"Affiliate" Marketing Help

Some of you have asked: "...what is the easiest way and most cost-effective way to have your products listed across a wide variety of sites without having to manipulate your data feeds daily or weekly and set up accounts directly with certain sites you may want to work with...", i.e. you don't have the resources to manage your data feeds and return on adspend using a tool as MerchantAdvantage, you don't have $ to spend on some pay-per-click campaigns, and you just want to experiement and "wet your feet."

In other words, you are willing to work with/pay fees to a "broker/affiliate" who is able to take your data feed, ONCE it is configured correctly for that affiliate site, and then offer you the opportunity to have that product catalog feed sent to many places for a "structured fee".

I say "structured fee" as each "broker/affiliate" has a different business model, fee structure, contract obligation etc...which I would ensure you understand clearly before working with them.

I followed up with a client recently and had a nice conversation about just this option and with whom they could work. I reminded that merchant that even an affiliate site requires you to format a data feed and send it to them daily (set-up work is required), but if you are just sending your data feed to one affiliate or even two and not updating and manipulating your prices, product descriptions, and analyzing performance on a day-to-day basis then it should be no issue to work with them directly - if they accept you into their netowork and you are willing to pay associated fees.

So here were some of the affliate sites I suggested on my call this am. Please remember that all listed have a different cost structure, some lock you in to work with them for a year, and some may not be appropriate for your stage of development.

Overview of some Affiliates - some of our clients send their product data feeds to at least one of these, some work with many of these listed -

SPECIAL NOTE: Not every affiliate will work with you if they don't think you're big enough to support their affiliate network and they all purport to do the same thing which is broker your products to other sites. Some of these are small, some are very large, and others are niche.

(listed in alphabetical order - NOT in order of importance, ease of working with them, cost, or reach):

www.Avantlink.com
www.BettyMills.com
www.ClassifiedFlyerAds.com
www.ClickXchange.com
www.ClixGalore.com
www.CommissionJunction.com
www.DigitalGoodsDelivery.com
www.GoldenCan.com
www.Google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork
www.Half.com
www.iShop.co.uk (UK-London based)
www.Kolimbo.com
www.Lemonade.com
www.Linkconnector.com
www.LinkShare.com
www.PepperJamNetwork.com
www.PriceScan.com
www.SecretPrices.com
www.Shareasale.com

I am sure there are many more affiliate sites, but this is a start if you decide this type of marketing strategy is right for you.  I hope the above proves helpful as you continue to expand your online marketing efforts.

-- Chip Arndt

Comments

[Andre Ocean]

Great post with superb insight, learned a lot!!!