Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing might just be the answer for companies who want to advertise their online services and don’t have large marketing budgets . Affiliate marketing works by offering website owners the opportunity to place a banner on their website, for which they are not paid, but if anyone uses this banner to click through to the advertised website, this information is registered by means of highly secure and confidential IP tracking and commission is paid if a sale is concluded.

Online statistic company CAMS uses this system to market their absenteeism software called Absolv, which is effective in monitoring, benchmarking and then managing absenteeism in companies of all sizes.

“Our software is the only one of its kind the country, and companies who want to clamp down on rogue absenteeism and manage the health and wellness of their employees, will find this is the simplest way to do so,” says CEO of CAMS, Johnny Johnson.

“Absenteeism costs this country R 19 billion per year in direct costs and possibly three times that amount in indirect costs. It is imperative for every company’s bottom line for management to be able to keep track of where money is being wasted on absenteeism abuse, which employees need attention due to illness issues and which managers need training in motivating their employees to greater productivity. This information is available via our software of through our online portal.

Johnson explains how affiliate marketing works, “The CAM Solutions’ Affiliates Database contains all the tools necessary to help those who wish to be affiliates for CAM Solutions to be able to market themselves as such.

"Affiliates register at http://www.absolve.co.za/affiliates and select from a number of marketing banners and tools. These banners and marketing tools are then included in their websites or any in online communication they may have with their clients (e.g. newsletters, etc).

“When a web surfer clicks, through an affiliate link, to our Absolv website, the affiliate username and code that is set in their browser is noted. Their IP address is tracked and stored, in a secure format, in our database along with the affiliate name. When this person decides to sign up and use the Absolv online web-portal, the script will look for this affiliate user name and code and will identify the affiliate, who will then be awarded the commission. Visitors sent through this affiliate link (the web banner referred to earlier) may also decide to sign up at a later stage, and the commission will still be awarded as this information is stored in their browser, as long as they are using the same IP address as the one logged in the database.

"We feel it is imperative to point out that the process is safe and secure and as well as being 100% confidential," he notes.

Johnson says, “Affiliates earn 25% commission of the client’s initial sign-on fee (R1 250) and their monthly fee (R5.00 per employee per month)."

Michelle Bennett from website Eastern Gifts and Things says she has been running her affiliate marketing programme for over a year. Michelle is currently publishing a book on effectively running an e-commerce website, in which she details the benefits of affiliate marketing. She has nine affiliates registered on her Eastern Gifts and Things website, and they receive commission when their websites direct buyers to her site.

"It's a great way to market our product and our affiliates earn money by doing nothing except hosting our banner on their websites, it works for everyone," she adds.

Absenteeism due to stress increasing in South Africa

Absenteeism due to stress increased slightly in companies around South Africa in 2008 compared with the previous year - in line with indications that the country is experiencing an economic downturn. So far in 2008, 3.4% of all sick leave incidents were due to psychological illness such as stress, depression and anxiety up until the end of June this year. In 2006, 3.9 % of all sick absenteeism incidents were related stress, and in 2007 this figure was 3.1%. This was discovered on analysis of research carried out by Cam Solutions using Absolv absenteeism software, which generated statistics from 100 000 employees in 60 South African companies, using data from doctor-issued sick certificates for employees in these firms.

CEO of CAM Solutions, Johnny Johnson says, “Noting these statistics, it seems obvious that the with economic situation worsening in the country and firms - especially in the industrial sector - cutting back on staff, that employees might be feeling more strain, whether it be financial or emotional due to the risk of losing their jobs.

“Companies should therefore continue to ask themselves what they could do to make their staff happy and productive. If not, employees might eventually become so stressed as to be debilitated in the working environment.”

Some companies have already found innovative ways to deal with employee stress. Continental Tyre South Africa (CTSA) recently announced they would be offering debt counselling services to staff. The Eastern Cape’s first registered debt counsellor and former CTSA employee, Zuki Bhaku, visits the firm’s head office in Port Elizabeth every week to assist employees in managing and paying off their debts.

