In this article we will discuss how to attract affiliates to you program.
One of the biggest fears new Affiliate managers have is in
finding new affiliates. This fear is a stumbling block that
stops many site owners from getting started with affiliate
marketing. Interestingly, with a proper marketing strategy,
getting affiliates may not be very difficult. Given below are
some tips that may help in attracting new affiliates.
Find complimentary sites
“Complementary” sites are a sites that sell products or
services that compliment your offerings. If you sell
“gardening tools”, a site that sells books on “gardening tips”
would be a perfect affiliate. If you sell software, try looking
for sites that sell computers or computer parts. Finding sites
that already attract your target market, and can benefit from
recommending your product or service to their visitors, is the
goal.
Find content sites
There are many sites that do not sell any kind of product or
service but are mainly content-oriented sites. Such sites
promote an idea, concept, study or belief. Content sites that
are used as a resource for your target market are ideal
affiliates.
Finally, there are several sites on the Internet dedicated to
listing affiliate Programs. Get your program listed in these
directories.
Classifying Affiliates for better management
The hardest part of administrating an Affiliate Program is
deciding what your affiliates need to help make the sale.
But, by carefully categorizing your affiliates, you can easily
determine what their needs are and how to accurately meet
them. The plan given below helps in categorizing affiliates in
order to manage your affiliate program better.
The first step is to pick at least three types of affiliates. Take
a look at your affiliates and try to determine one outstanding
characteristic that can easily be compared across the board
and choose at least three types of the characteristic. Here are
some examples:
* Level of Sales - You may find that your affiliates are so
completely different that it’s hard to find something to
classify them by. Try classifying them by the level of sales
they’ve reached with you. You’ll most likely find that you
have a few forerunners that lead the pack with a number of
sales, quite a few affiliates that have sporadically made a sale
or two and some that have yet to make a sale. This will help
you classify them based on sales.
* Products - If you sell a wide variety of products for specific
interests/needs you may be able to classify your affiliates by
product. For instance, a financial site could classify types like
Personal Finance, Small Business Finance, and Corporate
Finance.
* Industry - If you market commodities like office supplies,
health and beauty products, house wares and so on, you may
find that your affiliates come from a wide variety of
industries. You can most likely classify your affiliates
according to their industry.
The Second Step is to determine the needs of each type. Each
of your affiliate types will have different needs; some of their
needs will overlap, but you should find a distinct difference
in many of their needs. If you find that all of them have the
same needs, go back to step one and re-think your types.
Here are some basic things to look for:
* Linking Methods - Different types of affiliates will need
different linking methods. Let’s use the example above where
we had different groups based on sales. Your low sales group
may be satisfied with a banner or two to place on their site.
Your medium sales type may be interested in an article or
two for added content on their site. Your high sales group
will probably pass up banners for articles, guestbooks, email
ads and signature files.
* Capturing visitors is what you want. In order to do so –you
have to know what they want. Visit your affiliates’ sites to
see what visitors are looking at and looking for.Ask yourself,
“How does my product relate to what I am seeing?”
* Different types of affiliates may expect different
commissions. You’ll have some Affiliates that have joined
your program “on the side” and others that plan on earning a
substantial income from the program. Determine what effort
they are putting into advertising, how much other programs
in your industry are paying, and the amount of time they
devote to your program.
The Third Step involves the process of creating and
compiling linking methods for each group of affiliates.
Based on the needs you identified in Step two, create and
compile linking methods for each type. Here are a few
linking methods to think about.
* Banners - Though they aren’t as effective as other linking
methods, banners are still widely used and expected. Make
banners in a variety of sizes to fit tops of pages, bottoms,
toolbars, sidebars and other miscellaneous areas.
* Articles - These are great for affiliates that need content for
their websites and newsletters. Be sure that your articles are
articles and not ads.
* Email Ads - Your active affiliates may be interested in
placing ads in e-zines or their own newsletters. Try writing a
few ads in different lengths.
* Signature Files - Dedicated affiliates may even add your
tag to their signature line. Give them a few witty lines to
choose from.
* Guestbooks: - Let your affiliates help you build your Opt-
In email lists with guestbooks. Offer them a Commission for
each email address they send you, or each resulting sale from
the subscribers they send you.
* Product Images - Give your affiliates images that show and
link directly to specific products. They’ll be able to choose an
image specific to their site, or choose several images to
display.
* Review each affiliate Type and match them up with your
new linking methods. You may have some linking methods
that overlap Types — this is okay. Just be sure you are
concentrating on the affiliates’ needs.
The Fourth Step is to decide commission levels. Your first
decision will be to determine whether you want to pay a flat
rate or percentage of each sale. Based on the needs you
identified above for each of the affiliate types, decide on a
commission amount for each Type. If you have a two-tier
program, consider the possibility of different second tier rates
as well.
The Fifth Step is to devise promotions for affiliate groups.
Once you have your affiliates properly categorized and your
system under control, consider developing promotions for
your affiliate groups. Give them special incentives to sell
more during a certain time frame, move seasonal products, or
increase business during your slow months. Offer them
additional commissions, or even bonuses for reaching a
specific amount of sales.
In conclusion, if you follow the steps I have just outlined and
if you are ready for a little work and a lot of organization,
your affiliate program should be up and running in no time.
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