If you are an online merchant and you don’t have an affiliate program then you are not maximizing your online presence. There are several different affiliate management products who make the process of setting up and managing an affiliate program as painless as possible. If you need some extra motivation then think about an army of commissioned salespeople promoting your product who only get paid if they produce sales. And, lastly, realize that every one of your online competitors has an affiliate program so you need one just to stay in the game.
So what do affiliates want? How can you set up a program that will appeal to them? First and foremost, they want a product that sells. If they send you a lot of traffic and none of it converts to sales then you will see that traffic go away as they move on to other programs and products. Secondly, they want a large commission. If they’re only making a tiny little bit on each sale then it’s not worth their time to do all the creative work needed to promote your products. You need to make their job as painless as possible by providing them with a choice of high quality creatives they can use to promote your products. Give them 20 or more beautiful banners in at least 12 different sizes they can use. Lastly, be sure you pay them on a regular schedule. Set up a system so that your checks go out like clockwork because an affiliate who has to ask for his money, or who gets it late, is not going to be a long-term partner.
In the beginning (late 90s) affiliate programs were very straightforward — partners would earn a percent of whatever sales they brought to the merchant. Today, the plans vary quite a bit. You can pay your partners for things other than sales (i.e. leads) and in ways other than a percent (i.e. a fixed fee per sale or lead, or even every month if you’re selling a recurring subscription product). There are also multi-tier programs where partners make money from other partners that they bring you. This can be a good way to get a lot of partners in your program. It may sound like a lot to manage but its simple once you set up the rules and use a service like ShareASale or LinkShare. They have all these rules programmed in already; you just tell them what kind of plan you want to offer to your partners and they do the rest.
Be sure and treat your partners well. They are real people with spouses. Communicate with them via newsletters, pay them regularly, and give them solid creatives (banners, text ads) they can use to sell your products. Make their job as easy as possible and pay them well — they will then go the extra distance to promote your product for you.
Using affiliates and an affiliate network to boost your sales online is standard operating procedure these days. If you don’t do it then you really are at a competitive disadvantage. It is the best possible use of the Internet: Get hundreds of people to promote your products and then have a systematic way to pay them for that behavior. Affiliates should be a must-have part of any Internet marketing program.
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