I’ve managed a lot of programs in my times, and quite a few multi-channel retailers.  One of the issues I ran into a lot, and still do, is the use of un-authorized coupons by my affiliate partners.  I’ve attempted to explain this issue a number of times, but the question comes up again and again.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to put “pen to paper”, so to speak, about this issue in an attempt to clarify why it is important to follow coupon guidelines.  I hope that any affiliate reading this gets a better understanding as to why it is so important to only post authorized coupons for your merchant partners.  It’s all about clean data.

Clean Data

Merchants use coupons for a number of reasons. Some include: more sales, increase sales from a given segment or simply to track a given group of customers or new marketing initiative.  Often the coupon’s main function is not to provide a discount, but a way to better track a certain activity.  When a merchant sends a coupon via a catalog, email or other channel and does not make it available to an affiliate, they are usually testing the offer to a specific audience.  After the campaign is complete, they look over the stats.  How did the coupon perform overall?  How did that group or campaign perform compared to other activities or groups?  How profitable was this activity?  How many redemptions?  How many new customers?

When an affiliate grabs this un-authorized coupon, the results of that campaign, coupon and test are fuzzy and unclear.  The merchant is now making decisions on incorrect data.  They either throw more resources at what they thought was a successful endevour or they retract and stop sending resources to something that was really profitible, but the stats show otherwise.  All of this means they are making decisions that effect you, the affiliate, based on incorrect information.  And that means less success for you.  Even if you may have seen success with that given coupon, there are more metrics that are measured than sales and the merchant may see it otherwise.

Your Agreement

This is pretty simple here.  If the affiliate agreement you have agreed to explains the coupon policy, get to know it and make sure you are abiding by it.

Your Best Interest

It really is in your best interest to abide by those policies and only use the coupons you are authorized to.  Have you seen programs shutting down?  Have you seen merchants getting much more restrictive in what they are doing with affiliates? I’m not sure if you know this, but the affiliate industry gets a bad wrap amongst large multi-channel retailers.  This issue is a huge issue at the executive level within these organizations.  Programs are becoming more restrictive in who the let in as they are looking for more “partners” and less opportunists.  I’m sure that statement will get a lot of feedback and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.  I’m just the messenger on this issue, so hold back on the arrows and rocks :).  But it is true.  Programs are increasingly getting rid of affiliates that can not partner with them in a mutually benefitial relationship.  Those affiliates that are able to work together in this way are getting the higher commissions and increased support.  Are you?

If you are helping to muddy up the results of a merchant’s campaign, you are helping them make bad decisions.  When they make bad decisions they supply you with bad as well.  And slowly you both become less successful.

Merchants

I have some tips for you as well.  In order for your affiliates to be able to abide by your coupon policy, you need to do a number of things:

1. Clearly state your coupon policy within your network interface, in your affiliate education site, and in any newsletter that includes a coupon.
2. Police this actively.  Nothing upsets your partners more than not being able to promote a coupon when another affiliate is and nothing happens to them.  Be fair, be consistent and be alert.
3. State your coupon policy clearly.  Wait, did I say that before?
4. Provide clear information on the coupons they are allowed to use such as start date, end date, restrictions, and coupon code.
5. Notify affiliates of coupons they are NOT allowed to use.  Often this is much easier for the affiliates to monitor.
6. Police this activity.  Wait I said that before too.
7. Provide coupons before they go live.  Notify of unauthorized coupons before they go live.  Communicate, communicate, communicate.
8. Build relationships with your affiliates.

I’m sure I’m missing a few things on both ends, but this should serve as a pretty good start.

Another note to merchants - if you aren’t working with coupon affiliates because you think they only send customers you would already get, only send discount shopppers, or all of them use codes you don’t authorize, you need to give it another look.  I work with many very respectible and responsive affiliates that have built their own brand and if you aren’t there, customers will buy from someone who is.  Check out my coupon series for more.

Affiliates - there are a lot of great and respectable coupon sites that I have not only been fortunate and blessed to work with, but to also call close friends.  For those of you that fall into that category, you are doing all the right things.  For others who don’t think it’s that big of a deal, let me stress that this is a big issue for merchants.  It is casting a shadow on our industry and I encourage you to reach out to these merchants and truly partner with them.  When you look out for them, they really begin to look out for you.

