1. Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition
Taking Advantage of Affiliate Marketing
&
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 7 & 8

2. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs
A revenue-sharing approach to marketing and promoting an e-business
Also called associate programs or pay-for-performance programs
Merchant or advertiser operates the program
Affiliate or publisher participates in the program
Marketing tool for merchant
Revenue source for affiliate
Require custom links from affiliate site to merchant site
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

3. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Pay-per-click (cost-per-click) program
Merchant pays affiliate a set fee for each click-through from affiliate site
No action at merchant site is required
Pay-per-lead (cost-per-lead) program
Merchant pays affiliate a set fee for each click-through that results in action
Make a purchase
Complete a form or take a survey
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

4. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Pay-per-sale (cost-per-sale) program
Merchant pays affiliate a fee or commission on a sale that results from a click-through
Thousands of diverse e-businesses operate affiliate programs
Amazon.com
Dell
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
Rackspace Managed Hosting
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

5. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

6. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

7. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Advantages to merchant
Tie marketing effort directly to sales
Pay only for results
Advantages to affiliate
Additional source of revenue for affiliate who also sells products/services
Primary source of revenue for affiliate who offers entertainment or information
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

8. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Participating in an affiliate program
Select the program carefully to ensure a good “fit”
Understand the terms of the affiliate agreement
Add custom links to merchant’s site from affiliate Web pages
Build traffic at affiliate site to increase click-throughs to merchant site
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

9. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Selecting an affiliate program
Make certain affiliate site visitors will be interested in merchant’s products/services
Learn about merchant
Type of products/services
Easy shopping experience
Customer support
Reputation in the marketplace
Look for competitive fees/commissions
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

10. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Affiliate agreement defines program terms
Types of Web sites merchant approves
Guidelines for linking
Schedule of fees and commissions
Terms of usage of merchant logo and name
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

11. Online Affiliate Marketing Programs (continued)
Affiliate agreement defines program terms (continued)
Restrictions on type of content at affiliate site
Restrictions on marketing tools an affiliate can use
Liability and other legal disclaimers
Dispute resolution and termination requirements
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

12. Affiliate Tracking Systems
Allow merchant to control how it credits click-throughs
Monitor window of time in which affiliate can get credit for a click-through
Record and store affiliate information
Provide commission/fee reports
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

13. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

14. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Affiliate management networks
Third-party entities
Recruit affiliates
Manage affiliate registration process
Track click-throughs
Credit affiliates with click-throughs
Arrange for commission/fee reporting and payment
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

15. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

16. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Well-established affiliate management networks
Commission Junction
LinkShare
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

17. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

18. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Affiliate tracking technologies
Custom links containing affiliate information or affiliate and merchant information
Tracking cookies
Third-party tracking software
Application service provider tracking service
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

19. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

20. Affiliate Tracking Systems (continued)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

21. Affiliate Marketing Risks and Challenges
Unethical affiliates
Cookie stuffing
Multiple cookies placed on visitor’s hard drive during a single visit to affiliate site
Parasiteware
Redirects affiliate links
Replaces content of existing tracking cookies
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

22. Affiliate Marketing Risks and Challenges (continued)
Unethical affiliates (continued)
Spammers
Merchant is responsible if affiliates use spam to promote sites
Negative perception of tracking cookies
Many consumers install and use blocking software
Block tracking cookies
Delete tracking cookies
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

23. Chapter Summary
Affiliate marketing is a revenue-sharing approach to promoting an e-business’s products and services
Marketing tool for merchant
Source of revenue for affiliate
Affiliate programs
Pay-per-click (cost-per-click)
Pay-per-lead (cost-per-lead)
Pay-per-sale (cost-per-sale)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

24. Chapter Summary (continued)
Affiliate program should
Fit with affiliate’s products and services
Fit with Web site content
Affiliate agreement defines the terms of an affiliate program
Coded URLs and tracking cookies are used to track click-throughs
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

25. Chapter Summary (continued)
Affiliate management network
Recruits affiliates
Manages registration process
Tracks click-throughs
Credits referral fees and commissions to affiliate
Risks and challenges
Unethical affiliates (cookie stuffing, parasiteware)
Negative perception of tracking cookies
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

26. Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 8

27. Web Site Planning Process
Identify the site’s business objectives:
Selling products or services
Educating consumers
Providing technical support
Collecting information from visitors
Offering a virtual community to customers
Directing consumers to other useful sites
Recruiting talented employees
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

28. Web Site Planning Process (continued)
Primary Goals:
Understand who will visit the site
Understand what visitors will do at the site
Primary audience consists of the targeted customers identified in business plan
Secondary audiences
Vendors
Strategic partners
Investors
General public
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

