Archive for April, 2009
Five Questions About Cookies You Never Dared to Ask
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Programs Wednesday, 29 April 2009 08:00 3 Comments
The highlight of affiliate marketing is the symbiotic relationship that exists between merchants and affiliates.
Every time a selected merchant sells one of their products by your reference, you, as the affiliate, receive a commission for originating that sale.
But how do merchants know whether a product sale was referred by you, or by another affiliate? How do they track their sales to compensate the right associate?
Individual merchants and affiliate programs use special software to keep track of sales. Whether it’s an out-of-the-box application, or a more advanced alternative, all affiliate software uses cookies to determine the origin of a purchase.
What Are Cookies? How Can They Help Me Make More Sales?
Simply put, a cookie is a data bit that is stored in a user’s computer memory to keep tabs of the user’s browsing history and preferences. The cookie’s data contains information such as the link that originated an affiliate purchase, and the affiliate ID of the referral.
As an affiliate, you should pay special attention to the cookie’s duration, or return day. Since cookies are set to expire after a given period of time, they bear what is called a return day to determine how long they will be stored in the user’s computer – thus defining how long the user has to complete the sale.
Say you are promoting an affiliate product with 30-day return day cookies. This means that even if a user, after clicking your “hoplink” to access the merchant’s site, doesn’t buy on their first visit, as long as they purchase within those 30 days, you will get a commission.
How Long Can Cookies Last? Are Lifetime Cookies the Best Option?
While cookie durations vary between merchants, you’ll find that the most common return day denominations are 30, 60 and 90 days.
If you’re looking for a product to sell and come across “lifetime cookies,” don’t be fooled. Even though the general rule for cookies is “the longer, the better,” a lifetime cookie can limit your ability to compete in the affiliate market. Here’s why…
We know that once a user clicks on your ad, as long as you are the first to refer them, you appear as the lead affiliate. And we’ve just established that if a sale occurs within the cookie’s return day period, as a lead affiliate, you get paid.
But what if this is not the case? What if a user clicks on one of your ads to make a purchase in a merchant site, but you weren’t the first affiliate to do the referral?
Then, all your efforts would simply be aiding in other affiliates’ work – earning them money, as opposed to profiting you. If instead, you promote a product with cookies that expire within 120 days, this will allow you to renew your competitive edge every 120 days – while giving you a long period of time for the consumer to decide on buying your affiliate product.
So, How Do I Find a Cookie’s Duration?
Finding cookies’ length information on merchant websites can be a hassle. To save some time, go directly to the business’ online privacy policy and skim through the disclosure. This will likely indicate the cookie length that the merchant site sets if a visitor comes to them versus clicking an affiliate link.
So in addition to the privacy policy, the affiliate should also check the actual affiliate agreement, which spells out the cookie length set when a visitor clicks on the affiliate link. If the cookie length is not listed there, you can check the cookie information yourself, using your browser’s data. While Internet browser utilities vary, these are the general steps to follow:
- First, click on the affiliate link that is given to you, so that it’s registered in your PC’s recent memory.
- Open your browser’s “Cache Folder.”
- Find a cookie named affiliate/companyname@merchantwebsite.com.
- Open the cookie’s information (right click). Within the text, you must be able to distinguish: (1) your affiliate ID#, and (2) the cookies’ expiration. If this information is not identifiable, you probably shouldn’t trust the source – move on to the next product.
The method outlined above can also be used to check if merchant sites have fully functional cookies. Basic affiliate software can be inefficient at tracking cookies, so checking cookie functionality beforehand will ensure that you get the credit if you make a sale.
Find Your Niche by Knowing What Customers Want
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing, Niches Tuesday, 28 April 2009 00:41 3 Comments
The title of this post seems pretty straightforward. But how can you REALLY know what your customers want? The easiest way to know is to ask them!
When I say ask them, there are also quite a few ways to ask people what they want in order to get the answers you seek. If you just ask, “What do you want?” you’ll either get a huge list of things that already covers what you’re giving them, or you’ll get nothing.
The better way is to ask is by using a survey. You can survey people using survey software, or you can just use a blog post. Most forum software also has a survey option that is simple to use.
When you ask, you’ll want to ask a direct question. Something like, “Which of my blog posts did you enjoy the most?” Instead of “What do you want me to write about?” That will at least get you a targeted answer – and hopefully boil it down to a subject you are already writing about.
Another way to find out what interests people is to look at local magazines. Or, check out Google Trends to see what’s being searched for at this minute. If you do this every day, one day you’ll find that people are looking for something in your niche market. Then you do a quick blog post on that subject and you’re in the money (hopefully)!
