Affiliate Marketing Is Broken But Ecommerce Companies Can Adapt

We’ve all heard digital marketers say, “You don’t need to sell advertising on your site, you can just take a percentage of a sale through affiliate marketing!"

While that may have rang true five years ago, affiliate marketing has changed dramatically — for the worse. Much of the action has now morphed into coupon affiliate sites like Coupon Craze and eBates. It boggles the mind why some of the biggest merchants in the world support these sites so wholeheartedly, because actually they’re paying them for sales they've already made.

The goal for all ecommerce marketers should be incremental sales growth, but that is hard to do when you’re paying twice for an incremental sale with these coupon affiliate sites.

Related: How Fusion Marketing Could Help Your Business

What’s broken?

For the uninitiated: You know how when you’re checking out online, there’s always a field for a coupon code? Naturally, you’ve now learned to go online and search for coupons from the store. You might do it for shoes, electronics, or health products. (I do it for domain names.) You’re happy, because you saved money you otherwise would have spent.

If you’re the store owner, you see the predicament right away. There was a user who was about to purchase something at full price, and somehow they input a coupon code and cut in to your margin. Now you have to pay the affiliate site for something that they didn’t even refer, a commission to the broker, and offer a discount on the purchase. Ugh! It bums me out when I explain this to clients and see the dismay on their faces.

How affiliate marketing should work.

In a world where everything in affiliate marketing worked, a customer would be going on Coupon Craze to use it as a discovery platform. Today, it’s the opposite!

Sites like RetailMeNot say that they curate the best deals for their visitors, but they don’t. Affiliate sites should theoretically work likeGroupon and drive incremental sales, but Groupon and Teambuy’s deals don’t scale into actual customer acquisition. Consumers and merchants are also starting to feel “daily deal fatigue" as well.

Related: The Secrets to Leveraging the Insatiable Consumer Appetite for Mobile Coupons

Time to cut out the middle man.

Marketers have become dependant on affiliate brokers like Commission Junction (now CJ Affiliate), LinkShare (now the Rakuten Marketing Network), and eBay to handle their affiliate sales. Instead of depending on brokers, how about showing affiliate publishers’ sales by giving them limited access or even screenshots to your Analytics campaigns? In the past you would get access to amazing sites that could increase your incremental sales and get your name out there  by paying broker fees.

Times have changed. You won’t see any incremental sales today from paying brokers fees. I recommend directly calling the unique site or publisher you want for your partner. Make your own deal without going through a broker.

Reallocate your affiliate budget for your best marketing efforts.

By cutting out the affiliate, you get to play with more resources. Reallocate the money you were spending for affiliate marketing to proven customer acquisition channels wherever your sales are good, and some of it exploring new acquisition channels.

In the meantime, build your own coupon page and optimize those pages to drive search traffic. It might cut a bit into your margins, but at least you won’t unnecessarily pay an affiliate marketer. For example,Felt Noir has begun using coupon codes that have good SEO results without utilizing any affiliate networks (Disclosure: I'm a partner with Felt Noir on this initiative).

Affiliate marketing is more dismal by the day, but you can still develop incremental sales by working to become independent of the current system. You can create a robust sales funnel that isn’t reliant on third parties while everyone else continues following the leader, chasing smaller and smaller ROIs.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245402

21 Ways To Market Your Business Online On A Shoestring Budget

Who says you need to spend millions on marketing? Columnist Steve Olenski tells you how to market your business yourself without spending a ton of money.

I often hear from business owners who feel they’re too busy running their business to spend time on marketing. This is valid — and to be honest, sometimes marketing is best left to the professionals.

But a problem arises when you simply don’t have the budget to hire a full-time consultant or marketing person. The following will cover 21 ways you can market your business yourself, even on a tight budget.

Online Review Sites

Having your business listed on online review sites is important not just for driving traffic and sales, but for protecting your online reputation. The following sites are some of the most influential, as well as the most cost-effective (free!).

