Affiliate Networking Basics for the newbies

I should have written this before I got to write my first two affiliate networking articles, so let’s talk about the basics of affiliate networking and hopefully somebody will learn a thing or two from this post.

What is Affiliate Marketing? (according to Commission Junction)

Affiliate marketing is an online advertising channel in which advertisers (online merchants that sell products or services) pay publishers (independent parties that promote the products or services of an advertiser on their Web site) only for results, such as a visitor making a purchase or filling out a form, rather than paying simply to reach a particular audience. This “pay-for-performance” model is in essence the modern version of the “finders’-fee” model, where individuals who introduce new clients to a business are compensated. The difference in the case of affiliate marketing is that advertisers only pay their publishers when the new client introduction results in a sale or a lead, making it a low-risk, high-reward environment for both parties.

The Major Players

Advertiser/Merchant – vendors who submit their campaigns or offers to the affiliate network for placement by the publishers

Affiliate Network – middle man. This is the network which houses all the campaigns with advertisers and publishers alike. They will provide the loads of campaigns to the publishers and the tracking and reporting tools for the advertisers. They usually get a cut in the process, of course. One of the most successful would be Commission Junction!

Publishers/Affiliate – could be any type of website or the owner of the website who places the ads from an advertiser (available thru the affiliate network) and receives a commission for every click or lead generated

How it Works, Tracking and All

Some of you might be wondering how the affiliate networks track leads or sales? This is usually done throught cookie tracking. Through this method, when a visitor to a publisher’s website clicks on an offer/ad, there is a tracking mechanism (a tracking code in the ad link) which places a cookie in the visitor’s computer. Clicking a pay-per-lead ad will usually bring the user to a registration form. If the user decides to sign up and completes the registration process of the offer, he/she will reach the confirmation or thank you page. The thank you page contains the tracking pixel (invisible code) which will match the information saved in the cookie (publisher id, offer id, etc). When a match is made, the click is converted to a lead.

Campaign/Offer/Ad/Publisher/Affiliate link – This usually comes as codes (html or javascript) that publishers/affiliates place on their websites in the hope that some visitors will click on the ad and convert to a lead.

Tracking Pixel – this is usually an invisible 1×1 img pixel placed on the confirmation page of the of the offer registration

A Few Abbreviations

PPC – pay per click

PPL – pay per lead

CPA – cost per acquisition (example is www.cpadna.com)

Where can I buy a Clearasil soap in Manila?

This is pretty silly but I’m frustrated by not finding a single Clearasil soap or even the facial wash after going through countless SM malls, Mercury drug stores, and Watson shops in Ortigas, Makati, and wherever I go to shop. The last time I got a hold of that Clearasil soap was like 5 months ago and I really love that product what the heck! Now, I think I’m going to resort to googling it up and maybe buy online just to get a hold of one, sighs* The closes I was able to find was Clearasil’s facial cleanser which isn’t exactly what I want. If anybody knows which store I could go to… to buy loads of Clearasil soap, please do tell. =)

Alstrasoft Affiliate Network Pro Software

Alstrasoft Affiliate Network Pro is a good pick to start out your affiliate networking site!

Griffin and Phoenix – A movie of love and life

Talk about heart-warming movies. I saw this old (not very  old) movie called Griffin and Phoenix. Griffin is played by Robert Mulroney. He’s a cutie in my opinion, yeah with the gray hair and all… still cute. It has all the ingredient of a great love story in it: romance, drama, comedy, good acting. The story kicks off when this two met, quite an extraordinary meeting and soon they got more than mere acquaintances. The movie  will take anyone into a roller coaster ride of emotion… just when you think you are going to shed tears, a remark from either of the actors will leave you smiling or laughing. Griffin was diagnosed with a terminal  illness, that was clear at the start. At first, I thought I was going to hate the movie because obviously if the leading man dies, it has a sad ending and I just hate sad endings. How many times have I watched a movie and left me drained? I loved those movies and hated them at the same time. Anyhow back to Griffin and Phoenix… I just love how the story was able to make the sad ending of the movie to be not so sad at all and yet the story remained. It left me thinking though… how fragile and sweet life is and how binding love is.

The movie is not at all perfect. One will see all the loopholes in there but it sent the message throug quite clearly. I give it a 10 out of 10 – a must see!

A Good for a Laugh Text Message

One day, my very young cousin sent me a text message. It’s quite a long one. It’s a forwarded message by the way and I guess some people have this on their mobile phones but. It’s quite funny (hilarious to me actually) but it made perfect sense. How often it is that we mere mortals take little things for granted? Read it… and read beyond the lines. It’s okay to laugh…

Pag walang ballpen, walang notes. (no ballpen, no notes)

Pag walang notes, walang pagaaral. (no notes, no studies)

Pag walang pagaaral, walang diploma. (no studies, no diploma)

Pag walang diploma, walang trabaho. (no diploma, no work)

Pag walang trabaho, walang pera. (no work, no money)

Pag walang pera, walang pagkain. (no money, no food)

Pag walang pagkain, magugutom. (no food, you’ll starve)

Pag nagutom, papayat. (when you’re hungry, you’ll grow thin)

Pag walang pumayat, walang ppanget. (when you get thin, you become ugly)

Pag walang pumanget, walang syota. (when you’re ugly, you’ll lose your boyfriend)

Pag walang syota, asawa. (no boyfriend, no husband)

Pag walang asawa, walang anak. (no husband, no child)

Pag walang anak, madedepress. (no child, you’ll get depressed)

Pag nadepress, magkakasakit. (when you’re depressed, you’ll get sick)

Pag nagkasakit, mamatay ka. (if you get sick, you’ll die)

Pag namatay ka, wala ka na…. kaya ingatan mo ballpen mo.

