Here’s a quick video made by Rosalind Gardner (one of the top web marketer's in the world) for you to show you the basics of how affiliate marketing works.
You’ll see one of her sites, the products that she promotes on that site, and how she affiliates with merchants and how easy it is to get the affiliates link code placed in to your blog.
Now to learn even more about how this can work for you i recommend getting her best seller simply called the Super Affiliate handbook which she describes as "the affilliate-marketing industry’s standard training manual". to your success
Affiliates use a variety of methods to promote products online. Some run email campaigns or promote through weekly or monthly newsletters. Others maintain websites that provide informative or fun content or product reviews. Still others discuss and recommend products through their blogs.
One thing that works no matter how promoted online is the special report. Special reports can be written on any subject imaginable, then given away online to promote products. Many smart affiliate managers write these reports, and then allow their affiliates to brand them and give them to their site visitors or members of their mailing lists in an attempt to get sales. It works.
What Should I Write a Report About?
Write a special report about anything that is closely related to the product. It could present a problem that can be solved by your product. If you are selling a fairly common product, it could detail new ways of using it or how to get the most out of it.
It is important to provide information that potential customers can use and will enjoy reading. Write a report that is just an advertisement for the product in disguise, readers will see through it. Give them something that they can use, they will be more inclined to listen to your message and possibly buy the product.
What If I'm Not a Good Writer?
No one has to have a master's degree in English to write a special report. All you need is a conversational writing style and a good command of spelling and grammar. If spelling and grammar are not your strong points, you can always use a spell checker and a proofreader.
If you really don't want to write your own report, hire someone to do it. There are plenty of freelance writers out there who would be happy to put together a report. They might even be willing to come up with a topic if you can't get past that part of it.
What Is Branding?
Branding is simply adding the individual affiliate's links to the report so that they will get credit for sales resulting from their distribution of the report. This can be accomplished using the program used to create the report. There are also free software programs that can add in affiliate links for some third-party affiliate managers. Use them to brand reports for affiliates, or offer them to the affiliates so that they may do it themselves.
Branded special reports are a great asset to affiliates. By distributing the report and allowing others to do so as well can increase their sales. That is beneficial to everyone involved.
An affiliate program is a great way to sell products. It enlists others to do the legwork while giving you the time and freedom to concentrate on making the product better or expanding offerings. It is important to remember that affiliates' success is your success.
Giving affiliates the tools they need to succeed is of utmost importance. A skilled affiliate could bring in large numbers of sales and leads but only if they have the information and support needed to do so. Here are some things that can help your affiliates succeed.
* Get creative - Creative is simply a fancy name for the graphics, links and other tools provide for your affiliates to use. Offering a variety of these things for affiliates to choose from allows them to promote products and services in a way that works for them. Some affiliates may prefer text links while others like graphics better.
* Give them numbers that they can use - Affiliates like to know how well they are performing. Most affiliate software provides a way for them to check their stats, including percentage of clicks that result in sales, average sale per click and so on. Making sure they know how to use these features is important.
* Provide content - Affiliates usually sell through their websites or email newsletters. In order to have a successful website or newsletter they need quality content. Providing articles for them to use gives them that content while promoting offerings.
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Encourage affiliates to write their own articles - Article marketing is a great way to get an affiliate's links on the websites of others. They can write articles that incorporate their links and submit them to article directories for other webmasters to use.
* Have meetings - If you are running an affiliate program online, it is unlikely that you would get a large turnout by having an in-person affiliate meeting. Hold online chats, conference calls, or online seminars. These give the opportunity to connect with and motivate your affiliates. They also give the affiliates a chance to ask questions and share any concerns they may have.
* Keep in touch - It's important keeping in contact with your affiliates. An affiliate newsletter could feature success stories, upcoming promotions, incentives and new creative that affiliates can use. Most affiliates belong to more than one program so keeping yours fresh in their minds and making participation as easy as possible is essential.
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Keep your door open - Many affiliate programs lack easy access to management. Being the one that provides that could set you apart from the rest. Don't have time to answer individual questions and concerns, hire a virtual assistant to help. This will let affiliates know that their success is important to you and that you value their input.
