Using Affiliate Marketing to Grow Your Business

As an entrepreneur or a marketer, the risk for you to use affiliate marketing is extremely low and the reward is high. You only need to pay affiliates when a customer converts, not when they drive people to your website.

In the webinar, KISSmetrics Founder Neil Patel and Dan McGaw discuss how to increase your revenue with affiliate marketing. Besides KISSmetrics, Neil also co-founded Crazy Egg and has spoken at over 100 marketing conferences. He has tons of experience with affiliate marketing, both from being an affiliate and driving the revenue of other companies, as well as through an affiliate program trying to recruit affiliates.

Among all of the companies Neil has created, he has had to deal with affiliates, whether that was running affiliate programs or driving affiliate traffic or potential revenue to other companies. For example, at KISSmetrics, Optimizely is often recommended.

Foundation of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can be thought of as outsourced marketing, in which you’re hiring affiliates who are paid to bring you customers. If they drive visitors to your website, you don’t have to pay them. You only pay them if they convert visitors into customers. While you are trying to generate traffic as a marketer, the main goal is to increase the number of customers. If you generate a million visitors a month, but the visitors don’t equate to more leads or revenue, it’s almost useless. This is why the affiliate marketing space is so popular, especially in the web hosting industry, where most of their business is from affiliates.

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How affiliate marketing works:

1. Affiliate is assigned a tracking URL:
   This is to track which affiliates are driving your traffic.
2. Affiliate markets your company:
   Affiliates can promote your company through several different ways: paid traffic (like AdWords), a YouTube video of the product and link to it with the affiliate ID, email blast, blog post, reviewing products, etc. The possibilities are endless. When you sign up affiliates, you should also limit how they can promote it.
3. Customers or leads are acquired:
   This is when the visitor purchases the product or signs up.
4. Affiliate receives a commission:
   When the affiliate drives you a customer or lead, you pay them out.

Something to know is that affiliate marketing and referral programs are different. Referral programs are great for people who are already customers. For example, if KISSmetrics had a referral program, and a current customer tells his or her friend about KISSmetrics, the customer can receive some sort of reward through the referral program. With affiliates, they don’t even need to be customers. Anyone can be an affiliate. You can recruit them in any fashion: affiliate.com,LinkShare, blog posts, etc.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing
There are a number of advantages to use affiliate marketing, especially for startups:

• Pay only for results.
• Can be more cost effective:
  Neil says he hasn’t seen any other marketing form more effective than this.
• Affiliates may be better at creating copy and reaching segments:
  Why would someone sign up to be an affiliate and spend time and money if they think they won’t be able to drive you customers?
• You know your cost per acquisition:
  This will help you determine if you’re actually losing or making money.
• You almost never lose money:
  Sometimes affiliates are a bit shady and unethical, and you’d want to drive them out as soon as possible.

Drawbacks of Affiliate Marketing
There are also drawbacks:

• You don’t control the message:
  You want to be careful of this, because you don’t want them to lie or poorly represent your brand. They’re just looking to make money, so they aren’t seeing if they are driving good or bad leads.
• Lead quality may not be as good:
  Chances are, the quality of the people are going to be as good as the ones going directly to your website.
• If mismanaged your traffic may come from an unreputable source. This could make your brand look bad.

See How Affiliate Marketing Works...

Source:
Kissmetrics
Youtube : Marcus Explains.

Thank You.

Productive Impact of Social Media for Local Business

Focus on desired outcomes first.

 Valid social media objectives for a business should include one or more of the following: increased brand awareness, lead generation, service and support, or reputation management. Obviously, the platforms and how you use social media would be different for lead generation versus service and support.

Incorporate brand personality and voice.

 Popular BPOP +2.66% culture these days expects a more humanized brand voice, and constituents are listening carefully to the tone, vision, and expertise of that voice. Think about how you can project the voice you want, and make sure it is consistently used by all team members across all platforms used

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Identify the smallest segments possible of your constituents.