1. Set up a Google My Business page: This listing will get your business on Google Search, Maps and Google+ and enable customers to review your business. Local business reviews tend to receive high rankings in the search results, giving you some great (free!) real estate. Google+ Local reviews also influence the search rankings of people you’re connected to, meaning your business’ reviews may also appear when your connections perform relevant searches on Google.
2. Create a listing on Yelp: As the biggest online review site, creating a Yelp listing is definitely worth the effort. It’s free, and gets you in front of the platform’s more than 140 million monthly visitors.
3. Create a free Angie’s List page: Users pay a monthly fee to use the platform, but listing a business is 100 percent free. Available for service-based businesses only.
4. Get listed on Yahoo Local: Yahoo offers local businesses the opportunity to get a basic business listing in its directory for free. Listings are integrated with other Yahoo products like reviews, maps and events.

Social Media

5. Join industry Facebook and LinkedIn groups: Become a valued member of two or three groups in your business’ industry, offering advice and support. This helps to establish you as an expert in your field, and ultimately builds your reputation and sales.
6. Create your own Facebook group: Create a free Facebook group for customers or prospects to get help or support with a problem related to your niche. (For example, a social media consultant could start a “DIY Social Media Mastermind group.”)
7. Use images to offer discounts on Facebook or Twitter: Using images to offer discounts or coupon codes is a great, non-threatening way to promote your products without being too “salesy.”
8. Promote a free, no obligation 15-minute consult to your followers: Reduce the risk your prospects feel by offering a risk-free consult.
9. Monitor brand mentions: Use a social listening tool like Social Mention to monitor and contribute to conversations happening in your niche.
10. Create and share an original infographic: A tool like Piktochart requires no design or coding skills, and costs start at only $29 per month — much cheaper than hiring a designer to do it for you.

Blogging

11. Contribute guest posts to a well-known industry site: To find blogs to contribute to, do a search for “your niche” + “guest post”.
12. Hold free webinars on your site: If you’ve investigated webinar software, you already know how costly they can be. Not to mention that most require a monthly subscription — not exactly small business-friendly! A great, low-cost alternative is using a WordPress webinar plugin like WebinarIgnition. It has a one-time cost of $97 for unlimited webinars with unlimited attendees.
13. Partner with a complementary business to co-sponsor a contest: Co-sponsoring the contest gives you access to each other’s audience, maximizing your efforts. Submit your contest to popular sweepstakes sites to extend the reach of your contest.
14. Install a free social sharing plugin on your site: Using a free WordPress plugin like Share Buttons ensures all your blog content can be easily shared by your readers.
15. Comment thoughtfully on blogs in your niche: It’s perfectly acceptable to leave your website URL in the appropriate field, just be sure to use your real name or business name, not keyword-rich anchor text.
16. Create an award for businesses or products in your niche: Create a simple badge using a free program like Canva, and then write a blog post of the Top 10 _______ (e.g., Top 10 websites for Web designers). Award each of the winners with a badge that links back to the post. This strategy works best once your site has built up a reputation in your niche.

Other Channels To Get Yourself Out There

17. Join relevant industry forums and respond to questions with helpful advice:I’m not talking about writing spammy, thin comments just to gain links back your site. Make meaningful contributions to conversions to capture the attention of other readers.
18. Sign up with HARO (Help A Reporter Out) to get free PR for your business:Respond to relevant media queries and land free mentions and links in publications like Huffington Post, Forbes and other popular outlets.
19. Email a well-known business or influencer in your field with an authentic testimonial: Businesses love receiving testimonials, and many times will post them on their website (along with a link).
20. Invoice your business like a pro: Make sure that you’re billing your clients on time each month as well as keeping track of everything. I personally love Due invoicing as it’s a free option that invoices clients, and for a small fee you can bill people over PayPal.
21. Answer questions on a Q&A site like Quora: These sites consist of real people looking for answers to questions. Search the site for relevant questions you can answer intelligently.

Over To You…

The Internet has leveled the playing field significantly when it comes to marketing. The reach and visibility that used to only be available to big brands with big budgets are now within the reach of even the smallest businesses.

http://marketingland.com/21-ways-market-business-online-shoestring-budget-127277

Dr Black gives great tips for Stay at home mums on how to make money online

Getty

Got an internet connection and a laptop/smartphone? Then you can make money

Ask Dr Black is a new weekly column in which computer scientist Dr Sue Black answers your tech-related questions - whether you're worried about your kids online or want to protect yourself against online identity fraud.

Great question! The world of work is going through a quiet revolution. There are so many ways now to make money online. With just a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection you have access to myriad opportunities.

Here are 7 ways of making money from home:

1. Freelance

We all have skills that others don't have. Think about all the things that you can do that someone might pay for, from office skills like admin or being a virtual assistant to social media or web design. Elance is a well known freelance portal.