Keeping affiliates informed and giving them tools to enhance their sales may take up some time but it will pay off in the form of increased sales. Helping affiliates succeed is as beneficial to you as it is to them.
Affiliate programs are an excellent way to start making money online with very little finacial output in the beginning. Think about it for a minute, You find a product or service that you think will be in great demand and you simply sign up to their affiliate program.
In an instant you recieve a confirmation email with your affiliate log in details. You proceed to log in and see the commission structures that you will get for every sale, free marketing tools such as, email letters, banners, graphics and than you will see your affiliate link. By simply clicking on this link you see that you get an instant sales page to start earning profits. If it is such a sound business model, than why do so many affiliates fail to ever earn a dime online?
Simple, they lack the proper marketing tools to set their business up for success. Just what are these tolls? Let's take a look at the most vital tools that you must own to become a successful affiliate:
You Have To Have A Website
You would be surprised to know that many affiliates will just advertise their sales page and expect to see money come rolling in. The successful affiliate knows that most sales will not happen on the first visit and that is why you need a main website, so that you can supply them with content that they crave. This will keep them comming back for more on regular basis. They are looking for your information and expertise to help them.
You Need A Autoresponder
As I just mentioned most sales are not made on the first visit, so you need a way to capture your visitors email addresses so that you can follow up with them and increase your affiliate sales. Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of advertising online.
There are many autoresponder services out there, but Aweber, Getresponse and Prosender are the best. Yes you will have to budget for it. An autoresponder account will set you back anywhere from $10 to $30 monthly. To avoid monthly costs there are autoresponder scripts that you can install on your webhosting. These scripts cost more but will pay for themselves in a short amount of time.
A Weekly Newsletter
I am classifying a newsletter as a tool, because of it's effectiveness at increasing your sales as an affiliate. By starting your own weekly newsletter or Ezine and incorporating it with your autorseponder, you will start to see a huge increase in your affiliate program sales. Why do all famous internet marketers use this form of follow up? By sending newsletters to their subscribers they are gaining trust and being viewed as experts in their field.
What should you send in your newsletters? Information plain and simple. Any information that you feel your subscribers want and need to learn about. In time they will thank you for the information by purchasing from you and you will be able to send them special recommendations and make money at will.
By having these three tools in your arsenal you will see more sign ups to your affiliate program and more commissions from product sales.
By:Chris Peterson
Affiliate Program tools and resources to help you make more money online.
"I've created my own digital product. How do I deliver it to buyers through an automatic download and start my own Affiliate program?"
Relax! The good news is that delivering a product and starting an Affiliate program are not complicated tasks. Scripts that meet your needs are inexpensive and easy to install.
One of the first things to look for when selecting a script is flexibility. Your script will need to work with a payment processor such as PayPal. And your customers will need to be confident that they'll receive their order.
At the same time, you'll need to be confident that you'll receive instant payment for your product and that your Affiliates also will get paid.
Scripts take manual labor out of the equation. If you're selling a digital download, for example, a script can route customers through the purchasing process — from payment to product delivery.
One of the easiest and least expensive ways to deliver your digital product and start an Affiliate program is $7 Secrets.
It's an affiliate script authored by Jonathan Leger, who later sold the company to Don Morris. Seven Dollar Secrets enables even beginners to get paid immediately via PayPal and deliver products to customers automatically.
And because $7 Secrets permits users to create their own Affiliate programs and makes it possible for Affiliates to get paid instantly, it's something Internet Marketers should consider.
Users of Seven Dollar Secrets receive templates to help them build their sales operation. Internet Marketers can use the salesletter template to create their main sales page, taking care to put their own "unique stamp" on it.
It's best always to create a signature look and not to give customers the sensation they're viewing a template.
The $7 Secrets affiliate script walks customers through the purchasing process. They'll order through PayPal and be taken automatically to the download page to receive their product.
What makes this possible is the $7 Secrets script interacting with the included templates. Customers who love your product and are interested in selling it easily can become Affilites.
