CJU :: Publishers :: Getting Started :: Beginner

Many people unfamiliar with performance-based marketing (also called affiliate marketing) are surprised at the number of sophisticated ways advertisers try to reach them. Most Internet surfers could identify a banner or text ad, but the majority could not tell you about affiliate marketing.

Performance-based marketing, also known as affiliate marketing or pay-for-performance marketing, is one channel of marketing products and services online. It traditionally includes an advertiser and a publisher, sometimes known as an affiliate (you!).

For our purposes, we define a publisher, as an independent party that promotes the products or services of an advertiser in exchange for a commission on leads or sales. A publisher displays ads, text links, or product links on its Web site, in email campaigns, or in search listings and is paid a commission by the advertiser when a visitor takes a specific action, such as filling out a form, making a purchase or subscribing to a service.

An advertiser, also known as a merchant or retailer, is a Web site or company that sells a product or service online, accepts payments and fulfills orders. You place an ad or link to the advertiser's products and/or services on your Web site and the advertiser pays you a commission for leads or sales that result from your site. Easy, right? Not exactly, but there are some tricks to the trade and success factors we see in our top publishers.

Those publishers suited best for performance marketing have some consistent characteristics:

Just like in any industry, performance marketing has its own language. Don't be intimidated; pretty soon these terms will be second nature.

Application Service Provider (ASP ) – An ASP is an online network that is accessible through the Internet instead of through the installation of software. It is quickly integrated with other Web sites and the services are easily implemented and scalable. An example of an ASP is the CJ Account Manager™.

Transparency - A characteristic of the CJ Marketplace, where the performance of advertisers, publishers, and ads is published openly within the CJ Account Manager. Publishers may create a Commission Junction account and join the CJ Marketplace at no cost. Publishers must regularly generate activity within the network (within 90 days) in order to maintain an active Commission Junction account.

Commission Payout – An amount of income received by a publisher for some quantifiable action such as selling an advertiser's product and/or service on the publisher's Web site.

Click-through - Also known as a click. The action a consumer takes when they are referred from a Web site through a link or advertisement and is taken to another Web site. Click-through ratio is the percentage of click for the number of advertising impressions displayed.

Cost per action (CPA)- A metric for online advertising where a rate is set for every action that is taken by an end-user.

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)- A metric for online advertising where a rate is set for every thousand impressions.

Conversion rate- The percentage of visitors who take a desired action. The action that determines conversion is determined by the advertiser and may be a sale on the advertiser's Web site, a completed lead form, or another action.

Average earnings per 100 clicks (EPC)- An exclusive metric of the CJ Marketplace given for publishers, advertisers, and individual ads. EPC is a relative rating that illustrates the ability to convert clicks into commissions. For publishers, an advertiser's EPC shows how well that advertiser converts traffic into actual sales or leads. EPC will also help you see what creative is working and what needs changing. For advertisers, a publisher's EPC shows how well that publisher sends relevant traffic to advertisers' sites. EPC is published in two forms, 7-day and 3-month.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)- The act of marketing a Web site via search engines. This can be done by "natural" or "organic" search which refers to all unpaid search results based on relevance in the content site or "paid" search which refers to all pay-per-click advertising (such as on Google, Yahoo! or MSN).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)- The process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. Varied techniques are used by content site publishers to improve a Web page's results.

One of the most crucial aspects of our relationship with publishers and advertisers is trust. By joining with Commission Junction, you are a part of our industry's leading group of quality publishers. The CJ Marketplace is based on superior publishers delivering superior results to our advertisers. To ensure that these results are truly high-value, Commission Junction released a Publisher Code of Conduct (COC) in 2002 to set ethical standards and best practices for affiliate marketing. Our goal is to provide you with tools and resources to benefit you, your consumers and advertising partners while eliminating any unethical behavior relating to online marketing. Please take the time to read the Code of Conduct before you begin your program – based on your commitment when you applied to Commission Junction, you will be responsible for adhering to it.

With the CJ Marketplace comes a breadth of tools and services to help you at each step of your way. First and foremost, you will be exposed to industry-leading advertisers in a wide variety of categories (also called "verticals"). From retailers, such as consumer electronics, to dating sites to the financial industry, there is something for everyone. For publishers just entering the performance marketing space, Commission Junction recommends focusing on individual categories. This will help you: become deeply familiar with your audience, create and maintain a specialized Web site, and learn all there is to know about the advertisers in your space. Once you have mastered one category, you can take those skills and apply them in another category.