2. Human intelligence tasks

You can make money answering questionnaires, watching videos, searching for information or tagging images through sites like Swagbucks and Qmee andMechanical Turk.

3. Flog your gear

Do you have lots of books or clothes that someone else might be interested in buying? You could post your stuff up for sale on a website like eBay, Gumtree orCraigslist. If you have lots to sell you could also sell through Amazon.

4. Make stuff

Traditional handmade goods are very popular at the moment, perhaps there is something you can make and sell online? Crafts are sold online through specialist websites like Etsy or more general sites like eBay. You can set up your own online store using Shopify or design products like T-shirts and mobile phone cases and sell them through CafePress.

5. Teach

Do you have expert knowledge in a specialist area? You could be an online tutor with TutorHub teaching subjects as diverse at maths, art, law, flute and psychology as well as different languages.

6. Write

What book could you write? Perhaps you have always wanted to publish short stories for young adults? There's money to be made writing ebooks especially if you can get generate a large readership.

7. Affiliate marketing

If you have your own website you can become an associate with companies such as Amazon and eBay and earn up to 10% on the products sold through your site.

There are now roughly 1.5 billion English speakers in the world, that's plenty of people to sell to, or work for. Once you have identified what will work best for you get out there into the global marketplace, the world is your oyster.

GettyGot an internet connection and a laptop/smartphone? Then you can make money Ask Dr Black is a new weekly column in which computer scientist Dr Sue Black answers your tech-related questions - whether you're worried about your kids online or want to protect yourself against online identity fraud. Great question! The world of work is going through a quiet revolution. There are so many ways now to make money online. With just a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection you have access to myriad opportunities. Here are 7 ways of making money from home: 1. Freelance We all have skills that others don't have. Think about all the things that you can do that someone might pay for, from office skills like admin or being a virtual assistant to social media or web design. Elance is a well known freelance portal. 2. Human intelligence tasks You can make money answering questionnaires, watching videos, searching for information or tagging images through sites like Swagbucks and Qmee and Mechanical Turk. 3. Flog your gear Do you have lots of books or clothes that someone else might be interested in buying? You could post your stuff up for sale on a website like eBay, Gumtree or Craigslist. If you have lots to sell you could also sell through Amazon. 4. Make stuff Traditional handmade goods are very popular at the moment, perhaps there is something you can make and sell online? Crafts are sold online through specialist websites like Etsy or more general sites like eBay. You can set up your own online store using Shopify or design products like T-shirts and mobile phone cases and sell them through CafePress. 5. Teach Do you have expert knowledge in a specialist area? You could be an online tutor with TutorHub teaching subjects as diverse at maths, art, law, flute and psychology as well as different languages. 6. Write What book could you write? Perhaps you have always wanted to publish short stories for young adults? There's money to be made writing ebooks especially if you can get generate a large readership. 7. Affiliate marketing If you have your own website you can become an associate with companies such as Amazon and eBay and earn up to 10% on the products sold through your site. There are now roughly 1.5 billion English speakers in the world, that's plenty of people to sell to, or work for. Once you have identified what will work best for you get out there into the global marketplace, the world is your oyster.

Discover How You Can Sell Your Product on the JVZoo Instant Affiliate System "Affiliate Program"

Affiliate marketing makes £15 per £1 spent- report

Advertisers spent £1.1bn on online performance marketing” in 2014, generating a record £16.5bn consumer spend on price comparison, cashback and voucher websites, according to a new report.

The third annual Online Performance Marketing study conducted for the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) by PwC found that UK businesses spent £1.1 billion on these “Online Performance Marketing (OPM)” activities – 8% more than in 2013.

This equates to a return of £15 for every £1 invested by advertisers – 6% higher than in 2013.

Across OPM sites – from large players such as Comparethemarket, Vouchercodes, Nectar and Quidco to the “long tail” of 12,000 smaller publishers in the UK – advertisers only pay a publisher for an ad if it causes someone to complete an action, such as a purchase (affiliate marketing) or submitting contact details (lead generation).

In 2014, consumers made 125 million purchases via affiliate websites – totalling £15.4 billion. £1.1 billion in sales was generated from the 30 million contact forms submitted. Consequently, OPM drives 10%¹ of all UK e-commerce retail sales and roughly 1%² of GDP – the latter, an approximate 34% increase on 2013.

