Generic keywords affiliate web site merchant web site

Pure Brand keywords affiliate web site merchant web site

Brand + Generic keywords affiliate web site merchant web site

Generic keywords merchant web site

Pure Brand keywords merchant web site

Brand + Generic merchant web site

Prevent competitor leakage

Encourage web site based generics or long tail keyword coverage

Improve coverage on Yahoo / MSN

Focus on new customers, retention, specific categories or products

Availability, design & development resource, turn around times

Don’t over estimate the opportunity to your affiliates

Do give your affiliates the chance to work on the juicy stuff

Track record and financials

Design, development and content resource

PPC optimisation technology

Availability and response times

Sector specific experience

Board friendly? Motivation / margin / expectation

Should all paid search affiliates be treated equally?

Be up front about expectations and set targets you can act on

Separate out generics and make sure they stay separated

Get the most out of affiliates in positions #1 and #2

Don’t forget about landing page leakage and conversion rates

Appreciate the Google Quality Score Challenge

Set intelligent CPA’s so you can relax about who gets the sale

Create a competitive environment e.g. Amazon

Gain maximum exposure in the search space – long tail keywords

Benchmark your affiliates against your agency

Consider negative keywords

Speak to your network if override is the deal breaker

Be aware of the conflicts of interest

Don’t let brand distort your comparison – Agencies love brand too

Give your search affiliates a chance on the juicy stuff

Don’t be afraid to pause agency activity

Remember they work for you!

Commission rates are meaningless – focus on your EPC

Use your generic Google CPA’s as a guide

Go granular on rates – Canon IXUS 860is not Electronics

Don’t lower rates when the going gets good

Make sure your affiliate manager really understands your business

Sign NDA’s and let the data flow

Advance notification = maximise opportunity

Communicate your USP’s

Share your industry knowledge Provide great data – XML feeds, CSV, product availability, extra info

Changes to commissions, brand policy, URL policy, negative keywords

New product releases, top 20 best sellers, awards, down time

Never use internal network messaging systems alone

Find out how your key affiliates like to be contacted

Set your expectations for affiliate availability

Affiliates hate out of office land

WOW factor works great for program wide incentive schemes e.g. Buyagift Bespoke incentives should be relevant to the affiliate & scale of activity

Large search affiliates would rather have tiers or cash bonuses than iPod’s

Consider opportunities over straight rewards:

- Brand bidding rights - Display URL rights - Use of branded URL e.g. Thomascookholidays.com - Campaign budgets

Create a competitive environment which encourages new affiliates

If you’d like to hear how eConversions can deliver you incremental sales through paid search, get in touch:

email: duncan@econversions.co.uk tel: 0207 566 9840