What do Affiliates really want?

Having your own affiliate program can seem like a fast and easy way to boost your business, as having an army of commission only salespeople is obviously music to most business owner’s ears.

And rightly so, as an effective affiliate program can quickly, cost effectively and dramatically grow your business, probably better than any other method.

However, it takes expertise, hard work and most importantly the right offering to make an affiliate program truly work.

You can’t just provide your affiliate with a few links, then sit back and enjoy the deafening sound of cash registers ringing. The key to success lies in the support and resources you offer your affiliates, whatever level they are currently at.

Forrester Research shows that the average Affiliate program has about 10,000 Affiliates, but only 10-20 % of the affiliates actually participate or promote the program.

So why do so few affiliates that sign up actually promote the product? Why the huge disconnect?

Simple. Most Advertisers don’t provide their Affiliates with the help, support and resources they need to promote their products. So they sign up, look for resources and when they don’t find any, their excitement and motivation evaporates and off they go to find a program which gives them what they need.

Here are our 6 top features, switched on affiliates expect in a quality affiliate program:

1: Communication Leads to Community

The best way to keep top Affiliates loyal is to maintain a good relationship with them. Not just while they’re signing up, but ongoing.

For starters, it’s essential you offer a dedicated point of contact for affiliates and respond quickly. Don’t make them wait for answers and lose trust or you’ll lose them.

As many Affiliates sign up but then get side-tracked and never get around to promoting, (remember the disconnect?) you should also send regular emails to keep them engaged, ensure they’re on track AND to show your program is active.

As they move forward, you can’t presume they are up to date with your offers and new resources, so keep them informed of any program news.

Finally, a sense of community and open communication with Vendors can really build loyalty, so although this goes against the usual school of affiliate program thought, give them what they want. The long term rewards can be huge.

ClickSure believes in the power of communication, so unlike traditional networks, we allow Advertisers and Affiliates to communicate directly with each other using our in-house Messenger Service. It’s extremely rare but we believe open communication fosters trust, saves a ton of time when setting up campaigns and offers outstanding efficiency.

2: Technology

As Affiliate marketing is becoming more and more competitive in the marketing industry, data-analysis has become a crucial factor for Affiliates.  Marketing methods need in-depth evaluation in order for Affiliates to gauge their success and test and improve, to generate the best return on their investments.

Although there may be many individual reporting platforms available out there, the majority of Affiliate programs are now offering proprietary reporting and tracking technologies, in order to provide their Affiliates the opportunity to enhance their performance based on their sales analytics.

Obviously, you’ll be more successful if you also show affiliates how to use this technology effectively. Many veterans will be familiar with it, but be specific to yours and don’t forget, your new affiliates may have never seen this kind of resource before. Without help, it can seem overwhelming and become another reason for the 80% disconnect.

Affiliates also need reassurance that their marketing efforts are working and providing all the relevant sales data on their profile obviously helps that too.

So don’t even think of building your affiliate program without this essential resource. No-one wants to run their promo campaigns in the dark.

3: Competitive commissions and fast payouts

As an Advertiser, you need to work directly with your Affiliates to create a payment model that best fits your business.

99% of affiliates are in it for the money. So the higher the payout the more chance you have of attracting affiliates to your offer. On top of that most super affiliates spend a lot of money buying advertising, so the faster you can make payments to them, the better their cash-flow and the lower the risk for the affiliate.

Less risk means they are more likely to push your offers over affiliate programs offering inferior payment terms.

Take some time to research into what other Affiliate programs are offering in commissions. This would give you a better indication of the competition and also what payment terms you should offer to stay competitive.

For instance, Affiliate payment terms at ClickSure vary, as our Advertiser/Merchants select their own individual terms and payouts. What payout and terms you set is up to.

You have to try to get the balance right. See what others are paying as a starting point, but keep your payments really competitive, as it’s the most important thing to the majority of affiliates. The only exception is when your offer converts much better than your competitors, but remember your affiliates still have to pay for traffic, so keep those payout rates attractive.

Don’t go too far the other way and go overboard with the payments though, thinking you’ll clean up. If you don’t get your numbers right you could get an avalanche of sales you’ll end up making a loss on.

