Tutorials for Publishers

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Publisher Strategy

Publisher 101

Introduction

Welcome to CJU's Publisher 101 tutorial. In this tutorial you will learn the basics of performance marketing for publishers within the CJ Marketplace.

We will cover the following important topics for creating a successful program:

First, what is affiliate marketing and who is using it?
Second, how does Commission Junction help Publishers like you perform?
And finally, how can you identify the right Advertisers? OK, let's begin.

Chapter 1

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 is 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 sell consumers. Commission Junction advertisers include companies like eBay and the Home Depot.

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 recap. Advertisers have goods or services to sell. Publishers have an audience or traffic that Advertisers need and the CJ Marketplace, which is an affiliate marketing network, allows 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.

Chapter 2

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

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 strategy 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 publishers include: 1) our bi-monthly CJ Wire newsletter and 2) targeted advice delivered via the CJ Account Manager "Advice Box". We also have a dedicated client services team to answer your emails and phone calls from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) Monday through Friday.

Chapter 3

Now it's time to learn how to identify the right advertisers.

In order to identify the right advertisers to compliment your Web site you will need to understand these concepts:

EPC- EPC means "Average Earnings Per 100 Clicks" and is a metric used to show advertiser program effectiveness, by tracking the ability to convert clicks into commissions. EPC helps you measure and identify advertisers that provide the most effective banners and text links with the highest payout. You can find EPC listings in the CJ Account Manager.
Network Earnings Ratings- Network earnings is Commission Junction rating of how an advertiser performs compared with other advertisers in the network, based on the total amount of commission they pay. This ranking is calculated relative to the entire network based on commissions paid to publishers during the previous month . A Network Earnings Rating is just one measurement that can help you decide if an Advertiser is right for your program.
Payout Type- Payout Type is the method of payment Advertisers use. There are two different types of payout structures that advertisers can choose from: Pay-per-lead or Pay-per-sale. We'll explain what those mean now:
A lead is defined as a payment for information. An example of a lead may look like this. John goes to Ameriquest and fills out a mortgage application. In this instance John has only shared information with Ameriquest. Since John has not made a purchase, this action is considered a lead.
A sale is defined as payment for a purchase. In this sample, John goes to BackCountry.com and purchases some snow skis. In this scenario John has actually purchased a product. Whether products or services, any purchase is considered a sale.
Individual payout structures may be more or less compatible with your promotional method. Identifying the correct payout model will help identify the right mix of advertisers for your business.
Now we move to Commission Type- 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 a flat rate.
For example an advertiser could choose to pay fifteen percent per sale or ten dollars per sale. You may find one commission structure more desirable than the other. Identifying the correct commission model will help identify the right advertisers for your program.
Another valuable resource is the advertiser's program description. The advertiser's program descriptions are located in the CJ Account Manager. Program descriptions contain advice on how to market an advertiser's products, any special terms and conditions you must follow if you are accepted into their program, search marketing information (such as keyword lists, rules about which keywords you can use etc.), and more resources to get you started. This will help you make a complete, informed decision about an advertiser before you jump in and promote them.

With the knowledge of EPC, Network Earnings Ratings, Payout type and Commission type, finding the right customer should be, well, a walk in the park.

What's Next?

Now that we have covered the basics for getting your publisher 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. Remember to refer to the Help Docs within the CJ Account Manager for more information.

Thank you for your time.