It’s not really that hard to find out what people want – all you have to do is ask, look, and listen.
Monetizing Blogs & Web Sites in April AC Magazine
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Classroom Magazine, Affiliate Marketing Thursday, 23 April 2009 18:39 7 Comments
The April issue of Affiliate Classroom magazine is now available and it’s all about Monetizing your sites.
First, we start with the basics. “Monetization and Content Marketing: The Basics,” by Evelyn Grazini, will help you learn about the difference between “pay-as-you-go” and “flat fee” approaches to selling ad space on your site, the ease of using Google AdSense in your advertising, the use of social networking services for delivering content to other sites, and more.
“Monetization Builds Strong Websites 12 Ways” by David Long, reviews a variety of ways to strengthen your website through monetization. You’ll learn which monetization techniques are highly recommended, and which should be used with caution. You’ll also know how to determine which techniques will work best for you.
“Monetizing a Blog,” by Mark Thompson, shows you some of the most profitable mainstream approaches to monetizing your blog. You’ll read about the contextual ad, and how its positioning in your blog can mean the difference between a small amount of revenue and a doubling or tripling of that revenue. Learn also about the benefits of using ClickBank, physical products, and CPA ads in your blog monetization efforts.
Lastly, “Monetizing Blogs and Communities without Alienating Users” by Katalin Torok, explains how every attempt to monetize can run the risk of alienating your visitors, so how you approach monetization is critical. Find out what you can do to bring in more revenue and maintain continued satisfaction among your regular visitor base.
If you want additional revenue from your affiliate ventures, you need to check out this issue of Affiliate Classroom magazine. It’s a free download, and no email address is required.
Download your free copy today.
Tips for Increasing the Life Span of Your Content
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing Wednesday, 22 April 2009 12:06 3 Comments
Think about everything you’ve written. Could it be recycled? If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, let’s look at a fictional example.
Suppose you love horses, so you have created an affiliate site that includes lots of informational articles about caring for your equine friend.
Let’s look at how your information might be recycled.
#1 – You write an article for your ezine called “It’s Cold Out There” about winter care of your horse.
#2 – You can now archive that article on your website for posterity, so it can help draw visitors and search engine spiders into your site. You have some inline affiliate links for the products you mention. Maybe you throw some AdSense ads on the side too.
#3 – Now you might use it as one article in a 10-article autoresponder series called Top 10 Tips for Happy Horses.
#4 - Submit it as an article for publication in a related print magazine or newspaper, which of course contains a bio at the end with a link back to your site. (Don’t forget about off-line ways to drive traffic to your site.)
#5 – Use it as a basis for a horsemanship class. (Teaching classes on subjects you are interested in and knowledgeable about can help position you as an expert, lending more credibility to your site.)
#6 - Create a handout for the class that people can take home for reference.
#7 – Distribute it to free article sites on the web with a “resource box” with her contact information so other site owners can use it as content for websites and ezines.
#8 – Use it as a free downloadable incentive for people to subscribe to an ezine or autoresponder course.
#9 – Use it as part of a chapter in a future book or infoproduct.
This one fictional article could have nine lives. So if you can come up with just one article, you are one step closer to becoming a recycler.
These examples also don’t even touch on other options such as teleseminars or content licensing, which can bring in even more traffic, opt-in subscribers, and of course, money.
Say Hello to the Goodbye Page
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing Monday, 20 April 2009 09:51 2 Comments
As many industrious merchants can attest, one is constantly looking for quality locations to place links. And forward-thinking affiliates and smart merchants can make this easier if they start thinking: “How can I monetize my site without ticking off my viewers?”
After all, running lots of ads that don’t relate to your audience will succeed in driving traffic away from your site, not towards it.
A smart merchant looks at offers that will naturally be of interest to their audience and finds an unobtrusive way to place those offers into their site. That’s where the “Goodbye” (or Thank You) page comes in.
If your website or co-registration pages have a last page, you have a natural place in which to monetize an offer. Your viewers have already completed your forms, monetizing your traffic, but with the Goodbye page offer you add one last opportunity to make some cash before they click off.
The psychology of an enticing creative and related offer showing up on your Goodbye page is simple.
If your viewer has already indicated interest in your website and earlier offers, showing them one last attractive offer on the way out the door can lead to conversions, like that candy bar you picked up the last time you were in line buying groceries.
So before you show your valued viewers the door, be sure to add a Goodbye page offer.
