Is affiliate marketing right for your business?

Actually, this question is something of a no-brainer, as in many ways it’s akin to asking, is generating a profit right for your business? Seriously, an effective affiliate CPA network, if properly planned, managed and developed, could well turn out to be an effective source of income for any e-commerce enterprise. The best way to provide an affirmative answer would be to outline exactly what signing up to an affiliate program could do for your business aspirations.

Would this model fit your current business model?

The initial aspect to consider would be how appropriate it would be to take affiliate programs onboard. How readily could affiliate marketing be incorporated in your overall business strategy? For the majority of e-commerce enterprises, adding an affiliate program should be achievable, assuming you already have a flexible web platform. The key to running a successful affiliate marketing campaign is to integrate the programs so the products appear seamlessly.

Are there products you could focus on?

Assuming you already manage products which are related to your company ethos or business plan, you could certainly operate affiliate programs containing products or services which would fit in with your existing catalog. Of course, you don’t have to run affiliate products in conjunction with your current stock at all. Many marketers sign up to programs by promoting items as their sole interest, making these products the centerpiece of their web platform.

Where selecting the programs is concerned, both strategies involve the same basic questions being asked at the outset. Do you want to choose products which are proven bestsellers (perhaps gadgetry or games which consistently top the charts published by online retailers such as Amazon)? While it would obviously make sense to sign up to a program devoted to these items, the marketplace would be saturated. Perhaps you would you prefer to focus on niche areas, where there is a clear demand and the competition is less intensive. You could concentrate on becoming the ‘go to’ website for customers seeking this product or service. There are no real right or wrong answers when it comes to opting for a particular product, and to a certain extent your first attempts may well be viewed in the context of ‘testing the water’, with the option to sign up to something else if this doesn’t work out for you.

Can this program be integrated within my web platform?

The essence of affiliate marketing is for retail organizations to forward a series of hyperlinks to their affiliates – coding which will direct potential customers to those all-important sales pages on their website. The best way to determine whether or not affiliate marketing is right for your business is to assess how organically these hyperlinks can be threaded into your existing web content.

The whole ethos of affiliate marketing is for the promotional aspect of the campaign to be as unobtrusive as possible. It’s not about posting a bunch of links onto your web pages, highlighted by garish headings imploring customers to ‘please buy.’ You need to adopt a far more subtle approach. The links should flow with the rest of your web content, so potential customers will only be encouraged to take the next step once they have digested articles and pored over glowing product reviews.

How easily can products be promoted?

If you already run social media outlets alongside your main business website, this set-up would be tailor-made to incorporate an affiliate marketing element. You can ask customers to subscribe to mailing lists in exchange for receiving regular bulletins. And if they like the products you’re selling, invite them to share their enthusiasm via their own social media contacts.