So there is my $.02 on Super Bowl Sunday, what do you think?  Agree, disagree?

I love to cook.  I don’t mean every day cooking like meatloaf and such.  I mean elaborate meals for all my friends.  4 or 5 course events with entirely home-made food that takes me days to put together.  Along with loving to cook, I love to watch cooking shows. My favorite isn’t so much a “how to cook” show, but more of a how to run a business show with a lot of cooking wrapped into it.  I am glued to the tube when Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmare is on.  My wife and I can’t get enough of Gordon Ramsey and this show.

The premise is simple.  Chief Ramsey goes to a restaurant that is struggling and on the bring of collapse.  In one week he attempts to help the owners of the restaurant turn it into a profitable venture.  Chef Ramsey, between f-bombs and “are you flipping kidding me”’s, educates the owners and staff on how to run their business and cater to their customers.  It’s a hell of a show and one of the most entertaining hours of TV I think you can find.

While watching this show one night, a thought came to me.  Chef Ramsey isn’t just showing these restauranteurs how to run there business, he is laying down sound business principles.  Not only that, there are some solid lessons to be learned for affiliate managers, affiliates and others in the performance marketing area.  And a blog series was conceived
So, this is the first in an ongoing series on what we can learn from Chef Gordon Ramsey.

Rule #7 - Don’t try to cook the elaborate stuff if you don’t have any of the basics down.

During one episode, Chef Ramsey showcased Rule #7 - Don’t try to cook elaborate stuff if you don’t have the basics down (paraphrased).  I love this bit of advice and it is good for both affiliate managers and affiliates.  The “chef” in this episode had a menu full of elaborate entries and crazy food combinations.  This guy was trying to cook complex dishes when he couldn’t heat up a pizza.  And it showed in the cash register.  He focused on the fancy before he could cook the simple.  We can learn a lot from this.

Affiliate Managers - Have you been pushing advanced creative options but leaving out start and end dates?   Have you been pushing your datafeed tool but haven’t updated your text links in 2 months?  What about contact info?  Are you expecting affiliates to promote your products and drive sales but you are completely unavailable to your partners?  Do you provide your creative in all the standard sizes?  It helps to look at your program from time to time from the eyes of an outsider to see how it stacks up.  Make sure you aren’t overlooking something simple and important.  (We do an affiliate audit if you need help).  Concentrate on the basics first; product inventory, conversion rates, commission rates, return days, competitive positioning, creative available, contact information, contact methods, information distribution, compliance analysis and more.  Get those down and ensure that you are taking care of those basics (not a comprehensive list) then, and only then, reach beyond that and start doing some of the more advanced affiliate marketing initiatives.

Affiliates - What do you think?  What are the basics that you feel are important to conquer before you go to advanced activities?  I think my post about affiliate applications runs down some of the very basic ones.

I’ve seen too many merchants ignore the basic and fundamental aspects of their programs and expect affiliates to turn up their sales for them.  It just doesn’t happen.  I often tell my sons: “how can I expect you to handle the big things if you can’t handle the small.”  It’s a fitting question.

What are some of the basic things you’ve seen affiliates and affiliate managers miss?

It took a bit of time to get back to this series, but I’m hoping that the research we did on coupon sites was well worth it. This series is meant as a primer for bloggers and anyone else who is just starting out in affiliate marketing. As I said in my first post in this series, this is not meant to be a series for the experienced affiliate marketer, but is a high level introduction to our industry. So if you have been around for a while, you may not get much out of this one either.

Ok, so for those of you still sticking around, let’s go over the networks. Networks basically provide a marketplace where affiliates (you) and merchants (Zappos, Luggagepoint.com and others) can connect, form partnerships and be successful together. The networks act as trusted 3rd parties that track each transaction and provide the technology and distribution tools needed by both merchants and affiliates. If there were no networks, you would over 8,000 affiliate programs with different tracking systems, different logins and different accounts. Most of your time would be spent simply logging in to check your stats. Networks consolidate all of this so you can concentrate on selling.

