Customer Reviews

Affiliate Selling: Building Revenue on the Web

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to say that I had high hopes for this book. However, once I received it, I was dissappointed. Everything that is in this book can be found on the Internet.

While this book does provide a lot of information, if you have researched Affiliate Selling at all...anywhere else...you probably already know what's in this book.

Having said that, if you are looking for a place to start to learn about Affiliate Selling, this may be it. This book is written for the person who knows absolutlely nothing about Affiliate Selling. It goes over places to sign up with and defines what Affiliate Selling is.

There are better books out there. This covers all the same basics that everyone else has, but there is nothing special here. Who are these "pioneering experts in the field" (quote from the back cover) who are unheard of in the Affiliate Manager community? Note that both of their companies (and affiliate programs) are dot-gone. Can you trust authors who actually think (no offense Mr. Bezos) that Amazon.com created this idea, when there are documented examples of programs running years before? Just examples of gross issues that detract from the "expert" value I need in an author before I will accept them as credible.

Dan Gray's book is a bit dated, but is better, and Shawn Collins' book gives a great perspective. Shawn is still managing one of the best run programs out there. Buy either of these books first.

The Helmstetter and Metivier book is better than most of the other titles in this category, but the category doesn't have any good books overall, so that's a pretty lukewarm recommendation. I can't characterize this book as a "must have" and find it fairly incredible that some other readers give it such high marks.

If you want to get up to speed quickly in affiliate marketing and affiliate programs, this is a good place to start. But you can skim this book in a few hours to get

what you need. Then its off to the Internet to get the latest information. In about two years, this book will be quite dated.

I think the authors are correct in their enthusiasm for affiliate marketing in general, but their treatment is superficial cheerleading. The mechanics of an affiliate program are pretty straightforward. It's the marketing that's difficult and they offer no insights here other than warmed over cliches.

I found "Affiliate Selling" a great resource. As an online merchant in the process of redeveloping and enhancing our program for our affiliates I found this book thorough, readable and very helpful. It provided me the successful affiliate's perspective on what they want and need to be mutually beneficial partners. Though I've been in affiliate marketing for some time now I'd picked it up to round out my industry knowledge and found a lot of new information. Both the book and website are great resources. I will be recommending both to new affiliates who are looking to ramp up quickly on how to maximize their partnerships.

Very good book outlining the big picture of how affiliate marketing will profoundly change Internet commerce and marketing. I sincerely believe that they are right in this even though they are only discussing the tip of the iceberg. Most of the book is devoted to the more practical aspects of implementing an affiliate program and maximizing revenue for the ones you are signed up to. The practical part includes a lot of good advice and really has no competition apart from Ken Evoy and Declan Dunn's even more practical books about the same subject. If one could wish for more, it would be more recent data and a little more stringent or academic approach the subject, as there is a big need for a textbook on the subject for students. Highly recommneded.

I bought this book hoping for some down to earth how to info on setting up my own affiliate program. There is one tiny little section in it that basically tells you to hire someone else. That aside, it's a great book to give you the working info on how affiliate programs work, where to sign up and how to make it profitable. I'm sure it's a great book for people that want to learn about affiliate programs, not to actually make your own. The authors have obviously done their research, and they have some inside info on the inner workings of the affiliate system. They also have rated their top 100 and listed them in the book. So, you basically can get started right away with making money on your website by adding some affiliate programs. So in that regard, this book is perfect for you. There isn't alot of books out there like this, so I'd grab it if that's the route you want to go. And despite it not being on point for me (when is there ever a book exactly what you need) I did gain some valuable insight.

Released in early 2000, this was one of the first books about affiliate programs and it still sets the standard. While it didn't predict the demise of the dotcoms, this book is still very relevant. For the beginner, its basics and useful tips are exactly what you need to get started. But for the advanced reader, its unique and prescient predictions about where things where things are going are VERY interesting. (If you replace some of the book's references to no-longer existing companies with the newer term "XML Web Services," you have what amounts to a book that was written 5-8 YEARS ahead of its time! For instance, the authors were completely accurate in their prediction of the return of the importance of the individual/small site, a notion which was heresy in 2000 when the web was totally dominated by massive funded companies competing using millions of dollars from their IPO war chests. I credit the authors with this foresight and find their other 50,000-foot-level insights to still be fresh, insightful, and completely unique among the books I've seen in this category. This aspect makes the book required reading for anybody who thinks they know anything about affilate programs today.

The only drawback of this book is that many of the examples sited in the directory of affiliate programs are no longer around. But the authors do reference other affiliate program directories which still exist and that is really all you need to know to find suitable programs today.

This book is copyright year 2000. Think about it! I just bought this book and I threw it away. I can't belive other people are selling this book on amazon. The title should be History of Affiliate Selling pre-y2k. There is No usable information in this book,Unless your are a history buff.

Helmstetter and Metivier offer an all-encompassing perspective of the affiliate marketing industry in their book Affiliate Selling. Readers are introduced to a number of marketing concepts, strategies, and companies that will get them results. Readers will learn from some of the best people in the industry, including Amazon.com, one of the premier models of online affiliate marketing today!

Merchant companies large and small have set up elaborate partnerships with linking companies and others to market their products and services. Bags, books, clothing, computers, flowers, food, music CD's, and toys are among the more popular items marketed through referral programs today. Readers will learn about affiliate marketing companies who make a living by bringing merchant companies and individual Website operators, companies, and organizations together. BeFree, LinkShare, and Commission Junction are some of the leading affiliate solution providers cited in the book that readers should know about.

The readers of this book will learn how they can enhance the value of their Websites by linking with merchants offering products and services directly related to their own Website objectives. Consider a pet store owner linking up with a respected brand of high quality, high-protein dog food. Travel agencies can team up with manufacturers and distributors of name brand travel bags and luggage sets. A book reviewer could link up with an online book dealer to provide quick sales and delivery of books to his readers at substantial savings over traditional methods of buying books!

This book offers a great amount of technical help to business operators and Web developers by demonstrating how easy it is to set up effective Web page links. Banners, graphics, text, scripts, strategic placement of logos, and affiliate membership criteria are covered to make setting up shop easy. Screen shots provide readers with some outstanding examples of actual Websites that offer various forms and styles of affiliate linking!

Affiliate marketing through referral programs has a lot to offer merchants and their affiliates. Prospects are good for them to generate a lot of money in the years to come. Whether readers are merchants or prospective affiliates, this book will help them get linked up with the people they are looking for. The authors cannot guarantee success but they do a great job of preparing and encouraging their readers. Do you have what it takes to be the next Amazon.com?

I am helping a web site develop affiliate selling programs. This book saved me countless hours of research to answer basic questions of how affiliate selling works, who are the key players in affiliate selling, and what are potential revenues. If that wasn't enought, the book also tells you how to increase hits at your web site.

This is a definite read for the many owners of web sites.

Ken Palla@aol.com