company’s) own involvement in the affiliate program’s setup, launch and management.
Tags: affiliate marketing, affiliate program, affiliate program cost, affiliate program setup
Having studied my posts on the affiliate coupons, a merchant has emailed me asking about the sizes of banners I would recommend for coupons. I replied: “give affiliates a 125 x 125 px square, and a 88 x 31 px button for each”, and received the following question back:
We are preparing our coupon banners right now, but how should we handle fine print details (such as expiration date, restrictions, coupon code) since the space for coupon size is tiny?
So, really, how do you fit all of the necessary info on a banner of such small size?
Answer: you don’t have to!
In fact, you don’t even want to do include some of this info, because, for example, listing a coupon code on the banner may be perceived as a “leak” (the end-customer could just pick up the code from the banner, go to the merchant’s website, and key it in by-passing the click on the affiliate link). So don’t do what Symantec does:
I recommend having the following info on coupon banners:
- Coupon title (make sure you emphasize the deal)
- Your logo (preferably without the “.com”)
- Expiration date (if there is one)
- Call to action (some won’t click unless you ask)
Here are a few good examples of coupon banners:
While some of the above examples are not perfect (like the “.com” on the Buy.com’s banner, or the speed of animation in the Checks in the Mail banner), they should still give you a good idea of what affiliates are looking for.
Tags: affiliate coupon
In an interview I’ve given for the Search Engine Journal (SEJ) — which went live earlier this morning, and may be read in its entirety here — I was asked one of the questions that new affiliates frequently ask themselves (and others too). The question was: “Which niches are more profitable when it comes to make money being an affiliate?”
As soon as the question was asked I immediately thought of (a) my What is the Best Affiliate Program? post, and (b) how widely-spread this misconception is — one that some niches are significantly more profitable for affiliates than others. Not too long ago, addressing a similar question in an interview to Website Magazine I said:
Some affiliates have been lead into thinking that there are “hot” products/niches in affiliate marketing (i.e. those that pay most money), but the real money is being made not on dietary supplements, or hosting. You want to (a) look at what is hot on the market at any given period of time, and monetize on those trend(s), but what is even more important: (b) establish yourself as a key player in the niche of your passion (be it music, shoes, Valentine’s Day, or anything else).
In my interview to SEJ, I expanded my answer adding a word about the importance of choosing your partners carefully, and also illustrating the importance of an all-encompassing approach to affiliate marketing analytics. Here’s that illustration:
… “profitable niches” should never be measured by the commission levels that are being paid by advertiser/merchant. Always look at the broader picture. Remember to look at such metrics as conversion, average order value, reversal rate, cookie life. For example, hosting companies have historically had high commission payouts (anywhere from $50 to $150 a sale, with select ones paying as much as $300-400/sale). Sounds attractive, doesn’t? Well, hold your horses before you spend all of your money on those paid search ads, or advertising on other types of properties! Hosting affiliate programs are also known to have some of the highest reversal rates in affiliate marketing history. While many affiliate networks will not disclose this piece of information to you, it is not unusual for a hosting company to reverse between 50% and 80% of all affiliate transactions… [more here]
Conversely, if you are selling a lower priced product/service through an affiliate program that pays a lower affiliate commission, but has a beautiful conversion ratio, and low reversal rate (some merchants even offer a “no affiliate reversals” policy), that will be your “profitable niche”.
Just yesterday I was looking through the stats of an affiliate program that sells a limited number of products based around one idea (in the health/fitness vertical), and because of (a) the publicity they’ve been getting lately, and (b) the highly targeted traffic they are receiving from carefully screened affiliates, here are the stats that program is now showing:
Pretty impressive, isn’t it? With their 15% commission and that 0% reversal rate, this would the type of program to partner with!
Stop dreaming of “profitable niches”! There is no good get-rich-quick recipe, just as there is no safe get-slim-fast method. Look for decent (ethical and caring) and well-converting merchants based on reputable affiliate marketing platforms, and when you find the one you want to try out, take it one step at a time. Don’t rush, learn from the mistakes, replicate what works, and cut off what doesn’t, and your success will eventually become predictable, and logical.
Tags: affiliate income, affiliate metrics, affiliate niches, affiliate program
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