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.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010- JEBCommerce, a leading outsourced affiliate management agency, today announces that AmyAdele.com, a leader in hand-made, unique and irresistibly cute stationary, party invites and t-shirts, has selected JEBCommerce to grow and manage their affiliate program on the Linkshare Affiliate Network.

“We interviewed several affiliate management organizations and chose JEBCommerce because of their experience, professionalism and attention to detail. Jamie Birch and his staff have already hit the ground running. We are very excited about our partnership with JEBCommerce and look forward to growing our program” – Joseph M. Wike, CEO AmyAdele.com

Jamie Birch, founder and president of JEBCommerce (an affiliate management agency), looks to leverage AmyAdele.com’s outstanding and original, custom designed products and JEBCommerce’s experience and innovation to grow the program quickly and expand upon their current success. “We are very excited to be working with AmyAdele.com. Their products are unlike anything available. Affiliates are able to offer these wonderful, and highly sought after products and promote them with a great foundation of creative as well as new tools we are currently developing. We want to encourage affiliates to join the program in the Linkshare Affiliate Network today or contact us at affiliates@AmyAdele.com or 1-800-208-6215.”

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

If you are an affiliate or website owner and are interested in working with the AmyAdele.com affiliate program, please contact JEBCommerce at affiliates@jebcommerce.com.

One of our longest standing clients sent us the following testimonial today.  We love working with Sumit and the rest of the team at LuggagePoint.com and are super proud that they enjoy working with us too!

JEB commerce has got to be one of the most exciting companies that I’ve worked with in my entire 12-years in e-commerce .  We outsource to a lot of vendors and this has got to be the only company where we are very interactive with, both professionally and personally.  Our families have sat down with each other and broke bread a few times, each time was always a great experience.

Now, professionally speaking, they have provided us with value to our company going from 0 to where we are today.  This is something, we as a company, was not equipped to do.  We didn’t have the know-how, the where-to, or the where-is, that JEB commerce has been able to provide.  Our affiliate program with JEB commerce has opened our eyes to more potential business and we are always exploring new opportunities with JEB and I’m sure we will be acting on a lot of them.  Having their team on board is a pleasure and we are extremely impressed and pleased with the level of service we have received thus far! I mean, who else would pick you up from Spokane International airport and take you all around Idaho??
- Sumit Bhanote, LuggagePoint.com.

When Should We Expect Our Affiliate Program to be Profitable?

As outsourced affiliate program managers, or OPM’s, we often get this type of question from new clients and potential clients—and it is a great question. WHEN do you expect to see your program pay for you? The answer, however, isn’t as easy as many would like. There are a few things to take into account, such as:

• Is your’s a retail, lead gen, or business to business affiliate program?
• If it’s retail, are you starting out in your busy period, in your down quarter, or somewhere in between?
• How well known is your brand?
• What network or platform are you launching on?
• Are you launching with ALL the tools your affiliates will need or is this more of a soft launch?
• What is the competitive space like?
• Are your products and services already proven and their demand already demonstrated?
• How long have you been selling products online?
• How long has your site been around and what other channels are you using to sell?
• Are you dedicating resources to this program, such as an in-house affiliate manager or team or an affiliate management agency such as JEBCommerce?

Answers to these questions will help you adequately plan for the performance of your affiliate program. But let’s start with the ballpark figure that you might be looking for right now. Here is our basic rule - you shouldn’t expect true performance and profitability before month 6. That is our general rule. Why? Managing an affiliate program takes time, it is resource intensive, and you are dealing with a relationship based initiative. It takes time to identify partners, contact them, get them excited, and get them optimized.

Basically, at month 6, if your program isn’t meeting expectations and delivering an acceptable percentage of your online business, either big changes need to be made, you are missing a few key points, you need new affiliates, and/or new tools, or this may just not be a great channel for your company.

Six months provides you, your affiliate manager, outsourced affiliate manager enough time to alter strategy, recruit affiliates, test promotions, product merchandise strategies, and more.

Can We See Success in Our Affiliate Program before Month 6?

Definitely! Many of the programs we have managed have produced a healthy percentage of sales or leads by month 3. But by that time, you should be able to identify things that are working and things that aren’t and alter your strategy and/or the execution of it accordingly. If you are around your third month and seeing little to no traction, you or your affiliate management team should be reinforcing or altering your launch strategy.

Programs of unproven companies or products with little brand recognition and companies with no other marketing in other channels, will most likely experience a longer ramp up time as you need to factor in product education and a little brand recognition into the whole process.

Retail programs tend to show results between month 3 and 6. Lead gen can show results right away or, at times, take longer than retail, and business to business programs tend to be more complex and challenging. So some additional time may be necessary.

These aren’t hard and fast rules, but a decent guideline to show you that it does take some time to build a strong and profitable affiliate program. But you should see results, successes, and failures within the first six months and a good affiliate manager will recognize these as you are launching to ensure the quickest success possible.

JEBCommerce is growing rapidly and needs more talented people right away.  We currently have two positions open.

Assistant Account Manager - Affiliate Program Management

JEBCommerce is growing rapidly and we are looking for someone with great people and organizational skills that is looking to join a high energy team and start a career in online marketing.  This position will assist the affiliate and account managers in:

* executing strategy on a selection of accounts
* day to day management
* develop and continue relationships with key affiliate partners
* develop and execute promotion, activation and recruiting plans
* optimize clients’ affiliate programs

We are looking for someone who can help us continue to grow our clients’ campaigns.  The following are desired qualifications:

* 1-3 years account management experience
* demonstrated success in relationship building
* must have strong communications skills
* ability to work independently
* strong ambition and drive to succeed
* ability to interface directly with clients
* creativity in partner development
* proficiency in excel, word, powerpoint and other online tools and networks is necessary
* exceptional written and verbal communications skills

To apply -  upload your resume and a short (less than 2 minutes) video cover letter at http://drop.io/hidden/arjfewaaor8rhq/upload . No applications will be considered without a resume and a video cover letter.

Internet Marketing Intern

We are looking for an intern!  If you are passionate about the internet space and social media and want to learn and work at fast paced online performance marketing agency, submit your resume and a short video cover letter at http://drop.io/hidden/lpphkszdll937u/upload .

These positions are also located in beautiful Coeur d’Alene Idaho and we are currently not looking for telecommuting candidates.