Bhaku, of Khomani Mavoko Debt Counsellors, says, “CTSA realised that many employees were in severe financial difficulty. This was causing people to be absent from work because they didn't even have taxi fare to come to work. Some employees would even go AWOL so that they can be dismissed and gain access to their provident fund to help them pay off mounting debts. After a few months they call asking to have for their old jobs back. Many people trying to survive in today’s economic climate have numerous loans, court orders and garnishees etc which all accumulate interest and so they become trapped in a vicious cycle of debt. Previously there was nothing one could do as the debt collectors had no mercy and people had to take out additional loans to survive from one week to the next.

"Debt counsellor consultation fees are paid by CTSA on behalf of their employees so they can access this service for free. The tyre firm does not know the names of the employees who come to me for a consultation, only the number of employees who are using the service,"Bhaku says.

CTSA PR and communications manager, Rene Oliver adds that this debt counselling service could be seen as part of CTSA’s employee wellness programme, “One could say it sees to the 'financial wellness' of employees. If one is financially fit, stress levels reduce and this translates into a better overall feeling of wellness and productivity.

According to the latest research undertaken by CAMS, about R 19.144 billion is lost due to sick absenteeism in South Africa, of that would mean that about R 325 million has been lost due to stress related absenteeism so far in 2008, by companies who had to pay the direct costs of sick leave. The indirect costs of staff replacement and lost productivity time, due to stress in 2008 trebles this amount to close on R 1 billion for the first half of the year.

Help Desk!

Morning,

CAM Solutions offers all its clients and affiliates a help desk question, where you can e-mail any query pertaining to absenteeism management and we will do our best to answer your query as effectively and efficiently as possible.

We recently had a query where one of our readers asked: I wanted to ask you about an organisation that have employees that travel everywhere and are not really based in the office - how would you implement the absenteeism management system?

Our answer:

Absenteeism management only works well if the time and attendance system is working properly. We often find that employers do not have good systems in place to ensure that the absenteeism records are accurate. The system may not be adequate to ensure that if a person is absent that it is always recorded. A good system should have a record of which employees should attend work (NB if shift work) and then identify those employees who were not at work. That list should then be modified as and when information on the reason for the absence is obtained. These could be due to, being late, family responsibility, sick leave, etc. Initially all absent employees should be recorded as AWOL until the reasons are received. If an employee is still recorded as AWOL after a period of time and no reasons are forthcoming for the absence, then obviously this may lead to disciplinary steps.

A time and attendance system is easy to implement if there is secure access to the work premises but may be more difficult where secure access is not present e.g. in an office environment. The client may want to utilise network log on times to assist with attendance management.

The absence management for the employees who travel a lot will be difficult and in most cases the employer will have to make use of innovative ways to control absenteeism. We know of a company that has a tracking system installed in the sales representatives cars. This is expensive and a little extreme when the best measure for a sales representative is sales performance. In other words, if the rep is stealing a day or two, but is exceeding sales targets, why worry too much!

For more information on other help desk queries, log onto: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/faq.php.

To submit your own query pertaining to absenteeism management, simply e-mail us on help@camsolutions.co.za.

There are three ways to access the ABSOLV software: 1. Through our on-line portal, 2. through a rental option or 3. an outright purchase. For more information, log onto: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/business-of-cams-p-34.html.

To use our software on line, log onto: www.absolv.co.za
To register as an affiliate partner, log onto: www.absolv.co.za/affiliates
For more information on CAM Solutions, log onto: www.camsolutions.co.za

Kindly confirm receipt of this e-mail by return e-mail.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Bennett
EXECUTIVE PA

CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: 041-368 1068
Cell: 084-236 6388
Fax: 086-524 1819

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/ or http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail contains confidential information and any unauthorised use or interception is illegal. If this e-mail is not intended for you, you may not copy, distribute or disclose the contents, including any attachments, to anyone, nor take any action in reliance on the content. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

A question from our Help Desk

We had the following question on our help desk: Please provide your charges per employee's. Thanks,

Our response:

Thank you for your e-mail below.