29. Web Site Planning Process (primary continued)
Design the site to accommodate the most common technological constraints
Experienced or novice users
Browser and version commonly used
Internet connection speeds
Screen resolutions used
Fixed-width pages
Pages that resize with the browser window
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

30. Web Site Organization (primary continued)
Home page should answer basic visitor questions:
Who are you?
What do you do?
Where can I find what I want or need?
Why should I be interested in your products or services?
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

31. Web Site Organization Secondary Goals/Pages: Customer login page
Products or services pages
“Shopping cart” page
Shipping and return policy pages
Customer support pages
Contact information pages
“About Us” pages
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

32. Web Site Organization Secondary pages (continued)
Privacy policy and acceptable use pages
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages
Employment opportunities pages
“What’s New?” pages
Customer stories or case studies pages
Affiliate program pages
Help pages
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

33. Web Site Organization (continued)
Pure hierarchical structure
Similar to business organizational chart
Information is organized in levels
Home page at Level 1 (top-level)
Main topic pages at Level 2
Additional details about main topics at remaining levels
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

34. Web Site Organization (continued)
Mixed hierarchical structure
Combines structured organization with cross-linked pages
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

35. Web Site Organization (continued)
Should enable visitors to find actionable content quickly and easily
Be neither too flat nor too deep (7+/- 2)
Logical and intuitive
Avoid a structure that is either too flat or too deep (7+/- 2)
Structure that is too flat is uninteresting
Structure that is too deep is difficult to navigate
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

36. Web Site Organization (continued)
Web site storyboarding / Blueprinting & wireframing
Used to test a Web site organizational plan
Manual mock-up of site’s organization
Index cards, sticky notes, sheets of paper represent individual Web pages
Use push pins or tape to fasten cards, notes, of sheets of paper to white board or corkboard
Create connecting lines indicating links
Look for illogical links, orphan pages, missing pages
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

37. Useful and Attractive Web Pages
Web accessibility – Designing Web pages so that Web resources are available to people with disabilities, very important issue
W3C guidelines for accessibility
Auditory content (speakable web) is supported by alternative content
Color alone should not indicate a link
Adequate contrast for background/foreground colors, best colors for e-commerce have been found to be white and grey
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

38. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
W3C guidelines for accessibility (continued)
Simply worded text
Movement, scrolling, and blinks can be turned off without loss of information or navigation
Navigational links are clear and consistent
Page content is consistent across all pages
“CRAP” - contrast , repetition, alignment & proximity
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

39. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Navigational elements (internal links); good global and local navigation
Embedded text links
Clickable table of contents and top-of-page links, guides
Navigation tabs (Amazon)
Breadcrumb trail
Site map
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

40. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Embedded text links
(llbean; ems; backcountry; rei )
Link positioned inside a paragraph
Text in link should clearly describe what page visitors will see
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

41. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Breadcrumb trail (Amazon is master)
Hierarchical navigational outline
Provides visitor with feedback on path taken to current page
Use in conjunction with other navigational elements
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

42. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Site map
Web page that shows a summary of all the linked pages at the site
Rollover links
Hidden links that appear when mouse is “rolled over” an animated image
Avoid rollover links
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

43. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Page layout / Gridded System
Fixed-width pages fit in a maximized browser window for a specific screen resolution
Liquid design creates pages that size with the browser window
Use tables (arrangement of columns and rows)
Use CSS (cascading style sheets)
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

44. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Writing for the Web
Use simple, direct language
Avoid industry jargon
Use bulleted and numbered lists
Use dark text color on light background
Use a familiar font
Use at least a 12-point equivalent font
Check spelling and grammar, and proofread
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

45. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Choose color scheme carefully
Use images, audio, and video sparingly and only when they support the Web site message
Avoid background images
Add alternative text to image links
Add related text links to support image links
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

46. Web Design Outsourcing
Carefully assess costs of in-house Web design and development compared to outsourcing costs
Outsourcing benefits
May save time and money
Provides greater access to experienced specialists familiar with current best practices and trends
May provide access to usability analysis
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

47. Chapter Summary
Begin the Web site and page design process by determining the site’s business objectives and its targeted audiences’ wants and needs
Make sure that the home page answers basic visitor questions
Who?
What?
Where?
Why?
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

48. Chapter Summary (continued)
Determine the secondary pages needed in addition to the home page
Organize the pages at the site in a logical and intuitive order using the storyboarding process
Follow the W3C guidelines for Web accessibility
Pay attention to de facto standards or guidelines for Web usability
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7

49. Chapter Summary (continued)
Compare the costs, advantages, and disadvantages of designing and developing the Web site in-house versus outsourcing the design and development process
Creating a Winning E-Business Second Edition, Chapter 7