So let’s give a brief run down of each of the major networks and some of the up and coming ones:

• Linkshare - “LinkShare Corporation provides ecommerce businesses with a wide range of online marketing services including Search Marketing (SEM), Lead Generation and Affiliate Marketing.  LinkShare clients include Fortune 500 and other prominent and emerging companies doing business online, including J.C. Penney, 1-800-Flowers.com, American Express, and Avon Products. LinkShare was founded in 1996  headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Tampa, London and Tokyo.” That is from their website.  Linkshare does have an awful lot of those Fortune 500 companies, so if you think that your audience wants those big brands, I’d definitely look here first.  They do have some advanced linking and distribution tools available, one of their newest being their wordpress plugin.  Signup here is free and pretty easy.  Their reporting is ok and grabbing links is pretty easy.
• Commission Junction - “Founded in 1998, Commission Junction, a ValueClick company, is based in Santa Barbara, California and has offices around the world. Since our inception, we have taken great pride in being customer service fanatics while establishing ourselves as a global leader in the online advertising channels of affiliate marketing and managed search.” That is also from their site.  CJ used to be the network to go to if you were looking to promote lead generation programs.  Programs such as LowerMyBills.com and other finance type lead programs could be found there.  They are still available, but CJ has made large gains into the retail space the last few years.  You can’t really go wrong and if you created an account in Linkshare, you should create one here as well.  I believe there are many more companies within CJ and you may find the interface and reporting a little easier to use.
• Google (formerly Performics) - “Google Affiliate Network connects advertisers and publishers who want to increase sales and drive leads through affiliate marketing.  As an advertiser using Google Affiliate Network, you’ll discover pre-screened publishers who can refer consumer traffic to you. As a publisher, you can market your site to advertisers in the network; if selected to participate in an advertiser’s program, you’ll earn a percent of sales or a referral bounty.” Again from their site.  I haven’t had much experience with this network from the affiliate side.  They do have many big merchants, so if you had to join 3, I would add this to my list.  Companies such as Barnes & Noble, Kohls, Circuit City and other brands are on this platform.  It’s also now owned by Google, so expect more interfacing with the other google tools and services.
• ShareASale - “There are currently over 2,000 Merchants plugged in to the ShareASale Network. Each of these merchants has a different type of product that they are selling - and each is ready to commission you on that sale if you bring a customer to them. The idea - and the implementation - are simple. You decide which merchants to promote and how to promote them, and when commissions are generated, you can see your stats in real-time. All payments are consolidated from the programs you participate in, and are paid with one check or direct deposit by ShareASale.” ShareASale is rapidly become one of the top networks to work with.  I know many of the people there personally and can attest to their professionalisms, ethics, turnaround and innovation.  With over 2,000 merchants, you are sure to find one that fits your audience here.  They also have many unique tools available.  Sign up with them and check out their merchant list.
• AvantLink - “We’ve created a unique, open environment for Cost Per Sale Affiliate marketers. One reason we’re unique is because we only work with high-value merchants with substantial catalogspercentage of sale. This particular advertiser segment can best utilize the industry leading Affiliate tools AvantLink is known for. Tools that are free to qualified Affiliates.” I’ve only recently been exposed to AvantLink, but all I can say is Wow!  They have a tool called the Affiliate Link Encoder that is really a must have for any blogging affiliate.   You basically put a small snippet of code in your footer files of your blog.  You then configure it to code certain words and domains in the copy of your posts to go to a certain trackable link of a merchant within the AvantLink network.  This means that you don’t necessarily need to make each post that contains the word “ski”, for example, link to a ski merchant.  You simply set the tool to encode certain words to go to certain merchants.  And it does it all for you in your entire blog, even archived content.  Becoming an affiliate of AvantLink is a little more difficult than the other networks.  They don’t accept downloads of any kind or affiliates that are considered parasitic in any way.  This only ends up protecting the affiliates the do get in.

There are a lot of other CPA (cost per action) networks that are considered to be in the group above.  I won’t really talk about them too much here as I think that is a pretty good list to get started with.  For each of the networks I did discuss, joining is the first step.  You’ll need to apply to become an affiliate. If you want to know what to put in your affiliate application, check out my blog post on the subject.  Make sure you avoid some of those mistakes so you can get past this first step.