CAMS’ provides ABSOLV to various users being:

• HR Consultants
• Medical Aid Consultants
• Disability Case Managers
• Insurance Companies
• Providers of Employee Assistance Programmes, as well as
• Direct to employers

The software is provided under various options:

• On a rental based on a sliding scale starting at R3.50 per employee per month and reducing to R0.42 per employee per month at more than 105 000 employees. The average cost per employee at 105 000 employees is around R1.25 per employee per month. This is the most popular option as the major benefit is the “pay as you grow” basis with no large capital outlay required. A minimum fee of R1 250 per month applies. The software is loaded onto the client’s network and made available to any number of users with access to the network.
• On an outright purchase starting at R750 000, depending on the number of users. This option is aimed at larger employers or consultants with a large client base.
• Through the internet on a dedicated web site at http://www.absolv.co.za/ at a cost of R5 per employee per month. This is aimed at the smaller employer of less than 250 employees. This option can be offered by a consultant to their clients with a 25% referral fee paid by CAMS based on the total fee for all referred business.

In certain circumstances, usually during the initial take-on period of a new client, CAMS will act as a bureau and obtain data from the client, process this data and provide the necessary reports to the client.

The software has been developed to allow a consultant to install the system on their web server and thereby give their clients access to the system via the internet.

Currently ABSOLV has data from more than 170 000 employees which is used to develop benchmark information such as:

• Overall absenteeism rates
• Absenteeism rates applicable for various income levels
• Absenteeism rates for various age groups
• Expected duration and incident rates for various income levels and age groups
• Most common diagnosis for short term incidents and long term incidents
• The relationship between short term incidents and overall sick absenteeism rates

The main output from ABSOLV is an Absenteeism Management Report (AMR™). The report consists of two sections being the corporate information and the individual employee profiles. These reports are used extensively in the consulting process as well as integrated into the systems and procedures at employers.

ABSOLV is designed to identify employees who are outside of certain expected norms and to highlight these employees for further assistance either through employee wellness programmes, disability management programmes or in extreme cases for disciplinary action to be taken.

It is common for employers to manage sick absenteeism on a reactive basis rather than on a proactive basis. The ABSOLV system provides information and indications of problems before these are evident and the system can be integrated into the payroll and HR systems and used as an effective tool to management sick absenteeism.

The system has been designed to cater for up to 7 different classifications which means that an employer can report, as an example, by region, branch, department or even job classification. An employer can then set benchmarks and measure departments against similar departments or even set performance criteria for department managers to achieve.

Individual absenteeism profiles are generated which measures individual employees against a set of criteria such as the expected number of visits to a medical practitioner, number of different diagnosis codes and short and long term incidents. These profiles are further enhanced through the calculation of two unique indices called and Absenteeism Index (AI™) and a Health Index (HI™) which provides an indication of sick leave abuse and serious health conditions respectively. In addition to the above CAMS also provides training to consultants who wish to offer sick absenteeism management but do not have the necessary skills.

ABSOLV can also be used as a tool to perform one-off absenteeism and health audits and also later integrated within the employees systems and procedures to continually monitor and control sick absenteeism.

Please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Johnny Johnson (CEO for CAM Solutions) should you be interested in acquiring access to this software. Johnny can be contacted on 083 270 4630.

• To use our software online, log onto: www.absolv.co.za
• To register as an affiliate partner, log onto: www.absolv.co.za/affiliates
• For more information on CAM Solutions, log onto: www.camsolutions.co.za

Kindly confirm receipt of this e-mail by return e-mail.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Bennett

EXECUTIVE PA

CAM Solutions

CAM Solutions - Absolv!

Good Day,

As you may well know, absenteeism costs the economy in excess of R19 billion a year. And that just covers the direct costs; indirect costs could count for two to three times that figure. There are many reasons for absenteeism - people who are genuinely ill and those people who abuse the system. Sick leave is a conditional privilege, not a right to be taken at will.

Do you know how your company contributes to this figure of R19 billion a year? Do you know what your current absenteeism rate is? Do you know how to filter through the abusers of sick leave from those who are genuinely ill? Are you targeting specific people within your organisation - or are you dealing with the problem at hand? Absenteeism could be costing your company huge amounts of money each month and you can't fully handle the problem, or resolve your absenteeism crisis, until you start to measure and benchmark where you currently are.

