Tutorials for Advertisers

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Interactive Tutorials

Advertiser Strategy

Advertiser 101

Introduction

Welcome to CJU's Advertiser 101 tutorial. In this tutorial you will learn the basics of performance marketing for advertisers within the CJ Marketplace. We will cover the following important topics for building a successful advertiser program:

First, what is affiliate marketing and who is using it?
Second, how can you generate program appeal for publishers?
And finally, how does Commission Junction help Advertisers like you perform?

Chapter 1

So you're asking, what exactly is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the act of Advertisers and Publishers promoting and selling goods or services online. In affiliate marketing, compensation is based on performance measures, such as the number of sales, clicks or leads a publisher drives to an advertiser. Commission Junction provides advertisers and publishers independent third-party tracking, reporting, payment and support services.

Now that we've defined what Affiliate Marketing is... let's talk about who's using it. There are two main groups of people or companies who use affiliate marketing.

The first group is referred to as Advertisers, also known as merchants. Advertisers are people or companies with products and services to offer consumers. Commission Junction advertisers include companies like Home Depot and ebay.

The second group is referred to as Publishers. Publishers are people or companies that have access to an audience or traffic on the Web, whether through a Web site or other means. This audience contains potential consumers of the advertisers' products or services.

The role of Commission Junction is to act as a trusted third-party solution provider. Through the CJ Marketplace, Advertisers and Publishers can partner with each other using Commission Junction's technology, services, reporting and tracking.

Let's take a moment for a quick review. Advertisers have goods or services to sell. Publishers have access to an audience or traffic that Advertisers want and the CJ Marketplace, which includes an affiliate marketing network, gives both Advertisers and Publishers a place to work together. Got it? If you need to review Chapter 2 again, go ahead and press the back button now.

Let's move on to learning to how to increase the appeal of your program to potential publishers.

Chapter 2

In order to have a program that publishers can get excited about, you need to see your program through their eyes. They'll look at these key concepts when evaluating your program's appeal: offer, EPC, Network Earnings Rating, payout type, commission type and program description.

The first step to increasing your program's appeal is to make sure that you have a compelling offer.

A compelling offer is arguably the most important aspect of your advertiser program to a publisher. Publishers use your ads to generate income from their Web site traffic and without a competitive offer, publishers will likely choose to work with other advertisers. A compelling offer is about more than just commission rates, so it's important to examine the criteria that publishers find important when evaluating your program's payoff:

The first is EPC.

EPC is short for "Average Earnings Per 100 Clicks". EPC calculations are visible in the CJ Account Manager. Your EPC is a relative rating that illustrates the ability to convert clicks into commissions. Publishers use this metric to judge the effectiveness of advertiser programs because EPC tracks an advertiser's average commission payout per 100 clicks. EPC also tracks publisher performance and ad type performance.

Now we move to Network Earnings Rating.

Network Earnings Rating is a standard Commission Junction measurement that shows how you rate with other advertisers in the network based on the volume of commissions paid. You are ranked in an "apples to apples" comparison with all advertisers by taking each advertiser's total commissions paid. Network Earnings Ratings are shown in the CJ Account Manager using a system of zero to five levels, with five levels being the highest rating. New advertisers are ranked as "New" for the first three months. Network Earnings Ratings allow publishers an easy way to gauge the success of your program compared to competitors. You can see how important it is to have a high program rating.

The next concept is Payout Type.

Payout Type is the method of payment Advertisers use to pay their publishers. There are two different types of payout structures that you can choose from:

Pay-per-lead or Pay-per-sale. You can also create a hybrid payout from these two options.

Let's take a closer look at pay-per-lead.

A lead is defined as a payment for information. Here's an example of a lead. John goes to a mortgage application Web site, like Ameriquest. John fills out a mortgage application form on the site and the information is then passed on to a mortgage advertiser. In this instance John has only shared information with the advertiser. Since John has not made a purchase, this action is considered a lead.

Now we'll take a look at pay-per-sale.

A sale is defined as payment for a purchase. This time, John goes to a publisher site and buys a book. In this scenario John has actually purchased a product. Whether for a product or services, any purchase is considered a sale.

You may choose either payout structure or use a combination of both. Creating a competitive payout model will help attract the right publishers to advertise your goods and services.

Another item to look at is Commission Type.

Simply put, Commission Type is the way advertisers compensate publishers. There are two main types of commission payouts; one is payment by percentage and the other is payment by flat rate.

For instance you could choose to pay fifteen percent per sale or ten dollars per sale. You may find one commission payout method more desirable than the other. The right commission type will help you attract the right publishers for your program.

You'll want to make sure that you are offering a commission payout equal to, if not more competitive than, your competition. Sign up for a Commission Junction publisher account so you can study advertiser programs that are similar to your own in the CJ Account Manager™. By studying advertiser programs that are similar to your own in the CJ Account Manager™, you'll be able to identify where you can adjust your program to become more appealing to publishers.

It's now time to discuss Program Descriptions.

Your program description may be the single most important communication to publishers. It tells publishers everything they need to know about your program. Publishers will read your program description to determine if you are an attractive partner. They will also use it to understand how your products should be promoted.

Program descriptions include the following information: Web site URL, commission payout, keywords and keyword bidding rules, promotions, categories, product catalogue information and any special terms and conditions you may have.

Write your program description as you would any marketing piece - after all your publishers are your online sales force. This is your opportunity to sell them on joining your program. A well-written program description will definitely make recruiting much easier.
With your newly acquired knowledge of compelling offer, EPC, network earnings ratings, payout type, commission type and program description, finding the right customer should be, well, a piece of cake.

Chapter 3

In this chapter we discuss how Commission Junction directly helps Advertisers perform. Commission Junction offers a wide variety of resources to help maximize your program.

First let's talk about Commission Junction University. Also known as CJU, this is your educational resource for all things affiliate marketing. CJU is made up of two parts: the first part is the CJU Web site and the second is our annual conference for clients. At the CJU Web site you can learn about industry news, trends, affiliate program strategies and Commission Junction resources. This is a great information source for you. At our CJU Event, you can come together with publishers and advertisers for several days of learning, networking and discovering what makes a successful program.

Another Commission Junction resource is the CJ Account Manager™, a program management dashboard where you can quickly find out everything you need to know about your program. You can ask questions here by clicking the "Contact Us" link. Once in the Contact Us sub-section, use the "Search Help" feature to look up topics by title or by our "Frequently Asked Questions" feature to find answers to some of the most common questions. If you can't find what you are looking for, the "Ask a Question" link allows you to ask a Commission Junction client services team member a question directly.

Additional resources provided by Commission Junction for advertisers include our bi-monthly CJ Wire newsletter and targeted advice delivered via the CJ Account Manager "Advice Box". We also have a dedicated client services team to answer your emails or phone calls from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) Monday through Friday.

What's Next?

Now that we have covered the basics for getting your advertiser program started on the right track, we recommend that you take a few moments to explore the CJ Account Manager and apply what we have talked about to your program. Re-read your program description. Would you be the first to join your program? Is there anything left to complete? Have you updated it to reflect recent changes? What are your competitors within the CJ Marketplace offering to their publishers? What is the Network Earnings rating for your closest competitor? Who are the top publishers that you would like to work with?

By answering these questions, you are well on your way to creating a successful advertising program.

Thanks for your time.