According to Wikipedia, “Affiliate marketing is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.” Essentially, affiliates produce web content that links to your business’s products. You track where sales are coming from, and every time a sale is made as a result of an affiliate’s link, you pay them a percentage of the sale or some other pre-discussed fee.

The strategy is beneficial for businesses looking to drive more customers and more sales using a variety of online channels. On a basic level, you’re paying an external marketer on a results-oriented basis to spread the word about your product.

There are plenty of different software platforms on the market if you’d like to start your own affiliate marketing program, including ShareASale, a popular affiliate network, and 3dcart’s built-in Affiliate Program, available for free to all 3dcart merchants. Once you’ve joined a network, you’ll need to build a toolbox of marketing resources for your affiliates to make it as easy as possible to sell.

Publicizing your new affiliate program should start with current customers. Try incorporating the announcement into your newsletter, or send out a separate email dedicated to the announcement. You could also share the information via your blog, social media accounts, or a press release, which is another great way to get some traction and drive partners into your affiliate network.

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In addition to being one of the easiest to implement and most cost-effective marketing tools, affiliate marketing can provide your store with countless short and long-term benefits.

Let’s take a look at some of the major perks an affiliate program can offer your online store.

Extend Your Brand’s Reach

An affiliate program can dramatically and exponentially increase your store’s exposure. The further you’re able to extend your brand’s reach, the bigger the impact your brand and business will have on consumers. A strong impression is key to succeeding in eCommerce, and a formidable online presence, bolstered by the power of your affiliates, will not only help you build trust with potential customers, but it’ll allow you to gain a powerful edge over your competitors, too.

Increased Sales

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and simplest ways to quickly boost sales for your online store. As most affiliate programs are automated, running at all hours of the day, you’ll always have a band of brand ambassadors working to bring qualified leads to your online store. Better yet, your store may acquire leads and attract traffic from sources you may otherwise not typically have access to, making it easy to tap into a rich supply of new customers.

Cost-Effective Marketing

One of the more unique attributes of an affiliate program is that it’s a type of performance based marketing. As commissions are only awarded when an affiliate has made a sale, this marketing channel alleviates any concerns or potential for yielding a negative ROI. With how much money is lost to failed advertisements every year, having a channel that’s guaranteed to reduce waste is an incredibly invaluable resource, and can provide you with a great deal of peace of mind.

Whether you’re paying a commission of 5%, 10%, or 15%, you can feel secure knowing that an investment is only awarded when a return has already taken place.

Easy Tracking

Tracking the success and progress of your marketing efforts is one of the more burdensome and labor-intensive aspects of a marketing campaign. Fortunately, most affiliate programs offer convenient and comprehensive tracking tools to monitor your affiliates’ activity and to get a better idea of where improvement is needed. You may decide a particular affiliate requires a higher commission, or that another affiliate isn’t delivering the results you’re looking for.

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If this is your first time implementing an Affiliate Program, it can be a bit of a challenge setting up a program that symbiotically rewards both your store and your affiliates. Many factors contribute toward the success or failure of any given affiliate program, regardless of your industry or business size.

Let’s take a look at some important factors to consider before you get to implementing one of eCommerce’s most powerful sales channels.

Calculate Your Affiliate’s Cut

While affiliate marketing is a great marketing channel for any online store, its benefits come at a fee. Before launching an affiliate program, the first question you’ll need to answer is what percentage of your marketing budget you’re able to allocate to your affiliate program.

Your brand ambassadors will work earnestly to bring in sales to your online store, but they’re level of motivation and effectiveness is directly correlated to their commission. The more appealing you’re able to make this number, the harder your affiliates will work to acquire leads.

Can your business afford an 8% commission for every sale? How about 15%? For every business, this number will vary from one to the next. Carefully consider what commission will yield the best results for not only your affiliates, but for your online store’s short and long-term success. Dishing out more money than you can afford can only lead to your program’s downfall, and in some instances, the loss of respect of your hard-earned affiliates.

Properly Compensate Your Affiliates

One of the biggest mistakes merchants new to affiliate marketing make is inadequately compensating their affiliates. Ecommerce is an incredibly competitive market, with countless new stores launching every hour around the world, many of which have their own affiliate programs. If you’re hoping to transform loyal customers into earnest affiliates, you need to understand and respect the value an affiliate represents for your brand and overall profits.

Providing an appealing commission is the first and foremost important factor that will affect the success of your affiliate program. Few websites and stores are looking to openly advertise a multitude of businesses on their sites, and even fewer are looking to spend a great deal of personal time investing in another’s success. Offering an appealing commission, however, will encourage affiliates to not only choose your store over your competitors, but to openly and boldly advertise your store in a location that will yield maximum profits for their own pockets.

As mentioned previously, your marketing budget will play a critical role in determining what percentage your business is able to allocate toward commissions. Just keep in mind that when it comes to affiliate marketing, it doesn’t pay to be stingy or cheap.

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