After that, you’ll need to spend some time identifying who you want to work with.  Each merchant and each network requires that you apply to join their program, then you are either approved or denied.  When you are approved you’ll have access to all their links, banners and other distribution methods, I’ll outline some of the neat tools that are available in my next post.

So that is pretty much my brief run down of the networks I think you should get started with.  I do recommend you working with all of them as they do have different merchants in each and each one offers something different than the other.

I’m sure I’m missing some things, so if you are an experienced affiliate marketer reading this post, please feel free to add anything in the comments section that you think a blogger getting started in AM will need to know.

Yesterday I explored the somewhat obvious change in consumer behavior as the economy continues to slide.  I was listening to the radio today and, I can’t recall which show, but they reported that the GPD shrunk .5% last quarter.  One more quarter of shrinking GDP and we are officially in a recession.  And that is driving users online in larger numbers and driving them right to coupon and discount sites.  Below is what I’ve found to back that up.

Consumer’s Online Behavior

In February of last year, as the economy worsened, ComScore reported an increase in coupon site traffic.  “The number of page views on Web sites that feature money-off coupons for all manner of consumer products surged 38%, to 281 million, in March from a year earlier, compared with 5% for the Internet as a whole, according to comScore (SCOR). Those visitors spent a total of 145 million minutes on the sites, a 37% increase. While the number of new users to coupon sites isn’t growing faster than the larger Internet audience, existing coupon site users are certainly becoming more active. “User engagement by deal-seekers appears to be ramping up,” says comScore analyst Andrew Lipsman. “As a general rule, something like online coupon site activity would increase as a result of macroeconomic trends.”“  Makes sense doesn’t it?  And from what I heard from my coupon affiliate colleagues, their traffic is up considerably as well.

“Visitors to Coupons.com, a decade-old site that lets users print coupons that can be redeemed in stores, grew 35% in the first three months of 2008, compared with the prior quarter, says the site’s CEO, Steven Boal.” Wow, a 35% increase in the 1st quarter over the 4th quarter of the year prior.  That is pretty significant.

Business week weighed in on traffic increases to coupon sites as well earlier this year.  Thanks to Michael Block for sharing this information:  “traffic to sites focusing on coupon offers has increased a whopping 38% from March 2007 to March 2008; compared with 5% growth for the Internet overall. They aren’t just going more often, people are spending more time on these sites - also up 37%.“  That increase was before our economy really got bad, or at least we realized how bad it was getting.

This summer, Hitwise released some very intrigueing data that shows the trend of more traffic to coupon sites continuing.  For the same week in June, coupon site traffic was up 56% over last year.  ““Rising gas prices and tightened budgets have many consumers using the Internet to help save money while shopping online and off. Retailers can entice purchases by making discounts available to price-conscious consumers as the cost of living continues to increase,” said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise. “While discretionary income is shrinking for some households, consumers are still shopping online, but making sure that they find the best deals.”“  I think that is one of the key findings from this report.  Consumers are still shopping, but they are using coupons sites more and more to be sure they get the best deal.  The brands that are not there don’t get the benefit of this comparison and shopping.  US searches, during the same time, doubled compared to last year and that trend just keeps increasing.

In October of this year,  Entertainment.com announced in a press release:  “Entertainment.com usage has risen more than 50 percent in 2008 as consumers scramble for savings.” “Nationally, coupon usage has risen 72 percent in just the past six months, according to a consumer poll released in September by online marketing company Prospectiv.”

But wait there is more:

Lenka Keston of CouponWinner.com and SurfMyAds.com reported in eBizine.com on October 16th: “CouponWinner.com, a website that streamlines and publicizes the marketing capabilities of online coupons, has seen a 110 percent increase in traffic during 2008. The consumer is discovering the personal money-saving power of e-commerce, so retail companies need to explore new ways to monetize that power in order to stay competitive.”

There are more examples of this going on than I care to put here, otherwise this post would take four hours to read.  But it is clear that whether it is 37%, 56% or 110% increase, consumers still want to have a merry Christmas but are going to coupon sites in much larger numbers to do their shopping.

It is becoming increasingly important to participate on these websites and take care of these partners.  It’s not so much about branding anymore, it’s simply about sales.  If you are where the consumers are, they will shop with you, if not, well then a better placed competitor will get the chance to close the sale.