They can create their own sales site virtually instantly and start getting paid immediately for their sales.
Accounting is not a nightmare for the program sponsor. Because Affiliates get paid directly into their PayPal accounts, no Affiliate money passes through the sponsor's PayPal account.
Affiliates, in effect, become owners of their own small businesses. They're selling the branded product offered by the program owner.
Another script that helps Internet Marketers deliver products automatically and create their own Affiliate programs is Rapid Action Profits.
Rapid Action Profits sometimes is referred to simply as RAP. It's by programmer Sid Hale.
RAP has all the convenience of $7 Secrets. It functions effectively the same way, but offers features that distinguish it.
Rapid Action Profits, for example, enables users to create a site for potential Joint Venture (JV) partners. And there's also an area where users can provide additional sales tools for JV partners and Affiliates.
It's best to use your imagination when offering Affiliate tools. They can be something simple — a suggested email for Affiliates to send to their customer list, for example.
Or the tools might include something such as a Peel Away Ad to help Affiliates grab readers' attention when they visit the website.
Like $7 Secrets, RAP includes templates for the individual pages that appear throughout the sales process. Don't forget to customize!
Script templates are a wonderful thing — but they're templates, after all. You'll get better results if you "make them your own" by including your branding message.
If you've been asking this question — "How do I set up a joint venture using a script? — Rapid Action Profits provides the answer.
With advances in technology, it's never been easier to deliver a digital product, get paid instantly and set up a program for Affiliates also to get paid immediately.
Create your product — and use a script to deliver it and set up your Affiliate program!
Do You Have Super Affiliates? ( How to Find Super Affiliates for your Online business)
In researching affiliate marketing, you have probably come across the term “super affiliate.” Many affiliate managers spend a lot of time trying to recruit super affiliates and for good reason. A super affiliate can turn just about any affiliate program into a success.
A super affiliate, simply put, is someone who can generate a lot of sales. Some people feel that an affiliate needs to make a certain dollar amount in sales before they are considered “super.” It is hard to define this term in dollar amounts as different programs have different amounts as well as different types of programs. Not only that, but program owners have different definitions of success in their particular affiliate program compared to others.
Finding super affiliates is easier than most think. In fact, you may already know of several yourself. Super affiliates tend to have large sites, large newsletter lists, and a nice amount of influence over their target markets. It doesn't take much thinking to know at least one affiliate who fits these definitions.
If however, it comes a bit more difficult in a particular market, it's easy to find a few of them. Simply research a bit. Google can really help with this; just type in keyword or phrase that relates to the product or target market in question. For example, if you are selling an information product on natural remedies, type in such phrases as “natural remedies, “natural cures,” and “homeopathic medicine.”
Take note of the websites that are coming up in your search results. If the same site is coming up over and over, it is probably very popular. Even if different sites are coming up, click on them, and take a look around. Look for signs of affiliate activity, such as ads, reviews, and affiliate links.
Once you have located some affiliates that seem a good fit for your particular program it is time to start the recruiting process. Take note that these people are receiving offers from many other affiliate managers. If you want them to promote your product, you’ll need to make it worth their time.
First of all, make sure your product is something that their target market would honestly want or need. When you make your initial contact with the affiliate, make it personable. Instead of sending a standard form letter, take the time to send a personalized note. Try to keep that first email short and sweet, though, as the affiliate doesn’t have time to read anything super long.
When promoting a digital product, send a sample along with the introductory email. The affiliate will want to try it out before they promote it to their readers. If you have a physical product, offer to send a sample in the mail. This will help to determine if the product is a good fit for their visitors.
Entice the super affiliate by offering them something more than standard affiliates receive, such as extra commission or cash bonuses. For example, if you normally pay 50% commissions, offer 60% or 70% to the super affiliate. The amount of sales they can bring you will more than make up for any extra commissions you give them. Another option is to offer them a second tier percentage, where they receive a commission for referring other affiliates to the program.
It can take time to build up a relationship with a super affiliate and get them involved in a program. It may take time to find them, but keep trying. Eventually you will recruit a super affiliate and maybe more!
