Affiliate Revenue Information |
|
Selling Merchandise On Your Website
If you take away poker, dating, and naked ladies, custom merchandising is the big success story of the Internet. The ultimate combination of e-commerce and affiliate marketing, millions of websites around the world turn to online merchandising companies - both to market their URL and to extract some cash from loyal visitors. The key to the success of the industry is on-demand printing, meaning website owners don't usually incur setup costs and do not have to carry inventory. The business model usually works like this. The webmaster signs up for free ? or for a small monthly fee ? at the merchandising company site. Having uploaded his/her own designs ? often logos, catchphrases or drawings, the webmaster can then place these designs on the range of products offered by the merchandiser. Usually, the merchandise company places a base price on each product, to which the webmaster adds his/her own commission or markup. In some cases, the webmaster can then create a shop which can be integrated into their own site. The merchandising company normally handles credit-card processing, printing, shipping, and customer service while the webmaster incurs the slightly less arduous task of collecting and banking the commissions. Beginning to see why its so popular? Let's have a look at some of the industry's big players: Cafepress The daddy of the bunch. Founded in 1999 in California, Cafepress was one of the first companies to exploit the massive custom merchandise market. It now sells products on behalf of over 2 million website owners, mainly in the USA. For all its longevity and wide reach, Cafepress has yet to solve many of the original problems that still bother its users. Despite the clamour from customers, the company has yet to find a way to offer black, or even dark, garments ? still relying on the old white and grey staples and a rather odd collection of pastels. Nor has the company embraced internationalisation, and website owners outside of the USA still baulk at hefty shipping charges and US Dollar pricing. The free Cafepress service offers limited functionality to users, with only one version of each product allowed. For a monthly fee, Cafepress allows unlimited selling. However, excessive branding makes it rather difficult to integrate the Cafeshop into the look and feel of an existing site. Zazzle Another California-based company that launched a similar service to Cafepress in 2003 and has a substantial share of the US market. Again pricing is only available in US Dollars. And while Zazzle's range of garment colours is stronger than Cafepress, printing on black or dark shirts is still not supported. Zazzle does not charge a monthly fee but webmasters will find it rather more difficult to integrate their shop into the look and feel of their own site. Spreadshirt This one looks interesting. Spreadshirt was founded in Germany in 2002 and boasts over 60,000 partners across Europe, winning the Hewlett Packard Business Innovation Award in 2004. Unlike its American competitors, Spreadshirt caters for both European and US customers, using regional shipping companies and allowing webmasters to price products in Euros, Sterling, or US Dollars. Shops can also be automatically translated into eight languages. Spreadshirt has also solved the thorny "black shirt" issue, offering over 50 products in a full range of colours. However, it's probably the different printing options that sets the service apart. In particular, Spreadshirt's "flock" printing ? creating a raised felt finish ? produces a result much more impressive than regular digital print. Finally, hats off to Spreadshirt for managing to keep its branding on the product but still allow webmasters full control over the look and feel of their shops. Already a dominant force in the European market, Spreadshirt could be set to give Cafepress a run for their money in the US. Spreadshirt US Spreadshirt UK EShirt EShirt is another European company ? this time Italian-based - providing an almost-identical product range to Cafepress ie no dark shirts. Euro, US Dollar and Sterling pricing is available. However, the only print option available is digital hot press printing ? not the longest lasting technique. The most inconvenient aspect of EShirt's service is shop integration. You must register as a Tradedoubler affiliate before you can even apply for an EShirt shop. And even then, it is not possible to recreate the look and feel of your own site. Suzanne Power is the editor of GrandWebDesigns.com
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Choosing a Niche Market to Promote ? Affiliate Marketing I think it truly goes without saying that there are some niche markets that do incredibly well, some that do "ok" and others that just totally flop. Your Own Affiliate Program What better avenue to drive high quality and targeted traffic to your website than through your very own affiliate opportunity! Internet Tip of the Week: Reality Check Every time you turn around it seems you see another affiliate program which promises you vast riches. They give you all the sales material you need, and even throw in a free web page. How can I loose, one might think. Everything is all set up for me, and all I need is get a bigger PO Box to handle all the checks that will roll in. Your web site will be carried by the search engines, you have the "pre-written" ads ready to go - how can you lose? Common Mistakes Made by Unsuccessful Affiliates A vast majority of successful online entrepreneurs are affiliates of successful websites on the net. This is what has continuously attracted many people into joining the ranks of affiliates. How To Profit From 2 Tier Affiliate Programs And Build A Sub-Affiliate Army In The Next 24 Hours Before I get into depth with this article I first want you to have a good understanding of what a '2 Tier' affiliate program is and there advantages. Then from there I'll go on to explain how you can start recruiting Sub-Affiliate's by simply locating the Super-Affiliate's within your Niche market. How I Started My Own Work At Home Internet Business With Very Little Investment! Have