Affiliate Management Tips

Simple tips for those thinking of running an affiliate program.

• Running an affiliate program is a great way to build a large sales force and you don’t have to pay them unless they make a sale.
• For a successful affiliate program, make sure you are competitive when it comes to commissions, conversions and customer satisfaction.
• Research your affiliate management software options thoroughly. Know what you want in terms of commission structures, payout options, linking options, reporting and more.
• Where possible, automatically create referral links for your customers. They will be some of your best promoters.
• Pay your affiliates regularly and on time.
• Create plenty of promotional materials for your affiliates, including graphics, long ads, short ads, special reports, page peels, articles, blog posts, reviews and more.
• Keep in touch with your affiliates regularly. Tell them about offers that will make them the most money and give them tips to succeed.
• Educate your affiliates. Many bloggers and website owners do what they do because they are passionate about their subject. They may have traffic, but lack affiliate sales skills. Help them develop those skills so you can both benefit.
• Make sure you have time and resources to dedicate to your affiliate program. If you’re not going to work it, there’s no sense in wasting anyone’s time, including your own.
• Create bonuses and incentives that are attractive to your best affiliates and also encourages new affiliates to make their first sale.
• Paying affiliates by check is old-fashioned and many international affiliates may have troubles cashing cheques. Use bank transfers or PayPal instead.
• Make sure you have an affiliate agreement, outlining what your affiliates can and cannot do, but do give them freedom to make sales ethically.
• To satisfy your super affiliates, make sure you have in-depth tracking for your affiliates.
• Make sure affiliates can link to any page of your website. Give them the flexibility to choose what’s best for their audience.
• Many affiliate software programs allow you to offer different commissions to specific affiliates. Reward your best performers.
• Thinking of offering a pay-per-lead affiliate program? Calculate the average lifetime value of your leads and you can figure out how much you can afford to pay.
• Do you have affiliates who could successfully recruit other affiliates for you? If so, consider a two-tier program.
• Customize the automated emails in your affiliate program to provide motivation and encouragement to your affiliates. Modify the welcome, sales notification and commission payout emails.
• Don’t expect affiliates to just come to you because you have an “Affiliate Program” link on your website. Go out and find the perfect affiliates.
• Simply having an affiliate program isn’t enough. You have to sell the benefits of joining. Make sure you have an enticing sign up page, so that affiliates know exactly why they should be joining your program.
• Escape from dull email communication with your affiliates. Send them something via snail mail to show your appreciation.
• Offer your affiliates custom promotions, coupon codes, exclusive landing pages and other tools. Boosting their conversion means boosting yours as well.