AffiliateBenchMarks is looking for affiliates, agencies and advertisers to fill out their 5 minute survey on the affiliate industry and your views of it.

We’ve filled out this survey in the past, as have our clients, and the data you receive from it is fantastic.  We highly recommend you take a few minutes and fill this out.

Here is more information from them:

All we need from you is a few minutes of your time for a quick survey. Take the survey now or Read on to learn more… 

With your help 2010 AffiliateBenchmarks research study will be the most comprehensive survey of affiliate marketers ever. Last year we surveyed over 3500 affiliate marketing executives, providing real insight into this secretive space. 

That’s why we’re reaching out to you; the study only works if we get the opinions and perspectives of as many professionals as possible. As an incentive, if you complete the survey before July 16th 2010, you will receive a copy of the final report absolutely free. 

What you can gain from the 2010 study? 

- Which advertiser types produce the greatest revenue. 

- The best of all tried and tested routes to drive traffic to your affiliate page. 

- The benefit of better run campaigns as networks, agencies and advertisers read the findings of the study. 

- The opportunity to have your voice heard and contribute to a greater understanding of affiliate marketing. 

- A multidimensional look at the relationship between affiliate marketing and other online marketing channels. 

We’ve made improvements from the 2009 study 

- Our study is now simpler. We removed some questions and streamlined others to ease the burden on busy affiliates. 

- We’ve added a short survey for advertisers/merchants to collect some information on their challenges and views of affiliate marketing. 

- We added a short survey for agencies/OPMs/consultants to collect some information on their view of the industry. 

- We have even more partners who have agreed to distribute the survey and ensure that 2010 will be the largest affiliate research study ever produced (a title currently held by our 2009 report). 

- The 2010 report will feature more indepth analysis than ever before.

You get back what you put in 

As in previous studies, any participant who answers every question (not just the ‘required’ fields) will receive the full survey results and participants who answer all of the required questions will receive a copy of the executive summary. With your help, we can meet our goal of illuminating the affiliate marketing industry. 

PLEASE NOTE: The survey will close on July 16th at 5pm EST.

The Performance Marketing Association (PMA)  just announced new working group structures.  I was fortunate enough to work on one of the initial working groups during the forming of the PMA, membership fees I believe, and it was a fun experience.  I got to work with some great people and brainstorm ideas on how to make the PMA great.

From their site:

“The Performance Marketing Association is a not-for-profit trade association founded in 2008 by the leaders of the performance marketing industry, to connect, inform and advocate on behalf of this rapidly growing field.

The Performance Marketing Association (PMA) strives to raise the profile of performance marketing by demonstrating the value of this multi-billion marketing channel, which comprises more than 200,000 businesses and individuals. Continued growth of the performance marketing space is expected as advertisers, facing small budgets and big expectations, increasingly look to performance-based marketing initiatives to expand their business.”

The restructured working groups are as follows:

• Anti-Fraud/Anti-Abuse, sponsored by Online Intelligence (an Epic Advertising company)
• Advertiser Practices  to Avoid Fraud, sponsored by Adperio
• Data Feed/Content Standards, sponsored by Ebates
• Industry Pledge to Ethical Practices, sponsored by Ebay
• Convergence with Offline, sponsored by MediaTrust

To learn more, check out their blog.

The PMA has done some great work, and along side some amazing affiliates/affiliate managers/network, they have lead the amazon tax initiative and had some huge wins.  They have proved to be very valuable and a needed resource in our industry.  If you’d like to learn more about membership, click here.

Multi-channel retail affiliate programs are unique, complex and require different tactics, strengths and processes than other programs to be successful. They are a different animal altogether from lead gen, business to business and online only programs. You have to worry about things like new-to-file acquisition, channel cannibalization and margin contribution allocation. Here is a quick guide to some of the important things you should be doing, looking at, monitoring, or working towards when managing a multi-channel affiliate program.

We’ve prepared a pdf of 4 things you can be doing to optimize your retail affiliate program.  This could also be good for affiliates to understand fully what multi-channel retailers are looking for from their affiliates.

