Affiliate Program Q & A

Leerburg's Q&A database has 2949 entries from multiple categories. Ask Cindy at Leerburg

1. Is a Squidoo Lens an appropriate platform which to promote Leerburg products?
   
   
2. I have another website and I’m already registered. Do I need to register again to use the affiliate program on my other site?
   
   
3. Do you offer downloads (videos/audio) that I could sell directly on my site?
   
   
4. What link do I copy and paste on my website?
   
   
5. I'm having a difficult time with the code listed for each item.  What is the hyperlink address I am suppose to type in for my buy button?
   
   
6. Does it matter if I do the working on / operating of the site but have the owner send in her W9?
   
   
7. If a customer comes from my page and buys a product but also buys some other products directly from Leerburg that are NOT on my page do I get commission? And if a customer comes from my site to the Leerburg site and then comes back to the Leerburg site, after a week or a month, what is the time period in which I will still receive the affiliate commission?
   
   
8. Do you know of anyone using Big Commerce (e-commerce platform)? I am having trouble setting up the Leerburg affiliate program on my website.
   
   
9. I have a lot of questions on how the affiliate program works!

Question:

I started to do a Squidoo lens (web site) on my dogs, and then in the middle of it decided to see if you had an affiliate program. I am hoping Squidoo is an appropriate platform on which to promote Leerburg products.

Answer:

Squidoo (and most other community sites) is a appropriate platform to promote Leerburg products. As long as the page adheres to the Affiliate Rules laid out in on the affiliate page.

Question:

I have another website and I’m already registered. Do I need to register again to use the affiliate program on my other site?

Answer:

No. Just email ryan@leerburg.com and we will verify the site is ok, make a note on your account, and you will then be able to use the affiliate program on the new site.

Question:

Do you offer downloads (videos/audio) that I could sell directly on my site?  I thought this could be an excellent addition to our site and you could sell the downloads to me at a wholesale price? 

Answer:

Right now the only digital download content we offer through our affiliate program is the eBook “Common Sense Solutions to House Training Problems.” Currently the commission rate is 50% of the sale price of $12. So all sales of this eBook you would send to us would net you $6.

The customers are sent a download link, username, and password the next business day.

Question:

What link do I copy and paste on my website?

Answer:

The code/link you copy is in your control panel (https://leerburg.com/affiliate  -- Click on Items on the top bar) There is a separate portion of HTML code for each product you would like to sell. The HTML code contains a image of the product, the current price, and the buy now button link.

Question:

I'm having a difficult time with the code listed for each item.  For the 6 feet black leather leash on my "buy" button what is the hyperlink address I am suppose to type in?
 
I have been using variations of http://leerburg.com/cart/affiliate.php?

Answer:

All of the buy buttons  go to http://leerburg.com/cart/affiliate.php , the difference is the data that is posted to that URL through the Form code that is on your affiliate control panel (it contains things like the model number and your affiliate tag)

You should be able to just login to your affiliate control panel and go to items on the top bar. The code in the last column of the product table should be cut and pasted into your program that you create your Web Pages in. They need to be pasted within your Code or HTML View.

Question:

I am the webmaster for the site submitted, not the owner, so my question is does it matter if I do the working on / operating of the site but have the owner send in her W9?

In the meantime, I will login and download the help pdf,  see what I can see.

Answer:

Yes the owner (or whoever will be receiving the commission checks) are the ones that need to fill out the W9.

Question:

I would like to know some details from the affiliate terms and conditions and I didn't find them on the Help page. Can you please tell me:

1. If a customer comes from my page and buys a product but also buys some other products directly from Leerburg that are NOT on my page do I get commission?
2. If a customer comes from my site to the Leerburg site and then comes back to the Leerburg site, after a week or a month or... what is the time period in which I will still receive the affiliate commission?

Thanks.

Answer:

Affiliates do NOT receive commission for the other products that a customer purchases.

Shopping cart info (along with your affiliate commission tag associated with items in that shopping cart) are good for up to a year or until the customer manually clears out the cart.

Question:

Ryan,

Do you know of anyone using Big Commerce (e-commerce platform)? I am having trouble setting up the Leerburg affiliate program on my website. I went to their help desk with this issue and got the following response:

"Our software doesn't support a method where you can add third party products on your site that are provided by affiliates or provided by your affiliate record since you usually need to track commission."

"The affiliate field in the control panel are for sites who run a affiliate marketing network using a third party affiliate tool like Commission Junction to advertise their e-commerce site on third party sites."

Does this make sense to you? Is there anyway you can help? Caution - You're dealing with an idiot, I have very little experience in this field.

Matt

Answer:

I have not heard of anyone using our affiliate program with Big Commerce. Apparently Big Commerce doesn’t support 3rd party affiliate programs (only the big name ones). You will need to manually add the buy buttons via HTML editing.

Ryan

Question:

Hi Ed,

Couple of Questions:

Does the ‘Buy Now Button’ cause the buyer to redirect to Leerburg?  If so, how would the buyer return to our website for items in our shopping cart that are NOT Leerburg products?

With the ‘Buy Now Button’ would it not be better to have a ‘separate’ page for ONLY Leerburg affiliate products?  That way Plus Size Pups could notify the buyer that they will be redirected to Leerburg therefore their shopping cart items (non-Leerburg products) will be deleted?  (May be an irritation for the buyer)

For your affiliate program:

• What is the commission paid for the products sold?
• Do you market to our customers?
• What happens if items are backordered or out of stock?  How do you track the affiliate reference or is it dropped?
• How do we get credit for multiple purchases?  For example; if our customer selects ‘Buy Now’ for a harness yet also wants the leash and a training book, how are they redirected to our website for credit of the additional purchase(s)?
• Would it not be better to have the items collected for the buyer and then one Buy Now button?
• Can you send websites that currently have your affiliate program installed?

How do you become a dealer?  I’m concerned about the linear process for the Buy Now may be confusing to our customer since really don’t see how my customer can purchase multiple items with one transaction without being redirected.  We currently stock other products as dealers so this may be a better option.

Thanks,
Patty

Answer:

Hi Patricia;

I’ll answer your questions on the affiliate program. Questions about our dealer program can be answered by book@leerburg.com

#1. The buy now button does redirect the people to Leerburg.com. The way the program is setup now, is that they only checkout with Leerburg items on an affiliate program. There is no integration with other ecommerce applications or shopping carts.

#2. Most of our affiliates do have a “Leerburg only” page, so that their website users are not confused with other functions or sections of their websites.

#3. The commission varies from 7.5% to 25% of the sale price depending on the product. Once you are accepted into the program, you can see the breakdown on each item in the affiliate program.

#4. If a customer of your website checkouts through our affiliate program, they have the option to “opt in” to our weekly newsletter (if that’s what you mean by market).

#5. If a item is backordered or out of stock and they still check out and do not cancel the order, you still receive credit as soon as we charge that order.

#6. If a customer hits a buy button on your site and comes to ours, then adds additional items while on Leerburg.com, you only receive credit from that initial click on your site. If they go back to your site and add more Leerburg affiliate items from your site, you will receive credit for those.

#7. Our affiliate program is setup to go immediately to our site as soon as someone attempts to buy something. It is not setup for us to maintain a shopping cart on your site.

#8. Here are a few example affiliate sites

http://teacherspet.biz/Teachers_Pet_Dog_Training/Training_Supplies.html
http://www.bestbuddydogtraining.com/products.php

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Ryan