Keep in mind, however, it’s no coincidence that some of the best performing Affiliate Programs within the ClickSure marketplace offer the fastest payout terms, with most offering weekly payouts and some also offer private payouts for super affiliates.

It also makes sense to pay your affiliates well and as quickly as possible, because the payments could well be funding the next wave of traffic they send to your product.

4: The Art of Affiliate Incentives

One of the most popular methods to generate attraction is by offering affiliates a competition with a cash prize as a reward. These are especially popular during the festive season such as Christmas, as Affiliates are looking to earn quick cash around that time.

It’s also a good incentive for Affiliates to promote your offer. You may also attract top Affiliates with generous competitions to give yourself a competitive advantage in the Marketplace amongst all the other product owners.

Cash is obviously one of the most popular incentives. However, co-branded gifts can also work very well and still give you the opportunity of attracting additional business.

For example, run a ‘Win an iPad’ incentive but then brand the iPad so wherever the affiliate takes it your brand is on show.

You could also combine training events with incentives…

For example, win a trip to “office location” and “3 days intensive training with our marketing team”. This helps build relationships, gives your affiliate additional insights on how to drive business to your products and if you feature the winners experience in a video or post, you can also use it as a promotional opportunity for your next incentive.

Another effective way to incentivise Affiliates is to offer them a ‘money-can’t-buy’ reward. This can include VIP tickets to sold out events, sporting fixtures or even gifts and experiences.

There are many different options you can choose to reward your Affiliate from instant cash rewards to generous private commissions.

Test to find out which works best for you and how much you can offer to encourage affiliates to sign up.

5: In-depth product information

Always offer as much information as you can about your product as it would help Affiliates to understand the product better, in order to pre-sell and advertise to their traffic.

Affiliates are looking for products and services that match the content on the site, so the more information you give, the better judgment they can make as to whether the product is suitable for them or not.

Provide affiliates with as much information as possible so they have more knowledge to help pre-sell your products. Also, showing them the best ways to sell and where to generate sales, is important for keeping your affiliate marketing strategy aligned to your goals and product branding. For

For example, if someone has a Luxurious Skin Cream for Women, you don’t necessarily want affiliates targeting men with the product, unless it’s promoted as a gift idea for their partners or loved ones.

The more info you can supply, the better your affiliates can perform, so . . .

Give affiliates free samples, free demos or walkthroughs of the product/service.

Provide affiliates info on best traffic sources, customer demographics, best practices for promoting the product etc.

Send regular email newsletters to your affiliates, including tailored news of any new products you are launching.

Lastly, always keep your content fresh and remember to update and changes to the product as soon as possible.

6: What marketing materials should you provide?

Affiliates do not want to develop their own primary marketing materials. And why should they? They are promoting for you and increasing your ‘hands off’ sales, so give them the help they need.

Supplying your affiliates with free marketing material such as landing pages, banners, images email swipes etc. is a must.

Also important, if you want affiliates to use a great product image to show your product in the best light then provide them with images they can use. You do not want them cutting and pasting shady looking images that don’t show your product in all its glory.

Yes, it will take you time to create these resources, but it’s an investment, not a cost. By supplying a range of high-quality resources, your affiliates can hit the ground running and make an impact quickly.

Top Tip:

Keep your marketing materials simple as some Affiliates may be reluctant to use large images/ banner as it may affect the site load time.

It’s also better if YOU control the branding, quality and ‘voice’ of these resources, as some affiliates may get frustrated, create their own inferior examples and give the wrong message out regarding your brand.

Also, you are saving affiliates the time spent developing these materials themselves and instead they can focus on promoting your products straight away.

Source :http://clicksureblog.com

9 Tips For Growing A Successful Business

To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and have good planning and organizational skills. Many people start a business thinking that they'll turn on their computers or open their doors and start making money - only to find that making money in a business is much more difficult than they thought. You can avoid this in your business ventures by taking your time and planning out all the necessary steps you need to reach to achieve success. Read on to find out how.

1. Get Organized

To be successful in business you need to be organized. Organization will help you complete tasks and stay on top of things to be done. A good way to do this is to create a to-do list each day - as you complete each item, check it off your list. This will ensure that you're not forgetting anything and you're completing all the tasks that are essential to the survival of your business.

