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To help us with some market research please could you answer the above question. The answers are available for all to view once you have voted.

Everyone with any knowledge of affiliate marketing will know that providing merchant discount codes is key to many affiliates’ business strategy.

So is affiliate marketing all about discount codes? Well simply, no… partner with the right affiliates through the right networks, utilising functionality that suits your relationship with them then the sky is the limit. Affiliates can be capable of delivering huge quantities of traffic that generates valuable revenue all at rates of commission set to suit your marketing strategy and return on investment (ROI) goals. However in my experience many merchants find when their affiliate marketing is scrutinised the majority of it comes from discount codes. Often these merchants don’t understand affiliate marketing and haven’t invested sufficiently to allow this aspect of their online marketing to flourish or have simply left it to go stagnant. Like everything in business affiliate marketing must be invested in and then maintained if it is going to become a serious part of your strategy.

So are discount codes good or bad for online merchants? This really is impossible to give a general answer. Discount codes can be great for some and terrible for others. They can keep customers coming back to your site time after time and they can also kill off the perception of exclusivity that you have spent so long to building up.

So why should I be concerned about affiliates using discount codes? Well if all affiliates do is provide your customer with a discount on a purchase they were going to make anyway (because the affiliate has a well optimised affiliate discount code site and your sites checkout shows you accept discount codes) then you are potentially giving up valuable revenue unnecessarily!

The important thing to remember is your business needs a marketing strategy that considers all the the relevant factors. Is you aren’t familar with any of the concepts then you should seek advise from someone who is.

Before you go through the process of getting a new website ensure you think about online marketing first.

If online marketing is important to your business then it is key to its success that you consider the best website infrastructure and functionality to facilitate your online marketing strategy. All too often online marketing is only considered once other less important factors have been decided which can reduce the potential online marketing capability of your new website.

When considering how your website is going to work remember to think about the basics the website should have in order to be optimised. Where possible try to factor in rules, automation and settings which will fill in the basics for you to reduce the manual requirement and negate human error or lack of intervention.

Your pre-build web spec should include details of the infrastructure and functionality which enables your online marketing and you must be sure you understand how this will work.

Remember your website’s infrastructure will effectively define how your online marketing will function. If online marketing is crucial to your business then you need to be sure you know what the infrastructure needs to deliver. If you aren’t absolutely certain of what you need then I advise you seek advice from someone who is!