Optimizing Multi-Channel Affiliate Programs

Recently Logan Thompson published a great blog post on getting the most out of your affiliate manager.  Logan is an affiliate, affiliate manager and roots for the best dang football team on the planet, the Seahawks! (ok, we’ve had a few bad years, but Roethlisberger didn’t cross the goal line, he even said, not that we are bitter…).

I’ve been reading Logan’s blog for a little while and he writes some great stuff.  This post is no exception.    One of his statements really got to me.  As an affiliate manager for almost 12 years now, I feel old, I’ve always been waiting by the phone to talk to my affiliates.  Any questions they have we want to do our best to answer.  In his blog he points out that many of the questions affiliates ask, affiliate managers can answer.  It still surprises me that that has to be said and many affiliates don’t think they can go to their affiliate managers.  I know how proactive and responsive myself and my team are, and strive to be, so I wonder if there are a lot out there that are either just so busy, have so many other responsibilities, or simply don’t enjoy interaction…

The article is great though.  Logan interviews some great affiliate managers including Matt McWilliams, reigning Affiliate Manager of the year, of Legacy Learning and others.  Here are some of their highlights in getting the most out of your affiliate manager, some things to ask them:

• Ask them about the demographics of their users.  I love this one.  We try to provide this in our affiliate education centers and our newsletters.  Knowing who you are marketing to, your audience is so vital.
• Keywords that don’t work
• Ask for testimonials from customers.  This is a great way to add content, prequalify your users and incent the click.
• Ask for content.
• Don’t just ask “give me your best offer”…ill show you a list of our top offers in terms of revenue if that’s what you want. Get more specific….ask for the best offer for a certain niche or maybe a traffic source
• What trends are you seeing in a particular niche or in the industry in general?
• What are your best sellers?

Many of the interviewees commented on the audience and their demographics.  I would add the following items to that list of how to get the most out of your affiliate manager:

• Build a relationship with them:  Get beyond “what is the best commission rate, and can I get an exclusive offer” and learn about them.  Build trust and friendship and many other things will flow from it.
• Seasonality of products: Many advertisers’ products perform well during a certain time of the year and slow down at others.  So grab that information and plan accordingly.
• Ask for anything:  Good affiliate managers, like those interviewed, are there day in and day out ready to help you.  Some of the best relationships we have with affiliates are the ones that contact us most frequently.  When we are training new affiliate managers, both at JEBCommerce and at retailers across the country, we instruct them to be available and contact affiliates.  It goes both ways.  Frequent request will help you get more out of your manager.
• Be transparent:  Don’t hold back your marketing methods, problems, obstacles and successes.  Many affiliate managers have extensive and diverse backgrounds and can help you through problems and even brainstorm.  Our team has experience in house in affiliate management, paid search, SEO, content development, copy editing and writing, web site development, creative design, offline marketing, print marketing, catalog marketing, call center management, finance industry, the armed services and more.  That breadth of experience can help you in many different problems, and other affiliate managers can offer the same.  You’d really be surprised.
• Explain your business model:  Tell your affiliate manager how you make money and what works for you.  He may not know you make a lot of money on backend offers, upsells through email, or coaching programs.  Share those things with them and maybe you’ll spark new and improved ways to do business together.

When an affiliate and an affiliate manager start to really work together, some amazing things happen.  Hey you may even work on a project together.  Logan’s article is great and I suggest you check it out.  If you aren’t reading his blog, here you go.

Early in 2009 I believe, I wrote a series of blog posts regarding one of my favorite shows, Hell’s Kitchen. We love watching that show and Chef Ramsey is a favorite at the Birch household. One of the reasons I love watching this show is because there are real lessons you can learn for your own business by watching Ramsey work. He commitment to a superior product each and every time he steps in the kitchen is incredible.

We were watching the second episode tonight and something dawned on me. The self evaluation he requires of his chef’s is amazing. If it isn’t perfect, superior, and better than everyone else, that risotto is going back to the kitchen. Each and every plate is reviewed and evaluated. Before it goes out it is measured against their standard, their expectations.