“The fact that consumer spend is growing at nearly twice the rate of advertiser spend, indicates the OPM market is maturing and brands are becoming more efficient in how they drive consumer spending,” says Dan Bunyan, Senior Manager at PwC.

“OPM has grown to a near-£17bn industry due to the fact that all parties continue to benefit. Advertisers get new customers extremely cost-effectively, consumers save money and get access to free online content, whilst the publisher in the middle gets revenue through referral fees.”

Dramatic upsurge in activity on mobile and tablets

In comparison to the overall 8% increase, advertiser OPM spend on mobile and tablets increased by 72%. Consequently, the share of OPM spend allocated to these devices increased from 11% to 17%.

Tim Elkington, Chief Strategy Officer at the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau says: “Advertisers are heavily increasing OPM spend on mobile because it’s playing a bigger role in shopping. Half of adult smartphone owners buy something with their mobile every month, a quarter do so weekly.”

Three sectors account for three-quarters of spend

The finance sector, driven by insurance and credit card advertisers’ use of price comparison sites, is the biggest spender – accounting for 34% of OPM expenditure in 2014 – followed by retail (21%) and travel & leisure (19%). In total, these three sectors account for 74% of OPM spend.

OPM now an “ingrained part of today’s savvy consumerism”

An accompanying YouGov study shows that almost four in five (79%) Britons online³ have used a website employing one of the main OPM techniques in the last six months. Cashback websites are the most frequently used – around two-thirds (67%) of people who’ve used them do so at least once a month.

Holidays/travel (cited by 21% of respondents) is where people are most likely to be trying to save money or looking for more information, followed by energy tariffs (16%) and car insurance (15%).

“Britons generate 10 million clicks every day in pursuit of getting a better deal or finding the right product – it’s an utterly ingrained part of today’s savvy consumerism. To put it in context, at £17bn it’s already as big as the beauty industry⁴,” concludes Elkington. “The majority of people online say they’re aware how these sites make money, and whilst the privacy debate continues, the reality is that nearly half are willing to share personal information to get these things.”

http://www.netimperative.com/2015/04/affiliate-marketing-makes-15-per-1-spent-report/

Make extra money from the internet: how to start a blog or become an affiliate marketer

The internet can feel like a Wild West, but it's also brimming with opportunities. Claire Mason looks at how to monetise your blog, and speaks to a man who set up his own affiliate business

You can turn the internet into an extra form of income if you think creatively

No doubt you’ve seen countless examples of get-rich-quick schemes over the internet. It’s wise to take these claims with a whole shovel of salt and not pay any heed to them. However, it’s also worthwhile to approach the entrepreneurial opportunities the net offers with an open mind as money certainly can be made online.

Put aside dreams of getting rich in a nanosecond, and instead research the prospects that can create revenue streams in the medium to long term.

How to make a blog successful

Within the digital industry, the buzzword du jour is content. There is a reason for this. Create content that people want to consume and the money will follow. Blogs are the easiest way to get a digital enterprise set up, and if you’re successful, you may attract brands who want you to review their products, and even advertisers who will spend money with you.

However, most blogs fail. They can be set up with a domain that’ll cost you a few pounds, and a few clicks of a WordPress template. This low barrier to entry is partly the reason why they fail in their hundreds of thousands.

But it also offers bloggers with intent their largest opportunity. People start them with great enthusiasm, but they fizzle out very quickly. Add consistency to the content you produce, and you’re on to a winner.  

You’ll grow an audience of readers by having a point of view, of saying something with meaning. Your blog might be funny or it might be serious, but it needs to be authentic. 

Once you have your audience in place, which you do with regular content updates and linking to your content on social media platforms and other blogs, the advertisers will most likely find you. 

How to attract brands to your blog

There is no harm in putting together a page on your blog explaining how brands can work with you. Would you be prepared to place a banner on your blog for a monthly fee? Or perhaps you’ll include a link in your content to the advertiser’s site. 

Maybe you’ll review their product for them and write it up for your audience. Going back to the authenticity point, blogs enjoy a trust and reputation among their readers that the established media can only dream of. 

Readers accept that blogs can turn into businesses, but don’t forsake the integrity you build up for advertising revenue. Incorporate your revenue stream into your blog in a way that doesn’t jar with your readers, and create an advertising policy upfront, even before you have an audience.

