The cashback program is on a CPA basis (Cost Per Action). This means as an advertiser you only pay when a user takes an action in this case that means buys a product from you. Meanwhile to be listed you have "bid" on where you will be listed. The higher the bid the higher the CashBack that shows for the customer and the higher you show for that product in the results. Remember you do not have to pay for views or even clicks only when the customers buys the product. Cashback takes your bid and pays the customer a percentage of it and a percentage is kept by Microsoft. We of course don't know what percantage kept and what is passed to the customer.
Can Anyone Join?
Unfortunately not anyone can joing the CashBack program. There is a list of requirements to join Cashback as an Advertiser! In order to advertise in Live search using the Cashback service you have to meet several qualifications. First you must be headquartered in the United States.
Second you must have a retail site with e-commerce capabilities and be able to "fulfil" the physical shipment of the product. Basically you have to have an online store and be able to ship the product you are advertising. My guess is if your reading this an your not an affiliate you probably already have both.
Third you must be able to create and maintain a product data feed. CashBack needs this to be able to list your products with other competing products when users use Live Search. Depending on the e-commerce software package you are using most likely already have this. If you sell over 50 items I'd be pretty sure that you have it, if not get it not just for CashBack but for your sanity.
Fourth you have to be able to implement a standard tracking pixel on your website's order confirmation page. You should already have some type of tracking if you have an e-commerce site. If your not sure never fear most of the pre-built e-commerce software packages have this capability.
I'm Qualified How do I Join?
Currently most of the major vendors are already on the Cashback program like Borders, Tigerdirect, Ebay, etc. If you want to joind the service and you qualify you just have to fill out an Interest Form. See our screen shots for the type information you will need to fill it out. Or if you already advertise with MSN contact your representative and they will walk you through the rest of Microsoft Live Search Cashback signup.
Once your signed up you still need to bid on key words. Unlike Google Adwords you aren't bidding per click for each keyword which can take a lot of maintenance. Instead you're bidding per action in this case per purchase. Yes, you will be bidding against the "big companies" like Borders, Ebay, Tiger Direct, etc. Like Google adwords the key is to find good overlooked keywords and then get near the top of the search results by bidding higher. The higher you bid the more money that customers will get cashback.
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