Affiliate Marketing Revenues with a Twist
May 21st, 2008 Posted in Non-Profits, Strategy & Tactics
Amazon has an “affiliate marketing” program, where they pay others for driving traffic (and sales) to their site. If I read a book review on Seth Godin’s site, let’s say, and click on a link on his blog to buy the book, Amazon pays him a portion of the sale. Probably no more than a dollar or two, but if you get enough clickthroughs, it could become a nice passive revenue stream.
The problem is getting enough a) clickthrough opportunities (a lot of content), and b) audience (a lot of viewers).
Non-profit software developer Participatory Culture Foundation (creators of Miro, a video player) has an awesome idea for generating revenues: their fans give them credit for all Amazon sales, regardless of where they clicked through from.
Check it out at iheartmiro.org. They simply ask you to download a FireFox plug-in that makes sure that every purchase you make at Amazon is attributed to them.
This is an ingenious move for an organization with a large number of passionate fans. This would be a perfect tactic for any non-profit with a nationwide base. I wonder if anyone else out there is doing something this slick.
