Merchant / affiliate trade links

[tapdancemadeeasy]

Hi there,

I am a merchant and have a colleague who is a merchant who sells a complementary product. We want to refer each other business via affiliate links but neither of us are set up with a program.

We both have independent websites and are small business owners. The idea is that I would receive a percentage of sales I refer and vice versa.

I may also want to add a couple of other small business websites that sell complementary products to what I sell.

I'm not sure what kind of system we need. Any advice is appreciated.

thanks in advance.

[Linda Buquet]

Hi there and welcome!

What you need is called affiliate management software. It will require you to put some code on the thank you page that comes up after someone makes a purchase.

2 low cost but fairly popular options are iDevAffiliate and Post Affiliate Pro. You would each need to purchase the software and install it on your server and configure it.

I think it's going to be a lot more work than you realize and don't know if it would be worth it just to cross promote each other's site. Now if you want to put in the effort to learn to have an actual affiliate program and get lots of other affiliates to promote your site as well, then it would be worth it. But not just to cross promote each other I wouldn't think.

[yogi1981]

Hi Tapdancemadeeasy. What you need is combination of a good affiliate tracking software and have to integrate it with your shopping cart.

First of all you need to create a business strategy that how much commission would you pay to the person who refer business to you. Then create a special affiliate section on your website and mention everything including how your program will work, how much they can earn, your conversion ratio etc.

Choose a right affiliate tracking software and integrate with your shopping cart. If you don't have your own team of experienced technical team then choose some hosted affiliate programs and then start promoting your program and start contacting prospective affiliates and ask them to join.

Also get ready few good banner which affiliates can place on their sites.