Most online retailers rely on three different sources of traffic: paid traffic (Adwords, FB ads), free traffic (google.com, najdi.si, social sites), and a mailing list (electronic newsletters). However, they often forget about another good source of traffic, namely the affiliate program.
The affiliate program allows external collaborators to work with you by sending you visits and being rewarded for it. In practice, this most often looks like partners placing your banners or links on their websites, thus directing visitors to your store. In return, they receive a percentage of each sale made by their visitors.
The only thing you need is a purchase tracking program, which most larger systems already have built-in or have the option to purchase a module. This script will allow partners to sign up for your affiliate program, create a unique affiliate link that tracks all sales made by customers through affiliate links.
The advantage of the affiliate program is that the entire process is practically automated and requires almost none of your time. The biggest time requirement is paying partners once a month. The greatest advantage of the affiliate program is that there is no fixed cost, as partners are only paid for each completed sale and nothing else. This means you only have a cost if you earn something.
Finding partners is generally not difficult. Often, they include larger marketing companies, larger and smaller online publishing companies, portal owners, and even bloggers. They can showcase your product to their audience without advertising costs.
Examples of websites using the Life.si store affiliate program for monetization are: postnestevilke.com, kulkuharca.si, smoothierecepti.com, vitalnost.si, poisciakcijo.si, izkoristi.me, and many more.
Example of affiliate transactions of a store with an established affiliate program:
Advantages of the affiliate system for sales (affiliate program)
- Online retailers get advertising space that they will pay only for results (pay per sale - payment for order, pay per click - payment for click, pay per lead - payment for contact).
- Advertisers (affiliates), on the other hand, will only need advertising space to promote items and will not need to worry about the entire sales process but will be able to advertise freely and just monitor their sales and earnings.
- Online retailers can promote their product to a wide audience and thus gain brand reputation and greater recognition.
