BOOMER ENTREPRENEUR

INTRODUCTION TO AFFILIATES

Editors Note: Get ready for a lot of information on the affiliate program in this section. Since there are many interrelated subjects, read completely through it because there will be a summary at the end that will give you the steps in the order that you need to take to set up affiliate programs. The “I” in this section is John Howe.

The affiliate program is probably the best return for your effort with the least demand on your time. This has an appeal to the Boomer Entrepreneur since we want to run the business and not have it run us. We want to have time to “kick back and smell the roses”

The attraction to this model is that it is risk free. It costs you nothing to sign up as an affiliate. You recommend the product and send your visitors to the website where the product is sold and if the customer purchases the product, you are paid a commission. I believe that Amazon.com was one of the first businesses to develop the affiliate concept and now all the major websites have affiliate programs. Google, eBay, Yahoo, ClickBank.

How does it work?

When you sign up as an affiliate, you will be given an affiliate number, and a special link to use for linking to the affiliate website. This link will send your visitor to the affiliate and at the same time tell the affiliate who sent the visitor so the commission can be paid in the case of a sale. As an example, hover your cursor over this link (www.ebay.com ) and look at the URL in the bottom left corner of the browser screen (Using Internet Explorer). The link has a bunch of numbers in it and does not even reference eBay. This link is called a “hop link” since it goes to an intermediate website that does the accounting for the affiliate program. It records the affiliate ID which is one of the numbers in the link and then passes the visitor on to the proper eBay site. It takes place so fast that the visitor is not aware that the intermediate step has taken place. Pretty slick, don’t you think?

Who does all this accounting?

There are companies that do the accounting and act as the coordination point between affiliates and the companies they represent. These are called affiliate program providers (APP’s).A major site for handling affiliate accounting is called Commission Junction. It handles eBay and others. The major site for electronic products is ClickBank. Other sites are BeFree, Linkshare, and Performics. A German APP is Affili.net.

How do I get paid?

The reason that we are doing all working to be entrepreneurs is to ultimately have money flowing into our bank account, Right? When you set up your accounts with the APP site, you specify your business bank account. On the designated payment dates, an electronic funds transfer will occur and the funds will be deposited in your account. When you set this up properly, it is almost on autopilot.

How do I find affiliate programs?

When you join Commission Junction (“CJ”), you will be able to view the thousands of companies that are in its affiliate program. I suggest that you sign up at CJ and look for affiliates there. You will be able to see who the company is and what the commission structure is. You can then join the program right in CJ without having to go to each company and apply.

Some of the approvals in CJ are immediate and some will notify you later if you have been accepted.

I suggest that you join and study the many companies that are represented. Select a few that you feel might be ones that you would like to represent. Don’t join the affiliate program, but go to Google and research the company website. See if they sell themselves well and will support the sales effort that you are putting into the program. Also, from CJ, you can link to the landing page in the company website. Go there and check it out to see if it sells well. I had a funny experience on one site. While I was writing sales copy for the program that we had joined, I clicked on the link to the landing page and it was not the same company name. I found that it was a subsidiary, but it is important to know what your customer will see when they first meet the affiliate company at their website.

You almost don’t have to find affiliate programs, they will find you. That statement may be a little far fetched, but if you go to Google and type in “affiliate programs” you will be inundated with selections of every possible affiliate under the sun.

Step by Step Start

When you are operating in the Commission Junction site, you are referred to as “Publisher” and the company you are representing is referred to as “Advertiser”.

Click to https://signup.cj.com/member/publisherSignUp.do and you will land at the page where you can join Commission Junction (www.cj.com). Select your language, country, and currency. Click to the next page. After swearing to abide by the rules and regs, you will be asked for information about your newsletter or website (URL). If you have a website, you can enter it. If not, make up a name for the eZine that you may plan to publish. For this application, you must make up a newsletter name if you do not have a website (URL). Be creative!

You will then be asked about your promotional methods. Enter Website/Content and Search Engine Marketing. Next click “NO” on the radio button that asks if you donate any proceeds to charity.

Next you will be asked to enter all the information needed for setting up your account. You may have to attempt this page a couple of times since you might not have all the info you might need the first time. Some key items you will need are social security number or tax ID if you are registering as a business. If you want to have your payments direct deposited, get a blank check so you will have the info to set up the banking information.

When you finish giving CJ your entire pedigree, click “Accept” and you are on your way. Check your Inbox for an email from CJ with your acceptance message and password.

Note: Some affiliates want you to have a website when you sign up with them. If you do not have one, you may use one of ours in your application. www.jhowe.com or www.boomer-entrepreneur.com.

Log in to www.cj.com and use your password to enter. Sometimes when the log in page comes up, it appears that there is no place to enter your email address and password. On the right side of the page under “Client Login”, click on “CJ Account Manager” and the form will be presented.

When you are logged in, you will be on your CJ Home Page. Look around on it. It shows your account status and basic accounting info. It also shows the new advertisers. You might see if any of these look appealing since you can jump right on them and get a head start.

Near the top of the page next to Home, click on “Account”. This is where you can update the information that you entered on your application. At the top right in small letters is “CJU Online”. This is the link to Commission Junction University and is full of good info about how to use CJ.

Now down to business. Click on the “Get Links” tab near the top and you will be presented the page where you can find advertisers. There are several ways to view it: By category, by advertiser name, by Smart Zone, and by relationship which will list all the accounts with which you have an established relationship.

As an example, to find a company with which you are familiar, select the Category view and in the left column under Commerce, click “Auctions”. The page that is presented will contain various auction sites, but you will recognize most of them as the various eBay sites for the USA and other countries.

To join an affiliate, click on the “View Links” in the box with the affiliate name. You will be presented with the various banner ads and links for the affiliate. Pick one and click on it. If you are not a member of the affiliate program, you will be presented a page describing the program and at the bottom of the page is a button “Join Program”. Click this and wait to see the response. Sometimes you will be accepted immediately and sometimes you will get a message that you will be notified after your application has been reviewed. My longest reviewed took two weeks.

The sequence of “Get Links” and “Join Program” is how you sign up for the affiliate programs that you want to represent. It is all in CJ and it makes it very easy for you. Linda and I hope you pick good ones and lucrative ones.