And this is where Absolv comes into play. Absolv is a software program, run over the Internet that aids you in monitoring your absenteeism as a company and per individual in your company. Not only can we aid you in reducing your absenteeism cost, we can highlight all areas that require your attention in creating a work force working to combating absenteeism. It is vital to know what your absenteeism rate is and then look at ways of bringing down this absenteeism rate through various interventions.

CAM Solutions deals mostly with sick absenteeism and other forms of unplanned absenteeism (AWOL, Family Responsibility Leave etc) that is measured and reported on through our ABSOLVTM software. This software produces a report called the Absenteeism Management Report (or AMRTM for short) – I have attached a sample AMR for you to view. This sample report will give you a good idea on what type of information you will be able to receive for your company.

Please note that it is extremely difficult to determine the “normal” absenteeism rate in any sector of the economy as sick absenteeism is dependant on a number of factors, including:

• The demographics of the employees
• Age
• Sex
• Responsibility levels
• The nature of the industry

Due to the above factors it’s not possible to determine an appropriate norm for each sector but rather to determine the absenteeism profile of each employer and to consider each of the factors separately. The factors to consider are:

• Average absenteeism rate
• Average length of each sick leave absence
• Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
• Short term ratio versus long term ratio
• Absenteeism rate per age category
• Absenteeism per department/region etc
• Absenteeism per earnings level (or better still per grade)

The above can be achieved by producing an absenteeism management report (AMR™) and analysing this in detail.

At a micro level each employee can then be measured against their peers using benchmarks such as:

• Average absenteeism rate
• Average length of each sick leave absence
• Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
• The CAMS Absenteeism Index (AI™)
• The CAMS Health Index (HI™)

In general we find that sick absenteeism levels should not be more than 2% per annum, i.e. if an employee is expected to work 250 days during a year then they should not be off sick more than 5 days per annum, on average.

We have found the absenteeism rate is higher for lower paid employees versus the high income earners. This is however more related to responsibility levels rather than income levels. Low paid employees, generally, have less responsibility, which then affects job satisfaction and morale which has an impact on absenteeism.

This report also aids employers in assisting those employees who are genuinely ill by highlighting those diagnoses that require attending to.

Should you be interested in using this software, kindly log onto http://www.absolv.co.za for more information.

• To use our software online, log onto: www.absolv.co.za
• To register as an affiliate partner, log onto: www.absolv.co.za/affiliates
• For more information on CAM Solutions, log onto: www.camsolutions.co.za

Kindly confirm receipt of this e-mail by return e-mail.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Bennett
EXECUTIVE PA

CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: 041-368 1068
Cell: 084-236 6388
Fax: 086-524 1819

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/ or http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail contains confidential information and any unauthorised use or interception is illegal. If this e-mail is not intended for you, you may not copy, distribute or disclose the contents, including any attachments, to anyone, nor take any action in reliance on the content. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

Help Desk Queries

CAM Solutions boasts a help desk where you can e-mail queries to help@camsolutions.co.za and we will endeavour to assist you with your absenteeism related queries. We recently received this query:

What is a normal absenteeism in the automotive manufacturing industry? How does it differ between those who earn $15.00 and those who earn $28.00 per hour?

The answer:

CAM Solutions deals mostly with sick absenteeism and other forms of unplanned absenteeism (AWOL, Family Responsibility Leave, etc). It is extremely difficult to determine the "normal" absenteeism rate in any sector of the economy as sick absenteeism is dependant on a number of factors, including:

• The demographics of the employees
• Age
• Sex
• Responsibility levels
• The nature of the industry

Due to the above factors it's not possible to determine an appropriate norm for each sector but rather to determine the absenteeism profile of each employer and to consider each of the factors separately. The factors to consider are:

• Average absenteeism rate
• Average length of each sick leave absence
• Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
• Short term ratio versus long term ratio
• Absenteeism rate per age category
• Absenteeism per department/region etc
• Absenteeism per earnings level (or better still per grade)