Due to the information overload felt by consumers today, marketing at the generic segment level no longer works. Social media is the only one which allows you to be hyper-granular and drill down to micro-segments, to dramatically improve engagement levels and conversion ratios

Identify the communities for these micro-segments.

Traditionally, community implied a physical grouping, but today a community is characterized by what they value, more than proximity. More important than finding a community, is creating one, with your blog and other social media engagement. The best communities then become your advocate.

Identify the influencers of these communities.

Social media brings all the aspects of important influencers these days, including peer pressure, authority, credibility, and in some cases, celebrities. Because feedback from social media operates in real time, you don’t have to wait months for results. You spend the months influencing the influencers.

Create an action plan with metrics.

 Good action plans include a listening plan, channel plan, SEO plan, and a content creation plan, with activities and metrics. Social media activities span the gamut from curation to gifting, building relationships and groups, blogging, service actions, to lead conversion. Pick the ones that fit your desired outcome.

Iteratively execute and measure results.

Measuring is all about return-on-investment (ROI). This can be customer acquisition cost, revenue growth, profit, or whatever other parameters are key to your success. Iterate and expect to pivot, based on results, because you can’t get it all right the first time. This is not trial and error.

In fact, marketing in the social media is fundamentally different from conventional marketing. The depth in which connections can be made with the “audience” or “customers” is far greater than it possibly can be with any other medium. The very nature of influence at this level mans that values and vision must be in tune.

55 WAYS TO IMPRROVE YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS

                   Here's a comprehensive list of practical customer-winning ideas, tips and techniques to set your business apart and make it a successful experience.
 CUSTOMER ANALYSIS: 1.) Find out who your customers are and what they are seeking. 2.) Profile your customers by age, income, occupation, etc. 3.) Know the reasons why customers shop at your store? (service, convenience, dependability, quality, promptness, or competence). 4.) Understand the market forces affecting the consumer's attitude when it comes to price and what they expect to pay. 5.) Emphasize areas of appeal such as: special sizes, lower prices, better service, wider selection, good location, or convenient hours. 6.) Offer unique products at prices your customers can well afford. 7.) Have a tracking system for how many customers shop your store every day. 8.) Seek suggestions from your best customers on ways you can boost business. 9.) Try to re-establish lost or inactive customers. 10.) Use a store questionnaire to aid you in determining customers' needs. 11.) Plan on making any changes to satisfy the new value-conscious consumer.  CUSTOMER RELATIONS: 12.) Improve your return policies. 13.) Make it a policy to give cash refunds when requested by the customer. 14.) Offer customers a "no hassle" satisfaction guarantee. 15.) Use a suggestion box and customer want slips. 16. Extend your store hours. 17.) Accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. 18.) Analyze complaints and take action to prevent recurrence. 19.) Train employees to service and work with customers in a professional manner. 20.) Call customers to let them know when new items have arrived. 21.) Have lots of convenient parking for customers to use. 22.) Have a clean bathroom available for customers to use. 23.) Grade your store's location every year in regards to and accessibility. 24.) Create a system to let customers know how much you appreciate their business.
MANAGEMENT SKILLS: 25.) Use advertising techniques to create urgency and motivate customers to buy now. 26.) Test different aspects for promoting business: -- new offers --new items -- new prices -- special announcements -- stronger ads and better headlines. 27.) Know what type of advertising methods work the best to attract customers (direct mail, newspaper, television, radio). 28.) Use memorable advertising that sets your business apart from the competition. 29.) Create new opportunities for customers to purchase more frequently from your store. 30.) Implement proven business formulas of other successful retail firms. 31.) Replace outdated methods with new techniques and better resources for retailing in today's high-tech, fast-moving, and competitive marketplace. 32.) Set up an inventory control system in regards to shrinkage, performance, amount of merchandise, mark-up, profit and turnover. 33.) Determine whether to price certain items below, at, or above the market. 34.) Utilize a system for tracking slow-moving merchandise and those products that are your best-sellers. 35.) Use different ways to arrange and display merchandise that will make it easier for customers to buy. 36.) Know your average sales transaction and what you can do to increase it. 37.) Increase your sales transactions by offering better prices, more value, sales incentives, or add-ons. 38. Know which products are price-sensitive to your customers, that is, when a slight increase in price will lead to a drop-off in demand. 39.) Know the maximum price customers are willing to pay for certain items. 40.) Computerize your business to help streamline everyday tasks such as inventory control, point of sale, and overall business analysis. 41.) Evaluate the amount of inventory you carry, and fine tune your operating expense ratios on a regular basis. 42.) Buy distinctive merchandise that fits into a niche your competitors don't have.  INSIGHTS FOR A SKILLED MARKETER: 43.) Attend trade shows that provide the latest technology, inventory systems, educational seminars, and other industry related resources. 44.) Use newsletters as a "marketing tool" to remind customers of the products or services you provide. 45.) Create a budget for both regular and off-price merchandise, and do you know what role they should play in your buying strategy. 46.) Establish dependable resources where you can buy current, name brand and designer merchandise below wholesale prices. 47.) Make it an effort to buy promotional and off-price merchandise to improve your profit margin. 48.) Buy private-label merchandise to avoid the same line prices of your direct competition. 49.) Join other stores like yours in area-wide buying programs to receive better prices or trade discounts. 50.) Do cross-marketing by joining forces with restaurants, clubs, or whatever to jointly develop special promotions. 51.) Belong to trade associations and subscribe to newsletters and trade publications to keep you informed. 52.) Involve employees in making suggestions for improving business and cutting costs. 53.) Implement a program to reward your employees for their extra efforts and innovative ideas. 54.) Empower employees to make important decisions, even if it means losing a small amount of money to make your customers happy. 55.) Don't let emotions get in the way of making sound business decisions.

