Is anyone else as excited about Karate Kid as I am? Wax on, wax off has been translated into our 2010 landscape as Mr. Myagi tells his young learner “Hang up your jacket. Now put it on. Hang up your jacket. Now put it on.” Not that I would yet compare myself to Mr. Myagi, but I do have several clients who look to me for advice on how to build their online empires. Just last week a client face booked me to ask what I thought about MyShoppingGenie and if it would be a good fundraising opportunity for the non-profit she represents. My Shopping Genie appears to be a Multi Level Marketing program where users install an application that searches the internet for the best prices on the items they’re searching for. Each sponsor in the pyramid then gets paid a % for each search conducted. The sponsor must pay a small fee to join the program, of course, but for the end user, it’s free. If the sponsor has enough users taking advantage of the application, then it could become a profitable fundraising venture. So why was my advice to my client, “Hang up your jacket, put it on. Hang up your jacket, put it on.”
Non-profits are very easily drawn into the next big idea, whether it’s coupon books, swipe cards at the grocery store, or in this case – multi-level affiliate marketing online. Here are three things to remember when considering any affiliate fundraising program online.
1. This type of affiliate marketing relies on a large number of end users who will first download the application and then use it on a regular basis. First and foremost, this client doesn’t yet have a large, consistent number of guests to her site. Not everyone who visits her site will enroll in the program, obviously, so if her non-profit is going to depend on it as a regular source of income, then they need to increase the number of views their site gets on a regular basis. This will give the affiliate program a fighting chance!
2. For this particular client, a quick conversation about MyShoppingGenie revealed that it wasn’t the best match for the particular type of person who DOES visit her site. Her end user is likely not one who is at home comparing prices of products to purchase online, so an affiliate product that helps do that better probably wasn’t going to be a homerun for her site. Make sure that your affiliate program makes sense for your unique users. For example, if Kroger offers a shopper’s reward program for non-profits, but there’s no Kroger in your IMMEDIATE area, then DON’T enroll in the program. This might sound obvious, but you need to have laser-sharp focus with the programs you offer your guests and supporters. Offering too many programs that don’t address exactly who your people are helps neither you nor them.
3. Don’t forget to keep hanging up your jacket, and putting it on. Whether your non-profit is about rescuing animals, recycling, stopping crime or giving away furniture, remember to keep first things first on your website. You must post fresh, relevant content to your site on a regular basis. Ask yourself, “If I was someone even REMOTELY interested in this non-profit, WHY would I come back to this site?” Every non-profit has a huge story to tell, and your website is one of your best assets for telling and sharing that story. When you get sidetracked and plaster your website with several different affiliate programs, guests will get distracted from that one thing you do best, whatever it is. Focus on creating your OWN affiliates first, and after you have an army of affiliates who market your non-profit simply because it’s part of who they are… then take some time to investigate the opportunities to earn some extra income through online advertising like affiliate marketing.
About Angie Meeker