The latest craze for those clever minded ‘internauts’ is free electronic goodies in the form of Christmas candy items such as iPhones, iPods, HDTV’s, Playstation 3, Xbox 360s, digital cameras, Tomtoms etc. The type of goods listed reflects in no small part the target audience; young people who want the latest gizmos and gadgets and are web mobile. When affiliate marketing starts to catch on in the middle aged community and the silver surfers, expect the type of gifts offered to change substantially.
What is affiliate marketing and how does it work?
Affiliate marketing is a means of incentivising referrals to websites, a way to get people to get other people to sign up to trials. It might be an ad (like google adwords), or a promotional link banner through your website. It’s a bit like a sales commission for doing work on their behalf. If you put a link to another website on your website and someone clicks through it and then signs up to that product or service, you will get paid a commission for bringing in customers. Normally, this is a fairly small amount, but in some cases the stakes are much higher
How do they afford giving away gifts such as iPhones iPods and Playstation 3’s?
It’s easy to understand when you study it a bit. To claim your ‘free’ gift, you need to join up to a site such as kudosnetwork or freebiejeebies (for UK, USA and Canada) and sign up to a promotion such as an online film rental trial. Once you’ve done this, you select a gift that you want which will have been attributed a certain number of referrals. The higher the number of referrals the higher the value of the gift. Say you needed 18 referrals for your gift, you would need to get 18 people to sign up via your link. By the time your 18 friends have managed to get 18 more friends to sign up, the site has 324 customers, by the next 18, that number has risen to 5832. In a very short period of time, the numbers stack up very quickly, making a lot of money in commission for the site owner.
Advertising as we know it is changing form. This is one of the new forms. It is targeted specifically, and it involves you the consumer, doing the legwork, incentivised by the shiny techno-goodies they are offering you. It’s not technically ‘free’, it involves some time, one trial, and a lot of willing friends to help you over the line.
How do the site owners make money?
The website owner doesn’t have to do the hard work, as you’re doing it for them. And you only get paid by them once you reach your target referrals. Meanwhile your referrals are out there doing more work for them. It’s you who has to do the clever thinking about who would be likely to sign up to the scheme; you filter out people who you think it would be wasted on; you find clever ways of targeting those who might be in the market for a new iPhone; effectively you are doing their marketing work for them. The affiliate site sits as the middleman between the advertisers and the target audience, and takes his cut like everyone else.
But wouldn’t they lose money by giving away iPhones to every person?
Theoretically if they gave away iPhones to everyone, then they might make a loss, but as is always the case, not everyone makes it to the number they need to get their free gift; only achieving a couple of referrals or none at all. They have contributed to the list of people signed up, yet have received nothing in return. It all balances out in the end. If it doesn’t, the number of referrals required per item goes up to reflect how savvy the customers are being, or how much revenue the site is receiving. In short they are not likely to lose out as long as the advertisers are happy, and as far as we can tell, they are.
What about the advertisers?
It is possible that if everyone suddenly did complete all their referrals, that the site might temporarily be out of pocket, but they would raise the amount of referrals required to ensure that they are always making a profit. As you come at the bottom of the chain, you are the last to get paid, so to speak, so know that the sites always have cash, and that’s how they honour their contract with you, and give you your iPhone. Also remember, it pays for them to keep their reputation sweet amongst their agents (you guys), as without you and your clever efforts, they are nothing. Can they really afford to go around making promises they can’t keep? Not for long, and these sites are alive and well and have been for some time, so it appears they’ve got the balance right.
So does affiliate marketing work?
Well, it’s up to you. If your time is worth big dollars, I would say, no. If however you have a bit time to spare and like to explore clever and challenging ways to generate referrals, then why not give it a go. You really haven’t got much to lose, have you?
The two main sites for UK, USA and Canada are Kudos Network and freebiejeebies Enjoy!
check kudosnetwork AND freebiejeebies for additional information about how to start claiming your free gift. Also check thebestthings.co.uk for background information and to make your affiliate selling additional successful.
categories: iphones,affiliate marketing,gifts,electonics,referrals,marketing,business,consumer electronics,gaming
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