Keep Alert On The Merchants You Promote for 2009
posted in Affiliate Marketing |
No doubt there will be plenty of speculation, sensationalism & plausible deniability on which merchants will go into administration or close next year. So for 2009 affiliates as a whole will need to keep a much closer eye on the merchants they promote.
Look out for obvious indicators of merchants pulling the purse strings such as cookie reductions which often get changed & unnoticed, with consumers possibly making more considered purchases rather than spontaneous or impulsive, perhaps merchants should be encouraged to extend cookie periods to 365 day minumum, rather than this unwritten 30 day suggestion. Increasing the cookie period significantly will show good intent.
Commission reductions is an indicator, though some will use “”the” credit crunch” as an excuse when not really a legitimate reason.
Delayed invoice payments, as affiliates we should be more alert & report all incidences to the forum, this will ensure that merchants don’t become complacent or disrespect the affiliate channel. More merchants paying in escrow should be considered & looked into too .
Also, look out for networks who hang onto payments, accruing the interest affiliates should maybe receive. Even more regular payments from those that currently only pay monthly, like the weekly payment from Webgains or on demand like Paidonresults, this will keep the cashflow topped up for affiliates. It would be nice if all networks could switch to more regular methods. Granted a few networks have previously paid out when they haven’t been paid, we need to support the ones which offer guarantees (but isn’t that part of what override is about), but several larger ones do not pay regular enough. Just think about how much affiliate cash they are sitting on at any one time.
Also, look out for merchants delaying in approving pending commissions as they might only be hanging onto the cash a little longer(they possibly get paid by credit card companies within a few days & stock they have may well be on credit anyhow). The problem is when you may only get intermittent or a few sales for a merchant, but if affiliates enquire to the forum, then those interested can at least feedback their findings to ascertain any common thread. So we need to get this trickling down of payments to us affiliate bottom feeders quickly.
We just have to remain alert that the affiliate marketing channel doesn’t become devalued & prevent them merchants from thinking it’s the first place to look for where they can trim expenses, with networks in unison being more assertive with their clients too.
I know it’s obvious, but spread your risk and only rely / depend on yourself.
A blog post I liked was Goals – Setting And Achieving Them by Shane.