Recruiting Affiliates for online sucesss (How to Recruit Affilliates)
The success of an affiliate program depends on many things, such as communication, resources, and tools. Even the best affiliate manager can supply all of those things and more and still not have a successful program. Without affiliates joining the program, it won't be successful. This brings up a common question among new affiliate program owners and that's how to recruit affiliates.
By definition, “recruiting” means to “supply with new members.” Why is that important? Basically, the more people joining an affiliate program, the better off the program will be.
Not everyone who joins an affiliate program is serious about promoting and making sales. When recruiting stops, it's likely sales may go down due to some affiliates leaving the program or becoming inactive. By having a steady stream of new people coming into the program, the owner is supplying a steady stream of fresh people excited and willing to promote and create sales.
For those not sure how to recruit or where to start looking for recruits, a great place to begin is complementary goes well with the product(s) of the affiliate program, but doesn't necessarily compete. Although even those many see as competitors would actually be a great fit, so be sure to do research.
For example, if a website is about healthy pet treats; some complementary websites might be websites that feature information about various breeds of pets, pet health, pet toys, and pet care.
Affiliate managers can start out by contacting the owners of these websites and telling them a little bit about the product. This is the perfect time to let them know about the affiliate program and why their readers would be a good fit for the product.
Giving examples of the potential of affiliate commissions will help get the wheels turning in their minds. Some of these potential affiliates may be new to the concept of affiliate marketing and may not realize the benefits it could give them.
For example, if an information product within a program sells for $25 and the program offers a 50% commission, one way to explain the potential earnings is this:
As an affiliate you could earn $375 per month if your readers bought, on average just 1 copy of the product per day.
There are many people looking for ways to work from home and affiliate marketing is a way that these people can earn a little or a lot of money doing so.
Another way to attract affiliates is by becoming a regular on a few forums that are dedicated to those looking to work from home or are already dabbling in affiliate marketing. Networking and establishing relationships with people from all over the world can prove valuable to an affiliate manager. By including links in signatures (where allowed) an affiliate program owner can let other forum members know about the program.
Another option affiliate managers have is to notify their own mailing lists. These people are already interested in the products or services and have looked to the owner for advice and guidance. They may have even purchased the very product that is being promoted in the program, which is great for not only feedback, but for promoting the product as well. Chances are they know other people in the same target market.
Recruiting new affiliates is something that should be done on a consistent basis. Even just an hour or two each week can provide a steady supply of new affiliates ready and willing to promote the products or services the program has to offer.
How and why should get Affiliates to Promote Offline?
If your already using various online resources to promote your Internet business then you may
want to also consider other less obvious avenues to bring in that extra traffic to your sites.
Promoting online is the focus of most affiliate programs. Affiliate program managers give their affiliates text links, graphics, articles and more that they can use on their websites and send to their mailing lists. Although offline promotion works well for many businesses, when it comes to affiliates it is often overlooked.
Offline promotion targets those who do not spend a lot of time on the Internet. Many people only go online when they need something, not to socialize or just surf. They do, however, often visit websites learned about from offline sources.
There are also many who do not use the Internet at all. It might be hard to believe but there are still a number of people who do not have Internet access at home or elsewhere. Some products promoted by affiliate marketers would not sell well to this group but others might.
There are many ways that an affiliate can promote offline. Flyers and direct mail pieces are effective if they are targeted well. Radio and television commercials also work well but they do cost more. Adverts in newspapers and other print publications are another option.
If you want your affiliates to promote offline, you will need to give them the materials they need to do so. Providing ad copy and design for flyers, print publications and direct mail makes it easy for affiliates to use those mediums. Flyers and mailers in PDF form make printing at home an option. Print them for your affiliates and charge them a fee to cover materials and labor.
For potential customers who are uncomfortable with the Internet provide a toll-free number that they could call to order or request a print catalog. Each affiliate could have a unique extension number to add to their advertisements. Then when a customer uses that extension number the affiliate would get credit for any resulting sales or leads.
