Shawn Collins - Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants

Frank Fiore
Shawn Collins

800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240

Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants

Copyright2001 by Que

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

International Standard Book Number: 0-7897-2525-8

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-109761

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: April 2001

06 05 04 4 3 2

Associate Publisher
Greg Wiegand
Acquisitions Editor
Angelina Ward
Development Editor
Howard Jones
Managing Editor
Thomas Hayes
Project Editor
Heather McNeill
Copy Editor
Megan Wade
Indexer
Chris Barrick
Proofreader
Harvey Stanbrough
Technical Editor
Bill Bruns
Team Coordinator
Sharry Gregory
Interior Designer
Kevin Spear
Cover Designer
Gary Adair
Layout Technicians
Heather Hiatt Miller
Stacey Richwine-DeRome

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Que cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information provided is on an "as is" basis. The authors and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

To Lynnemy wifeI could think of no one better to be affiliated with for the rest of my life.

F.F.

For my wife, Vicky, a masterpiece of nature and the best ROI my heart will ever know.

S.C.

Appendixes

By James L. Marciano

The affiliate marketing space has matured quite a bit since 1994, when the Olim brothers began their first affiliate program at CDnow. The 'buyweb" program revolutionized advertising and marketing on the Internet by shifting the "burden of response" from advertisers to content producers.

1996 saw the birth of affiliate solution providers -- the software needed to track sales by Webmasters -- with the introduction of LinkShare and Be Free. That same year, Amazon launched their affiliate ("associates") program, which became a prototype for others in the pay-for-performance industry to follow.

I'd consider myself one of the early adopters of affiliate marketing, and I didn't join my first affiliate program until mid-1997, when I was looking for incremental revenue for TheSquare.com, an executive recruiting firm that serves as the "talent agent" for a network of more than 50,000 alumni and students from the Ivy League and other top schools.

As I scoured industry publications and search engines for details on affiliate programs, the information wasn't always easy to find. What was needed was a search engine for affiliate programs, with ratings and details. I launched Refer-it.com in late 1997. Other affiliate directories quickly followed, including AssociatePrograms.com, CashPile.com, and ReveNews.com. In early 1999, I held the first Affiliate Solutions conference in NYC, where over 200 e-commerce managers, software companies, and Webmasters gathered to share best practices in the emerging affiliate industry.

By mid-1999, affiliate marketing emerged as the most cost effective way for marketing managers to acquire new customers. And by 2000, over three thousand companies and a million Webmasters had jumped on the affiliate bandwagon. As companies got focused on profitability, affiliate programs began to play a central role in their overall marketing strategy. Pay-for-performance marketing was no longer a cocktail party catchphrase, but a gateway on the "path to profitability."

As with any marketing program, affiliate programs don't run on autopilot. The successful merchants in affiliate marketing not only launch a program with best-in-class member agreements, commissions, and tracking software, but also manage and support their best performing affiliates for optimal results. Shawn Collins and Frank Fiore have done a tremendous job of packaging the industry's best practices so that you too can succeed in affiliate marketing.

Frank Fiore is an e-commerce expert and consultant, and author of e-commerce books entitled Dr. Livingston's Online Shopping Safari Guidebook, published by Maximum Press, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting an Online Business and e-Marketing Strategies, published by Macmillan. He has been involved with e-commerce from its inception on the Net, and with his experience as an e-commerce expert and direct marketer of products, he knows e-commerce from both sides of the transaction. He is currently the Official Online Shopping Guide for About and has been interviewed for numerous TV and radio talk shows and print media on the subject of e-commerce and online shopping.

Shawn Collins is the affiliate manager for the ClubMom, the first free membership organization created exclusively to reward and celebrate moms every day. He is the publisher of AffiliateManager.net, speaks regularly at industry conferences, and is a columnist for ClickZ.com and SAM Magazine. Additionally, Shawn founded the United States Affiliate Manager Coalition and the Affiliate Webinar, as well as co-founding Affiliate Metrix, inc., a research, analysis, and benchmarking initiative for the affiliate marketing industry.

As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we're doing right, what we could do better, what areas you'd like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you're willing to pass our way.

As an associate publisher for Que, I welcome your comments. You can fax, e-mail, or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn't like about this bookas well as what we can do to make our books stronger.

Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book, and that due to the high volume of mail I receive, I might not be able to reply to every message.

When you write, please be sure to include this book's title and author as well as your name and phone or fax number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the authors and editors who worked on the book.

Fax: 317-581-4666

E-mail:

Mail: Greg Wiegand
Que
201 West 103rd Street