When thousands of consumers got emails asking them to help electronics retailer Best Buy combat Internet fraud, they were eager to help. But those who clicked on the link and entered credit card and Social Security numbers learned the ugly truth too late: They'd been had.The link took them to a "spoof" page that looked just like Best Buy's home page but was actually operated by … [Read more...]
No Free Lunch For Merchants
It sounds like a no-brainer: Tap into a sales force of self-employed affiliates who'll handle everything from producing product information to Web design to advertising. Let them do all the work, and pay them anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars - but only if they produce to your exact requirements. What's not to like? It's a strategy that works for Bluefly, the online … [Read more...]
Profits By Design
Link all you want, but unless your site helps visitors find what they want while enjoying the process, they won't stick around long enough to buy anything. The big secret is creating a well-designed Web site. That's easily said, but difficult to accomplish. Quality sites have fresh, interesting content; easy-to-understand organization; visual appeal; and affiliate links that … [Read more...]
Taxing Times
The lure of affiliate income is a magnet for people with drive and imagination. It's particularly attractive to the impoverished, those in debt or people wanting to purchase a home. It's a powerful draw to women yearning to stay home and for men raising children alone. And, of course, it's like mother's milk to the tax collector. Affiliate income takes many forms. Sometimes, … [Read more...]
A Perfect Ten
Most people who start a small business do at least one thing well. For restaurateurs, it's usually cooking. For painters, it's wielding a paint brush. For affiliate marketers, it's often building a Web site that pleases customers. But too many small businesses fail because the owner isn't good at something else: running a small business. To succeed as an affiliate, it takes a … [Read more...]
What’s Mary Kay Got To Do With It?
One of the most common myths about the Internet is that this new-fangled technology makes business mysterious, complex or risky. The truth is that the basic laws of doing business still apply. Sure, there are some new technical concepts to grasp, but business is still business. That has not changed. Case in point: affiliate marketing and the Internet. During the dot-com … [Read more...]
Databasics 101
Most small business operators have dabbled with databases, but relatively few use them to their full advantage. So here's a crash course call it Databasics 101 on why you need them, how they work and what they can do for you.Businesses live and die on the information they collect and how they put it to use. For example, at my company, we send a reminder for unpaid ads on the … [Read more...]
Can You Relate?
Not all that long ago, we did almost all business with people face to face. Chances are, we knew them personally and had done business with them before. There was an established relationship. Now, affiliates are doing business with people around the globe, and the chance of knowing them personally is pretty remote. But no matter where or how we do business, the need for a good … [Read more...]
Should I Promote This Merchant
There are thousands upon thousands of affiliate programs offered by various Internet merchants. Deciding what programs to promote can be a daunting task. Let's explore the factors most successful affiliate marketers consider when faced with this decision.First and foremost, you must consider your site visitors' propensity to purchase the product or service or take the "desired … [Read more...]
Bringing E-commerce Back Home
Jeannie Otero wanted to change her life. A single mom with two young daughters, she hated the three-hour round-trip commute to her job in Miami, time she would rather spend with her girls. She dreamed about starting her own business, thought about investing in real estate. But she had the age-old problem: You have to have money to make money.Then, she heard that a good way to … [Read more...]
Affiliates, Start Your Engines
Unless you've been living in a cave for the last year or so, you probably realize by now that in order to get customers to your affiliate site you have to market it on search engines. Even if you haven't realized this, your competitors certainly have, and if you don't take advantage of what the search engines have to offer, your Web site is likely to go the way of many other … [Read more...]
Blair’s Flair For Affiliate Marketing
How did a 93-year-old company that got its start selling black raincoats to funeral directors by mail wind up as a big winner in affiliate marketing?Blair did it by building an innovative affiliate marketing program that does just about everything you'd want it to. And the effort is paying off handsomely. While year end results weren't available, the program appeared on track … [Read more...]
Here’s Herby
From his passionate crusades against spam and "scumware" to hosting his group's annual summit, the baritone-voiced entrepreneur has a knack for stirring things up and forcing long-neglected ethical issues to the front burner. Now, he's ready to launch an accreditation program that would require participants to act more responsibly.Herby (hardly anyone uses his last name) has … [Read more...]
Guerrilla Affiliates
Because you're reading Revenue, which is as focused upon affiliate marketing as you are, I doubt if I have to remind you of the glories of such marketing. If ever there was a win-win business proposition, this is it. If affiliate marketing is good enough for Wal-Mart, Amazon and eBay, I'm figuring that you realize it's also good enough for you. Do you know what you have by the … [Read more...]
A Nose For Data
As a canny entrepreneur, you'll want to monitor all aspects of your business. On the Internet, that comes down to tracking data, all kinds of it.Remember, an affiliate is really an Internet marketer and successful marketers of all persuasions love data. Marketers burn to know who their customers are, where they heard about the company, what makes them come back, what makes them … [Read more...]