The above can be achieved by producing an absenteeism management report (AMR) and analysing this in detail. At a micro level each employee can then be measured against their peers using benchmarks such as:

• Average absenteeism rate
• Average length of each sick leave absence
• Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
• The CAMS Absenteeism Index (AI)
• The CAMS Health Index (HI)

In general we find that sick absenteeism levels should not be more than 2% per annum. i.e. if an employee is expected to work 250 days during a year then they should not be off sick more than 5 days per annum, on average.
We have found the absenteeism rate is higher for lower paid employees versus the high income earners. This is however more related to responsibility levels rather than income levels. Low paid employees, generally, have less responsibility, which then affects job satisfaction and morale which has an impact on absenteeism.

The benchmark absenteeism rate for the Automotive Industry (based on South African statistics), which according to our records is 1.77%. This is calculated (incident days / exposed days as a %). According to our research the lower income earners take more sick leave, but one also needs to consider the impact of the indirect costs.

Should you have any query you'd like us to assist you with, kindly e-mail us on help@camsolutions.co.za.

Kind regards,

THE CAM SOLUTIONS' TEAM

Affiliate Newsletter

Morning,

Sick absenteeism management is rapidly becoming an area where a number of consultants in the HR arena are offering their services to employers and creating an additional revenue stream.

Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd (CAMS) is a South African based company which is regarded as the leader with regard to sick absenteeism management and providing benchmark information on absenteeism. (A Google search using combinations of the key words “CAMS”, “Johnny Johnson”, ”AIC” will provide a number of results to support this assertion).

The company owns specialised software, called ABSOLV™, which is utilised by various consultants and employers to perform sick absenteeism audits and to provide ongoing consulting services aimed at reducing sick absenteeism. The software is also used as a tool to measure and monitor the health status of an employer in general and its employees specifically. A sample of the main output from the system, the Absenteeism Management Report (AMR™) can be viewed on our website - click here.

Currently CAMS has more than 100 000 active employees on the ABSOLV system and a historical database of more than 170 000 employees which is used to derive meaningful benchmark information.

This software is now available to all consultants with the major advantage being that it is available on a “pay-as-you-grow” basis. This means that the consultant can match their costs with revenues and there is no need to outlay large amounts of capital or to incur upfront or monthly costs before any revenue is earned. Flexible options are available which allows the software to be accessed via the internet (aimed at smaller employers) or loaded on your network, or web server, and accessed by a number of users, aimed at the larger employer or consultant with a large number of clients.

Consultants can also register as an affiliate; refer clients to the ABSOLV™, and earn a referral commission of 25% on all revenue earned from that client should they sign up as an ABSOLV™ user. Clients using ABSOLV™ through our web-portal will pay an initial sign-on fee of R1 250 and then R5 per employee per month thereafter. The affiliate will earn 25% commission on all incoming monies. The ideal clients for the ABSOLV™ web-portal are employers with 250 employees or less.

Ideally, affiliates should be involved in one or more of the following industries:

• Health Management
• Employee Benefits
• Human Resources
• Risk Management
• Productivity Improvement
• Absenteeism Management
• Corporate Wellness
• Disability Management
• HIV/AIDS Management

Consultants in the HR industry can increase their revenue by offering an additional sick absenteeism management service to their existing clients with little effort through the use of ABSOLV™. In addition CAMS offers a two day sick absenteeism management training programme aimed at equipping consultants with the necessary skills to offer this service.

The individual earnings of employees is recorded and utilised to calculate the overall cost of sick absenteeism and can also be used, together with the job grades, to provide useful remuneration information at a later stage. Should you be interested in becoming an affiliate, kindly log onto http://www.absolv.co.za/affiliates to create an account. Kindly bear in mind that your application will need to be approved by CAM Solutions first.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in this regard.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Bennett
EXECUTIVE PA

CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: 041-368 1068
Cell: 084-236 6388
Fax: 086-524 1819

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/ or http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail contains confidential information and any unauthorised use or interception is illegal. If this e-mail is not intended for you, you may not copy, distribute or disclose the contents, including any attachments, to anyone, nor take any action in reliance on the content. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.