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strategic about the keywords that you include in the text around the
link to your site, you will increase your link relevancy score as well.
The affiliate links generate a significant amount of traffic to your
site and also help to increase your search engine rankings. Some of the
major search engines use link popularity in their ranking criteria. Once
you have successfully launched your affiliate program and have developed
a wide sales force on the Internet, you might be surprised by the
amount of new traffic coming to your Web site.
Your greatest advantage is the opportunity to expand your sales
force to thousands of people. If you run a good affiliate program, your
sales force could consist of people all over the world, thus expanding
your target market into different cultures that your personal sales force
otherwise might not have been able to penetrate.
Another benefit of launching an affiliate program on your Web site
is that you increase the brand awareness for your business. For example,
how many times have you seen an Amazon.com logo on a personal or
commercial Web site? Many hundreds of thousands have subscribed to
Amazon.com’s affiliate program, making it one of the largest programs
on the Internet. All of Amazon.com’s affiliates place banner ads, buttons,
text links, and other promotional tools on their Web site in an
effort to encourage their visitors to click through to the Amazon.com
Web site and make a purchase. Even though not everybody clicks through
to the Amazon.com site, their Web site visitors are still exposed to the
Amazon.com brand, thus increasing the brand exposure for
Amazon.com’s products and services. This could ultimately result in
those visitors going directly to the Amazon.com Web site in the future
to make a purchase, thus bypassing the affiliate’s Web site and the need
to pay that affiliate a referral for their business.
Purchasing Affiliate Software
There are several options when it comes to purchasing Affiliate software:
• You can use an ASP.
• You can purchase software.
• You can build your own.
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Affiliate Programs 285
• You can use a storefront software solution that includes an Affiliate
module.
Depending on what features you would like to provide to your affiliates,
the cost of tracking software ranges from $300 to $15,000.
There are many varieties of affiliate software. Some programs are
quite unsophisticated and offer few features, and others offer all the
bells and whistles. There are some features that you should watch for
when purchasing your software. They can help you to run a smooth
affiliate program and can save you a lot of time. Here are some of the
more important features available:
Automated Signup. You should always look for this feature because
you want to make it as easy as possible for your affiliates to
sign up for your program. It should not take them days to officially
sign up; they should be able to do so automatically. You
want them to get started as quickly as possible, so as soon as they
sign up, they should automatically be sent all information that
you feel is necessary for them to quickly incorporate your program
on their Web site.
Automated Tracking System. This is one of the most important features
that you must look for. You want to make sure that your software
is capable of tracking all sales made so that you can reward
your affiliates with the appropriate commission. You don’t want to
have to calculate which Web sites the sales came from at the end of
the month. You want to be able to let the software do all of the
tracking for you, and at the end of the reporting period provide you
with a report outlining payment due to your affiliates.
Automatic Contact Systems. You should be able to contact all of
your affiliates whenever you find it necessary. Some software allows
you to send messages to all of your affiliates at the click of a button.
It compiles their e-mail addresses in a database.
Real-Time Statistics. Real-time statistics allow your affiliates to view
their current sales statistics. This lets them know how many people
clicked through from their site and how many of those people actually
purchased something. This is a very good feature because it is
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286 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
important to keep your affiliates informed about their current sales
status in your program.
Variable-Payment Option. Another important feature that you
should look for is the variable-payment option. Some forms of affiliate
software only let you work with so many variables, meaning
the fixed fee, percentage, or flat rate per click-through that you
multiply by the referrals from your affiliates’ sites. Some software is
only designed for certain types of programs. You might purchase
software designed to calculate payments for a click-through program.
If you wanted to have a commission-based program that pays
a percentage of sales resulting from each click-through, this software
would not be good for you. It would not be able to comprehend
and manipulate data to calculate the payments, for it is
incapable of using the percentage-of-sales variable. Check this out
before you purchase any software.
Automatic Check Payment. Once your affiliate program is up and
running, and you have developed an extensive list of affiliates, it
can become a hassle to write checks at the end of each payment
period. Some software comes equipped with an automatic check
payment option that allows your computer to print the checks. This
can make your affiliate program run more smoothly and can save
you time.
Automatic Reporting-Period Statistic Distribution. Some of the more
advanced affiliate-tracking software automatically e-mails each of
your affiliates at the end of the reporting period. This tells your
affiliates how much success they are having with your program, and
allows them to adjust their marketing strategy to help them to succeed
with your program.
