Designing A Kick Ass Affiliate Program That Attracts Lots Of Affiliates
If you are an Internet 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 easy. If you need some extra motivation then try thinking 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 keep up.
The number one thing affiliates want to have is a product that sells like hotcakes. If you have a great product then you will attract a ton of partners. If your product is junk you will only get low quality of under-performing partners. For each sale a partner makes you should pay them well. Probably want to be a bit overly generous here. If they make a lot they will promote you more; and that leads to even more free traffic and sales for you. Be sure to give them lots of banners they can use to promote your product. And don't just pick one or two sizes; give them 8 different sizes. Spend a few hundred on banner designers and give your partners lots to work with. Lastly, be sure and pay them on time. Nothing motivates more than a regular paycheck every month.
In the late 1990s affiliate programs were pretty straightforward -- partners would earn a % 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 (like leads) and in ways other than a percent (i.e. a fixed fee per lead or sale, or even every month if you're selling a recurring subscription product). There are also multi-tier programs where partners earn fees from other partners that they recruit for you. This can be a good way to get a lot of partners in your program. It may sound like too much to manage but its simple once you set up the rules and use a service like ShareASale or LinkShare. They have all these rules set up already; you just tell them what kind of plan you want to give your partners and they do the rest.
Be sure and treat your partners well. They are real people with families. Communicate with them via newsletters, pay them regularly, and give them solid creatives (banners, text ads) they can use to sell your product or service. Make their job as easy as possible and pay them well -- they will then go the extra mile to promote your product for you.
Using affiliates and an affiliate network to increase your sales online is standard practice these days. If you don't do it then you 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 standard way to reward them for that behavior. Affiliates should be a must-have part of any Internet marketing program.
For more information on a popular investment-related affiliate program for a option-oriented investor please take a look at the web site Born To Sell.