you always wanted to work at home? Have your own business? Didn't think it was possible? No more commuting in traffic (plus gasoline prices right now are ridiculous). No more "business attire" (work in your jammies) and no more Corporate America breathing down your neck. I didn't think it was possible. I had always been a pessimist. Didn't think I could do it. Didn't have the knowledge or skills required. Are You Doing Well As An Affliate Marketer? I have been working on the Internet now since December 2004 and I have done all the things one needs to do to earn an income from the use of my computer at home. There are many resources and so many different programmes and opportunities that it amazes me. Is it any wonder only 5% of people make it on the internet or indeed in any network marketing adventure. There are some key things you need to grasp before you embark on finding that 'perfect opportunity' that is going to make you rich!! Common Decency......Lets Keep it Alive! I recently had an experience with one of the affiliate programs I *was* involved with. This experience did not surprise me, but did however, disappoint me. It is a sad fact that it did not surprise me and I thought maybe an article on this subject might bring it to our attention. Heres Why Affiliate Marketing Is So Lucrative There are people who think of the world as a dreary place simply because they do not find their existence charming enough to render them contented. There are those who wish that they have more than what they possess. There are those who are sick and tired of working hard yet end up having nothing better. There are those who curse the humdrum existence of having 9?5 jobs that do not give them personal and professional growth. Still these are others who want to earn money without sweating it out too much. Selling Merchandise On Your Website If you take away poker, dating, and naked ladies, custom merchandising is the big success story of the Internet. The ultimate combination of e-commerce and affiliate marketing, millions of websites around the world turn to online merchandising companies - both to market their URL and to extract some cash from loyal visitors. Free Affiliate Marketing Page Pays $755 in Commissions From its First 100 Visitors Affiliate marketing is an easy way to get started making money online. You just sign up to be an affiliate, and refer new customers to the sales site(s) with a special, coded affiliate link. When your referrals click the link and make a purchase, you get paid a sales commission on the sale. Many of these commissions are now paid instantly, at the time of the purchase, as in the system below. Affiliate Marketing - A Quick Overview For Beginners It's simply a kind of marketing in the internet where marketers sell products or services of certain merchants. Those Internet Marketers earn commissions on sales. Most of the merchants even also pay them for clicks and leads to their promotional websites. A Few Words on Affiliate Team Building It might have been Vince Lombardi or some other famous coach who said, "There is no I in team." ( I was too lazy to look up the source of the quote;) I think that this is as true in business as it is in sports. Especially in a business like ours, where we recruit many affiliates who are new to the internet, new to business, new to computers....... You get the idea. And yet due to the nature of what we do, we must rely heavily on these new folks, or our stay at home jobs will definitely fail. Preparation - the Way to Success I have two questions to ask you. One. How much time do you spend marketing your affiliate programs? Two. How much time do you spend preparing to market your affiliate programs? How To Create Your Own Successful And Profitable Affiliate Program Most of the truly successful marketers have three competitive advantages : Reselling - Money On The Side The other night I had dinner with a friend who mentioned knowing quite a few people needing websites for their local businesses. Despite being a software engineer, my friend is not a web designer nor does he know enough about servers to actually host (store) websites. On the other hand, he suspected there was a way to translate contacts into some money on the side. That's when I told him about reselling. Attracting Good Affiliates Good affiliates can be hard to get. There could be any number of reasons for this, but I am going to focus on what I believe is the one major problem that prevents someone from attracting good affiliates. But first lets look at what the make up of a good affiliate may be. A good affiliate is: Dont Make This Mistake...New Affiliate Joining more than 2 programs at a time is something you don't want to do. I did this when I started as an Affiliate. If I were to advise a 'newbie' getting involved online I would tell them to promote, market or endorse only '1' product or service at a time. Choosing the Best Affiliate Program - What You Absolutely Must Know Choosing the best affiliate program means that you are aware of what affiliate programs are and what their ultimate benefits and drawbacks are. To choose the best affiliate program, you will want to decide on one that has the most benefits with the least drawbacks. There are many affiliate programs available online, many of them which are not worth even reading about. Because of this fact, you will need to do your research, talk to other affiliate members, and be 100% sure about the type of affiliate program you are looking for. There are some really good programs available, you just need to be persistent, patient, and ask a lot of questions. The following suggestions will help you choose the best possible affiliate program for you. How to Become a Better Affiliate First of all you need to understand that an Affiliate Program takes time to make it work. No one achieved "financial freedom" overnight. All those websites claiming to make you reach in just a couple of days (I have seen even shorter periods of time) are not telling you the truth. But that does not mean you can not make money from that program. You need to realize it can be done over time and a great deal of persistence. |
home | site map |
© 2005 |