We're asked all the time, how do I get more email addresses, how can I grow my customer list?
Affiliate programs can be a great way for you to get new customers.
What's an affiliate program? Basically you pay people to market and sell for you. What a concept! Even VerticalResponse has an affiliate program - that's right - we pay people to put ads on their sites with a trackable link so that anytime anyone purchases from us, we track it back to where it came from and pay affiliates for their efforts.
Glossary
Merchant/Publisher - You are a merchant or a publisher if you want to get more customers.
Affiliate - Web site owners that will put ads on their site and get paid by you, the merchant. Affiliates are in this for one thing and one thing only: to make money. You need to help them do that.
How can this work for you? 6 Steps to getting started...
1) Hook up with an affiliate program provider. For larger businesses check out LinkShare. For smaller businesses check out clickbank and shareasale. They seem to be cost effective and you don't need all the bells and whistles you pay for with LinkShare. What these providers give you is an online platform for affiliate approval, advertising asset management, and payment tracking. They also give you access to a network of existing motivated affiliates who are already selling for other types of merchants. Most importantly? THEY'LL disburse the payments to the affiliates that gave you customers. Gets rid of a huge headache for you.
2) You include copy about the program and a form on your site that your affiliate provider gives you. Remember: some of your best affiliates can be your customers who love you, so make sure you send out an email campaign announcing your program. Why shouldn't they get paid for their word of mouth marketing?
3) An affiliate applies to your program on your site by filling out the form.
4) You set aside some time daily or weekly to check out the affiliate applications and the websites they are going to refer you on. If you like the site they'll be advertising you on, you approve them. If you don't, you decline them.
5) You'll have to create advertising banners in all shapes and sizes. Check out the IAB for preferred sizes. If you've got one in each size you're doing better than most. The more you have the better your chances are of an affiliate having the space on their site to place you.
6) The affiliate places your ad on their site with a trackable URL that your provider gives you. They then send traffic to it hoping that these visitors will buy so they'll get paid by you.
In some cases you'll find your affiliates buying keywords in Google and getting a better placement than you! Should you care? I say no way! Let them get you a customer, pay them, then you've got two happy customers!
Word-to-the-wise: Success doesn't happen with affiliate programs overnight. You've got to work at it. We've got Laura our Affiliate guru working part time on ours, making sure that we've got great affiliates and that they're happy. They need to be treated like an extension of your sales team, no matter what you sell. If you put the time into it, you'll have a better chance at reaping the rewards.
Laura says, "We love special requests. If an affiliate asks for help with copy for their sites or a banner ad customized for their industry, we know they are really thinking about how to send us referrals. We've got a virtual sales team out there promoting our services in places and ways we'd never be able to reach without them."
The Affiliate Summit is the ultimate place to network and learn more. I think it's sold out for July but they may score some more space. VR will be there learning too!
We have pretty good luck with the VerticalResponse Affiliate Program, what's your luck been?
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