Here's an interesting scenario that's just come up for me. I've done some quite good work with an independent program over the past couple of months, and it's been a nice, unexpected success. That same independent program has just joined one of the major networks. I guess they would do this in order to reach out to new affiliates etc.

Now, it will be more convenient for me if I just switch my links over to the new networks links, and have the earnings paid to me along with other network earnings without the need to create invoices, which I currently do for the independent program.

The commission is the same on both programs, so I can't see any downside from me switching to the network program. The only downside, as far as I can tell, is for the merchant themselves who were able to pay me direct and would now have to pay me through a network, and therefore, have to pay the network too.

So it seems to me, it's in the merchant's interest for me to stay working direct and they should really incentivise me staying with them through giving me a better commission rate. But do I have the cheek to actually asking them for a bit more? Should I ? Would you ? If you would ask them for more money, how would you put it without looking excessively greedy?

I suppose one option is to just switch over and do what suits me best. If I am significant enough for it to be noticeable (quite possibly that won't even be the case), they may contact me to get me back on the independent program and make their own offer of an incentive. Another way that could play out is they could kick me off the network program and tell me it's direct or nothing, since we already had a relationship which I guess would be understandable too!

Labels: affiliate network, independent

A very nice start to April thanks to some unexpected good luck.

I was promoting some products on an independent affiliate program a while ago, but things didn't really take off so I took the site down and forgot all about it. I was also promoting it from one other site and so as far as I know that one active text link remained to the merchant site with my referral id in it and I thought no more of it.

I've not had a sale on this program for a long time, and when I was getting sales on it, they were were and far between. And then, as if by magic, I get notified by email of 6 sales in the last couple of days.

I logged into the control panel for the program and checked out the referral stats - somehow my affiliate URL has ranked in 2nd place on Yahoo!, just below the merchant itself, for the main key phrase relevant to the products being sold.

It was a complete shock to me, so I can't take any credit for it and who knows how long it will last for, but it's a very nice way to start the month.

I'll probably throw up some more links to it and try to prop it up where it is.

Labels: affiliate marketing, independent, web promotion

I conducted an email interview with Roger Elliott - the Managing Director of Uncommon Knowledge. Based in Brighton, they are the company behind HypnosisDownloads.com which is an innovative business offering hypnotherapy MP3s, and other hypnotherapy related services such as scripts and training. I started by asking Roger to explain a bit about his company, Uncommon Knowledge.

Roger: Uncommon Knowledge is a psychology training company in business since 1998. Prior to that, my business partner and I were training people in hypnosis since 1995. We train professional hypnotherapists in cutting-edge psychological techniques. In 2004 we started HypnosisDownloads.com selling single-session hypnosis mp3s as downloads.
The downloads consist of a short introduction talking about the topic of the session, then move into a hypnosis session. We now also sell the scripts of the downloads, not for therapists to read verbatim, but because we had many requests for them as sources of ideas.

Your hypnosis downloads offer a massive saving on the cost of seeing a hypnotherapist in person. Do you believe the downloads can be as effective as receiving hypnotherapy in person?

No, they can't be as effective as seeing a good hypnotherapist. But then, when you consider the fact that all some hypnotherapists do is read scripts to their clients then you start to wonder. That is something we at Uncommon Knowledge are completely against. To be effective, a therapist must be competent and flexible enough to respond to each client in a unique way, to the unique human being that they are. Reading scripts to them is like production line therapy. That's why we teach our hypnotherapists to be fluent in hypnotic language.

People may have some preconceptions or ideas about what hypnosis is like, based on things they have seen on TV. Could you explain what the hypnosis process feels like for someone listening to a hypnosis download?

Generally speaking, the listener will experience relaxation that makes them turn their attention more inward, like when you are falling asleep at night. However, they will usually maintain an awareness of where they are and what is happening, and retain control of whether they continue with the session or not. The relaxation and sense of wellbeing will increase as the session progresses. The more often they go into hypnosis, the better they will get at it until they are able to enter hypnosis at will - an extremely useful skill to have.

I saw on your website that you offer a no quibble refund, which must let people feel like they can buy without taking a risk. Do you get many requests for refunds or is there a good satisfaction rate with the products?

Our satisfaction rate is over 99%. Any product that has a higher than average refund rate we rewrite and re-record. We are highly focused on creating the highest quality hypnosis on the Internet.

Turning now to the affiliate program you run: How long have you operated an affiliate scheme and what kind of impact has it had on your business?

We have operated an affiliate program since the outset and it contributes a significant part of our revenue. Our affiliates are very important people to us!

Can you summarise the rewards available for your affiliates?

Sure. They get 35% of sale on all download products and our membership section and 25% on shippable products.

Do your affiliates get rewarded for recurring sales from the same customer?

Yes, our cookie is 365 days, and our membership section, the Growth Zone is a monthly payment model. Affiliates get paid every time a subscriber of theirs pays an instalment.

How many affiliates do you have at the moment?

Thousands, but only a proportion of those are active, as with any affiliate program. I'm sure more would be active if they really knew what they were missing!

What is your most popular product?

Our Self Confidence Booster and Self Esteem Booster downloads consistently make the Top Ten.

The affiliate scheme is independently run. What made you decide to use that route rather than go with an affiliate network?

At the time I think it was cost, but I'm glad we did. It allows us to retain control of the program and cuts fees, allowing us to pass on more to our affiliates.

I think I'm right in saying that the power of suggestion is important in hypnotherapy, which you are obviously skilled in. I'm guessing this skill must translate well for creating good sales copy and web pages with high conversion rates?

Well your powers of flattery are well-developed ;-) We work hard on our conversion rates - we're always testing. If any of our affiliates can get a better conversion rate on any other hypnosis affiliate program I would love to hear about it. I think it's highly unlikely.

Your product is available for instant download. Presumably you have affiliates and customers from all around the world?

Yes indeed we do. Although we're a UK-based company, the majority of customers and affiliates are from the US.

Do you have any plans to further develop your affiliate scheme in the future? What about a product feed?

We're about to launch a groovy site search for affiliates. A product feed is something we've considered but we haven't had that much interest from existing affiliates. We may do that in the future I guess.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Roger!

Find out more about HypnosisDownloads.com

Labels: affiliate, independent, interview

I signed up last year with BT Openzone's own scheme for selling its wireless hotspot vouchers. Since then, I've had a pretty regular stream of sales but payment has never been mentioned and there seems to be no information on their site about how you actually get paid.

So I decided it was about time I chased them up on it. I went to their web page and it said call them up with any queries.

Phone them up and the guy answered, "BT Openzone Support".

"Hi, I'm calling about the BT Openzone Partner Scheme for selling Vouchers".

"errrr...."

"You know, the scheme for reselling your airtime vouchers. It has this phone number on the website."

"Urrrr..."

"You sound like you're not too aware of this scheme?"

"Well, you haven't properly explained what it is"

"Well it's the BT Openzone Vouchers which are available to resell through your 'partner zone' on your website".

"On our website? What's the URL"

And on it went. And the outcome was they had no clue about it but said to email them and they would divert it to the right department. Which I did, and have had no reply.

So I posted to the A4u forum asking if anyone else promoted this scheme and got no response.

Am I really the only person promoting these hotspot airtime vouchers??

Labels: affiliate, independent