Coupon codes are a great incentive for first-time customers. Giving affiliates coupon codes to pass on to their customers can help them get more referrals. These can be used online or when ordering over the phone or by mail.
Offering incentives to affiliates who promote offline effectively is a great way to encourage them to give it a try. Give them a special affiliate link for offline use only to aid in tracking where their referrals are coming from. Affiliates who get a certain number of offline referrals could get a bonus or a higher commission rate for a specified period of time.
Affiliates use a variety of methods to promote products online. Some run email campaigns or promote through weekly or monthly newsletters. Others maintain websites that provide informative or fun content or product reviews. Still others discuss and recommend products through their blogs.
One thing that works no matter how promoted online is the special report. Special reports can be written on any subject imaginable, then given away online to promote products. Many smart affiliate managers write these reports, and then allow their affiliates to brand them and give them to their site visitors or members of their mailing lists in an attempt to get sales. It works.
What Should I Write a Report About?
Write a special report about anything that is closely related to the product. It could present a problem that can be solved by your product. If you are selling a fairly common product, it could detail new ways of using it or how to get the most out of it.
It is important to provide information that potential customers can use and will enjoy reading. Write a report that is just an advertisement for the product in disguise, readers will see through it. Give them something that they can use, they will be more inclined to listen to your message and possibly buy the product.
What If I'm Not a Good Writer?
No one has to have a master's degree in English to write a special report. All you need is a conversational writing style and a good command of spelling and grammar. If spelling and grammar are not your strong points, you can always use a spell checker and a proofreader.
If you really don't want to write your own report, hire someone to do it. There are plenty of freelance writers out there who would be happy to put together a report. They might even be willing to come up with a topic if you can't get past that part of it.
What Is Branding?
Branding is simply adding the individual affiliate's links to the report so that they will get credit for sales resulting from their distribution of the report. This can be accomplished using the program used to create the report. There are also free software programs that can add in affiliate links for some third-party affiliate managers. Use them to brand reports for affiliates, or offer them to the affiliates so that they may do it themselves.
Branded special reports are a great asset to affiliates. By distributing the report and allowing others to do so as well can increase their sales. That is beneficial to everyone involved.
Making Money Creating Back End Offers On Affiliate Sales
Creating an affiliate program is a great way to sell products. Affiliates are a commission-based sales force and are only paid when their efforts result in a sale. There's no reason to stop at one sale.
Back end offers provide the potential for greater profits and higher customer loyalty. They are good for both the affiliate and the merchant. Presenting customers with relevant back end offers can turn one sale into two or more.
What Is a Back End Offer?
Back end offers are offers made once a customer has completed his order. The offer could be for any other product but in most cases the product offered is more expensive than the one originally purchased. The product offered should be targeted to customers who would buy the front end product but it should be different enough that the customer will find added value in it.
Back end offers can be made immediately after the original sale or some time later. Those made immediately after the sale often trigger impulse buying. Some customers prefer to wait and see how they like the original product so there is the potential for later sales as well.
Incentive Offers
Offering price cuts or other incentives can increase back end sales. You could offer a time-limited discount that is reserved for those who purchased the initial product. Throw in free bonuses such as eBooks or audio recordings. Give the customer a gift certificate or coupon for buying, opening the door for more sales in the future.
What Products Are Best for Back End Sales?
Many marketers use the technique of having affiliates promote an item with a low price, such as an eBook, then offering items with higher prices with each additional item purchased. For someone who buys that eBook offer a related software program. If they purchase that, then offer them a site membership with a monthly fee. Those who purchase that could be offered the opportunity to attend an in-depth seminar.
It is usually best not to offer that many products in one sitting. Offering an additional product after the initial purchase and one more after that will probably be enough for any customer. You should have his email address after that many purchases and you can send additional offers to his inbox.
Back end offers are a great way to increase your profits. They also give affiliates more incentive to promote the front end products because of the potential of additional commissions. Even if the customers don't buy the product offered right away, if they are happy with the original product they might come back later.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective, efficient, and powerful marketing tools available to an internet marketer. Each new affiliate amplifies your marketing efforts exponentially – and takes much of the marketing burden off of your shoulders. Whether you’re a service based business like a coach, copywriter, or virtual assistant, or a product based business like information products, toys, candles, beauty products or sporting goods, we can all use a little extra help in the marketing department. After all more business means more profits!
