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To download the full Version 5 Manual, please go to http://manual.volusion.com

As mentioned in subsequent chapters of the Volusion V5 Manual under the Reports system, Volusion provides functions for 3rd parties to register with store owners to become affiliates. These affiliates act as an extended arm of advertisers, advocates, bloggers and grass-roots-style organizations that can help drive traffic to an online store.

Volusion V5 provides tools to track, manage and even reward third party affiliates. Portions of this system are contained within Volusion's Reports pages however the data V5 manages in terms of affiliates registered with a store is contained and managed within the Affiliates area in the Volusion Administration Page.

Getting Started:

This portion of the Volusion V5 Manual will detail how customers can sign up to become affiliates with a Volusion store as well as explain the inner-workings of the affiliate system such as administering affiliate commission rates and payments. As the affiliates system within Volusion also pertains to settings or information within the Reports portion of the Volusion system, it is recommended to review the Affiliate Stats and ROI Tracking chapters of the V5 manual either before or after completing this chapter.

Part I - Becoming an Affiliate:

An affiliate is a special type of customer within the Volusion store. These are Volusion customers who have requested (and have been approved by the merchant) to enter in a store's affiliate program. Once approved, the customer will have their customer account's access type set to Affiliate and will be given a special URL, linked to their affiliate account ID. This URL can then be placed in any number of online marketing materials. Any visits to the Volusion store, orders and sales from this special URL will be recorded by the Volusion system - allowing merchants to track the effectiveness of their affiliates.

Typically, potential affiliates will contact merchants regarding registration for official affiliate status. Additionally, potential affiliates may be directed to the affiliate registration process from the Volusion store front via the "Become and Affiliate" link located by default in the store front footer. Additionally, merchants may wish to create website text articles or custom category pages to advertise this registration to potential affiliates.

Visitors to a Volusion store can sign up to become a store affiliate by doing the following:

• Near the bottom of the Volusion storefront, visitors can click on the "Become an Affiliate" link.
• Following this, visitors will have to log into their Volusion store account in order to complete the affiliate sign up process.
• If visitors do not have an account, they'll be prompted to create one.
• Once the customer account is created, prospective affiliates will be prompted to enter their website address and a tax ID number (usually either a social security or EIN number), in order to verify the address payments can be made payable to.
• Clicking Continue will complete the sign up process for the affiliate - they will receive a notice that their affiliate account will be activated after a 24 hour approval process.

From here, a store administrator must manually approve the customer's account to officially grant them affiliate status. This step is also quite easy.

• Log into the Volusion Admin Page and click on the Customers tab.
• Click on the Customers link in the purple menu bar.
• Within the main Customers table, administrators can click on the ID of the customer they wish to promote to affiliate status to edit the account.
• In the customer account settings, the administrator must select Partner / Affiliate from the Access Key drop-down menu and click Save Changes to grant the customer affiliate status.

Once this process is complete, the customer will officially become an affiliate within the Volusion store.

Merchants can view a list of active affiliates within their Volusion store by doing the following:

• Log into the Volusion Administration Page and click on the Marketing tab.
• Click on the Affiliates link in the orange menu bar.
• This will redirect to the Affiliates table view page.
• All affiliates will be listed here.
• Note that each affiliate presented here contains the same settings as that affiliate's entry in the Volusion Customers table.
• Click the ID number of an affiliate to view their account settings in the Volusion Customers database.

Note:

Once a customer has been made an affiliate, they can log into their customer account at the Volusion store and can click on the "Visit My Affiliate Page" link at the bottom of the page. From here, affiliates will have access to reports on the number of click-throughs, sales and commission they have generated in their affiliate account as well as up to 4 sub-affiliates that can be registered under them.

Each affiliate's page will also contain a link to enable them to quickly create HTML banner ads that can be posted on web sites and in emails (these banner ads will contain links back to the Volusion store plus the affiliates ID information for tracking purposes).

Finally, this page will contain the affiliate's link. This link is the URL of the Volusion store accompanied with the affiliate's ID information. Clicking on this link will redirect visitors to the Volusion store and will record all sales and click-throughs under the affiliate's account. Affiliates will want to copy this URL and embed it as a hypertext link on any websites or in any email/online marketing material they have access to.