Clara, 57, found her blog boosted her income, but not through the established advertising model. She loved eating out and started a food blog, but it wasn’t focused on the food only: it looked at the wider dining experience each restaurant provided.

“I cover everything from hamburger joints to fine dining restaurants,” Clara says. “And I mean everything. Are their toilets clean? Do they listen when I say no ice in my drink? Am I put at a table by the kitchen if I dine on my own?”

Over three years, Clara’s witty style caught the eye of an editor for an online magazine, and she was offered a regular freelance gig as a column writer for the publication. 

Affiliate marketing

Setting up as an affiliate is a proven revenue driver. Being an affiliate means you promote a brand’s products or services by linking to them on your site, and when a reader clicks on your link and buys something, the brand pays you a commission. 

It’s known as referral-based marketing and just about every brand has an affiliate program since, for them, they’re only paying commissions based on proven sales. 

Clickbank is the world leader in providing products that are part of affiliate programs. But they are not the only game in town. Most brands offer their goods through an affiliate program, either their own or through an established affiliate platform. 

There are many video tutorials on how to set up an affiliate business on YouTube and various forums on the internet. 

Clifford, 54, set up his own affiliate business by creating a website that reviewed the 25 best bingo sites. He evaluated their bonus offers, how easy it was to navigate around the site, the other players he met in the bingo chat rooms, and how easy or difficult it was to win. 

“Visitors to my website were slow at first, but as I added more and more content, I saw those numbers increase,” he says.

“It was easy to set up links to the relevant bingo rooms and nothing beats the thrill of waking up in the morning to see how many new players have opened bingo accounts through the evening.”

That’s a key attraction for setting up an affiliate business: once the work is done in terms of setting up the site, the enterprise becomes a passive income stream. 

Referral-based marketing: low-cost and low-risk

Another attraction about setting up an affiliate site or blog is that both are low-risk. You don’t need lots of start-up capital or to focus all your energies on building them.

Yes, you’ll need to devote some time to getting your online business off the ground, and you’ll need to be regular about it. However, you can do this while still employed in your current job. 

There is an abundance of information available on how to set up a successful blog or affiliate business, and both can be done from your existing computer for only a few pounds’ investment. The rewards can be great though, and you could find yourself becoming the next big publisher on the block.

10 Top Trends Driving The Future Of Marketing

Daniel  Newman writes about the Future of Marketing  and the rise of Mobile Marketing :

Marketers are constantly looking into the future, trying to predict the next big trend, be it for their brands or their clients. Naturally, marketers are preoccupied with questions like: What is the next big campaign? How can we turn our client into the “next big thing”? What is the next hot trend going to be in retail? Etc.  Everyone wants to the answers. Knowing this, what do some of the top minds in marketing predict for their own futures? A recent article by Jeff Beer on Fast Company Create collected 25 future trends that will change the marketing landscape five years from now based on top innovators in marketing and advertising. After reading this, I started to ponder what I saw as the top trends driving marketing.

Here are the 10 trends that I think are going to have the biggest impact on the future of marketing.

1. Mobile is going to become the center of marketing. From cell phones to smartphones, tablets to wearable gadgets, the evolution of mobile devices is one of the prime factors influencing the marketing world. As the focus is shifting to smaller screens, brands will be able to strike up a more personalized relationship with their customers by leveraging the power of mobile.

2. Transparency will dictate brand-customer relationships. Currently, customers are seeking more engagement from brands. This trend will continue with customers becoming more demanding in their expectation of transparency. Genuine brands – the ones that “walk the talk” and create real value – will be rewarded. This means brands that still haven’t made their customer dealings transparent are headed to a future of doom.

3. The need for good content will not slow down. Ever. Content, particularly visual content, will rule the roost in the online marketing world, evolving into various forms and disrupting the conventional marketing models. Moreover, the speed at which a brand can create amazing content will play a part in their success.

4. User-generated content will be the new hit. The power of user-generated content will surpass branded content as brands begin to relinquish control of their own brands’ marketing to their customers. From online reviews, to social media posts and blogs, this means there will be a strong need for brands to create a positive impact in their consumers’ minds. In response to this model of content production, content co-creation between brands and consumers will become a popular trend.