Some of the more popular affiliate-tracking software programs available
to people wanting to start their own affiliate program are:
My Affiliate Program
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com
Kowabunga! Technologies provides affiliate-tracking software that allows
you to manage all of your affiliate members and track impressions,
click-throughs, and online sales.
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AffiliateLink
http://www.affiliatezone.com
AffiliateLink enables you to do everything from signing up affiliates to
checking on both administrative and individual affiliate statistics.
Affiliate Shop
http://www.affiliateshop.com
The premier affiliate-tracking system. It provides Webmasters with a
powerful and easy-to-use affiliate-management tool. No complicated
software to be installed; just cut and paste a few lines of HTML code on
your site to get your affiliate program going.
Affiliate Wiz
http://www.affiliatewiz.com
Affiliate tracking software for managing an affiliate marketing program.
Affiliate programs are one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to
your site while rewarding your affiliates for their participation. You provide
your affiliates with a special link to your site, whether it is a text link
or image or even a picture of your product. The affiliate displays your
link on their site and then you sit back and watch visitors start traveling
to your site. You then reward your affiliates for sending traffic your way.
Internet Resources for Chapter 17
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding affiliate
programs. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the Resources
section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you will find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
My Affiliate Program
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com
Technologies, the makers of MyAP, is a leader in Affiliate Marketing
and has been offering intuitive affiliate tracking and management solutions
since 1998.
2-Tier.com
http://www.2-tier.com
2-Tier.com offers a directory of more than 1,136 affiliate programs.
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288 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
Affiliate Handbook
http://www.affiliatehandbook.com
This is the definitive resource for affiliate program managers aspiring to
develop a best-of-breed affiliate program.
AssociatePrograms.com
http://www.associateprograms.com
The AssociatePrograms.com directory helps you find the best associate
programs—also known as referral, partner, revenue-sharing, or affiliate
programs—to earn money from your Web site.
ClickQuick: Affiliate and Pay-per-Click Program Reviews
http://www.clickquick.com
ClickQuick provides in-depth reviews of Webmaster affiliate, associate,
and pay-per-click programs that offer opportunities to make money on
the Internet. Also provides reviews of banner ad networks and helpful
articles on improving affiliate program performance.
MakeMoneyNow.com
http://www.makemoneynow.com
A great site filled with resources on affiliate programs, including a directory
of programs and tips on starting your own.
Refer-it.com
http://www.refer-it.com
Refer-it.com is the authoritative guide to Internet affiliate programs,
associate programs, and referral programs. Refer-it is a great resource
for merchants with affiliate programs and for Webmasters with affiliate
Web sites.
Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants
http://www.affiliatemanager.net
Everything you wanted to know about affiliate marketing but were afraid
to ask.
AffiliateWorld.com
http://www.affiliateworld.com
Affiliate World is the Web’s premier site for finding affiliate programs.
Commission Junction
http://www.cj.com/index.jsp
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Affiliate Programs 289
Commission Junction affiliate programs offer pay-for-performance online
advertising and Internet marketing solutions.
More Popular Affiliate Programs
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com
A pioneer in the affiliate program industry, Amazon.com claims to have
the world’s biggest selection of products, including free electronic greeting
cards, online auctions, and millions of books, CDs, videos, DVDs,
toys and games, and electronics.
Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
BarnesandNoble.com offers a wide selection of books and has more
than 120,000 Web sites participating in its affiliate program.
CDNow
http://www.cdnow.com
CDNow is the world’s leading online music store.
Chapters Indigo
http://chapters.indigo.ca
Chapters Indigo gives you 5 percent for each purchase made from your
Web site.
Reel.com
http://www.reel.com
Reel.com is one of the biggest places on-line to buy movies.
Priceline.com
http://tickets.priceline.com/affiliates/agreement.asp
Affiliates earn money each time a visitor books hotel, air, or car rental
service.
SusanSweeney.com
http://www.susansweeney.com/affiliate.html
Sign up now and start earning money from your site!
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18
Maximizing Promotion
with Meta-Indexes
Meta-indexes are designed to be useful resources for people who have
a specific interest in a particular topic. Meta-indexes are a large and
valuable resource for reaching your target audience and should be utilized
to their full potential. In this chapter, we cover:
• What meta-indexes are
• Why meta-indexes are useful
• How to make the links to your site stand out
• Creating your own meta-index.
What Are Meta-Indexes?