2. Keep Detailed Records

All successful businesses keep detailed records. By keeping detailed records, you'll know where the business stands financially and what potential challenges you could be facing. Just knowing this gives you time to create strategies to overcome the obstacles that can prevent you from being successful and growing your business.

3. Analyze Your Competition

Competition breeds the best results. To be successful, you can't be afraid to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you can implement in your business to make more money.

4. Understand the Risks and Rewards

The key to being successful is taking calculated risks to help your business grow. A good question to ask is "What's the downside?" If you can answer this question, then you know what the worst-case scenario is. This knowledge will allow you to take the kinds of calculated risks that can generate tremendous rewards for your business.

5. Be Creative

Always be looking for ways to improve your business and to make it stand out from the competition. Recognize that you don't know everything and be open to new ideas and new approaches to your business.

6. Stay Focused

The old saying that "Rome was not built in a day" applies here. Just because you open a business doesn't mean that you're going to immediately start making money. It takes time to let people know who you are, so stay focused on achieving your short-term goals and give the rest time to come together on its own.

7. Prepare to Make Sacrifices

The lead-up to starting a business is hard work, but after you open your doors, your work has just begun. In many cases, you have to put in more time than you would if you were working for someone else. In turn, you have to make sacrifices, such as spending less time with family and friends in order to be successful.

8. Provide Great Service

There are many successful businesses that forget that providing great customer service is important. If you provide better service for your customers, they'll be more inclined to come to you the next time they need something instead of going to your competition.

9. Be Consistent

Consistency is key component to making money in business. You have to consistently keep doing the things necessary to be successful day in and day out. This will create long-term positive habits that will help you make money over the long term.

Conclusion

Starting and running a successful business can be rewarding and challenging. Success requires focus, discipline and perseverance. However, success will not come over night - it requires a long-term focus and that you remain consistent in challenging environments.

Sourcr :http://www.investopedia.com/

Successful Small Business Saturday & Beyond

Small Business Saturday is November 29th this year, how are you prepping? Remember it’s not just about the day or the holidays, but also about spreading the word about your business. Use the ten tips below to complement your  strategy; don’t forget to connect with us for our 15 days of small business tips sent daily.

               

1.Create a Strategy: Take a look at your overall goals and then narrow down your goals for small business Saturday. Your plan can be as simple as, “I want to achieve a higher rate of foot traffic. I set a goal of 2x the amount of my normal daily sales amount of ($X) from foot traffic alone. I plan to offer convenience and personalized shopping to incoming customers. I will provide free coffee outside my business, a ready shopper staff member for customers that want holiday suggestions, bundled gift options and free gift wrap with purchase. I will use my email contacts, website, and social media to get the word out.” You then cover what you want to achieve, how you will measure, what your message is, what channels you will use to communicate, and how you will execute your message.

2.Invite: Before thinking about new customers, focus on your existing customers. Get your email invite out to your current subscribers engaging them to shop local at your business on 11/29, if you haven’t already. Remember to format the message for your home page and corresponding social channels. Remind your neighbors about your business. You might find a potential partnership opportunity for a sidewalk sale or in-store event. If you’re feeling ambitious you can help rally support for a street or block wide event! Don’t forget to mention the big day and any special offers to your customers shopping now to create anticipation.

3.Create an Offer or Incentive: If appropriate for you, pull together a special offer or incentive for customers to buy from you on Small Business Saturday. Most importantly, make sure your business can deliver on the offer. A great article on creating a last minute strategy from Constant Contact suggests being very specific for example, offering 15% off all new items, free coffee and cookies for guests while they shop, free gift over a purchase of $50, or free wrapping. If it’s a finite number of a giveaway item, be sure to say for example “for the first 100 shoppers” or “while supplies last.” If it’s a special contest, make sure to have customers fill out an entry form so you can keep in touch in

4.Promote: Three tools to help promote: 1) Constant Contact toolkit contains worksheets for creating a campaign.  2) The American Express Shop Small site has free tools including signage and postcard templates for your business as well as a banner for your website

5.Gather your Resources: Now that you have your offer and/or message, the Shop Small partners also offer many useful and often free resources to help you spread the word. Don’t forget to review the terms of the offers. Great resources from free poster printing with FedEx to free online ads on Yelp as well as Bing (terms apply). Review the offers that are best suited for your goals and business.

