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By Sharon Housley
Communication is Key!
When building an affiliate network communicating with
affiliates is important for merchants to maintain a good
relationship. An affiliate's web site targets visitors, who
may not necessarily view a merchant's web site, and
therefore expands a merchants market. An affiliate may not
be able to actively keep up with the merchants product, it
is important for a merchant to keep affiliate's informed
about new product information, sales, new releases, links,
graphics, promotions and special offers.
Keep in mind, not all affiliates are going to produce a
high volume of traffic, and importantly, visitors who want
to purchase a merchant's products or services. The
occasional gem makes the time taken well worth your effort.
Talk with successful affiliates, find out what they are
doing to effectively promote your software, and use that
information to assist those affiliates who are not as
successful.
Assist affiliates in understanding your product; no one
knows your products like you do. For affiliates to drive
traffic that will convert to sales, they need to understand
the benefits of the product they are marketing. Once an
affiliate knows the product, they will be better able to
act as an extended sales force. In order for the affiliate
to make the effort, you simply must support them!
Make Communication Easy
Many 3rd party affiliate-tracking programs notify both the
affiliate and merchant of a sale. This can often be
automated and will create positive communication between
merchants and affiliates. Making an affiliate's role easier
will help them increase earnings and further promote a
merchants site.
Provide affiliates with great looking graphics and sample
text. Graphics that work best are those that highlight your
web site, yet fit the look of an affiliate's web site.
Newsletters are another great way to get information to
affiliates. Include tips and specific for affiliates, along
with general marketing advice that helps with site
promotion. If you are looking for software to manage
newsletters, I highly recommend Group Mail -.
http://tinyurl.com/23ljy
Affiliate Taboos
An affiliate generates a sale for a product and the
merchant promptly decreases the commission. This sends a
very negative message to the affiliate, in many cases
they've taken a lot of time to place links, promote
products and because they've driven effective traffic their
commission is decreased. If its necessary to decrease a
commission for whatever reason, be sure to include a
personal note detailing the reason and letting the
affiliate know that you still support their efforts.
A Cheat?
An affiliate sale occurs, you go to their website and don't
find any links you decide they must be cheating you! This
conclusion is simply a based on poor communication and
reporting. Many, many affiliates have multiple sites, very
few affiliate tracking programs allow affiliates to list
multiple sites, and in many cases the number of sites
listed do not accurately reflect the number of sites owned
and managed by the affiliate. Additionally many affiliates
manage opt-in newsletters that may result in sales, but
links are not visible on a website. An example of a popular
ezine often promoting affiliates is Lockergnome!
Links, Links, Links
Keep your links valid! If you update a section of the site
or remove an offer provide a redirect or retain the link
saying that such and such offer has expired and a new one
has replaced it. It seems a waste to discard targeted
traffic because a special has expired. Be sure to
communicate with your affiliates, and if a link will only
be good for a specified length of time tell them up front.
When an offer expires notify affiliates a week prior to the
expiration with a reminder. This will give them ample time
to make any needed updates.
Added Incentives!
Affiliates love added bonuses for reaching goals or
specified levels of sales. Many of the 3rd party affiliate
vendors run contests and provide large incentives for their
top performing ones. Reward and praise successful
affiliates.
Affiliates tend to be experts in other areas, which relate
to a merchants business; therefore, by communicating useful
information, and helping affiliates increase their
earnings, they will give added exposure and increase your
sales. Communicating with affiliates will ultimately
benefit visitors of both sites. A little effort in the
beginning can mean big rewards in the long run.
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