All GTO Blog Posts

I was chatting with a prospect today and came to an interesting loggerhead.

The prospect had a very small shop - only 2 people making things happen, but was doing nicely and was positioned well due to an exclusive marketing relationship to sell a potentially hot product online. After our initial contact, he mentioned that he was already in process of launching with one of the big 2 affiliate networks. Great I said… what is your management effort going to look like? Can we be a part of it?

I sent him a run down of the services that we provide as well as a cost estimate that was on the low side of market average because he works in a vertical market that we have a soft spot for.

He responded that we were probably out of his budget, and that “the software was going to take care of this for him.” I’m not sure if this is naiveté, or if he had been sold a bill of goods.

Let me make this clear. In no circumstance is just launching an affiliate program in a major network (with no management) “enough” to make things happen for your online business. Affiliate programs need management and if you want real results that you can be proud of, will justify their expense, and will positively impact your brand, trained affiliate management is a must.

As an outsourced management firm, one of the most common scenarios that we see is the merchant who has launched a program with no cohesive management plan, failed, and is now looking for help “righting the ship” in many cases they have suffered brand damage from their links being displayed on sites that they would never work with due to auto approval, or they have been taken advantage of by spyware/adware affiliates who have even polluted their paid search efforts and INCREASED the cost of customer acquisition.

If you are looking to open a new sales and marketing channel, give yourself a chance to succeed. Work with experienced affiliate managers who know the game to make sure that you launch with a good strategy, and that that strategy is carried forward as the program grows. It will cost more money initially than just launching the program in a network, but it will pay off for you.

Happy selling!

Wade Tonkin

Joel, our in house graphic designer and programmer extrordinaire, has been hard at work for you and there are now more than 70 new banners available for you in a variety of sizes. That’s correct, 70! Log in at http://affiliates.cappex.com to select new creatives for your site today. A few samples are below, and more sizes are available in the affiliate interface. If you need a different size or a static image, please let us know and we can create that for you. Please contact us if you have any difficulties placing your links.

120x60: 120x60: 125x125: 125x125:

350x250:

I was just reading up on a really interesting panel discussion from Shop.org discussing whether it makes sense to launch affiliate initiatives across multiple affiliate and Cost Per Action network platforms. The panel featured many friends of GTO including Jonathan Miller, Carolyn Tang, Jamie Birch, Chris Sanderson and Jeff Molander (who moderated) discussing the pluses and minuses of the multi-network approach.

What is the GTO Management position on the issue?

We’re for leveraging all of the platforms that make sense for your brand. Being in multiple networks just to say that you are makes little or no sense, but launching your program in a variety of platforms that you know can add value to your bottom line makes a lot of sense. Think of it this way - what does each network party add to the “stew” of your affiliate program.

Maybe you like working with a major network like Commission Junction to get access to a huge affiliate base to grow your program initially, but you notice your competitors are all firing up programs in AvantLink. Why - maybe your vertical market has a concentration of affiliates there who really like their advanced feed marketing tools. In this case, a dual network program probably makes a lot of sense.

On the flip side, if you just decide to make your imprint on the industry wide by launching with every low cost network you can find, your results will probably reflect the quality of the partners you choose.

A couple of other considerations to ponder: Do you have bandwidth to manage additional platforms and do it well? What will you do in the event of duplicate transaction reporting? The more networks you operate in, the greater the chance that this may be an issue for you. What if a transaction triggers 4 pixels and you are on the hook for paying 4x your commission? Who gets credit for the order?

The best answer here I think is to really think carefully about the benefits of multi-network launches as well as the risks. If you are just getting started and are not sure what all this entails, you could also sign on with an experienced management company like GTO that can steer you in the right direction.

Happy Selling!

Wade Tonkin
GTO Management

GTO Management is pleased to announce that we have signed on to consult with and manage the affiliate effort for C28.com

C28 is a Christian retail store chain and online retailer, offering an alternative to the mainstream mall stores. The Christian clothing, music, jewelry and accessories reflect a clean and positive Christian lifestyle. The name of the company comes from Colossians 2:8 that encourages to be “Not Of This World” but all about Jesus Christ. C28’s flagship clothing line takes it’s name “NOTW” from this.

C28.com is a real leader in the Christian apparel market and we’re excited to have them on board.

We’ll be launching the affiliate program for C28 in about 10 days on the AvantLink affiliate network.

Stay tuned!

I was just emailing with one of our affiliates and he asked us about the fact that our offers were listed as expiring an the end of April. Is Cappex extending the period for giving away the proposals as well?

The answer is that our current Scholarship Contests are ending as of 4/30/2008 and Cappex will be announcing the winners. The next contest period runs through the end of November 2008 - and all offers have been extended to fuel that contest. There is no need to take down any links unless you are refreshing creative.

There are new offers coming as well with higher payouts, so keep your eyes peeled on Cappex.

Good Luck!

Wade