Setting Up an eCommerce Store in 14 simple steps with Abante Cart

                                            
                                          AbanteCart is a free open source ecommerce platform to power online retail. AbanteCart is a ready to run web application as well as reliable foundation to build custom eCommerce solutions.
AbanteCart ecommerce platform is designed to fit a wide variety of online businesses, as well as can be configured or customized to perform very specific business requirements. Chosen by many shop owners launching their business online for the first time, AbanteCart is also picked by developers looking for a user-friendly interface and powerful features set.

Setting Up Online Store

Step 1: Search for Abante Cart on search Engine

Step 2: Download Abante Cart

Step 3: Unzip the downloaded file

Sep 4: Upload the downloaded file to your Server
Step 5: Access the index.php file by giving path to file from your browser
               For Example : I am installing Abante Cart on localhost
               http://localhost/abante/public_html/index.php
               You will be now taken to Abante Cart License & Ploicy page

Step 6: Accept the terms and conditions and continue to next step.Step 7:This is a connection details about the server and database just click continue.

Step 8:Enter Your Database Connection details.

               Example : Hostname : localhost (Enter Your host name)

               Database Password : (left empty)

               Database Name : Abante (You need to create one by logging in to mySql fire a query : create database abante;)

              Set admin username and password according to your choice.

               Continue to next step.

Step 9: Wait until abante completes database configuration and other jobs.

Step 10: Your Store is Ready

Setup Admin Panel

Step 11: Login to admin panel use the username and password you entered during installation

Step 12: Enter Store Details in quick setup wizard

Step 13: Select Extensions like paypal for your store

Step 14: Done !


See This Video Tutorial about how to use Abante Cart to setup your ecommerce store

Thank You!

Retail Marketing ideas to boost sales

                              

                                    Savvy retailers know that maximizing profits means smart marketing; however, it can be challenging to devote as much time to marketing as you need in order to market more efficiently. To support that effort, we assembled ten retail marketing ideas to help bring increased sales and more loyal customers.

