| |
| |
|
Learn Affiliate Marketing
|
|
|
|
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 USSpreadshirt 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
MORE RESOURCES:
Affiliate-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Unique Opportunity For Affiliate Recruiters If you're a webmaster, web publisher, or web merchant, chances are you have already come across the concept of affiliate marketing.As online joint venture partnerships, affiliate programs allows both content publishers and web merchants to maximize their online profits by working with each other. Top 7 Affiliate Marketing Tips for Newbies When a newbie begins an online business, the temptation can be high to join most any affiliate program they see in the hopes of making extra money. Given the amount of products and services that newbie get presented with, and since newbie have a burning desire to make money fast, it is easy to see how the online newbie can get lured into joining a lot of affiliate programs without knowing if they should join them or not. Affiliate Marketing What Is It And Why Use It? Affiliate Marketing is having Affiliates do your Marketing for you. What I mean by Affiliate is someone who tells people about your product/service and you pay them for a desired response, such as a purchase. How To Really Make Money With Datafeed Merchants I am not going to describe what a product feed (or a datafeed) is. There is a lot of information out there about how to use one to build sites. Why Super Affiliates Succeed Ever wonder why the super affiliates areraking it in and you're still strugglingwith affiliate programs?Okay, it is an advantage to have a web sitewith good traffic and a program related tothe theme of the web site.It is also important to have a large listto which you can recommend your program. Why Building Affiliate Websites Are the Way to Go It seems that everybody is into making money online these days. By far, the largest market place in the world is right there in front of you within the cyber world of the internet. Is Earning Money With Affiliate Marketing A Myth? Day 1 - What Are Affiliate Programs?Welcome to the wide world of affiliate marketing!Affiliate marketing (sometimes called referral marketing) is based business people.So, what is an affiliate and what does he or she do?The affiliate marketer acts as a "middle man" between merchant and consumer, but without adding anything to the consumer's cost. Affiliate Marketing Tips If there really is a big secret at all, it undoubtedly would have to be: "work hard." We hope that the information provided here helps you get rolling down the road to affiliate marketing success. How to Create Multiple Streams of Income, Part 1 You've must have read the phrase "multiple streams of income" numerous times on your journey searching for wisdom on the Internet. Regarding to Robert G. Pros and Cons of Third Party Online Affiliate Networks Online affiliate marketing has taken the internet by storm and has proven to be a highly effective way of maximizing website revenue. Why limit yourself to selling your own products when you can profit by selling somebody else's too?There are thousands of individual affiliate programs offered on the internet, many being through third party affiliate program networks such as OffersQuest, Commission Junction and Linkshare. How to Skyrocket Your Affiliate Marketing Revenue in 30 Days or Less Starting up your internet business as a member of an affiliate program is an exciting thing due to all of the possibilities and potential this industry has. By becoming an affiliate marketer, you can finally gain complete control of your financial destiny. Leverage Your Way to Profits With Joint Ventures You can't conduct business on the internet for very long without hearing the term "Joint Venture", but do you really understand them or how and why a Joint Venture works?In broad, simple terms -- a Joint Venture is partnering with others to create a win/win situation for everyone involved.But just what does that mean? How do you identify a good Joint Venture situation? How do you structure the partnership so that everyone wins? How do you approach a potential Joint Venture partner? There are tons of questions, and I'll try to answer them all. How To Evaluate An Affiliate Program Ok so you think you have found a good affiliate program to promote on your website or in your newsletter? There are some basic things you need to look out for before joining any affiliate program. Some of them may seem minor but those little petty things can cause you to lose hundreds of dollars in affiliate revenue. Generate More Sales in ANY Affiliate Program - Part Three Thinking Outside the square is where we last left off. So to carry on from this topic let me introduce you to M. Making Money with Affiliate Programs - Part III Whether you are a newbie to Internet or a proud owner of a website, affiliate programs are great opportunities for you to make money online. It is an interesting concept that allows affiliates to develop a source of income and the program owners to sell their products more effectively. How to Make Money with Affiliate Business Programs There are thousands of affiliate business programs on the internet today that offer wonderfully lucrative opportunities. The majority of business opportunities require zero overhead and once set up, will generate income with little or no maintenance on your part. Keeping Your Sub-Affiliates From Quitting One of the biggest if not the leading problem for internet marketers is keeping your affiliates from quitting. The time and effort that has been put forth to get your affiliates can seem like a waste of time if soon after joining your program they either opt-out or become inactive. What Is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing refers to the promotion of products or services through affiliates. Affiliates are usually other webmasters and ezine editors who choose to act as sales people on behalf of their principals for a commission on every sale. 23 Ways To Use An Ad Tracker The ad tracker was originally developed to provide a recordof all hits to a site resulting from ad placements. Thisarticle shows a host of different ways to utilise an adtracker. WHAT! Internet Etiquette / Net Etiquette? Many people know how -- and do conduct themselves in the real world properly. However, many people are unaware that this same conduct needs to be applied online as well.
|
| © 2007 |