Affiliate networks, for those not leveraging them, can be a powerful catalyst for traffic generation and actions on your website. This applies equally well for both advertisers and publishers.

There are really no analogies for tactics that cost nothing up-front offline but can generate powerful leads, registrations, sales or other actions.

Some key nuggets you need to know and then look for a Top 10 list of Affiliate Networks  you may want to research in a follow-up post. This advice is drawn from my past experience in custom affiliate networks in gaming and experts currently teaching a program I am taking, Jim Kukral and Chris Penn.

Key facts:

1. Networks allow users to get affiliate offers from merchants
2. Work by embedding code on your site that is tracked
3. Conversion on merchant goals generates commissions
4. Networks vary by features, offer type and vertical focus
5. Look for the best, most relevant offers
6. Consider sign-up on multiple networks to track best offers
7. Track network reporting, review and make adjustments
8. Text ads may outperform banners
9. Each network requires an application program so you must be comfortable providing corporate and personal info
10. Works best for higher margin, scalable merchants with good cash flow and flexibility in presentation (e.g. affiliates may promote more aggressively than you are use to)

Our own experience with affiliates is that it is critial to have systems in place to manage their timely payment and enquiries.  The growth can be viral and you need to be ready if you have a good product - you can really drive your traffic.

Stay tuned as we share more on a demo we are undertaking with the Google Affiliate network for premium content for riiPlay.tv.  We’ll share what we learn with our readers.

Well, perhaps it is only surprising that Mark Burnett, master reality TV show producer, of Survivor fame, took this long to produce a show on finding funds from investors.  Shark Tank will air this fall on ABC.

Canadians will find it interesting to see two of the Dragon’s from CBC TV’s Dragon’s Den, Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavic now re-cast in the animal kingdom as “sharks.”  Apparently Dragon’s are not native to the United States…

You can see more on the news at the link above and watch this pre-view which in typical cheesy reality show fashion, describes the premise.  If you want to practice your pitch, take advantage of the free platform at www.fundfindr.com and get connected to investors, services, advice  - minus a few sharks.

fundfindr.com was recently featured on a Get Connected TV episode on start-ups. Check out host Mike Agerbo on the Get Connected website talking about how one of the biggest challenges for new businesses is funding. You can also see the feature via the You Tube link in the video thumbnail above.

Get Connected TV describes fundfindr as an “easy to use pitching site” and a “great resource to hone your pitching skills.” Mike demonstrates many of the features and benefits so check it out.

You can also see this feature in a podcast at getconnectedradio.com. This episode also featured our friends and Pitchies sponsors at Sitemasher - we recommend you check their exciting new website builder and CMS out!