Part II - Affiliate Payouts:

Clicking on the Affiliate Payouts tab will reveal a table containing specific affiliate settings for all affiliate active within the Volusion store. Affiliates will be listed here by their affiliate ID number. Information in this table will display the commission level the affiliate is assigned to (there are 5 levels, depending on if the affiliate is a parent or sub-affiliate). The information contained within this table is as follows:

Affiliate Payouts
Precent1 *	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 1 (primary) affiliate. This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Percent2 *	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 2 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Percent3 *	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 3 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Percent4 *	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 4 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Percent5 *	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 5 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Group_Title	If several affiliates or affiliate campaigns are being conducted in relation to a single company or entity, this field can be applied to the affiliate to group them under a single label.
AffiliateID *	The ID of the affiliate (also the ID of the affiliate's customer account) will be listed in this field.
ParentID *	If the affiliate is a sub-affiliate (an affiliate that signed up with a Volusion store when linked to the store from another affiliate's tracking URL) the ID of their parent affiliate will be listed here.
DaysToTrack	This field can be configured to track click-throughs and purchases within your store that resulted from a customer entering your store from an affiliate's link for a specific number of days. For regular affiliates, this field will be empty - allowing Volusion to track the affiliate's activity indefinitely.
AffiliateType	One of 4 different affiliate types can be selected from this drop down. Affiliate entries can be Regular Affiliates, Newsletters, Ad Campaigns or defined as Other.
News_ID	If the affiliate entry corresponds to an email newsletter ("Affiliate Type of Newsletter"), the ID of the newsletter can be listed here.

Part III - Paying Affiliates:

Arguably, the most important part of the Volusion Affiliates system is the portion of the software that manages affiliate payments. The primary incentive for affiliates to register with and help direct traffic (and sales) to an online store is the commissioned payments affiliates can receive based on the amount of sales they can generate for the store.

Merchants can pay their affiliates by visiting the Volusion Affiliates page. From the main Affiliates page, simply click the blue Pay Affiliates button to view a list of pending payments.

From within the Pay Affiliates page, merchants will be able to view a list of the following information for each affiliate that is currently owed commission:

PayChecks for Affiliates
AffiliateID	This field will contain the ID number of the affiliate reported within each row of data in this table.
Name	If the affiliate has entered a company name into their profile, it will be displayed here.
Company Name	If the affiliate has entered a company name into their profile, it will be displayed here.
Total Earnings	The total sum of commission the affiliate is to be paid will be listed in this field.
Last Paid	The date of the last payment issued for each affiliate will be listed here.
Date of Most Recent Sale	The date of the most recent sale generated through the affiliate's tracking URL will be listed here.

To pay commissions to the affiliates listed in this table, define the date up to when commissioned sales will be paid for. Merchants can enter this into the text box near the top of the page and click Go.

This will reload the contents of the PayChecks for Affiliates table, displaying all affiliate commission data based on the date entered by the merchant near the top of the page.

Merchants must then click the "Click here to print all checks for the selected period" link below the date field to complete the payment process.

This will redirect to the "Automated Check Printing" page - where merchants can actually set up and print the checks they will issue to their affiliates. Here, merchants must complete 2 final steps to finish the payment process.

Step 1:

Merchants can generate electronic checks for payable commissions by entering a date for the check, an optional memo, selecting to print 1 or 3 checks per page and finally print the checks by clicking the Print Checks button.

Once checks are printed, click the web browser's back button to return to this page and proceed to step 2.

Step 2:

Once all checks have been printed for affiliates, click the button marked, "Yes, I've Successfully printed ALL of the checks" in order to have the store adjust the balances for the commissions paid.

Note that once this button has been clicked, all eligible commissions will be marked as paid by the Volusion store. The affiliates processed will be considered paid and not further payment or checks can be processed by the system until the next applicable billing period.

Note that once Step 2 is completed, merchants will not be able to reprint checks. Be sure that all necessary checks are printed before completing Step 2.

Note on Computer Checks

As mentioned above, merchants can use the Volusion Affiliates page to pay affiliate commissions via computer checks. These are actual, printed checks that can be ordered through any major bank or financial institution. These checks then have the affiliate information, including amounts to be paid printed on them using the Affiliate page and a standard, computer printer. These checks can then be issued to affiliates by mail. The funds payable when checks are cashed can come from the merchant's bank account of choice. Please contact a local bank for more information on ordering computer printable checks.

Summary:

Once the steps outlined in this portion of the chapter are complete, merchants will be able to complete payment to their affiliates. Do note that printing actual checks for payment to affiliates is an optional process - though Step 2 of the check printing/payment process must always be complete. Merchants must use electronic computer checks for their payment processing if they intend to use these functions within Volusion V5. Electronic computer checks can be purchased from any local banking institution.

Part V - Affiliate Settings:

Additionally, merchants can configure the rates that future affiliates who register with their store receive payable commission at. This is within the Affiliate Settings tab in the Affiliates page and can be accessed as follows:

• Log into the Volusion Admin Page and click the Marketing tab.
• Click the Affiliates link in the orange menu bar.
• Click the blue Affiliate Settings tab near to the top of the table.
• Merchants should then be able to view the 7 entries in the "Affiliate System Setup" table.
• Note that there must be a value set in every field in this table in order for the affiliate system to function.