5. Social will become the next Internet. Social will become an integral part of the “broader marketing discipline.” As its impact grows stronger, most brands will fully transition their marketing efforts to social channels. As such, social has the full potential to become not just one of the channels but the channel.

6. Brands will own their audience. By cultivating brand community and entering into direct conversations with their customers, brands will begin to own their audience in a way that will create loyalists and brand advocates. In the future of marketing, branding and marketing efforts will have their seeds rooted in what customers are talking about. The customers’ responses and feelings toward the brand will dictate future campaigns. Essentially, if the customers are happy, they’ll gladly wear the marketer’s hat and do what is needed to bring their favorite brand in focus.

7. Brands solely-focused on Millennials will go out of relevance.Brands will need to understand that the millennials are not a niche “youth” segment but a generation of people who will ultimately give way to a newer generation. Therefore, millennial-focused brands will have to change their game to stay relevant.

8. Good brands will behave like product companies and not like service companies. While service companies aim to create a happy customer and look forward to a contract renewal, product companies thrive on innovation. So, for brands of the future, customer satisfaction and retention will not be enough. They will need to innovate more efficiently to create more value for their customers. However, great service will NEVER go out of style.

9. Personalized, data-driven marketing will become more refined.There is a difference between data-driven marketing and intrusive marketing. While the former is based on relationship-building, the latter is nothing but old-school push marketing wrapped in a new cover. The difference between these two formats will become even more prominent in future. Marketers who focus on relationship building will be rewarded, while intruders will be shut out.

10. More accurate metrics will surface. What most brands do in the name of measuring marketing success is look at hollow “vanity” metrics such as likes, shares, or tweets. Even in terms of data mining, we are still developing more sophisticated means to capture the right data. Many ideas are hypothesized, but few are practical. The future will witness the rise of better analytical tools to help marketers gauge the success of their campaigns.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/04/14/10-top-trends-driving-the-future-of-marketing/2/

Everything You Need to Know About Attribution and Affiliate Marketing

This is a live blog post from AMDays in San Francisco.

Topic: Everything You Need to Know About Attribution and Affiliate Marketing.

Presenter: Todd Crawford (pictured above), Impact Radius

What is Attribution?

It’s understanding your data throughout the click path of your consumer buying cycle to understand what touch points and steps they took to complete a sale or final desired action and then assigning a value to each of these different actions.

It’s another way of getting insights into your data by analyzing the path your consumer took to buy.

Three Touch Points to Consider:

1. Introducer (the first touch point)
2. Assist (the middle touch point)
3. Closer (the last click to purchase)

Common Attribution Models:

• First click, Last Click
• Fractional (Linear, Position, Time Decay)

It’s essential to not just look at your data, but understand what it means. Attribution is analysis.

Note: A lot of people actually don’t need attribution. If you only have a few channels and a few people managing it, it’s likely not necessary.  However, if you have many channels and many people managing it, attribution will help you understand the value of team and channel efforts and big picture results much more clearly.

What can Attribution Tell Us?

It answers the what, where, when and why of each of your ads and channels.

What Do We Want From Attribution?

• Better results (lift, savings, higher ROAS etc.)
• No surprises (money badly spent or results we didn’t want)
• Eliminates chance
• Incrementally

Why Haven’t We Mastered This Yet?

• Intra-affiliate
• Source of data
• Missing pieces
• Company politics

 Modeling Versus Analysis

Modeling gives us perspective. We have to look at the data critically and think about it to make sure the information we are looking at is actually accurate.

Ask the question, “What are the most common paths to conversion?”

Using multichannel, as an example, it might look like this:

Google SEM -> Direct -> Email -> Bing SEM -> Google SEM -> Email -> Direct -> Newsletter -> Ebates -> Facebook Ad -> Google SEO -> Google SEM -> Affiliate

How do we Leverage Attribution?

• By having clear goals and KPIs that are most important to you and ensuring that’s set up correctly for accurate tracking.
• Leverage your data.
• Analysis

One of the value measurements to add to affiliate specifically is in the benefit of zero cost to zero conversion, versus the extremely high cost to zero conversion in other channels that require ad buys, such as the cost of zero conversion through Google paid search campaigns. Affiliate has no cost if the action doesn’t take place. That’s a huge benefit to affiliate, and should be weighed when adding value to that channel.

