Need Your Views On This Re: Sponsors + Affiliate Relations

[Lee]

Okay this is somewhat of a loaded question but bear with me LOL

As a webmaster whos job do you feel it is to 'sell' your sponsors paysites once you start sending traffic to the affiliate tour pages?

Ive heard arguments over the last five years from both side and, well both sides have good points.

My question to you goes like this..

Once you send a surfer to one of your sponsors tours, should that sponsor whoever they may be, do everything in their power to ensure that the surfer you sent to their tour.. A) Signs Up and; B) Makes a sale for YOU.

Let the opinions fly please

Regards,

Lee

[Bec]

I would say yes -- I got them there, and it's basically out of my hands what the surfer does next... so as in any "team" game, the paysite now hopefully carries the ball (ie: the surfer)over the goal line.

[mirepup]

Well, I'll weigh in my 2 cents...

I think it is up to the sponsor to sell. I can't see how it could be any other way as they've left "my" site and I don't have any control over what happens in general.

NOW - I do say this: I need to pick the right sponsors and make sure I've checked things out ahead of time.

Do the sponsors match what I'm selling? (Click here for bears doesn't go to a twink site)

How much harassment will the user get? Does the sponsor use popups/consoles/blind links that will piss off my surfer?

Evaluate how easy it is to sign up? Is the form simple? Does it look misleading or raise any flags?

As the webmaster, I do everything I can to make sure my surfer ENJOYS the sponsor they visit (good match and honest looking) but once that surfer LEAVES my site, it's up to the sponsor since they control that site.

Oh, and if I don't like some aspect of the tour/signup, maybe it's worth asking for a change...???

There's my quick thoughts on it. :yeehaw:

[shelmal]

Well everything I would have said has been said so I guess I seocnd that. If I have done my job right I have filtered that traffic and sent them to a sponsor that should fit what they are looking for. It is then up to the sponsor to make that sale for me.

[mardigras]

Unfortunately too many sponsors think they are doing you a favor by allowing you to send traffic to them and certainly do you no favors when they rush it off to their own affiliates links.

[RainGurl]

For the most part, I think it is the sponsor's responsibilty to sell the surfer once he's been sent.
As sponsors, we need to make it is simple as we can for the affiliate to make money. At xxxcash, we work directly with our affiliates to help them get conversions, whether it be special creatives, co-branded pages, etc. If the affiliate isn't making money, we're not making money.

On the other hand....
If an affiliate is promoting us by trying to sell content or features that we don't have, they are wasting their traffic.

For example, say I have an affiliate promoting FemaleStars.com and they are promoting the Paris Hilton video. We don't have the paris hilton video. At best, they;ll get a trial conversion, but won't get a recurring membership if that is all that the surfer is looking for.

I the best combination is an active, participating affiliate working directly with a knowlegable and helpful account manager.

my 2 cents.

[Jasun]

I'll go out of my way to do a bit of a hard sell using text and custom banners (I make a good deal of my own banners based on what I think people want to see), to entice the visitor over to the sponsor's site. I'll give the best sales pitch i can give, but yeah, once the traffic has left my site, it's out of my hands.

And really, it's the sponsor's neck on the line. If a sponsor isn't making the final conversions, they'll go out of business. I'll simply change to a different sponsor.

[dirtygeek]

I have to agree with RainGurl on this. I couldn't have said it better myself. :groovy:

[EC Steve]

mirepup,

Iv been doing this for a long time and a common mistake that webmasters make is that sponsors need to sell surfers and its not in your control. You as a webmaster have to pre qualify a surfer before he gets to a sponsor site. for instance. If you the webmaster tell the surfer "Click Here for Black Studs" and your link forwards to a Twink site with only a couple of ebony images on the tour. then theres very litle chance of a sponsor selling him no matter what they try. you must wet there whistle and the sponsor will close the deal. you as the webmaster/ sales person control the leads that you send to the sponsor. so your methos of promotion will affect the join ratios and even the conversion ratios of a membership site.

in regards to harassment, thats really opinion. some surfers may say that a single pop cuases them great stress while others do not feel the same way. Fact remains Exits Consoles Sell.

EC Steve

[mardigras]

Originally posted by EC Steve
mirepup,

Iv been doing this for a long time and a common mistake that webmasters make is that sponsors need to sell surfers and its not in your control. You as a webmaster have to pre qualify a surfer before he gets to a sponsor site. for instance. If you the webmaster tell the surfer "Click Here for Black Studs" and your link forwards to a Twink site with only a couple of ebony images on the tour. then theres very litle chance of a sponsor selling him no matter what they try. you must wet there whistle and the sponsor will close the deal. you as the webmaster/ sales person control the leads that you send to the sponsor. so your methos of promotion will affect the join ratios and even the conversion ratios of a membership site.

in regards to harassment, thats really opinion. some surfers may say that a single pop cuases them great stress while others do not feel the same way. Fact remains Exits Consoles Sell.

EC Steve

Then again it doesn't make a difference how well the webmaster pre-sells the site if the sponsor buries the link the webmaster pre-sold with popups advertising dozens of other sites that contains the sponsor's own affiliate links to other sponsor's programs that the webmaster doen't get credit for. This is becoming much too common and accepted for my liking.

[taboo_gal]

I feel there is a joint responsibility to sell the surfer. The affiliate does the preselling and the Sponsor gets them to convert and does what is possible to retain them. I am in total agreement with Rainey on affiliates and Sponsor account managers working closely together. I don't understand why all Sponsor programs do not do so.

[She Devil]

From what I'm hearing I agree with all of you, and am new at this (so I have no background info). I must thank Lee for posting such a good discusion for little newbs like me.