How Do I Choose a Merchant?

Stand-Alone Affiliate Program (independent): An affiliate program run "inhouse" by a particular merchant. This merchant handles the contracting, sale, record keeping, and payment process.

Solution Provider: A company, such as Commission Junction or BeFree, that assists merchants in the affiliate marketing process. Usually, the solution provider acts as an intermediary between the merchant and affiliate, and handles most business matters such as regulating contracts and cutting checks.

Stand-alone affiliate programs A stand-alone, or independent, affiliate program, is one run "in house" by a particular merchant. This merchant handles the contracting, sale, record keeping, and the payment process. You may refer to the following affiliate program directories for details on independent programs:

• 2-Tier Affiliate Program Directory www.2-tier.com
• TOADS: The Online Affiliates Directory Service www.affiliates-directory.com
• Associate-it www.associate-it.com
• AssociatePrograms.com www.associateprograms.com
• CashPile www.cashpile.com
• Webmaster-Programs www.webmaster-programs.com

Reasons to use a stand-alone affiliate program

There are several good reasons to consider using a stand-alone affiliate program. Here we will focus on the most important considerations:

1. Access to unique items. Artists and craftspeople frequently cannot generate the volume of product to support a large affiliate program. However, these merchants can benefit from highly targeted affiliate sales made by a select group of affiliates. If you have a site dedicated to Shaker craftsmanship, for example, and want to sell hand-made Shaker-style chairs, then you should consider finding a quality artisan with a highly selective group of affiliates.
2. Access to non-traditional items. Some items, while mass-produced, do not always appeal to the majority of Web surfers. However, if your highly targeted niche site focuses on a sub-culture, such as role playing gamers, then you should work with a merchant who caters to this community.
3. Ability to work more closely with a merchant. Independent merchants, especially those with highly selective affiliate programs, work with fewer affiliates, and are therefore often more accessible than the large solution providers.

Reasons to avoid independent merchants

1. Time management. As an affiliate, your time is valuable. Working with a number of independent merchants takes longer than working with many merchants combined under a solution provider.
2. Reliability. Independent merchants vary in their experience level and reliability. Be certain to read and understand the contract when signing on with an independent merchant. Independent merchants work without the guidelines put forth by solution providers and, therefore, may have holes and inconsistencies in their program even they don’t recognize.
3. Grievance and Mediation. When working with an independent merchant, be certain to understand the process for grievance and mediation. Often, the merchant acts as his own mediator in these situations, which may be unfair to the affiliate.

Solution providers

If you don’t use a stand-alone program, then you will want to consider solution providers. Companies such as Commission Junction (http://www.cj.com), and Linkshare (http://www.linkshare.com) assist you in the affiliate marketing process. Usually, the solution provider acts as intermediary between the merchant and affiliate, and handles most business matters such as regulating contracts and cutting checks. If you’reinterested in this approach, you should also refer to the following companies:

• Be Free, Inc. www.befree.com
• Cyberbounty www.cyberbounty.com

Reasons to choose a solution provider

1. Variety, Solution providers offer access to a wide range of programs and an extensive array of products.
2. Time management, Solution providers consolidate the tracking and payment for a number of merchants, making tracking a one-stop experience for the affiliate.
3. Reliability, Reputable solution providers have the experience and funding to reliably servetheir affiliates.
4. Grievance and mediation, Solution providers sometimes act as mediators between merchants and affiliates, providing a more impartial way to settle grievances.

Reasons to avoid solution providers

1. All of your eggs are in one basket. In the unlikely event that your solution provider would shut down, your entire affiliate marketing framework will crumble.
2. Merchants are less accessible. In a large solution provider organization, the individual merchants and affiliates can remain at a distance.

Points to check when choosing amerchant

1. Policies Can you easily find the merchant’s sales and leads policies? Are they explained clearly?
2. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section, Do they have an extensive FAQ section that anticipates your questions and needs?
3. Contact information, Is a system in place to answer your questions? Can you contact a live person, and will this individual contact you in return? How soon can you expect a response?
4. Affiliate handbook, Does the merchant provide an "Affiliate Handbook" by email or on their site? This handbook should explain the program, providetips, and indicate past or expected performance.
5. Testimonials, Check for testimonials. Do the individuals testifying to the quality of the program actually use the program?
6. Time frames, Is the merchant clear about sales or leads time frames? For example, you’ll want to know the difference between the date of the actual sale and how long it takes for that sale to appear in an earnings report.
7. Merchant links, Does the merchant link to the product or offer you are selling, or simply to its main website? If a merchant is not aggressively trying to close a sale or lead, affiliates will note this as traffic tapping, where a merchant uses affiliates primarily as a source of traffic.
8. Sales support, Do you have latitude to pre-sell your products? Does the merchant provide sales materials and press releases? Can you customize content to match your site's tone? Some merchants even build complete "mini-sites" for affiliates to deploy. Refer to the following for an example: Loansharp Financial Center loansharp.financialcircuit.com
9. Customer service Can customers make express purchases, or are they forced to open an account each time they come to your site? Is the purchasing process customer friendly?

Qualities of a good affiliate program

A good affiliate program, above all, will inform the prospective affiliate of:

1. The affiliate’s responsibilities. A clear description of what you, the affiliate, must do and what you are prohibited from doing. These are the program rules and will dictate what you’ll have to live with during your relationship with this mechant.
2. What designates an action worthy of compensation. As an affiliate, you must understand what must happen in order for you to get a commission: whether you must deliver impressions, clicks, leads, or sales.
3. How the compensation will be rendered. As an affiliate, you must understand the merchant’s plan for compensation. Make sure that the merchant will pay you in money, and that you can use the particular currency in your country of residence. In fact, you should makehave a simple issue like an incorrect address on your account. Such matters are easily resolved with a minimum of heartache.
4. Repeat contact. If you don’t receive an immediate answer, thenwrite back, demanding a response in a reasonable time frame.
5. Plead your case. f you receive a response from the merchant that you believe to be correct, then state your case, in writing, to the merchant.
   
6. Certified mail. If you still receive no satisfaction, send the merchant’s CEO a certified letter explaining your situation. State that you need a satisfactory solution, or you will involve the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), and the State Attorney General of the merchant company’s home state.
7. File a formal complaint. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. Both organizations have online complaint submission forms. Perhaps one complaint won’t raise much of a stir. However, if affiliates make such reporting standard practice, then the attorney general would receive several complaints on a company that behaves unlawfully. Moreover, if a merchant knew that affiliates would report unfair practices to the BBB and the attorney general, that merchant might think twice before acting reprehensibly in the first place.

Sources : Wayne and Kim L. T. Porter.feedback@intellectua.com