Isn’t that so amazingly important? It is vital in a service business like JEBCommerce. Every deliverable to our clients has to live up to our standard, has to be better than our clients expect and exceed their expectations. Our affiliates need to know that the product coming out of our shop on behalf of our clients is complete and beats their expectations.

At our agency, we are very clear with our standards, what we expect, the quality of our deliverables to both affiliates and clients. We’ve taken some of the concepts, and definitely the passion, that someone like Chef Ramsey shows in his kitchen and apply and focus that in our affiliate management.

Have you taken a good look at the work you are doing? Have you put your work on “the pass” and reviewed the speed and quality before it went to your customers, whether they are clients, affiliates or consumers? Have you been able to take a real good look at the work that you are putting out. Have you asked yourself how it stands up to your expectations and standards. Should you send it back to the kitchen.

I love that this show not only is entertaining, I mean who doesn’t love when he kicks a garbage can across the kitchen, but it inspires me to go back to all the work that we do and look at it objectively. It moves me to ask myself and my team, is this good enough? Are we meeting our standards? Are we as good as we can be? Are we as fast, efficient, comprehensive and innovative as we can be? Are you? I’d love to hear what you think and would enjoy your sharing any stories you have. Do tell…

Yesterday you may have seen our post with our link to our live chat LiveChime link. Some of you were kind enough to test it out with us and for that we very much appreciate it.

Our first chat came while I (Jamie) was actually at my son’s baseball game. As I sat there on the bleachers cheering the Coeur d’Alene Orioles on, unfortunately to a loss, I received a ping on my Android phone from notify@livechime.com - “you have a chat waiting for you.”. I had forgotten I put that on our blog that day, preoccupied with my son’s batting percentage, and was surprised to see the notification.

I clicked on the link provided in that text and it brought me to a chat window where I proceeded to have a great conversation with a potential client about LiveChime and JEBCommerce. It worked great, was flawless and was quick. The only thing slowing me down was my fat fingers and my son’s second at bat of the evening. From the user’s perspective it was incredibly easy to use. Want to try it out? Chat With JEBCommerce Now!

Our chat lasted for about 15 minutes and lead to another call.  That’s the power of LiveChime.  It was such a great demonstration of it’s functionality.  We are so proud to be working with this great company.

Livechime is incredibly inexpensive as well, only $99 a year. That includes unlimited chats/leads per month, chat history, link management, co-branded chat page and more. You can’t beat the functionality or the price. If you are an affiliate and want to try it out, just let me know (affiliates AT livechime.com). If you’d like to become a paying subscriber, just click on the link below (affiliate link - tracking purposes only) and let us know if you have any trouble.

We are currently paying out 20% of all paid memberships with 30 return days and it is on the Linkshare network. Find out more here or join here.

LiveChime is not only great for affiliates to use, it’s great to promote.  Any small business/home business, online marketers, coaches, home services companies and the like would respond quite well to the LiveChime message.  Give me a call and let’s talk about how to get you started right away.  1800-208-6215 x101.

Instantly add chat to your online marketing. Sign up at LiveChime.com today.

Our newest client, Livechime, provides simple and easy to use live chat technology easy enough for anyone to use. We set up our account earlier this week and you now can chat with us at any time by simply clicking on the link below:

Chat With JEBCommerce Now!

If you aren’t sure what LiveChime is or what it can do, watch the short video below.

We are super excited to announce today that the LiveChime affiliate program is now live in Linkshare.

LiveChime is a simple chat product that enables text chat between Internet buyers and sellers in virtually all forms of online marketing.  With a simple link you are able to provide a live chat option on any online marketing you are doing.  You can use this product in CraigsList, Ebay, your website, facebook and more!  And now you can earn commissions on every referring member you send to Livechime.

Here are the program specifics:

• 20% commission on all paid memberships
• 30 return days
• Average order size - $100
• VIP commission available
• Paid search marketing available upon written approval
• On the Linkshare Network
• Join now

Read more and watch an intro video at NewsForAffiliates.com.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010
JEBCommerce,  today announces that OfficeFrog, an online vendor of earth friendly products for the office, has selected JEBCommerce to grow and manage their affiliate program on the ShareASale affiliate network.

