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Your own Affiliate Program.
By Jim Daniels

In a recent issue of my BizWeb E-Gazette I recommended affiliate programs as a great way to increase web site revenue. Since then I've received many message from webmasters requesting details on how to set up a simple affiliate program. This article will cover just that.

The webmasters who contacted me, operate sites that generate anywhere from zero to thousands of dollars in weekly sales. For this reason I've decided to present affiliate program solutions for both ends of the spectrum.

For those of you who missed the recent issue on affiliate programs, the next few paragraphs will bring you up to speed.

What is an affiliate program?

Simple. The idea behind an affiliate, or associate program is to recruit other webmasters to help you sell your wares by paying them for each visitor or sale they bring you.

Before you decide NOT to offer an affiliate program at your website, read the following...

"By 2002, 25 percent of the expected $37.5 billion in Internet retail sales, not including autos, will have originated on affiliate sites" -- Nicole Vanderbilt, Jupiter Communications

Now you are up to speed. If you're considering starting an affiliate program at your site, read on....

An affiliate program is really not as difficult to set up as you may think. Thanks to the high demand for affiliate systems recently, there are now lots of ways to set up your own program.

Here's what you need to set one up...

1. A web site with your own domain name.

2. At least one product or service that you own completely.

3. A system to handle commission tracking and payment.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, actually it is! And it's getting easier all the time.

The first two items listed above are pretty much self-explanatory. Naturally, you need your own website and your own product or service. You can't very well set up an associate program if you don't own the site or the product(s) you will be promoting. If you have not taken these two steps, you'll need to do this first. Once you've managed to get by these two steps, you can move right to step three, setting up your program.

Now, when I started the associate program for my Insider Internet Marketing book, it was back in 1997. I did not have the luxury of using one of the many associate program management systems available on today's web. Instead, I had to do it all myself. What I came up with was a simple, smooth running associate plan that anyone can follow.

The next few paragraphs will explain exactly how I set up my program. If your business is tiny with a limited budget like mine was back in 1997, this plan may work well for you. If you have a little more capital to work with, you may decide to use one of the many associate management systems available today. I'll cover those a little later. First, I'd like to give you the details on how I designed my own associate program.

Step one: Defining my objectives.

I decided that the key to an effective associate program would be to allow my associates to promote a URL, or web page and let the program process sales and track orders automatically.

I saw many "home-made" tracking systems failing at this. These other systems required customers to enter a number that identified the associate. In my opinion, this does not work. Customers are not interested in remembering a code so that an associate gets credit for the sale. Many customers have no idea there is as associate involved at all. When they see this they are either turned off or confused. Instead of buying, they click away to another website.

The other key aspect of an effective associate program is to allow all customers to order instantly and securely, using a major credit card. If you cannot satisfy a buyer at the moment they are ready to buy, you will lose more sales than you can imagine.

Step two: Based on the above objectives, I designed my solution.

I already used a company called shopcart.com to process my secure orders. Whenever anyone clicked on any of the "order" buttons at my site, they were routed to shopcart.com where the transaction was processed securely. I initially went with shopcart.com because it was very simple to set up. All that was required of me, as webmaster, was to paste a few lines of code into my pages which created an "order" button.

In those few lines of code were details of the name and price of the item being purchased. The next step was obvious. All I had to do was insert an ID number before the item name and change this ID number for each associate. In order to allow the automatic commission tracking, each new associate would receive a separate web page with their own ID embossed into the order button. It worked like a champ.

To see a working example of this system in action, go to the following URL of one of my leading associates: http://bizweb2000.com/d2080.htm

When you get there, view the source code and find the three instances of "2080". The first instance tags the orders as they are processed. The second brings people back to the same page should they decide not to order. The third "2080" on that page brings them to a printable order form in case they prefer not to order online. Naturally, the printable order form page also contains their code.

Each week or two I create another batch of associate sites using ultraedit32, a text processing tool that simplifies the search and replacement of ID codes by increments of one. (UltraEdit can be found at http://bizweb2000.com/contact.htm)

The final step was to set up a commission tracking database to process monthly commission statements. This was easy too! I've actually used a few different databases to do this but have finally settled on Microsoft Access. This program provides simplified order fulfillment and is powerful enough to run monthly associate reports with the click of a button.

There you have it. A simple, effective associate program with a total cost of $0. As I mentioned, if your business is not yet big enough to justify spending big bucks on an associate management program, this simple solution may be just what you need. It will work with many online shopping cart providers and takes very little time to implement.

The drawbacks of my simplified system:

1. Each associate web page must be created manually, which can be time consuming.

2. Welcome messages with associate's URL's must be emailed manually to each associate.

3. Online statistics and instant sale notification messages are difficult to provide and may not be feasible with this simple system.


The positive aspects:

1. You can exercise better control new associate signups.

2. All of the pages you build are real html pages which are fully indexable at all search engines and directories on the web.

3. This system is simple to set up since there are no cgi scripts involved.

4. This is the cheapest "automated" solution you will find.


The next wave: Associate program management systems.

Many advanced options have become available since 1997. There are now many companies that offer full associate systems. These companies range from affiliate management software providers to companies that manage every aspect of your program for you.

There's no doubt that you get more when you use an associate management system. There are also a few drawbacks. Below you'll find a list of both, as well as a URL that contains leaders in this field.

The drawbacks of an associate management system:

1. Things can become a bit more complicated in a hurry. Issues such as database management and check processing can be tricky. Be sure to ask for full details of the entire process before you sign with any solution provider.

2. Cost is definitely higher, especially the up-front costs. However, these costs can be justified in many cases, considering the time and manpower you may save in the long run.

3. Most affiliate management systems use cgi scripts that automatically generate URL's for new associates. While this provides for automated signup, these URL's will not be spidered and indexed at many search engines.


The positive aspects of an associate management system can be numerous:

1. You can sign on associates more rapidly and grow a larger force of resellers.

2. You'll enjoy the automation and online management of affiliates.

3. These systems provide full sales statistics for both you and your associates.

These three benefits alone make it worthwhile to investigate available affiliate management systems. For a listing of companies on the web who offer solutions, visit: http://bizweb2000.com/affiliate.htm


Here are a few last words on setting up your affiliate program...

- Don't setup an associate program unless you are willing to share a decent percentage of profits with your associates. I see many sites offering 5% commissions to affiliates. This will only result in disgruntled affiliates and possible failure of the program. The money you think you're saving will only cost you in the long run.

- Consider reviewing every application and accepting only sites related to your business. More than likely, unrelated sites will not generate many sales and may not be worth the work.

- Be sure to post a "Frequently Asked Questions" section at your site the clearly explains every aspect of your associate program. This will eliminate a good portion of questions you'll have to field via email.


There, you now have a good idea of how to get your own affiliate program running. If you're not quite ready yet, be sure to print today's issue so you can refer to it when the time comes. That time may be sooner than you think!

Happy Cybermarketing! Jim Daniels

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