Thinking of launching an affiliate scheme? Read on...

**LOS Design UK** · 25-06-2009 12:57

Hi Guys

I have had quite a bit of experience with affiliates on both sides of the fence (publishers and merchants) so I thought I would add a few points for you to consider.

First off, as a merchant, here are some basic points for consideration;

Decide on your overall strategy. Do you want them to visit your site to contact you, purchase a product/service or to read an article that is a lead generator.
Decide on your link material, banners, text links, animated gifs/flash etc. This is critical as you not only need it to be effective from a publishers point of view, you also want to tap into the link juice that is on offer
Landing pages. consider this carefully along with point 2. It is crucial to your programmes success.
Decide on your margin. Make it clear and concise. Make sure it fits perfectly into your costings.
Payment options. Make sure you options can be managed. Try to ensure that you are paying only CLEARED FUNDS (ie you now have the cash from the sale) and add an adjustment % of 100% (for any potential chargebacks and refunds). What method are you going to use, Paypal, BACs etc...decide in advance and ensure it matches the way you receive sales payments...
Offer FIXED payment cycles. ie once a month/bi-monthly, any more frequent than this and you could run into management issues if your programme takes off.
Acceptance policy. Checkout who and why they would want to join. Set this criteria in stone. Not paying attention to this could have a negative impact on your sites reputation and/or SERPs.
Ongoing publisher support. Ensure you have a competent infrastructure to support your publishers.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should give you all plenty to consider.

If I have missed anything, feel free to prompt me and I will be happy to help.

Regards
Daren