Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

Participating in affiliate programs of other companies is a great way to supplement the current revenue of your website. It really is the epitome of free money. You’re already getting traffic to your website and your visitors trust you, so why not promote items that you either use or believe your customers should use.

When choosing an affiliate program to take part in there are 5 things you need to look for:

• Is this a company that you truly believe in? You’re essentially suggesting your customers purchase this item mostly based on the fact that it’s “you” who’s suggesting. Make sure that the company is up to par with your quality and ethics, you don’t want to push low quality products sold by a shady company.
• Is the product relevant to your customer demographic? Don’t offer products on your website that have nothing to do with your customers or your main products or services. If you are an interior decorator, don’t post links for companies that sell cookie baskets. You can however post links for companies that sell unique table lamps, maid service and even lawn service.
• How good is the company’s landing page? After a website visitor clicks on a link from your website and is directed over to the affiliate website, they are taken to a landing page. When they hit this landing page it is then up to the affiliate company to make the sale. They need to have a high converting landing page that gives the visitor all the information they need to make that sale. If the page is too busy, doesn’t have the right information, doesn’t have enough information or doesn’t have a strong call to action, the visitor may not make a purchase, which is not only bad for the affiliate but bad for you as well.
• What is the payout percentage? I would suggest a proper payout percentage to be 25% and up, anything lower than 25% may not be worth it.
• How long is the customer cookie kept? When you setup an affiliate account with a company they provide you with an HTML or javascript code that should be placed on your website creating a link that your site visitors will click to get referred to the affiliate site. Inside of that code is a special number that lets the system know when that link is clicked, that it was your website who sent the visitor. Often times a visitor can click a link but not make the purchase until a few days later, you want to make sure that if this happens, the cookie (which is attached to that special code I just discussed) is still active. If it is not, you may not get credit for sending that visitor if they convert — so you don’t get paid!

You need to get people to your website in order to improve your website’s conversion rate, right? Well, what better way to pull in the customers then to offer something for free or at a reduced rate. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re in a recession! People nowadays are looking for less expensive ways to do what they need to do and get what they need to get.

There are a number of ways you can go about this:

• Free – free is always good but sometimes can backfire; some customers may think that because it is free it is old, last season, or of lesser quality; give away items that are of a higher quality or something that visitors would not normally think of as an average “freebie”; this gives your customers the opportunity to try something they may have not been able to (or wanted to) afford in the past and could win you a new customer; at the very least you can get some word of mouth advertising, which we all know is the best kind!
• Buy One, Get One – this is a huge promotional tactic right now in retail, offering to give a customer something for free if they purchase something of equal or lesser value; I would suggest a twist on this tactic however, try a buy one, and your friend gets one free event, give customers the ability to send friends, family and colleagues a coupon code that will offer them a free item; this is a fabulous way to get new customers and increase sales; this tactic can also be used as a “buy one, get one 25% off” or “buy 5 get your 6th free”
• Free External Items – partner with another company to offer free or discounted items from that company and vice vesa; this is great for both companies because you both are broadening your customer base and getting great publicity; also, don’t forget to let the press know about this partnership!

Bebo is a social media website that has been around since 2005 and is run by Bebo Inc. out of San Francisco, CA; it is also a subsidiary of AOL. Bebo is best used by companies who would like to showcase engaging content (ie. music, video, photographs, etc.). Companies can create profiles and common interest groups. High profile members include music artists, authors and media companies such as Comedy Central, ESPN, and CBS.

Bebo has sites in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zeland, Poland, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, India and the Netherlands.

The member demographics are as follows:

• 59% Female; 41% Male
• Ages 13 – 34
• 44% Caucasian; 43% African American; 8% Hispanic; 3% Asian; 2% Other