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Marketing Your Startup Using Affiliate Programs

7 points by eibrahim 18y ago

sfamiliar 18y ago
personally, i'd kick in the affiliate revenue if and only if the customer lasted for three months, since your first month is free. bonus/customer in line with your tiered pricing, continuing revenue ftw. also, clean up your website some. it's not awful, just looks a shade shy of professional.
- eibrahim 18y ago
  thanks for your comments. I tried so hard to make the site look as professional as possible. Is there anything specific that makes it look "unprofessional"?
  - cdr 18y ago
    There's way too much garbage and noise on the right hand side - those two columns are more than half as big as the content area. Try one column, and cut some of that out.
    - eibrahim 18y ago
      Are you referring to www.emadibrahim.com? I think the previous comment was in reference to www.yonklyapp.com
      - cdr 18y ago
        I am. The other website looks ok, if not very polished.
vaksel 18y ago
The %s are more or less standard. The thing is...you need to base the % on how easy it is for the affiliate to make money. I mean your microblogging site I can't really see someone making 100 sign ups in a month. So you need to give more. 37signals on the other hand has products that are a) popular b) easy to sell, so for them the % is smaller.
- eibrahim 18y ago
  I see your points but let me just clarify that they don't have to get a 100 new customers every month... they just have to do it once and they get paid $3000 EVERY month. And if they get more, they make more or they could entirely stop marketing it and still make the $3000 every month.
il 18y ago
I have a lot of experience with affiliate marketing(as an affiliate), and I think you should strongly consider a CPA rather than CPS model. Very very few affiliate programs, even ones with recurring monthly income pay their affiliates recurring payouts. Most pay a fixed one-time payment for acquiring the customer. For a site like yours, the industry standard would be paying about $2 for every free signup, or, alternatively paying $50-$100 per paid/free trial signup. The exact numbers will of course vary with your conversion rate and what's profitable for both you and the affiliate. That way, you don't get a recurring drain on your revenue, and affiliates see more money right away. Keep in mind that most affiliates market via paid search or contextual advertising, which means heavy initial cash outlays. As an affiliate, I want to see profit within a few days of running a campaign, and if I don't I drop promoting that offer.

7 points by eibrahim 18y ago

personally, i'd kick in the affiliate revenue if and only if the customer lasted for three months, since your first month is free. bonus/customer in line with your tiered pricing, continuing revenue ftw. also, clean up your website some. it's not awful, just looks a shade shy of professional.

eibrahim 18y ago
thanks for your comments. I tried so hard to make the site look as professional as possible. Is there anything specific that makes it look "unprofessional"?
- cdr 18y ago
  There's way too much garbage and noise on the right hand side - those two columns are more than half as big as the content area. Try one column, and cut some of that out.
  - eibrahim 18y ago
    Are you referring to www.emadibrahim.com? I think the previous comment was in reference to www.yonklyapp.com
    - cdr 18y ago
      I am. The other website looks ok, if not very polished.

vaksel 18y ago

The %s are more or less standard. The thing is...you need to base the % on how easy it is for the affiliate to make money. I mean your microblogging site I can't really see someone making 100 sign ups in a month. So you need to give more. 37signals on the other hand has products that are a) popular b) easy to sell, so for them the % is smaller.

eibrahim 18y ago
I see your points but let me just clarify that they don't have to get a 100 new customers every month... they just have to do it once and they get paid $3000 EVERY month. And if they get more, they make more or they could entirely stop marketing it and still make the $3000 every month.

il 18y ago

I have a lot of experience with affiliate marketing(as an affiliate), and I think you should strongly consider a CPA rather than CPS model. Very very few affiliate programs, even ones with recurring monthly income pay their affiliates recurring payouts. Most pay a fixed one-time payment for acquiring the customer. For a site like yours, the industry standard would be paying about $2 for every free signup, or, alternatively paying $50-$100 per paid/free trial signup. The exact numbers will of course vary with your conversion rate and what's profitable for both you and the affiliate. That way, you don't get a recurring drain on your revenue, and affiliates see more money right away. Keep in mind that most affiliates market via paid search or contextual advertising, which means heavy initial cash outlays. As an affiliate, I want to see profit within a few days of running a campaign, and if I don't I drop promoting that offer.