Established as one of the most reputable digital goods and software reviews website, BitsDuJour shares a long history with the Avangate Affiliate network, of not only building a successful partnership over the years, but also of helping each other grow since the very beginning. Both entities were launched more or less 10 years ago and this year we’ve had the honor and the pleasure of awarding BitsDuJour with our Gold Partner of The Year title.
Let’s meet the expert behind BitsDuJour, no other than Nico Westerdale, the founder of the company. Twitter
- How long have you been working in the affiliate marketing industry and what’s your main role at BitsDuJour?
BitsDuJour had just celebrated a decade in business. That’s a long time for affiliate marketing and a lot has changed since the start of the business. I formed the business, and oversee technology and strategy, Roger and Constantin handle sales and operations.
- What’s your biggest affiliate marketing challenge right now and why?
Well as I said a lot has changed from the “shareware” inception of the business. Now software is seen as a lot more of a platform, a service and of course, a mobile app than it used to be. With that discounting is common, as is the business model of offering a free trial. With recurring revenue models this makes it so that getting customer lock-in to a product is key. Affiliates like us often have a hard time of this, as the payoff is many months further down the road.
- Name the most successful affiliate project you’ve worked on. What do you think made it successful?
Our best sales are really from the best products. For us that means desktop software that really has to be on the desktop, and can’t be anywhere else. Examples that spring to mind are font management software, having that cloud based simply won’t work.
- Can you tell us three digital marketing trends every company should look at and prepare for in the next two years?
Yes, The Hyperloop, self-driving cars, and a Segway that actually works.
- How do you think our network helps BitsDuJour achieve its goals as an affiliate?
Avangate has always been a great partner for us at Bits. To be fair we do welcome all, but Avangate have been very proactive about working with software vendors who they and we think would be a good match for Bits. Avangate has us as a featured partner and that certainly does help in attracting the right offers.
- Any advice for affiliate newcomers who are promoting software and digital goods?
Yes, understand that the per-unit cost of software is really very negligible. The majority of software cost is up front, and discounting that you’re left with a low cost per acquisition. If you can reduce your support costs then discounting provides a very viable way of closing a sale. Many customers expect it now, and some companies have built in discounting and rarely sell at a full price. Where a good affiliate comes in is where they can open up new customer channels that you normally don’t have access to.