Tomorrow I’ll explore some ways merchants can provide creative coupons and some of the findings from my short and unscientific survey of the top coupon sites :).

Read my next post in this series.

We at JEBCommerce are extremely excited to be working with Zappos and assisting such a dynamic and incredible company with their affiliate program.  Starting on November 13th, we are working closely with the Zappos affiliate manager, Ned Farra, and the rest of the Zappos team to help identify and reach out to new affiliates that are not yet promoting Zappos.  So, if you are not working with this top online retailer yet, you should be!  Just contact me at jamie@jebcommerce.com to get started.

I had an opportunity to meet Ned, Matt, their CEO Tony and what seemed to be the entire company in Vegas this week prior to attending pubcon.  I was extremely impressed with every single person I met and the company as a whole.  I’m sure you have read about their corporate culture, how they take care of their employees and how much of a family it is there.  It’s something that you can’t really get a feel for through a news article or blog, but I can attest that this is one of the most amazing and unique companies I have ever visited.  Every single person I met was extremely polite and truly seemed to love to work at Zappos.  This is one of the reasons we are truly proud to be working with this company.  Great products, amazing service and a family atmosphere.  We are so glad to be recruiting for the Zappos program.

My visit to their headquarters started with one of the most unique and fun company tours I have ever been on.  I was able to bring this picture home with me to remind me how much fun I did have.

So, if you are not working with Zappos, let’s get started today!  Here is what you do, you can email me, with your CJ PID at jamie@jebcommerce.com.  I’ll extend an offer to you through CJ and Ned and I will do all we can to make sure you are successful this holiday season.

If you have any questions or need any other help, just give me a call at 208-635-5164.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to chat with Gary Marcoccia from AvantLink, a new-ish affiliate network that has come on the scene in the last year or so.  Being in this industry for about ten years, I have pretty specific ideas for what I’d like to see the main affiliate networks add or change to help both managers and affiliates, so I was excited to chat with Gary and see what a startup network was up to.

Gary walked me through the entire network and I have to say that I was very impressed.  It was clean, easy to understand and included all the basic functions that one needs to run an affiliate program.  There were also some very cool advanced features, such as the Advanced Link Encoder.  You tend to see big jumps in innovation from start up companies, and this tool is no different.

From their release on October 30th:

“Yesterday we rolled out the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE), yet another innovative tool that offers Affiliates the option of direct linking to their AvantLink merchant partners in the context of articles, blog posts, forum threads or anywhere else for that matter! A simple JavaScript we provide takes direct merchant links and appends Affiliate tracking details so credit will be applied for all customer referrals, not just those referrals that click through configured tracking links from the network.”

This tool provides the affiliates with a small bit of java script code that they place in the header or footer of their site so it populates on every page.  It then will take predetermined links to a specific merchant and make them a trackable link!  This is outstanding for forums and blogs, especially if you have a lot of legacy content.

Gary told me of an affiliate that has been blogging for years.  He installed the ALE in his footer and within a few days he saw an 80% increase in affiliate commissions.  What an amazing time saver and commission optimization tool.  Imagine if you have a forum - now any mentions of specific brands are turned into trackable links.  I don’t know of any other network that provides something like this.

I was concerned about this tool interferring with the display of the page, but I can attest to seeing this in action and it did not slow down the page one bit.  When you hover over a link you see the trackable AvantLink link, but in the source code you can see that it is a direct link.

And there is the second benefit for affiliates, and merchants.  Since the affiliate can use a direct link, they can then pass their link juice to the merchant.  I have been told of affiliates that were able to acquire a few more points on commission in turn for using the ALE exclusively and direct linking to a specific merchant.  More power to the affiliates here, and an added benefit for merchants.

They released Version 2.0 on the 10th.  Read more about it here.  The most exciting change is the ability to designate any words, not just links, to be overwritten with a trackable link to a merchant.  For instance, you can designate every mention of the word “ski” as a trackable link to a ski gear site available through AvantLink.  Now that is powerful.

Now I just need a new client to really try this network out.  Thanks Gary for spending the time to walk me through it yesterday.