So what exactly is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is performance based marketing where people promote your products or services and get a commission for every sale, visit, or subscription they send to you. The most frequent types of payment arrangements include pay per sale, pay per lead, and pay per click. The great thing about setting up an affiliate marketing program for your business is that you determine how, when and how much you pay your affiliates.
Your affiliates are essentially a commission based sales force. You give them the tools, the links to your site, banner ads, ad copy, and even sales letters (what you choose to provide your affiliates is up to you and we’ll talk more about it in a little bit) to sell and they go out and do the work.
A little history: If you doubt the power of affiliate marketing take a moment and go to any major website. LLBean, Amazon.com, Dell, Napster, and just about any company you can think of have an affiliate program. If the big players have affiliate programs then they must work, right? Trust me, they do. Let’s take a look at what type of business benefits from an affiliate marketing program.
Will affiliate marketing work for your business?
The truth is that any online business, service or product oriented, will benefit from having an affiliate marketing program. Regardless of your business, affiliate marketing is a win-win situation. Why?…because you don’t pay a red cent unless they make a sale. This is assuming that you don’t pay for leads but we’ll talk more about that in just a bit. Most affiliate programs do not pay for leads.
Let’s take a look at an example. Let’s imagine that you are a professional business coach. Your profits are generated by hours billed coaching your clients. Each client you have adds to your bottom line. If you had an affiliate marketing program then you would have people eager to send clients to you. Each client that they send gets a commission determined by you in advance. This situation not only frees up your time to focus on coaching but it gives you the ability to focus on other business building strategies and tactics – or to just enjoy your life and get a little bit of well deserved free time.
Another example might be if you sell candles. Your affiliates, armed with marketing tools provided by you and eager to earn a paycheck, send customers right to your website doorstep ready to make a purchase. All you have to do is pay them a commission and reap the profits. Even if you only sell one product, say a book for example, an affiliate program will still have the same wonderful results. In short, affiliate marketing works for anyone that has anything to sell, service or product, online.
Why would you want to have an affiliate marketing program?
Affiliate marketing increases brand awareness. You have your own way of marketing and a group of people that you reach with your marketing tools. When you add an affiliate marketing program that circle of friends so to speak broadens exponentially. Now more people are made aware of you, your business, and your products or services. As your brand awareness grows so to does your ability to create opportunities and profits.
Affiliate marketing increases your leads. As your opt-in and customer list grows so to will your opportunities. Each name, each new customer that your affiliate sends you is another future customer and future profits.
Affiliate marketing increases your sales. That’s the bottom line isn’t it? That’s the real reason to consider adding an affiliate marketing program to your marketing plan – more sales and more profits. Let’s jump into how to set up an affiliate marketing program for your business and start reaping the profits!
What are the startup costs?
This isn’t an easy question to answer because so much of the start up costs depend on your decisions. Are you going to use an affiliate network to handle your program? If the answer is yes, then there are varying costs depending on the provider you choose and the set-up you establish. If you decide to manage your affiliate program yourself, you will likely need to purchase affiliate management software which can range from $50 to $500. Remember that you get what you pay for. Your other costs are going to be if you need to produce any creative or marketing materials specifically for your affiliates. These can include banner advertisements, sales copy, ad copy, etc. What you provide your affiliates is up to you and we’ll highlight some of your options in just a bit.
Your startup costs whether you go with an affiliate network or do it yourself will likely be less than a thousand dollars and most often significantly less. Remember that once the profits start coming in, you have the opportunity to recoup your costs in the first couple of months.
How much time will it take to set up?
Initially much of your time, one or two business days, will be researching software or affiliate networks. You can break this up into an hour of research a day for a week or two or you can, if you have the time, dedicate a full day or two to finding a service provider and affiliate marketing tools that are right for you and your business.