(when you die, you are no more… so take care of your ballpen!)

It’s not at all true. The if-and-then’s are ridiculous but funny eh… how one thing  leads to another?

Imagine a Life Without Internet

A thought just popped out of my head. What if there’s no Internet? That’s unthinkable right? No Google, no downloads, no online shopping, no Youtube, no instant messengers, etc etc. Come to think of it and to anyone who’s reading this blog. How many hours do you spend with your computers and the Internet? Some of us even make our living through the Internet. I’d say a life without the Internet is horrible! I would not be able to write this blog if Mr. Internet does not exist. What do you think? What if there is no Internet?

Affiliate Networking Site in the Philippines

I came over this blog about an affiliate networking site in the Philippines – www.AsiaCenturyph.com. I am a web development professional and luckily, one of my biggest projects way back is an affiliate networking site. Yeah, I built one and that was how I got introduced to the world of affiliate networking. Unlike many players though, I learned the ins and outs of it from the technical point of view first and inevitably, I got to learn the business side of it. To tell you the truth, I am amazed by the dynamics of it – affiliate networking, the whole affair.

Way back, I doubted that an affiliate networking site would be successful to run here in the Philippines. I thought there weren’t as many online ad agencies, merchants/advertisers, publishers here as there is in the US or UK. The most profitable and which give big payouts are CPL’s or cost per lead/sale transactions and in fact, there aren’t that many online buyers in the Philippines. I think it has got to do with the hesitant Filipino to buy something online. Still publishers can still earn from Cost per click campaigns but not so much from CPL campaigns. I am intrigued by how this new local affiliate network will perform. I’ll keep an eye out.

New Timex Watch – the time people share

I got a new watch today. It’s a Timex watch. Just in time for me to write my first blog in here! It’s a simple yet lovely writstwatch. Well at least for me it is. I got it for less than 10%. A great deal I guess. I’m someone who loves shopping and when you stumble upon something worth your money, you can sigh happily about it. Funny though, looking at my watch… I’m kind of looking back how I spent my day, my TIME today. Let me just share to you something worth mentioning as a part of my life as a shopper (not an addict but a frequent shopper I guess).

Right after dining in a fastfood (Chowking is not exactly a fastfood — kind of slow service). The whole mall just sort of shut off, power down! It was sort of surprising to me and (I’m 100% certain) to everyone inside the busy mall. It’s funny in how in a split of a second, people who are all busy running around minding their own business or perhaps minding someone else’s business lol could kind of stop and share a common reaction. Everybody just sort of stopped and as the clock ticked by, everybody was hoping for the lights to come back and finally it did after 10 or 15 minutes maybe.

Second story… We went ahead to look for my “watch”. I was specifically looking for a TIMEX watch. Ads really have an effect on me. I used to think when I was younger why companies are spending millions for ads. Anyway, this perfume guy approached me (I thought he was just going to spray the perfume on my wrist – you know how these salespeople are) but geez he spent maybe 30 to 45 minutes pitching to me – Banana Republic (Jade – I liked this though!), Moschino etc. At first, I was being polite and listened to him though I wasn’t really thinking of buying a bottle of scent. After 20 minutes, he was really getting into my nerves! I was politely trying to cut his pitch but he just wouldn’t let me go so at the end I had to be really blunt to him and said I have to rush because I have to buy something else. He was becoming a nuisance really. I know some of you would agree with me. Happened to you before eh? I know you guys have quota or something but hey you need to think like a customer too. We don’t have all the time in the world you know =)

Third chapter… I found the TIMEX store finally and what a relief the saleslady was so nice! Accommodating yet wasn’t pushy. I wish I could have asked her name so I could write it here Anyway to whoever you are, great service! We were able to chat lightly while I was picking my TIMEX watch lol and suddenly my mum noticed this really grown-up boy, Joshua, a celebrity’s son. He’s so tall and kind of leaning on the big side but what struck me was “He really looked so nice”. He was charming and I saw how he adores his little brother James. Of course they caught the attention of a lot of shoppers there. There again huh… people focusing on something, sharing something together for a short span of time until the boy and his company (aupairs, bodyguards, and his lil bro) left.

These coincidences aren’t magical nor amazing but they’re kind of important to a certain degree. I wanna write about them because I could easily forget this day in the future. I can even call this “The Story of TIMEX watch”. It’s a new watch but I’m already loving it. Today I didn’t just buy a watch, my watch came with stories with it.

I remember someone telling me some time ago.

“It’s your watch…”

www.timex.com

watchcollectorsclub.com