1. Track every marketing campaignDo you know what your return on investment (ROI) was for the last marketing campaign you launched? If so, was the campaign a success? Did you set specific and measurable goals? It’s important to set campaign goals and then develop mechanisms to track those goals for every marketing campaign you launch, online or off. What are you trying to accomplish with your campaign? Is it more visits to your website, revenue driven by purchases, online post purchase reviews?
Whatever your goal, do a post campaign check-in to measure performance so you can use that information to shape your next campaign. A big piece of strategy is knowing what not to do and if something doesn’t work, you may choose to not do it again, or make some tweaks and retry it another time.
2. Free marketing opportunities
Do you work the social media sites your customers frequent? Do you place posters and flyers on community bulletin boards, or banners at busy intersections? Have you contacted other local companies who share your target customer base but don’t directly compete with you to develop unique package plans in which all of you market and sell for each other? For example, your retail shop could partner with a restaurant and spa to offer a Mother’s Day package: a gift from your shop, a trip to the spa, and dinner for two.

3. Repetition

Many retailers send a single direct-mail postcard and are disappointed by the results, never to market with postcards (or other direct-mail tools) again. That’s a mistake, because repetition sells. You’ve probably heard of the rule of seven – a customer has to see an offer seven times to buy. This doesn’t mean you need to send seven different postcards, but two or three won’t hurt, especially when used in conjunction with banners, flyers, ads, and digital marketing.
4. Follow-up
Do you follow up with your customers after they’ve made purchases? Rewarding customers for their loyalty is a great way to build relationships and earn more sales. Send new customers a special gift, such as a ten percent off coupon (which you can track), to encourage them to visit again. Use these four ways to keep customers coming back again and again.

5. Become a resource
Never miss the opportunity to greet your customers and engage them with an open-ended question about how you can help them. You might ask who they’re shopping for and what that person likes so you can make personalized suggestions. Help customers find the perfect gift (for others or themselves), and become a reliable resource for the future. Providing valuable content in the form of help, advice, tips and how-tos can also help your business stay top of mind with customers.

Thank You.

Use of IT in small Business

                                In this world with growing technology, Application of  Information Technology in small Business is growing exponentially these days. In this blog we would be discussing about the application of Information technology in small scale business with open source applications available in market like shopping carts, ERP's, CRM's etc.

                                Information technology is an essential partner in management of your business, regardless of the kind of enterprise you operate. Whether you need computers for storage, transfer, retrieval or transmission of information, you can manage your business with greater accuracy and efficiency with the assistance of information technology and computer applications.

Storage

You may already use a computer for data storage for your business. Inventory, sales, receivables and payables stored in Excel, Open Office or a similar program keeps these figures at your fingertips. Accounting software stores your payroll information, tax records and specialized data for your business. Once you’re acquainted with a program, you won’t know how you functioned without it. You can eliminate much of the physical storage at the office by using information technology to scan and store old personnel and payroll files, tax files or client files. You may need less square footage with information technology.

Marketing

Large and small businesses are on a level playing field on the Internet. You can have a Web presence, take orders, buy merchandise, sell excess or even operate some businesses entirely online. A marketing tool that uses information technology is the Quick Response or QR Code that looks like a bar code but is square. A scan advertises your website address and includes any text you choose. You can use your business management skills to direct employees or contractors to do your Internet marketing, or you can choose to learn a new set of skills in information technology.

Information

Whether you learned business management by the book or by practical experience, you’ll need updates all of your life. The Internet is a wealth of information to keep you current with trends, techniques, software and human resources. You can draw on online databases and websites to locate potential employees, compare insurance proposals, tackle employee issues or check out the competition. Managing your business with information gleaned from the Internet keeps you knowledgeable and on the cutting edge.

Communication

Communication by email is faster and costs less than sending a paper letter in the mail. You can transform your business to the 21st century with the use of email for communication with clients or customers. Information technology allows you to organize email file folders by client or by type of communication, such as orders or billing. You can drag and drop your email files to closed folders as your company completes projects. Your communication files become closed files, placed in storage on CD or on a hard drive with a duplicate copy or backup automated by a program or service.