OfficeFrog.com seeks to become the leading online vendor of choice in eco-friendly products for the office with a compelling product selection, competitive price points, and strong stewardship toward bringing natural earth replenishment and sustainability practices to the everyday workplace. OfficeFrog.com will be unique in it’s approach, product offering, awareness message, and marketing style.. Very soon affiliates will be able to promote these “green” products through the OfficeFrog.com affiliate program on ShareASale, managed by the JEBCommerce team.

“We’re excited to be working with JEB Commerce” said David Conner, CEO of OfficeFrog.com. “As a new niche brand in a market with a number of large established players, OfficeFrog.com needs a strong performance marketing approach that delivers results. JEB was recommended to us by one of their clients as a knowledgeable player in affiliate management with experience in working with online retailers like OfficeFrog.com. We have complete confidence the team at JEB will help us grow our business.”

Jamie Birch, founder and president of JEBCommerce (an outsourced affiliate management agency), looks to leverage the increasing demand and need for environmentally sound and sustainable office products and JEBCommerce’s experience in retail and business to business affiliate management sectors to grow this program quickly. “We are very excited to be working with Officefrog.com. Conservation and proactive stewardship has always been something dear to our hearts and we are excited to help bring these products to customers around the country. This provides a truly unique opportunity for affiliates. We want to encourage affiliates to join the program in the ShareASale Affiliate Network today or contact us at affiliates@officefrog.com or 1-800-208-6215.”

JEBCommerce is excited to add OfficeFrog to its current list of clients that includes philosophy, LuggagePoint.com, Elance, LiveChime, iFloor, 1800Pharmacy.com, Dean & Deluca, OverstockDrugstore, AmyAdele, and more.

If you are an affiliate or website owner who is interested in working with the OfficeFrog.com affiliate program, please contact JEBCommerce at affiliates@officefrog.com.

Monday, May 24, 2010
JEBCommerce, a leading affiliate and performance marketing agency, today announces that LiveChime, a leader in innovative chat technology, has selected JEBCommerce to grow and manage their affiliate program on the Linkshare Affiliate Network.

LiveChime is an easy innovative way to capture more leads from your existing online classifieds, auctions, and marketplaces simply by adding your personal link to the places where you already advertise such as Craigslist, eBay, and more. A simple link allows you to engage with customers and build their trust leading up to the sale. Now affiliates are able to promote this technology through the LiveChime affiliate program on Linkshare, managed by the JEBCommerce team.

“We’re excited to be working with JEB Commerce” said Tod Turner, CEO of LiveChime. “LINKShare is a cornerstone of our affiliate marketing initiative and JEB, who was recommended to us by LINKShare, brings a wealth of experience. They understand how the best affiliates work, what motivates them, and how to take care of them. Having JEB on our team ensures we’ll have the most successful program possible for everyone involved.”

Jamie Birch, founder and president of JEBCommerce (an outsourced affiliate management agency), looks to leverage LiveChime’s industry leading live chat technology and JEBCommerce’s experience in the business-to-business, and home/small business sector to grow this program quickly. “We are very excited to be working with LiveChime. Their technology is one of a kind and truly helps business of all types produce more leads and more sales through their online efforts. No longer are these businesses burdened with complicated and expensive chat technology to speak with their potential customers. This brings a truly unique opportunity to affiliates. With high converting and customizable landing pages and creative, this program is sure to be a high performer for our affiliates. We want to encourage affiliates to join the program in the Linkshare Affiliate Network today or contact us at affiliates@livechime.com or 1-800-208-6215.”

JEBCommerce is excited to add LiveChime to its current list of clients that includes philosophy, LuggagePoint.com, Elance, iFloor, 1800Pharmacy.com, Dean & Deluca, OverstockDrugstore, AmyAdele, OfficeFrog, and more.

If you are an affiliate or website owner who is interested in working with the LiveChime affiliate program, please contact JEBCommerce at affiliates@livechime.com.