Once your program is up and running how much time it takes from your day will depend on how many affiliates you have working for you and how well they’re doing. In the beginning, if you’re handling the management of your affiliate program yourself you will want to plan for an hour or two a day. Once you establish a system it will likely take you less than an hour a day to manage.
However, if managing your affiliates is something that you don’t want to do or don’t have time for, you can outsource the job or hire an affiliate manager. An affiliate manager is someone that manages and organizes your affiliate program.
Here is what they will do:
* Recruit new affiliates
* Maintain affiliate relationships
* Develop and track affiliate programs
* Tracking and reporting statistics
* Tracking sales and paying commissions
Affiliate managers can be paid by the hour, if you outsource them. It is important to determine ahead of time how much time your affiliate manager will devote to your program that way you can include them in your budget. Remember that your budget is likely to change as your profits increase. That’s what we’ll look at next, what kind of sales can you expect?
Sales expectations
Many experts say that your biggest profits will be made in the first couple months of your affiliate program. This may be because your affiliates are fresh and eager or it may be that you are fresh and eager to make the program successful. After a time, enthusiasm can fade. The opposite can actually be true. The first few months are learning months. They’re when you learn what types of affiliates to recruit and you get your management program established and running, it is very likely that your first few months will be the least profitable months of your affiliate program.
General estimates predict a 10% growth in sales however it isn’t unlikely for an affiliate program to generate 25% - 45% of a sales increase.
Take a moment and run the numbers. Based on your current sales, what would a 10% increase mean to your annual income? What would a 25% increase mean to your annual income? Here’s the truly fun one – what would a 45% increase in sales mean to your bottom line?
Nice, right? Are you considering adding an affiliate marketing program to your marketing plan?
Should you belong to an affiliate network?
An affiliate network is a mediator that connects people that want to sell products or services like your products or services. An affiliate network or ASP, Affiliate Solution Provider, manages your program, tracks your sales, delivers your affiliate marketing tools, and basically eliminates your need to purchase software and hire an affiliate manager. ComissionJunction, ClickBank, and LinkShare are just a few of the many notable ASPs available.
How much commission should you pay your Affiliate Manager and for how long?
Earlier we used the example of a coaching business. Under that example, how would you pay your affiliates? Would you pay them a commission based on the original sale or consultation or would you pay them for every purchase the customer makes whether it happens this week or ten years from now? If you’re a coach, chances are that you may have a long relationship with a client. However if you own and operate an information marketing business and you sell one or two books, your relationship with your customer may be a one shot deal.
How you pay your affiliates and for how long you pay them is strongly determined by your type of business.
Affiliate commissions generally range anywhere from 2% to 50% and much of that is determined by the price of your product or services and the profit margin on them. If you sell a book for $14.95 and your profits are $10.00 then a 50% commission generates a final profit of $2.52 for you. Not much but it is a sale that you wouldn’t have made without the affiliate.
So what happens if that customer comes back and makes another purchase? Do you pay a commission to your affiliate again or do you earn all of the profit? This is a decision that you have to make. How long does an affiliate earn a commission on a customer that they’ve sent to you?
This is where cookies come into play. No not the hot from the oven chocolate chip kind, the kind that record and track a customer. Those small text files that tag a customer sent to you from your affiliate. You can set a cookie to last for 30 days, which means that every purchase that customer makes for 30 days generates a commission for your affiliate. 60 days means that every purchase made during the first 60 day period generates a commission for your affiliate. However, if the person makes a purchase 65 days after their initial purchase or visit to your website, no commission is generated.
Cookies generally last for 30, 60, 90 days or for life. A lifetime cookie means that any purchase made by that customer at any time whether it is 10 days from now or 10 years from now, generates a commission to your affiliate.
In the event of a returned product, the choice is yours about whether or not you pay a commission. Generally, businesses only pay a commission on confirmed sales. That means if a product is returned, no commission is paid. All of these details, returned products, commission percentages, and cookie life need to be spelled out in your affiliate agreement.
What tools do I need to give my affiliates?
