Affiliate Communication

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.

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com and http://www.small-business-software.net

---

A Beginners Guide to Affiliate Marketing

The dawning of the cyberspace era is at hand. The... Read More

Why Super Affiliates Succeed

Ever wonder why the super affiliates are raking it in... Read More

6 Things to Increase Your Affiliate Income

So you've signed up for affiliate programs, posted links around... Read More

Setting Up Your Own Affiliate Program (part one)

Can you start your own affiliate program without hassle?This is... Read More

Free Keyword Research Tools Are Not As Effective as Wordtracker

One of the most unanswered questions online today is, how... Read More

Discover The Affiliate Program thats Right for You

Are you looking for a profitable Affiliate Program?When you start... Read More

10 Ways To Increase Your Affiliate Commissions

1. Participate in chat rooms related to the product you're... Read More

Affiliate Marketing--Huh?

In my search for a presence on the internet, I... Read More

Launching Your Affiliate Program Correctly

To any Internet Marketer these days an affiliate program is... Read More

Super Affiliate Strategies To Boost Your Click Through Rates

If you are an affiliate I don't need to tell... Read More

Five Ways To Maximize Affiliate Profits from Articles

What does it take to become a "BIG EARNER" with... Read More

How To Start Your Own Affiliate Program

1. Why Start Your Own Affiliate Program?Multiple web sites and... Read More

Two Quick Ways to Make Your Copy of Merchants Data Feed Different From All Other Affiliates

Product data feeds are really popular among affiliates because they... Read More

How To Make Niche Profits Without a Website

You don't need to buy any "amazing new ebook" or... Read More

Reselling - Money On The Side

The other night I had dinner with a friend who... Read More

Making Money Online With Affiliate Programs

If you are like most work from home internet business... Read More

5 Affiliate Marketing Facts of Life

Affiliate Marketing (AM) is fast becoming a major trend in... Read More

How To Win The Affiliate Game

Are you frustrated with your affiliate programs?I used to be.... Read More

How To Build Website - Seven Steps For Building Optimized Websites For Affiliate Programs

The web has developed in such a mass marketing arena,... Read More

Basics of Affiliate Marketing

Whether you realize it or not, if you've been on... Read More

Internet Affiliate Marketing 101 - Its All About Relationships

So you've found the perfect affiliate program, you've signed up... Read More

The Logic Behind Niche Content Profits

In researching most successful online businesses, you start to notice... Read More

Affiliate Revenue For Beginners

Affiliate programs can be a very powerful source of income... Read More

Focus on Success ? How To Make Affiliates Work For You

How do we go about getting success with affiliate programs... Read More

Choosing a Niche Market to Promote ? Affiliate Marketing

I think it truly goes without saying that there are... Read More

Heres Why Affiliate Marketing Is So Lucrative

There are people who think of the world as a... Read More

Dont Even Think About Affiliate Marketing Until Youve Read This - Part 1

You've probably heard some of the affiliate success stories from... Read More

Become A Reseller

If done properly, reselling web hosting and related services can... Read More

Affiliate Marketing Opportunity

Every Affiliate Marketing Opportunity At Your FingertipsMaking the decision to... Read More

Is There Any Money On Over Saturated Markets?

Well that depends ultimately on you! Let me explain?I have... Read More

Working With Affiliate Programs

Everywhere you look you see affiliate program offers forevery product... Read More

Why You Dont Succeed As An Affiliate ?

Affiliate Program have exploded on the internet. Thousand of people... Read More

Affiliate Product Landing Pages - Three Tactics That Sell

As competition within the online affiliate sales arena rises to... Read More