As you can see, affiliate marketing software varies a lot, and
it's VERY important to be informed before you make the decision
about which provider to go with.
Use this list to identify the features you must have to make your
program run smoothly and successfully, and the pitfalls you must
avoid getting locked into.
After you've checked out the list, have a look at a cost comparison
of affiliate marketing software and tracking solutions to find out
which one is best for you.
Top 10 affiliate marketing program software must-have
features
1. Host your affiliate marketing software on your own
domain
Many affiliate program tools require you to use a hosted solution
that resides on their server.
Their domain becomes part of all the links affiliates use to promote
your program. Basically, they are using your program to brand themselves.
Some programs even require affiliates to login to their accounts
on pages that contain the developer's logo, ads and links.
And they're the ones getting valuable search engine link popularity
from all those affiliate links!
One award-winning affiliate marketing software,
Ultimate Affiliate, is hosted on your own hosting account under
your own domain name.
That means that the links affiliates use to promote your products,
as well as the URLs of the affiliate signup and login pages, are
branded with your domain name.
You'll also gain link popularity to your domain - a key factor
in search engine rankings.
You can now get the crucial
advantage of branding without the high cost to create affiliate
program software of your own.
You also have the option to customize many aspects of the "look
and feel" of the pages your affiliates see - further increasing
loyalty and branding opportunities.
I know of one affiliate marketing software provider that offers
a similar "private domain" functionality - but at a cost
of $1,699 to own your own domain name that the software is hosted
on! Or you can pay $699 and $50 per month, but they own the domain
name, not you. If you want to leave, they will keep your domain.
So much for the promotion, branding, search engine optimization,
links and all the other effort you put into building up awareness
of that domain ...
The fees above don't even include their regular Professional Edition
fees of $795 setup and $50 per month!
2. You own your affiliates
With many affiliate networks, such as Commission Junction, all
the affiliates that seem to be yours really belong to the NETWORK'S
affiliate program.
This means that if, for example, Commission Junction raises their
monthly rates from 20% to 30% of affiliate commissions and you decide
to leave ... you will find that you can't take any of your affiliates
with you. You can lose your entire affiliate team.
The networks will often also market other affiliate program offers
to your affiliates, and publish your private sales statistics for
your competitors to see.
With the Ultimate Affiliate affiliate marketing software, you
own your affiliates and you always have access to them.
3. Grow your program on autopilot
A two-tier affiliate program tool can explode your program's membership
- automatically!
Here's how it works: If an affiliate signs a new affiliate to your
program, the affiliate receives a portion of the signup's commissions
- for life.
Affiliates can build up a huge passive income stream for themselves
- so they're all extremely motivated to sign up as many people as
possible.
It's a proven "domino effect" that continuously expands
your sales force - with no effort from you!
Ultimate Affiliate was a pioneer of the two-tier program, and has
an built-in two-tier system that makes it easy to automate your
affiliate recruitment and manage your second tier.
4. Web-based management lets you log in to your affiliate marketing
software from anywhere in the world
Web-based management lets you travel anywhere in the world! When
your program is hosted by your provider rather than on your computer,
you can manage your affiliate program from any computer with internet
access.
Security is another good reason to have your affiliate program tools
remotely hosted. Sure, it may SEEM cheaper and more convenient to
put it on your computer … until there's a power outage and
all your affiliates' commissions are lost. You should NOT take losing
your affiliates' trust lightly … you would lose many of your
affiliates after an incident like that, as well as your reputation.
No "success penalties" on program growth. Many affiliate
management providers hide ongoing costs in an effort to make their
up-front price look like a bargain. For example, Commission Junction
charges you 30% of your affiliates' monthly commissions, with a
MINIMUM of $250 per month. And when you read the fine print of My
Affiliate Program, you'll see they charge you a substantial extra
monthly fee for growing your program.
Automated management features.
customizable affiliate program software
Look for these management features and you'll spent a lot less time
on affiliate admin!
Automatically signs up new affiliates - this can save you hours
of time!
Automatically resends lost passwords - If an affiliate forgets
his password (which happens ALL the time), he should be able to
get it instantly, automatically emailed to him … without bothering
you.
Affiliates get their own Control Panels - Affiliates should be
able to instantly access their real-time clicks and commission reports,
get linking code and promotional material, and view their second
tier.
You get an administrator's Control Panel - You should be able to
quickly view all your affiliates, commission payouts, traffic patterns,
edit affiliate information, add or delete a commission, change affiliate
commission levels, design a new promotion, track your advertisements,
and more.
Built-in email client - Communication is crucial to make your program
a success. The software should allow you to send personalized (Dear
Joanne) emails to your affiliates.
Two kinds of tracking - because cookies are not enough! Cookies
don't register a commission 20% of the time. You can imagine how
upset your affiliates would be if they knew they were not getting
credit for referred sales. Your solution should track by cookie
AND IP address (more foolproof than CGI tracking).
Automatically keep track of commissions due and make it easy to
pay. The program should automatically keep track of how much you
owe each of your affiliates. You can usually set your own payout
schedule (e.g. monthly, quarterly, etc.) and payout levels (e.g.
pay affiliates who have earned more than $25), too. Ultimate Affiliate
Plus makes it easy to pay affiliates by exporting payment details
to your favorite check printing program.
Article 1.1 Synonyms:
affiliate marketing tools
marketing tools affiliate
Article 1.1 Related Terms:
affiliate marketing program software
affiliate marketing software tool
affiliate marketing tools reviews
affiliate marketing online success tool
starting an affiliate program
[Original: starting an affiliate p]
affiliate monitoring marketing software
profitable software for affiliate marketing