This table contains the following settings:

Affiliate System Setup
Config_Affilaite_MinimumCheck	This field represents the minimum amount of commission an affiliate can be paid at a given time. For example, when affiliates are paid for a 1 month period, with this value set to 50.00, any affiliate that as earned at least $50 in commission will be paid. Any affiliate that has yet to earn the minimal amount will not be paid during the period and instead will be paid on the following paid-out period, provided their earned commission is at least this minimal amount.
Config_AffilaiteTrackDays	This field allows the number of days a new affiliate will be tracked to be set.
Config_PercentLevel1	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 1 (primary) affiliate. This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Config_PercentLevel2	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 2 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Config_PercentLevel3	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 3 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Config_PercentLevel4	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 4 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).
Config_PercentLevel5	This field lists the percentage paid in commissioned sales to a level 5 affiliate (sub-affiliate). This value must be zero or greater and represented in numerals up to 2 decimal places (e.g. 0.05, 0.10, 0.01).

Note that the settings contained within this table only affect affiliates when they initially register with the Volusion store. Changes applied to these settings do not update pre-existing affiliates. To modify these settings for pre-existing affiliates, edit the affiliate entry within the Affiliate Payouts tab as described above.

Tips and Special Settings:

Accessing Affiliate Banner Ads:

Once an affiliate has their account created, they can access both their personalized tracking URL as well as any banner graphics configured for use within the Affiliates page.

After having logged into their account, at the bottom of the account page, affiliates will find the "Visit My Affiliate Page" link.

Once affiliates have clicked on this link, they will be able to view their affiliate account stats. Within this page, affiliates can then click on the "Generate Banner Ads" link within the Advertising Tools section.

This will allow affiliates access to one of several possible banner ads for the Volusion store that they can implement within their own blog, online forum or web site.

Each banner ad contains the affiliate's personalized tracking URL as a hypertext link which can be used to redirect visitors to the store.

Affiliates can simply copy the HTML provided in the banner ad forms on this page and then implement this code in any web page they may have access to.

Note that before affiliates can use the store's banner ads that merchants will need to create or generate the actual graphic content for use with the banner ads and upload them to the Volusion store. Note the following:

Volusion supports up to 3 different types of affiliate banner ads. These banner graphics will need to be contained within the following locations within the Volusion store:

• v/vspfiles/templates/X/images/banners/banner1.gif
• v/vspfiles/templates/X/images/banners/banner2.gif
• v/vspfiles/templates/X/images/banners/banner3.gif

Banner graphics can be created using a variety of imaging software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or other, similar software products.

Once banner images have been created, they can be uploaded to the directory locations listed above, using the Volusion store's built-in FTP account. See the following article for more information on accessing the Volusion store via FTP: Setting Up Volusion FTP

Note that the banner graphics for the affiliate banner system only support the .GIF image file type and are required to be named "banner1.gif", "banner2.gif" and "banner3.gif" as stated above.

Affiliates vs. Sub-Affiliates:

As mentioned above, the Volusion Affiliates system can track affiliates and sub-affiliates. A sub affiliate is essentially an affiliate of an affiliate. In fact, sub-affiliates can even have their own sub-affiliates. This hierarchy is broken down into level 1 (primary), level 2, level 3, level 4 and finally level 5 affiliates.

The importance of having a sub affiliates is that it allows merchants the ability to distribute affiliate-based marketing across a wide range of individuals.

Signing up to become a sub-affiliate (an affiliate's affiliate) is equally simple to do with Volusion. A prospective sub-affiliate simply needs to visit the Volusion store by clicking on a pre-existing affiliate link. Once they have been redirected to the Volusion store, the prospective sub-affiliate can sign up to become an affiliate with the Volusion store. Once the affiliate sign up process is complete, the visitor will now be an affiliate of the owner of the affiliate link they used to visit the Volusion store.

Summary:

The Affiliates page within Volusion V5 is a powerful tool that can help merchants extend the reach of their online store by marketing across a broad range of areas through the use of 3rd party affiliates. The Affiliates system allows merchants to track affiliate performance and easily administer the payment of commissions to 3rd party advocates who drive traffic and sales to the online store. Becoming an affiliate is equally simple as this process is tied into the Volusion store's customer registration functions. Prospective affiliates simply need to request to be come one and provided they are approved by the merchant, Volusion takes care of the rest. Additionally, please review the ROI Tracking and Affiliate Stats chapters in the Volusion V5 Manual for further information and tips on how to manage affiliates in Volusion.

Tags: affiliates, pay affiliates, referral