9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Affiliate or SOLO conversion tracking. Need advice/input

by CLSVentures
8 replies
Through my normal operations, I am operating in one industry where I deal with clients who have compiled email subscriber lists ranging from 200 to 2,000. I realize viewed individually, that's small. However, compiled together I can have access to possibly 100,000 or more in total. And these are not casual opt-ins for a report, etc but hard-core enthusiasts that have bought before and will buy repeatedly if the right offer is presented.
Naturally, it's a great fit if we can get periodic affiliate links dropped in front of them.
As my strength is JV brokering and not affiliate programs, here is where I need some input from guys that are a lot smarter than me:
I would like to present a done-for-you system where they can drop affiliate links into their emails and channel through me, where I would hold a small cut.

Is there a way, behind the scenes, to funnel those clicks through my gateway somehow where the traffic flows into the vendor as trackable for my cut?
To make it simpler: I could set myself up as a the "master affiliate" account and all the revenues come to me, but then I'd have to run the payables and generate reporting and funds to each individual list owner from each vendor. Seems way to labor intensive for me, but again I'm not experienced in that.

Just wondered if there was a way to set that up where it was a seamless transition from the individual customer's click to the vendor's site to purchase....but in the process the tracking was in place to siphon off a percentage for me and the remainder to the list owner?
Anyone offer any input?
#advice or input #affiliate #conversion #solo #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author Vendzilla
    Set yourself up as a merchant with an affiliate network, I have one if you are interested.
    You can set yourself up as a merchant, then list your affiliates giving them unique tracking codes and have control over the whole thing. Or you can get a copy of something like Post Affiliate Pro and do it yourself
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893377].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
      Sorry if this question is stupid:
      So if I set myself up as a merchant with, say CJ. I can then, in my account, set up sub-affiliates that are tracked?
      Would we then receive ALL of the affiliate commission and have to split that out to each list owner and run payables?

      Or does Affiliate Pro run all of that for you? I checked it out and it looks like it's more for the vendor who has the ecom website that they "land on" to purchase. Really wanted the end user to click the affiliate offer and land seamlessly onto the vendors site with no awareness they'd flowed through me.

      Again, apologize if I'm not fully getting it. The tech behind affiliate tracking is new to me.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893410].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Vendzilla
        Originally Posted by CLSVentures View Post

        Sorry if this question is stupid:
        So if I set myself up as a merchant with, say CJ. I can then, in my account, set up sub-affiliates that are tracked?
        Would we then receive ALL of the affiliate commission and have to split that out to each list owner and run payables?

        Or does Affiliate Pro run all of that for you? I checked it out and it looks like it's more for the vendor who has the ecom website that they "land on" to purchase. Really wanted the end user to click the affiliate offer and land seamlessly onto the vendors site with no awareness they'd flowed through me.

        Again, apologize if I'm not fully getting it. The tech behind affiliate tracking is new to me.
        If you run thru someone else's system, you pay them a commission for using their software and affiliates. If you get PAP for yourself, or other ones. I like PAP, I have PAN right now which allows me to bring in other merchants.
        Most networks charge about 30% of what you pay out to your affiliates.
        If you get your own copy, you run everything. The software places a pixel that fires everytime a sale is made on the thank you page of whatever you are selling.
        PAP and PAN both allow for affiliates to run sub affiliates, it even generates a separate join page for you to put on your website to recruit sub affiliates.
        Signature
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893459].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
          I don't have a website and don't intend to for this, so that is what confuses me. I don't need to hand off 30% of what is already a small % of sales that come from CJ, etc. By the time I take even a small cut there will be small potatoes left for the list owner.

          And if I'm understanding what you're saying, the buyer would have to click the aff link, land on my aff page, and click my aff link to land on the vendor's site to buy?

          I've never worked with CJ. Can they set me up as the master affiliate account with a certain percentage cut of every sale and then the sub-affiliates get a certain %? Where they pay each of us individually and handle the tracking/monitoring?
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893511].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
          Originally Posted by Vendzilla View Post

          If you run thru someone else's system, you pay them a commission for using their software and affiliates. If you get PAP for yourself, or other ones. I like PAP, I have PAN right now which allows me to bring in other merchants.
          Most networks charge about 30% of what you pay out to your affiliates.
          If you get your own copy, you run everything. The software places a pixel that fires everytime a sale is made on the thank you page of whatever you are selling.
          PAP and PAN both allow for affiliates to run sub affiliates, it even generates a separate join page for you to put on your website to recruit sub affiliates.
          It looks like PAN might work best, if I'm understanding the difference between PAN/PAP clearly. I don't see any 30% charge mentioned on their site, though. Looks like it's only a monthly charge depending on the scale of the operation. Starting at $79/mo
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893831].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Vendzilla
            Originally Posted by CLSVentures View Post

            It looks like PAN might work best, if I'm understanding the difference between PAN/PAP clearly. I don't see any 30% charge mentioned on their site, though. Looks like it's only a monthly charge depending on the scale of the operation. Starting at $79/mo
            No PAP is fine for you, the 30% is what someone that already has the software and affiliates will charge you.
            Signature
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9894627].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
              Ok, I have a better understanding of what you mean with the 30%.

              I guess the part I'm unclear on, and can't find a lot of info on:
              I need to be basically on the sidelines and invisible to the process from the view of the consumer.

              I guess, using a fictional analogy:

              Assume a friend with SmallBusinessXYZ. He has an email list of 2000 females age 25-35 and love cooking. I know someone at CompanyABC that sells products that convert very well with my other friends demographic. I want to hand my friend at SmallBusinessXYZ a done-for-you affiliate program with the links/banners etc (since he's not tech savvy). He installs them on his email newsletter and sends them out. All of his women get the email, click on the link and land directly on the sales/product pages of CompanyABC and buy. I am paid the full commission on the sale as the "master affiliate" for lack of a better term. Then I can run periodic reporting and pay my friend at SmallBusinessXYZ his share. And again, it's important that the client doesn't have to "land" on my website or anything in that transition from their clicking the affiliate link in an email to landing on the sales page of the company selling product.

              In essence, I'd be the "broker" in the middle taking a cut and passing the rest down the line to the company with the list. One account (mine) with the big company. And I could have many small list owners pushing the links/banners and the software handles the reporting and everything else.

              Does that make more sense? Because even when I talk to a couple sales reps from the software companies they still don't even listen to what I'm saying. They just immediately assume I want the standard aff model. I recruit affiliate, they affiliate pushes my stuff to their crowd, the folks buy from me and I pay the affiliate. But that ain't what I'm after.

              And I've tried like he!! to get through to a live person at a couple like iDev and a couple others and it's impossible. Nor will they return calls.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9902749].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Vendzilla
    I have never worked with CJ, so I can't comment on them
    When a buyer clicks on a link, it goes directly to the sales page. Then it's counted , if a sale is made, the thank you page sends that information to the tracking software
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9893550].message }}

Trending Topics