6.Reach out to Local Media: Some small business owners not only decide to start or run their business in the same area they live, but also have incredible stories to share – all of which appeal to local media. Try sending a press release to local media with a grabbing tagline for example, “Local Santa Monica Resident Opens Small Shop, But Thinks Big on Small Business Saturday.” Send the story behind how you started your business, how long you’ve lived in the area, any special offers for the day and invite media to interview your customers on the big day. Press release template and guide

7.Bundle: As  shares in her  bundles often solve holiday dilemmas and lend to higher transaction amounts when the right gifts are wrapped together. Consider pre-wrapping products by theme for “him” or “her,” display bundles together, bundle a service and product, pre-wrap gift cards with your catalog or restaurant menu, or consider gift baskets at different price points. More tips from Rhonda’s guide

8.Upsell: In two ways: 1) Increase the present transaction size by asking, “Would you like to add X to your purchase?” or “Did you get a chance to see X? It goes well with Y.” 2) Make it easier for your customers to spend more often by keeping them in the know about your business. It’s as easy as asking at the end of a transaction, “Would you like to be added to our special offers email list? It is sent out X a mo/week/.”If you’re using a tablet in store, make it easy for customers to check a box to be added to your email list or consider offering a small discount on a future purchase if they sign up. Tips on upselling from .

9.Staff: First and foremost, review your projected sales for the holidays and assess whether you can hire seasonal staff. If so, remind your staff that they are part of the shopping small experience, to say “thank you” to customers, and to upsell. If you’re thinking about offering free wrapping or beverages make sure you assign your employees duties on the onset of the big weekend to assure “stations” are always staffed or stocked. Lastly, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, you may want to consider having “on-call” staff members or advising family or friends you may need their help.

10.Review and Follow Up: After the day is over, make a note of some aspects you would improve in the future and ask your staff or customers their thoughts too. This will help not only replicate actions that worked for next year, but also help your ongoing marketing efforts. Did you reach your goal of 2x your normal sales from foot traffic alone? Did your customers enjoy shopping with you and receive value from your offers? Lastly, follow up with a simple “Thank you” email or note showing appreciation for visiting and anticipation for seeing the customer again soon. Consider including shots from the day and/or including one or two upcoming offers in your email or note.

Source:http://smallbizla.org

Successful Career Planning

Career planning is not an activity that should be done once -- in high school or college -- and then left behind as we move forward in our jobs and careers. Rather, career planning is an activity that is best done on a regular basis -- especially given the data that the average worker will change careers (not jobs) multiple times over his or her lifetime. And it's never too soon or too late to start your career planning.

Career planning is not a hard activity, not something to be dreaded or put off, but rather an activity that should be liberating and fulfilling, providing goals to achieve in your current career or plans for beginning a transition to a new career. Career planning should be a rewarding and positive experience.

Here, then, are 10 tips to help you achieve successful career planning.

1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event:

Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year -- more often if you feel the need or if you're planning a major career change -- and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career -- what you really want out of your career, out of your life.

By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction -- and you'll be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.

2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning:

One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path -- whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends -- will help you plan for the future.

Once you've mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course -- and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?

3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants:

Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life -- not just in your job -- that you feel most strongly about.

Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.

Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.

4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies:

Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you're not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it's not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.

Think you can't make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn't until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.

5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments:

Most people don't keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it's time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments -- keeping a record of them -- is not only useful for building your resume, it's also useful for career planning.

Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.

6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills:

Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don't see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it's much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.

For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills -- such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information -- skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.

  

7. Review Career and Job Trends:

Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.

A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow -- or next year. It's important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.

8. Set Career and Job Goals:

Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.

A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change - and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.

9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities:

It's somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.

Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities -- and then find a way achieve them.

10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities:

One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.

Of course, if you're in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths -- and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.

Final Thoughts on Career Planning

Don't wait too long between career planning sessions. Career planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in this article, you'll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies ahead in your career -- and in your life.

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Source : http://www.quintcareers.com