Meta-indexes are lists of Internet resources pertaining to a specific subject
category and are intended as a resource for people who have a
specific interest in that topic. These lists, such as the one for Internet
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Maximizing Promotion with Meta-Indexes 291
shopping sites shown in Figure 18.1, consist of a collection of URLs of
related Internet resources that are arranged on a Web page by their
titles. The owners or creators of meta-indexes put a lot of effort into
compiling these lists and are eager to find new sites to add to them. It
used to be that the owners of these sites would list your site for free
because they desired to have the most meta of the meta-indexes—they
strived to have the largest of the large indexes, and more sites means a
larger index. Today, many of these meta-indexes are commercial and
charge a fee for the link to your site.
Some of these meta-indexes have a “Submit” or “Add Your Site”
area; for others, you have to develop an inclusion request e-mail and
send it to the owner of the site. In your inclusion request e-mail, let the
owner know that you visited the site and feel that your site would be
appropriate to be included. Give the reasons you think your site is appropriate
and request the link. You should provide the HTML for the
link as well. Review the techniques discussed in Chapter 16 to have
your link stand out with a graphical icon, hypertext link, and tag line as
well including targeted keywords to enhance your link relevancy scores
for enhanced search engine placement.
Figure 18.1. All-Internet Shopping Directory—meta-index of malls, stores,
products and services on the Web.
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292 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
Meta-indexes are directed at a specific topic, such as “Connecticut
Country Inns” or “Antique Car Sites.” Meta-indexes provide easy access
to a number of sites on a specific topic, and they are a great way to
draw targeted, interested people to your Web site. In addition, some
users might rely on meta-indexes as their only search effort. They might
not use a search engine to perform a query on Mexican resorts, for
example, if they know a certain meta-index contains 200 sites on Mexican
resorts. Where search engine results might show books on Mexican
resorts, personal Web pages relating to family vacations at Mexican
resorts, etc., experienced Web users know that meta-indexes only provide
links to the Web sites of Mexican resorts. Meta-indexes can increase
your chances of being found by people who are interested in
what you have to offer.
You might want to consider placing a banner ad on one or more of
the meta-indexes you find, given that the target audience you want to
reach will be the people using these indexes. Choose carefully, though;
you don’t want to buy a banner ad on a meta-index that is not up to par
and doesn’t provide the traffic you are looking for. Take your time and
investigate the meta-index before advertising on it. Does it appeal to the
eye? Is it of good quality? Are there many dead links? Is it updated
frequently? Does it have sufficient traffic?
Meta-indexes can be an effective way to increase traffic to your
Web site. Word spreads quickly about the best meta-indexes because
they are a great resource. Your target market will tell two friends and
they will tell two friends, thus increasing traffic. In addition, as more
people add links to your meta-index, and the more links you have to
your Web site, the more traffic your site gets.
How to Find Appropriate Meta-Indexes
Now that you know what a meta-index is, how do you find one? You
might be browsing on the Web and happen to come across one. A better
way to find meta-indexes is through the search engines and directories
on the Web.
You need to know how your particular search engine of choice works.
Most search engines have advanced search capabilities, so be sure to
explore them. When you’re looking for meta-indexes, we recommend
that you create a more focused search by adding an extra word such as
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directory, list, index, table, resource, reference, or guide. By adding one
of these words in conjunction with another word—for example, travel—
you’re increasing your chances of finding appropriate meta-indexes.
Performing a search on travel alone will return far less targeted results.
Looking for a travel directory alone might not work for you.
Why not? A search for a travel directory on the search engines
often means looking for all sites that contain the words travel and all
sites that contain directory. You should refine your searches to achieve
more accurate results. Some general techniques that use the words
travel and directory as examples you can apply in your search for
meta-indexes are:
• Entering travel directory generally means: Look for all sites containing
the words travel or directory, but try to gather those
sites with travel and directory together.
• Entering “travel directory” (with quotation marks) often means:
Look for all sites containing the words travel and directory next
to each other.
• Entering +travel directory generally means: Find all sites with
the word travel and preferably the word directory as well.
• Entering +travel+directory generally means: Find all sites with
both words.
Search engines look for information in different ways and allow
different techniques to be applied in order to narrow or broaden the
search criteria. This information can be obtained by looking at the respective
search engines’ Help page (Figure 18.2).
Many search engines and directories offer an Advanced Search or
Search Options page that lets you perform more detailed searches without
using the parameters outlined above. Yahoo! (Figure 18.3) and
Google (Figure 18.4) are two such sites.