10 Point Checklist Before You Launch a

Killer Affiliate ProgramThings to check on your site before

launching an Affiliate Program

Presented by Deborah Carney – Merchant ABCs

Who is Deborah Carney?• Affiliate: since the early days• Affiliate Manager: Former In-house for

CaféPress.com• Consultant: for several CPA networks• Outsourced Program Manager: (OPM)

since 2006 – Multiple programs in Shareasale Top 100 Merchants List

• Merchant: LoxlyGallery.com• Training and Podcasts: ABCsPlus.com –for

Affiliates, Bloggers, Merchants and more

MerchantABCs.com

@loxly@merchantabcs

Facebook.com/loxlyLinkedin.com/in/loxly

Merchant ABCs• Focus on the basics – most overlooked area of

affiliate marketing• Focus on training merchants how to run their affiliate

programs• Free podcasts and videos with industry experts• Premium services:– Private access forum– Complete training for merchants from inception to

recruitment

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Site ElementsYou may think your site is well designed, your designer and tech teams say everything is great and someone in the company heard that this thing called Affiliate Marketing can get you tons of sales fast.

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Site Elements

First thing: Affiliate Marketing isn’t going to get you fast results, it is a long term commitment with long term results.

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Site Elements

Let’s take a look at some elements and see if they are on your site.

The same elements that make your site Affiliate Friendly will also increase your conversions.

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Building TrustCustomers

Customers need to trust you and your site before they will buy from you. Unless you are Amazon or Walmart that means your site needs to have some elements customers look for.

Affiliates

Affiliates know what drives a customer to make a purchase and they know that the following elements – at the very least – need to be on your site before they will promote your products or services

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TransparencyWhoIs Registration – Affiliates (and Customers) want to know who you are

Private Registration sets off red flagsShared hosting sets off red flags

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The Big 5• About Us • Privacy Policy • Returns Policy • Shipping Policy • Contact Info/Customer Service Info

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The Big 5• About Us – tell about your company, how you got started,

how your product helps the user, what is your point of difference from your competitors

• Privacy Policy – Who you share info with, what do you share, who has access, 3rd party newsletter, 3rd party tools etc

• Returns Policy – If your product can’t be returned, say so. If it can, outline requirements and restrictions

• Shipping Policy – Be clear about shipping costs up front• Contact Info/Customer Service Info – must be easily found on

your site.

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Live Chat?• Great for building trust• Live Help – not commission based, convert the

sale with the affiliate retaining credit for sale• Be sure you are using a service that doesn’t take

the affiliate cookie away• Answer questions but customer finishes purchase

without clicking links in chat• Most useful for pre-purchase questions and post

purchase customer serviceMerchantABCs.com

Leaks – What are they?• Any link that goes off your website.• Any link that goes off your website.• Did I say ANY link that goes off your

website?

• Seriously, you are in business to sell YOUR products, your affiliates are in business to sell YOUR products.

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Leaks• Links to your products at Amazon• Links to your products at eBay• Links to your webmaster• Backlinks to people that link to you• If it’s a link off your site, it’s a leak

and affiliates will not work with you.• Exception: pay per click or pay per

leadMerchantABCs.com

Selling on eBay or Amazon

• Must link to only your own products on your own site or sites of yours that cross track all the sales to your affiliate

• Why take someone ready to purchase and send them to another site?

• Niche sites that cross track are ok (Still your cart)

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Phone Numbers• Phone numbers build trust, but they are also a

leak.• Check with your network for phone tracking

information• Keep phone number limited to customer

service pages• Require people who call to complete the

purchase online

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Merchant acting as an affiliate

• Sending traffic away to same or complementary products

• If you don’t carry the product, get it through a supplier but don’t link elsewhere

• If you are running affiliate program you need to get the merchandise in your cart

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Adsense• Why would you?• Don’t do it, affiliates can target you• Adsense is a separate bot from the Googlebot,

Adsense doesn’t bring search engines to you

• Keep your customers

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Non-Commissionable Items

• Make it clear to affiliates about non-commissionable items

• Must be in terms and conditions• Worse than other leaks, if affiliates

don’t know they aren’t getting paid• Everything on your site should be

commissionable unless you are paying per lead

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Product Pages• Clear call to action• Sharp product images• Images all the same size• Professional looking images• Complete description – more is better –

pretend you are explaining your product to someone over the phone

• Easy way to indicate choices – Size, Colors available etc

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Navigation• Clear and easy to follow• Affiliate will go through site to see if they can

find things that customers will be looking for• Categories need to be clear and not too many

levels

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Branding• Keep the message and site branding

consistent• If there is a “hop” to a different site for the

cart, be sure tracking and branding carry over

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Checkout Process• Make your checkout process fast and

easy to use• Make sure your customers know your

checkout is secure• Don’t have distractions get in the

way of finishing checkout• Shipping costs clear prior to checkout

begins

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Checkout ProcessTop reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

• Shipping too high• Coupon prompt with no coupon available• Requiring an account

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Checkout Process• Don’t require account creation until

after the sale is completed• Finish the sale, then ask if they want

to create an account• Provide an option for Guest Checkout• Worth the money to pay to get this

programmed into your stock or open source cart.

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Checkout Process• Don’t use 3rd party cart recovery

services – • Don’t give your customers away

• Your customers belong to you, they trust you with their information

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Summary1. Site Elements that build trust2. Transparency– Public Whois

3. The Big 5– About Us– Privacy Policy– Returns– Shipping Policy– Clear Contact Us Info

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Summary4. Plug the Leaks– No outbound links– Phone number with tracking or walk customer through

completing the sale online– Sell only your own products, no affiliate links to elsewhere– Adsense – remove it– Non-commissionable items – remove or rethink– Live Chat – make sure it keeps affiliate tracking

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Summary5. Product Pages – clean, clear images, professional looking6. Site Navigation7. Consistent Branding8. Clear and easy Checkout 9. No distractions during checkout10. Most importantly – keep your customer data, give your

customers a good buying experience and your affiliates will love the conversions and keep sending you more customers

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Next Steps• Now that your site is all ready for an affiliate program you

need to find out what it takes to create and run one.• Join the Affiliate Summit Networking Forum to talk to OPMs

(Outsourced Program Managers) and networks, and when you are ready – post a free job notice for a manager– http://forum.affiliatesummit.com

• Head over to Merchant ABCs for a free video that explains the terminology and roles– http://merchantabcs.com/training

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How We Can HelpWe have a special offer for viewers of this webinar – free six months subscription at Merchant ABCs private access forum.

http://merchantabcs.com/specialoffer/

We will have experts available to answer your questions and a variety of OPMs that you can talk to about your management needs

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Contact UsFind Deborah at:– http://forum.affiliatesummit.com– http://merchantabcs.com– http://twitter.com/loxly

• Email: dc@merchantabcs.com• Phone: (702)582-6742

MerchantABCs.com