In Summary:

• Attribution is inevitable if you have enough data and enough moving pieces to consider.
• Data is your frenemy — the insights can provide both good and bad news.
• You need to put in the effort to get the results!

http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/04/everything-need-know-attribution-affiliate-marketing.html

What is Internet Marketing ?

Welcome to the latest and most effective Internet Marketing Training Guide, designed to take you by the hand and walk you through the process of getting the most out of Internet Marketing on behalf of your business. I’m so excited to have you here, and I know this will be very helpful for you.

Chapter I: What is Internet Marketing all about?

Definition:

The Internet is a worldwide network that enables easy sharing of information among users scattered around the globe. The World Wide Web is a feature of the internet which provides services specifically for web sites.

Marketing is the methodology of communicating where businesses are associated with the buying and selling of products and services, and dealing with offerings that have some advantages for their clients, customers and society.

Internet marketing would then mean a cumulative amalgamation of both these modes of communication which facilitates info sharing with its users.

Internet Marketing is the process of ‘How to advertise products and services, and promote business or brand’ over the internet with a set of powerful tools and techniques.

This marketing strategy consists of having an extensive range of marketing aspects and mechanisms such as Email marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization etc., instead of traditional marketing.

Technology is changing at a very rapid pace which makes it difficult for marketers to be on track with it. Therefore, they are seeking the help of the internet to evolve and adapt their marketing to the online sphere.

The growing dependence of businesses on the internet is not hidden from anyone. With the advent of globalization, people have access to numerous sources of information, which subsequently increases their purchasing power.

Powerful search houses like Google, Yahoo etc. have enabled people to search fast and easily to suit their requirements. You can make use of various types of promotion tactics like pay-per-click and banner ads to bring valuable visitors to your website.

• The Purpose of internet marketing:

The basic purpose of internet marketing is to enable businesses to grow- both in terms of monetary gains and value addition to their products and services.

With effective use of internet marketing strategies, you can follow a pin-point plan of action and move ahead as per your desired targets.

Most of the business organizations have these basic objectives –

• Money making:

Most of the businesses today have the basic objective of using internet marketing to gain monetary benefits. It’s good to be money oriented, but keep in mind not to lose track of your quality aspect in the long run.

• Value delivery:

Value delivery aims to give customers the best quality at the most affordable prices.

This has been going on for ages in the business industry. Prolonged efforts have been made, and they have yielded expected results for the users.

• Brand enhancement:

A cumulative effort of both the above points, it focuses on maximum customer satisfaction by providing them the best quality products at an affordable cost, also. Brand enhancement enables you to enhance customer base with reduced efforts.

• Overall business success:

A careful and planned implementation of internet marketing strategies proves to be of immense help for your business. All the facets of growth are easily catered to if these strategies are given their due importance.

• Educating the consumers:

Internet marketing helps a great deal in educating the consumers. By proper utilization of it, information sharing becomes convenient and gets transmitted across various channels.

• Facilitates advertising process:

A company’s advertising process gets boosted with internet marketing. By making people aware of the products and services through internet marketing, businesses are cutting its cost on advertising in a big way.

• Better communication:

Communication within an organization as well as with customers is facilitated with internet marketing. Through effective online promotions, large numbers of people get information in a short time.

• How to get started with Internet Marketing:

Internet Marketing is a great method that will help you make big bucks with the latest technology, online power tools and low cost. The below mentioned points will enable you to get started with internet marketing in a simple manner –

1. Set goals: Be attentive and have clearly defined goals. Find the answer of “Why.” This “Why” gives you a straightforward idea to decide clear objectives for your business and follow them in a smooth manner. It also enables you to move forward in a stream lined direction and avoid going off track for achieving your goals. (you’ll have clearly defined goals)
2. Manage expectations: Do extensive research on your targeted customers, and their likes and dislikes. You should find out what their exact requirements are and give an apt solution for that. (That’s called need recognition)
3. Set yourself up for success: You need to determine proper tools to manage your web presence. Distinctive views of every product and service will help you to get more traffic. You can try numerous ad copies to find the best ad copy for specific products and services to attract your potential customers.
4. Have something worth selling: Give some great offers to capture your visitor’s attention. You can also print out your product and service benefits and why they should opt for your product instead of others.
5. Get started: You are done with everything, such as setting up the goals, research, tools and products. Now, you can opt for sites or networks that you want to use or test to make your campaign successful. Be honest and realistic with your expectations because nothing is a magic bullet.

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