Merchant Checklist - Your website and online shop
Your website must work. That means no broken links, broken images, dodgy servers, script errors etc. Please don't expect us to start promoting your website when it's only half finished.
The products or services must be attractive, well priced (not necessarily cheap), with good descriptions, photos etc and suited to our audience.
Your product or service has to be different. If your product is common (flowers, hampers, etc) then there must be something else that makes your site worthwhile eg better website, better service, niche market, good reputation or brand.
Trackable actions - sales and leads need to be trackable. That means an online shopping cart for % of sale or online contact form for payment per lead.
Track both sales and leads. If you sell products and also take enquiries for larger orders (eg. corporate orders, flowers or wine for functions, group bookings) then both should be tracked. ClixGalore provides the facility to have both sales and leads tracked on the same website.
Good conversion techniques. Your website should be designed to encourage lookers into becoming buyers - even if you don't have an affiliate program.
No prominent encouragement to order by phone. While it's good to have your phone number available for customer service, encouraging phone orders prominently will mean that you get sales that aren't tracked - particularly if the buying process on your site isn't straightforward. That includes having the phone order option promoted as an alternative within the shopping cart process. If you must take phone orders, you need to find a way of tracking them - simply asking people which website they came from does not work.
No traffic leakage. If you have a links to other websites, or even worse links to other shops, online shopping malls or affiliate programs, then you are giving away or selling the traffic we send you. If you have two online stores and want to link between them, then the affiliate tracking should cover sales from both stores.
Adequate compensation. Most Australian gift and hamper stores pay commissions of 8% to 15%, adult products can be 25% to 50%, tours and accommodation 3% to 20%, computers 1% to 2%. The level of compensation will combine with other factors to determine your suitability. 20% commission on a site that converts poorly is not necessarily more attractive than 10% on a site that converts well.
Adequate compensation period. Cookies that track sales should have a life of at least as long as most people take from their first visit to the site to making a purchase... at least 30 days. Commissions should be made for multiple sales within that period as many shoppers make a small purchase to test the service before returning for their main purchase.
Good tracking and statistical software. The more information your affiliates have available through a real-time online interface, the easier they can work to increase sales. Dates, values of each transaction, and commission earned are basics. Being able to see which pages and links produce those sales, knowing what type of products are bought are helpful.
When assessing a site, publishers may not insist on all these features, but they will take each into account to decide whether they will risk the time and advertising space to promote your website.
