edu affiliates?!?!?

markworth

New member
May 23, 2012
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OK guys ... go easy, I'm a newbie!

Any advice on how to track down successful affiliate marketers who are targeting college students?

Thanks!
 


I have a new business that targets college students. Now that the service offering is established and proven, and I have site stats that lend credibility (done through old-fashioned word-of-mouth networking), I'm looking to take the business from the introduction phase to the growth phase.

Even though this is an internet business ... I am completely out of my depth. So I'm trying to establish what kinds of information and incentives I need to show affiliates in order to attract them (as well as where to find them).
 
my mistake - I had originally intended to request information about how the likes of u phoenix run their programs etc...
 
I had originally intended to request information about how the likes of u phoenix run their programs etc...

That sentence makes little sense to me. You are intending to request information about how university of phoenix online runs their program? What do you want to know about their program in specific? Their lead acquisition strategy? How they interface with traffic providers? How they actually run their online school? You're going to need a little more detail to get any meaningful input otherwise prepare yourself for a spin.

I like how people use et cetera these days when they don't even go about explaining their first point well enough for the 'etc' to have a purpose.
 
The sentence says "I had originally intended" implying that the title should have been changed to something else ... again, my mistake for which I apologise.


What amuses me, however, is how you take issue with the use of "et cetera" when a) it was used appropriately (since additional information was redundant) and b) your own use of grammar (subject/possessive adjective/verb agreement ) is flawed!
 
^^^ what they said. You have about one more post before you sound like a raving moron, and no one will want to spend the time to sift through your shit to find out what you do.
 
Are you looking to send that traffic to an EDU lead form and generate rev that way?

Ive been in the EDU space for a long time and have done this thru online Portals and Call center solutions,

If you have Traffic to send to a landing page or website to "request" information from schools, we can deff work something out!

let me know if thats something u were looking to do.
 
OK - once again, I apologise for the title of the post. I should have changed it, but outside of the internet, edu and college student target market mean pretty much the same thing. As I said to begin with - I'm new ... so I really don't know the appropriate jargon or vernacular.


This is what I am seeking advice on: very simply, how do I drive traffic (college students) to my website? In essence my website operates as an intermediary between transacting college students. I currently have a few hundred members actively utilizing the site, average transaction size is $50, average number of transactions looks like it will be 5-7x per year, my margin is 20%, costs are negligible. I've not tried to drive traffic to the site thus far (but now the business is ready to grow). So to experienced eyes, does this look like something that affiliates might be interested in? If so how do I find suitable affiliates? Do you have other ideas and suggestions?
 
OK - once again, I apologise for the title of the post. I should have changed it, but outside of the internet, edu and college student target market mean pretty much the same thing. As I said to begin with - I'm new ... so I really don't know the appropriate jargon or vernacular.

You might think they are similar, but they are not. "Edu" deals with getting people into college. This may be in the form of college applications or (occasionally) counselling services. When someone says edu in this industry, they very rarely mean college student services (which it sounds like you're offering).

This is what I am seeking advice on: very simply, how do I drive traffic (college students) to my website? In essence my website operates as an intermediary between transacting college students. I currently have a few hundred members actively utilizing the site, average transaction size is $50, average number of transactions looks like it will be 5-7x per year, my margin is 20%, costs are negligible. I've not tried to drive traffic to the site thus far (but now the business is ready to grow). So to experienced eyes, does this look like something that affiliates might be interested in? If so how do I find suitable affiliates? Do you have other ideas and suggestions?

This statement is an oxymoron "my margin is 20%, costs are negligible". Your costs are 80%, even if that 80% doesn't come out of your pocket. Let's say you give someone 10% of the first transaction (is it a sale? Your choice of words is once again ambiguous), that's only $5. Let's say 10% of recurring sales, that's 12 months to make $25 off what might be a credit card transaction. Why would anyone want to bank roll your business for 12 months for $25 on a sale? Whats the LTV on a user? Whats your average conversion rate from lander? If you're not paying out a CPA based on your user LTV, and someone else is dealing with the 80% cost, then why would they want to work with you over going direct?
 
Insomniac, I appreciate your clarification on "edu"

You asked "why would they want to work with you over going direct" - because the market, online, doesn't exist and can't exist without some sort of broker (ie my business). Sounds fishy, I know, but I have no reason to lie.

For simplicity assume my average sale is $10 (ie 20% of $50) and LTV is $100 (ie $10 x 10 sales). My conversion from lander (clicking on the website for the first time) to sale is 25%. I'm not familiar with typical website metrics so if this is high it is because I've only generated highly qualified prospects through offline word-of-mouth communication so far.

I'm certainly not asking for someone to bank roll the business for 12 months ... I'd be willing to pay CPA (of say $25) based on the LTV. So. Is that enough to play ball? If it's not, do you have any suggestions?
 
You asked "why would they want to work with you over going direct" - because the market, online, doesn't exist and can't exist without some sort of broker (ie my business). Sounds fishy, I know, but I have no reason to lie.

If that's the case, you'll likely need to educate unaware affiliates about your existence. Locate hubs of relevant users, and contact the site owners directly. There are plenty of college forums around, student services, that kind of thing.

For simplicity assume my average sale is $10 (ie 20% of $50) and LTV is $100 (ie $10 x 10 sales). My conversion from lander (clicking on the website for the first time) to sale is 25%. I'm not familiar with typical website metrics so if this is high it is because I've only generated highly qualified prospects through offline word-of-mouth communication so far.

25% is significantly higher that anyone normally gets, and 10 sales (2 years according to previous statements) is generally a low churn. What you're suggesting is a form of group mentality. Since it's word of mouth, the students have each other to keep reminding themselves of your service. Think of it this way, if you have 5 friends using the same service, when it comes time to renew, they are likely to remind each other. However, if someone finds you on their own, the chances of receiving a social reminder is significantly lower. It's unlikely that affiliates are going to keep up the momentum and school saturation you require to have a 2 year churn. Approaching larger online communities are more likely going to give you the kind of return traffic you need to make it worthwhile for yourself, as your users get a lot more social reminders.

I'm certainly not asking for someone to bank roll the business for 12 months ... I'd be willing to pay CPA (of say $25) based on the LTV. So. Is that enough to play ball? If it's not, do you have any suggestions?

$25 will be enough for more "casual" affiliates (the types who already have the traffic). You have to realize the bulk of affiliates on this site are used to high CPA, high churn niches. I'd strongly suggest approaching potential affiliates yourself - accepting any ol' affiliate (based on your numbers) is likely to result in you being burnt by high churn rate.

People still need to know what it is you're offering, to know whether they should contact you.
 
im done here...

sounds like you want to know where to buy media...

test it and find out. Google would be the best place to start
 
I saw something about "University of Phoenix" in one of the above threads. I would rather sell products (i.e. health supplements or other miscellaneous items) that would provide a regular income derived from college students.

I would rather have you just post in general threads asking stupid shit and not do it in threads where people talk actually business.