Last week I wrote about affiliate applications and what managers often see that keep affiliates out of  programs.  One of the things I see most often and I alluded to in those earlier posts, is the lack of affiliate contact info shared to the merchants.  It is more frustrating when working with CJ programs as CJ is the only major network, that I am aware of, that does not share all the contact information of the affiliate with the affiliate manager.  Cj, I implore you, please change this policy.

Years ago, getting into affiliate marketing had a very low barrier to entry.  If you saw someone’s good idea and you knew what they were doing, you could replicate it with a little time, html knowledge and some cash.  That being the case, many affiliates did not want to share any information whatsoever, including contact info.  Affiliates also received, I’ve been told, countless spam emails and phone calls pitching products and programs that clearly do not fit with them.  Inexperienced affiliate managers with bad pitches and horrible programs innundated them, and some still do.  These two things, and I’m sure there are others, have combined to get us to a point where there is not full disclosure.  A quick note - I’ve been guilty of this as well so a big apology to those that received those calls.

Recently I had a discussion with my fellow panelists on our Pubcon panel and this issue was brought up.  One thing we all agreed on, and I want to stress here is that our top producing affiliates, overwhelmingly, are those that we have long standing relationships with.  Those that we know their phone numbers, their emails, their IM’s.  This is from a group of individuals that I would say have experience managing over 100 programs (total guess, I know I’ve managed over 35 myself).

Affiliates, what is your reason for not sharing your contact info?  Let’s talk it out
My reasons for asking that you do share are really for your success.  When I see an application or a new affiliate pops up in my top performers list, but I don’t know them…  I immediately suspect something if I am unable to see email addresses, urls and contact info.  Why you ask?  After 9 years of doing this on over 35 different programs, one thing that most fraudulent affiliates have in common is a need to not share any contact info at all.  The the most common characteristic of affiliates that do not intend on abiding by your terms and conditions is withholding contact info and not responding to emails.  So great affiliates doing great work are not getting a fair look when you don’t foster a relationship with your manager.

This industry is about relationships.  Sales is about relationships and that is what this is all about.  The affiliates that are open to communication often receive the best information.  They get product lists quicker, custom creative, VIP commissions, search data and even product samples and gifts.

Thoughts?

Last week I wrote about affiliate applications and tried to identify some things that affiliates need to avoid. I also tried to lay out some things that, as an affiliate, you should do in your account and your application to ensure the best chance of receiving a “your approved” email. I received some amazing great comments and really appreciate everyone’s input.

Scott Jangro commented from the affiliate perspective: “I’m a pretty successful affiliate, fall into zero of the categories you list, and do all of the things that you said I should. I still get rejected all the time. And many times don’t respond to emails. I don’t blame the AM. I know as well as anybody how tough it is to weed through all the noise to find the good guys. The application process that the networks offer needs a complete overhaul. A great start would be if they all offer a simple cover letter type field for the affiliate to explain themselves. We’ve got so much going on that the fields in the application process can’t possibly cover it.”

That got me thinking about all the modifications the networks could make to the affiliate application process and approval queue.  At the end of the day, the better and more efficient this process, the more likely the networks are to generate increased revenue.  I’m sure they are missing out on commission just in Scott’s case as I know he is top performer.

Overall, Scott’s recommendation is spot on.  Networks, if you are listening, an easy and major improvement to the application process would be to allow the affiliate applying to the program to include a note to the affiliate manager.  For example, I know that if I received an application from a site that was under construction, but it included a note from the affiliate that we met at the affiliate summit last year and their plans are XX, XX and XX, I would approve that application and the relationship would grow from there.  I know that allowing a note like that would do a lot to explain what the affiliate is, their plans and other information that AM’s would benefit from knowing and are not easily explained in the standard application and account info areas.

On the other side of that fence, ya know what I would love?  While I am approving affiliate applications, I would love the option of having several text or html email templates loaded in my merchant account that I could simply choose to send from the application queue itself.  AM’s, how many times have you reviewed an application and wanted to send an email asking for an explanation, more information, contact info, or a url, but either didn’t have the contact info or it simply got lost in the process?  I’d love to have the ability to load several different text or html templates into the account and have the option of sending one of those emails to that parcticular applicant.

Let’s get a little more specific to a  few of the networks.

Commission Junction:  While the overall process is pretty good, there still is a lot of room for improvement.

