Transcript Creating a Winning E

Creating a Winning E-Business
Second Edition
Taking Advantage of Affiliate Marketing
&
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 7 & 8
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
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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
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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
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Amazon.com
Dell
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
Rackspace Managed Hosting
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Online Affiliate Marketing
Programs (continued)
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Online Affiliate Marketing
Programs (continued)
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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
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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
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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
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Type of products/services
Easy shopping experience
Customer support
Reputation in the marketplace
– Look for competitive fees/commissions
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Online Affiliate Marketing
Programs (continued)
 Affiliate agreement defines program terms
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Types of Web sites merchant approves
Guidelines for linking
Schedule of fees and commissions
Terms of usage of merchant logo and name
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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
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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
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
 Affiliate management networks
– Third-party entities
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Recruit affiliates
Manage affiliate registration process
Track click-throughs
Credit affiliates with click-throughs
Arrange for commission/fee reporting and payment
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
 Well-established affiliate management networks
– Commission Junction
– LinkShare
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
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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
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
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Affiliate Tracking Systems
(continued)
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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Chapter Summary
(continued)
 Affiliate management network
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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
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Creating a Winning E-Business
Second Edition
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 8
Web Site Planning Process
 Identify the site’s business objectives:
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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
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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
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Web Site Planning Process
(primary continued)
 Design the site to accommodate the most
common technological constraints
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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
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Web Site Organization
(primary continued)
 Home page should answer basic visitor
questions:
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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?
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Web Site Organization
 Secondary Goals/Pages:
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Customer login page
Products or services pages
“Shopping cart” page
Shipping and return policy pages
Customer support pages
Contact information pages
“About Us” pages
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Web Site Organization
 Secondary pages (continued)
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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
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
 Pure hierarchical structure
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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
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
 Mixed hierarchical structure
– Combines structured organization with crosslinked pages
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
 Site organization
– 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
 Writing for the Web
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Who?
What?
Where?
Why?
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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
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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
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