I currently run an affiliate program, but we are having some difficulty finding a niche, since we are an industrial B to B site. Any suggestions on how to develop our program? It appears the affiliate marketing is basically consumer based but we still see some opportunities.
I took a peek at your program on CJ, and you’ve got an above average EPC for 3 months and 7 days.
Being that you are B2B, you will not be able to scale like a B2C company would do, but I think you’ve got plenty of space to grow.
One thing to examine is the performance of your creative. I noticed that affiliates are only using a few different text links, and your banners are going untouched.
Try asking affiliates what they want, and then create those sizes and styles. I didn’t notice creative for any of your categories, just logos and then direct banners for specific items.
I’d suggest creating banners for your top 5 or so performing categories.
Also, if you do not have a data feed, I’d suggest getting one ASAP. There are lots of affiliates out there that will create entire sites around your data feed, and drive a significant increase in traffic.
I recently signed on to try out the suite of affiliate tools offered by a guy named Paul Hagopian at http://www.finon.com/affiliate-tools.html for the InstrumentPro.com affiliate program.
He’s got a very attractive suite of offerings for a modest price. His regular price is $99/month for all five of his tools.
- External Datanfeed Manager: Complete Feed Management
- Product Display Maker: Creates customized HTML-based displays of any and all products from your datafeed
- Direct Link Maker
- Search Link Maker
- Search Form Maker
I’ve been very happy with his technology and service, and he has extended a special deal where you can get his tools for $89/month. Just go to http://www.affiliatemanager.net/finon.htm to sign up.
Otherwise, I would just encourage you to do lots of targeted affiliate recruiting. Some tools for you to consider, which will help to automate some aspects of the recruiting process are at http://www.affiliatemanager.net/super.shtml
These tools will not only enable you to find affiliates in your category, but also they include the functionality to determine who is linking to your competition.
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