The more you give your affiliates the better they’ll be able to do their jobs. In today’s market, banners are still the most common tool given affiliate however banners are less and less effective. In fact, recent studies have shown that people actually avert their eyes when they see a banner ad.
What is generally more affective is to provide a coded link to your affiliate. This link tells your program that the customer that clicked on it came from them. Text links and links used in web copy generate significantly more click-throughs than a simple banner ad. Here are some more tools you can provide your affiliates:
* Ad Copy
* Keywords
* Email templates
* Sales copy/sales letters
* Articles
* Coupons
* Special deals or promotions
Should you hire an affiliate manager or buy a software program?
By now you might be thinking, this is getting complicated. You have options. Software programs like 1shoppingcart, affiliatetracking.com, myaffiliateprogram.com, and many others, can manage your affiliate program for you. These programs generally offer many levels of services and commitment and the cost will vary.
The same holds true for an affiliate manager. We talked earlier about the costs and the tasks an affiliate manager can handle. If you prefer to outsource the task, take your time to find a qualified and reputable affiliate manager – your bottom line depends on it.
How do I recruit affiliates/promote my program?
Here’s the big question. How and where do you find quality affiliates? What do you look for in an affiliate? And how do you convince them to sell your products and sell them well?
Where to find affiliates:
Affiliate networks. When you join an affiliate network your program is often promoted on their site. At a minimum your program is categorized and described so potentially interested affiliates can explore your program and what you have to offer and make a decision for them selves.
Online forums - Forums are an excellent place to network period. They give you the opportunity to help others solve their problems as well as an opportunity to have your own questions answered. Your signature when you join a forum enables you to promote your website’s products or services and you can use it to promote your affiliate program too. You already know that other members of the forum have similar interests so you’re a step ahead of the game.
Satisfied customers - Satisfied customers are excellent word of mouth and an excellent marketing tool. They already love your products or services! In your regular communications you can offer them affiliate marketing opportunities or simple referral programs.
Get listed in affiliate program directories - Affiliate program directories are utilized by affiliate marketers looking for products or services to sell. They can be a great way to reach a broad number of affiliates.
Post your affiliate program on your website - If you have an affiliate program, why not list it on your website? Include a link to your affiliate program right on your home page. Anyone visiting your site to make a purchase or to research your products or services will also be able to explore opportunities to make money.
How do I motivate affiliates? The best way to motivate affiliates is to:
A. Make it worth their while. You need good products, services, and a high conversion rate or they’re wasting their time sending customers to you. There’s nothing more frustrating for an affiliate than sending you 100 customers and not having any of them make a purchase. Make sure your sales page converts!
You also need to make sure that you’re paying your affiliates well. A commission of 2% on a high end product is fine, however if the product only costs $10 then it’s hardly worth your affiliates time.
B. Make sure you give them as many tools as you can to make pre-selling your products or services easy. This means all of the things that we talked about earlier, banner ads are fine but text links, ad copy, coupons, promotions and even email templates or sales letters are great.
In Conclusion
We’ve just spent a lot of time talking about all of the ins and outs of establishing an affiliate marketing program for your business. We’ve talked about the different needs if you’re a service based business like copywriting, coaching, or a virtual assistant. Service based businesses will want to have a well defined commission structure and definition about what a customer is and how long commissions are paid.
If you’re a virtual assistant, you could likely have a customer for life. Do you pay commissions on that customer for life or only for the first year? These decisions need to be made from the get go so that affiliates understand, feel respected, and are motivated to send business your direction.
If you operate a product based business the same questions need to be answered but the answers are easier. If an affiliate sends you a customer and they buy a candle then you own them a commission. If they come back three months later and buy another candle, do you still owe them a commission? Depends on the life of your cookies and the agreement you’ve made with your affiliate.
Affiliate marketing programs are a win-win situation for everyone involved. Your startup and overhead costs are very low and your time is easily managed by an affiliate manager, joining an affiliate network or purchasing appropriate affiliate software.
Your profits and sales go up, remember how good it felt to see that 45% sales increase number? I sure do! Start your affiliate marketing program today and watch that number become a reality.
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