• Accept/Deny - One of the more frustrating aspects of the approval process is the inability to check an application as Approved or Denied.  You have to first go through the list and check all that you want to either approve or deny.  Then you click on approve or deny.  You then go through the list and check the others and do the opposite, deny or approve.  It would save, at least me, a lot of time if I didn’t have to add that step.
• Include their primary url in the application queue.  Every time I have to click adds time to the process and reduces the amount of time I am able to evaluate each application.  Being able to see the main url on the same page where you see all the applications, their EPC’s, Date Applied and more would reduce time spent on each application and increase the likelihood that each applicant would get the consideration they need.
• Contact info - I know this has been discussed in depth and to the point of exhaustion, but CJ, please consider allowing affiliates to show all their contact info to the merchants.  Phone numbers, emails, IM’s even Twitter accounts would help us all out.  Affiliates - if you don’t want to share your contact info, are you really a partner at all (that is an entire post itself)
• Include Make Offer an option for each and every applicant.

Linkshare:  I like their approval process as it allows you to designate each application indivudually as accepted or denied.  But there is still some room:

• include the url in the application queue.  Again, the less time we have to click around the more time we can spend growing the program.
• Comments - is anyone sure what that does anyway?  Does it send a comment to the affiliate?  Does it file the comment for later?
• As I stated above, allow us to email the affiliate right from there with several templates.
• An option to extend them an offer from this page would be great.

Overall, I think there are a lot of areas where we could make this more efficient and more effective.  The more time your affiliate managers and OPM’s are able to spend on growing the program and not trying to figure out who the applicant is or what they are going do to will lead to more sales and more commissions for all.

But I’ve only really touched on the affiliate manager side.  What changes would you affiliates like to see?

With the launch of any new affiliate program you get inundated with affiliate applications in the first week.  It is both one of the most exciting times for an affiliate manager as well as a frustrating time.  It’s exciting to watch outstanding affiliates that you know join the program but it is frustrating when you wake up to 200 applications on a Monday morning.

Along with the known affiliates applying to your program, there are hundreds and thousands of applications that come through that are either suspect, fraudulent or simply incomplete.  If you are an affiliate manager reading this, you’ll probably be nodding your head and maybe even have a chuckle.  If you are an affiliate that seems to receive more denials than approvals when you apply to programs, this article is just for you.  I’d like to highlight some of the things that managers see every day that you may be doing and need to avoid in order to get your applications approved.  So let’s get started…