One of the most important tools at your service is Commission Junction's extensive reporting, available through your CJ Account Manager. Many of our publishers feel reporting is the most crucial success factor to their program. While you probably already track the basics: total hits, unique visitors and search engine placements, Commission Junction's sophisticated reporting will allow you to dig deeper into your program and make real-time decisions and changes. We are going to talk about reporting in great detail in the rest of this startup series, but to start, it is important to get familiar with the reporting process. Some publishers might feel overwhelmed or intimidated by numbers, graphs and charts, but with patience, reporting becomes a publisher's best friend. Learn more about how to use reporting via the Help documentation in your CJ Account Manager.

Commission Junction offers a wide variety of resources for you to help you at all stages of your program. We have a dedicated and client services team that answers emails and phone calls from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) Monday through Friday. The CJ Marketplace also has a robust support area where you can search for the information you need regarding site functionality and account questions. Publishers may also escalate issues via email to our client services team or directly to each advertiser. Here are some further details regarding specific help resources:

Help- Many publishers find the Help section the best resource for quick technical answers. Clicking the Help link in the top navigation of your CJ Account Manager opens the site help directly. Site use documentation is also accessible through the Search Help option on the Contact Us page. In the Help section, there is a Table of Contents, organized by the tabs you see in your CJ Account Manager, a Search link and Glossary.

Contact Us- The Contact Us link is your gateway to getting the help you need to most effectively use your CJ Account Manager and to run your program. In the Contact Us section, there is a Search Help for you to look up topics by title, an Ask a Question link where you can ask a Commission Junction client service team member a direct question and a link to our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Educational Resources - Commission Junction offers a variety of resources to help you including program strategy tips, updates and reminders.

To sign up for any of the email messages listed above, you will need to be opted-in. Simply go to the CJ Account Manager Mail Settings Tab and click on the opt-in boxes to get this valuable advice.

Ready to get started? Please read the next articles in this series to help launch your program. In the meantime, we recommend you take the following steps:

Good luck getting started and before you go, get inspired with these examples of publisher success below.

Success Story: David Delisle

David Delisle's company, WebBloom Designs, offers a complete range of web branding, print advertising, and Internet marketing services from affiliate management to web design. In addition to consulting on affiliate marketing techniques, David also runs his own affiliate sites. When launching his first affiliate site in 2002, David immediately began working with Commission Junction.

"I love the CJ Account Manager interface including its detailed reporting and this is why I still favor the Commission Junction network," says David. While he doesn't work full-time running his sites, he still commits time and resources to program management. "You need to constantly monitor your affiliate partnerships and quickly adapt to changes," David advises publishers. "There are very few untapped gold mines and you can no longer depend on luck and imitation."

What does David look for in an advertiser? It is not all about the payout. "Don't focus purely on the commission offered. It doesn't give you the complete picture." David suggests you look at landing pages, consider the brand, view the creative, and analyze the network earnings statistic to make sure that the advertiser is running a stable program. Last but not least, don't underestimate the program manager. "The people running the program are very important to your success." David looks for meaningful and personalized communication with advertisers – from an email response to proactive phone calls and regular newsletters.

His final advice for publishers? Perseverance. "Don't always look for short-term gains. There is more competition than when I started but, if you run a good program that provides value, you will do very well as an affiliate."

Success Story: Matt Henderson

Check out some of Matt's Web sites at:

http://www.trafficmatt.com
http://www.entertainmentrefuge.com
http://www.soulmatesource.com

Three years ago, Matt Henderson made his living by hanging wallpaper. Then a friend introduced him to affiliate marketing. Within a year he was able to quit hanging wallpaper and now makes his living completely through affiliate marketing. Matt likes the freedom performance marketing gives him while giving him a great salary. Starting slowly with just one site, Matt's program has grown to about 10 sites today.

His key to success? Repeat customers. Matt initially thought he would put up one site and then another to get commissions. But he quickly realized the benefits of building solid sites that are going to attract repeat customers. "Repeat customers are the best. By creating valuable Web sites with good promotions, you can establish trust with customers who will come back to you again and again," says Matt. Not only does Matt work to offer the best promotions, but also he attempts to offer great customer service to his users. "It is the trust factor again, they know they can come to me and I will make sure they get good service."

Matt also looks at his reports every day. "It is pretty important to look at what is available and see how you can update your site." Matt says he is "always testing" and looking for better promotions and working on ways to improve his content to find what his customers will want. Matt is also open for suggestions or comments from the advertisers themselves. In fact, he is on a first name basis with a couple of advertisers who will contact him a few times a month to talk about his program and get feedback. "Those are the best advertisers," said Matt. "They help me run the best program which eventually increases their sales."

In summary, Matt believes if you are running a good Web site with great customer support, you will be successful.

Getting Started for Publishers

Getting Started for Publishers

CJU :: Publishers :: Getting Started

Getting Started

Interactive Tutorials

Publisher Strategy

Beginner - Part I