Tracking and Split Testing

The easiest way to manage an affiliate program is to use shopping cart softwarethat also has the affiliate module available, either as an add-on feature, or it is included in the basic package.

The system I use is 1ShoppingCart (you may have heard of it under a different name, such as KickStartCart). This is a well-known and respected shopping cart system that is used by the majority of Internet marketers I’ve come across. Apart from the affiliate module and cart features, it also allows you to set up ad trackers, auto-responders and ezines.

It allows you to create an affiliate program, have a web page where people can sign up, then the systems gives each affiliate his or her own link code for each product or service that you offer, and tracks visitors, sign ups, and purchases made that came from those links, for a period of time that you define.

In other words, if one of your affiliates sends you a visitor that signs up for your free ezine today, but makes a purchase a year from now, your affiliate partner will still get his/her commission.

Alternatively, if you’re technically inclined, you may choose a stand-alone script, orsoftware that you install on your own server to manage your affiliate program. I’ve never personally used any of these programs myself, so I can’t recommend any one in particular, but I do know that there’s one important advantage to having your own affiliate script installed, and it has to do with search engine optimization.

You see, if you’re using 1ShoppingCart, or a similar solution for managing your affiliate program, when your affiliates promote your products the links are always going to look like this: http://www.on2url.com/app/adtrack.asp?MerchantID=94277&AdID=333732

However, if you run your own script, however, you can set it up that those links actually point to your web site, such as this http://YourWebSite.com/affid?2847

Why is this important? Well, from the point of view of search engine optimization, it’s better for you to have pages around the web have a link back to your site. However, if the majority of your affiliate partners are going to be using email to promote your products then this won’t matter.

To find about these alternative software solutions, simply Google “affiliate program software”, or, if you’re part of an affiliate program that uses one of these scripts, and you like its features, log in to your account and look at the bottom of the page. That’s where you can usually find a link to the person or company that created it.

This is an off line method of building your list, but you will be driving traffic to your web site, where your prospects can sign up. You will achieve best results if you can find a newspaper or magazine whose readership is your target market. For example, if you were a matchmaker you could place a classified ad in the “Personals” section of your local newspaper.

Bonus tip: Start small (i.e. cheap) to polish your ad, then work up to display ads which are more expensive.

Make sure you track the effectiveness of each of these marketing techniques. I recommend you use ad-tracking software, which allows you to assign a unique “ID” to each article, listing, or classified ad. This way you will be able to track your subscribers, see where they are coming from, how many are converting to clients, etc. This kind of information can help you eliminate marketing strategies that do not work, so that you can concentrate on the ones that do.

If you’d like to add ad-tracking features to your existing Email System Provider, I recommend HyperTracker.

OK, when’s the last time you updated your business card? Take a look at it now, and see if there’s room for improvement. Here are some tips:

• use both sides of the card to deliver your message;
• have a clear, benefit-driven statement that addresses your prospects needs/wants;
• include a call to action, such as “Visit our web site to sign up for my e-newsletter and receive a free special report/white paper“;
• in the call to action, see if it’s possible to use a custom URL so that you can track your sign-ups;
• ask your printer about using AQ coating because it will protect the ink from smudging, but – unlike UV coating – will allow your prospects to write on your card with a regular pen, or even a pencil.

If you’re really cash-strapped you can get your cards for almost nothing on line at VistaPrint.com, but I’d recommend you invest in a nice custom designed card, which will project a more professional image.

If you attend a lot of networking events, where you may leave your cards unattended for anyone to pick up, I’d recommend not using your real email address, but list a Yahoo, or similar account on the cards, so that you can protect yourself from unsolicited email.

Copyright 2007 Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

Email is fine, easy and (almost) free, but nothing beats the deliverability of the good old post office! Send out custom postcards to stand out from the crowd. Again, use tracking to determine how your postcard campaigns are converting by setting up a special URL, e.g. www.yoursite.com/postcard. This way you can split test different card designs, headlines, call to action, etc. to see which one pulls better.

For large-scale mailings (5,000 or more cards) use a commercial printer and mail shop to deliver your cards. If your list of prospects is smaller, and you’d like to deliver personalized postcards, greeting cards you could use SendOutCards. It’s an online on-demand postcard printing and delivery system that works very much like sending personalized email, only it prints, personalizes and mails real postcards and greeting cards in any quantity. You can send a dozen custom postcards for about 10 bucks. I use this service myself and I love it.