• “Make A Million” Shopping Malls - These are sites that someone purchases from companies that supply them an entire mall that will make them millions of dollars.  These sites are relatively cheap to buy and provide the purchaser with a complete website, they only need to reach out and join affiliate programs.  While these sites look good, I have never seen one of these make any sales for any of the programs I have run and I have managed over 35 across industries.  Most program managers recognize these with very little effort and deny these applications.  Like all things, successful endeavors take, hard work and initiative.  These sites sound too good to be true because they are.  My advice to anyone who has purchased this already, find a niche you know a lot about and start over.  I’ll write more about this in a future post.
• Blogs with no content - This is a sure way to get your application rejected.  I am sure that your new blog and your new theme hold within them your hopes and dreams, but having not one single post on your site does nothing to show affiliate managers who you are and what your site is about.  My recommendation - get ten posts on your blog, fill that first page.  After you have that done, I would make sure any customization or unique plugins that you plan to use are on the site.  Make it look unique.  We see hundreds of applications with the Wordpress default theme and no content.  Many times fraudulent affiliates use this method to get approved without raising flags.  Post your content, design it then apply to the affiliate programs.
• Different language sites - I see 20 or so applications a week for sites that are in Japaneze or other languages.  I am sure that they are great sites, but with no description in english I am not able to effectively review the site.  Most affiliate programs are no longer accept everyone and anyone, if it is too hard to evaluate your application it just gets denied.  In your affiliate account, be sure to outline your site and how you plan to promote merchants as thoroughly as possible.
• Geocities and other free sites - Sites that are hosted at Geocities, Tripod, Members.AOL.com or Freewebs will undoubtedly be denied in many programs.  Why?  Well, first off, I can’t remember when one of these sites generated any sales for any program and I can’t recall any of my colleagues saying that either.  Secondly, if an affiliate isn’t serious enough to register a domain name aren’t going to be serious enough to become a successful partner.  Some may not like me saying that, but it’s true.
• Modeling and Real Estate Sites - This seems like a pretty odd combination, but I have seen more applications from these two categories than any other.  If you are planning to do something outside of these areas but use those sites in your application, I would make sure the affiliate manager knows about it.
• No URLs - When your application shows no urls in your account, affiliate managers have no way at all to eveluate your application.  Merchants are getting much more sensitive to who they partner with, and not knowing who you are will surely lead to a rejection in quality programs.
• Google Adwords - Applications that list Adwords as the url for the applicant and only that url can be tough to approve for programs that do not allow paid search.  So if you do something else, make sure you list that too.
• Under Construction  and Parked pages - If your site is still under construction, that is a tough sell.  Merchants don’t want to partner with someone when they don’t know what their site will look like.  Maybe I have said that already :).  I have seen affiliates post a simple htlm page on their new domain that addressed the affiliate managers directly and gave a brief description of what they were doing.  I highly recommend this and I believe I have approved everyone of those applications.  The more we know, the more likely we’ll approve you.
• Banner Farms - These are almost 100% rejected.  What is a banner farm?  These are sites that have, pretty much, only affiliate banners.  They have no other content and no real benefit to the user other than a list of ads for merchants.  These are rarely approved and rarely generate sales for merchants’ programs.  They offer very little in terms of value add to the merchant as well as the consumer.  My recommendation is to spend more time developing your idea.  What consumer target are you trying to reach?  What value are you going to add to their shopping journey?  What are you going to offer that no one else does?  Answer those question then find a designer that can work with you.
• Get Rich Quick Sites - The same way you feel as a consumer when you see these sites are they same way affiliate managers do as well.  I haven’t seen these perform well.
• International Applications - This probably only goes for programs that is 99% domestic traffic.  Applications from third world countries, some Asian countries, Nigeria and some eastern block countries are suspect.  Why?  Past behavior and experience.  Many of the fraudulent affiliates have, in the past, originated from these countries.  If you are a legitimate affiliate, and don’t get me wrong, there are many from those countries, you may experience more rejections because of your location.  But  don’t fret too much.  You may be getting refused by a lot of affiliate programs but there are ways to get noticed.  You need to show affiliate managers that you aren’t interested in scamming, fraudulent behavior or abusing the program.  You have to establish trust as much as you can from your application.  Here are a few things you can do:  1.  Use your company name, if you don’t have one create one. 2.  Email the manager of the program you just applied to and let them know who you are and what your plans are.  3.  Use an email account associated with your website.  Don’t use yahoo.com, gmail, hotmail or other free services.  Having a email@yourwebsite.com email address is typical of legitimate affiliates and will help you get approved.

By no means is that list 100% complete, but it gives you a good idea of things to avoid in your applications and a few reasons why your applications would be rejected. Let me share some things I recommend that you do do in order to get approved (I included some of them above):

1. Complete Account Information - don’t leave any fields blank in CJ, LS, ShareASale, Google and others.  Fill out all the information.  The more complete the application, the more likely you’ll get approved.  Just the effort involved in filling out all the fields shows you are serious.
2. Contact Info - A little contact info goes a long way.  Include your email address and your phone number when possible.  Affiliate programs view affiliates as partners, if you can’t contact your partner, they aren’t really a partner are they?
3. Email the manager - You’d be surprised, but one of the number one things managers wish they got more of was contact from their affiliates. If you are really interested in working with someone, reach out to them, share your ideas and your plans and include your contact info.
4. Good Site Design - this goes a long long way.  With themes and Wordpress anyone can put together a pretty decent site.  Here are some themes I would look into:  One Theme, Woo Themes, Citrus Themes, Revolution.  Getting a good designer involved will lead to sales, but those themes and Wordpress will get you started with little cost.  If you need design let us know, we can help.
5. If your site is under construction, put up a simple html page that says what you are planning to do.  Affiliate managers love this and it will help you get approved and get insight and advice on your new idea.

Hope that helps!  What do you think?  Affiliate managers, did I miss anything.  Do you think I’m off on any of these items?  I’d love to hear what you have to say.

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