Posts Tagged ‘Affiliate Programs’

Written By: Guest Author, Haden de Boer

The number one question that any potential affiliate will always ask themselves before promoting your offer is “Will this thing make me money?” In other words, will this offer convert to my list (or my web-traffic)? But beyond creating a stronger product and a more compelling sales message, how can vendors improve their program and encourage affiliates to…

1. Promote their product, and
2. Promote any other products they may release in the future?

Fact is, these days it’s not enough just to put up some banners and swipe emails and leave it at that. To build a loyal group of affiliates who are motivated to promote what you have, you need to go that extra mile.

Here are 7 ideas to get you started…

1. Offer Personalized/Custom Landing Pages

No matter what your product, different traffic sources will give you varying conversion rates. This is simply because different people are looking for different benefits from your product. So if you can somehow customize your landing pages to target different groups of people you can create a much more targeted message… and convert more sales.

For example, the flagship product at SaleHoo.com is membership to a directory of wholesale suppliers. Affiliates have the ability to send traffic to landing pages that are customized based around product type, because prospects tend to be interested in finding suppliers for a certain type of product, rather than products in general. Customization can be as simple as different headlines, or even going as far as using alternate pictures and content.

Another way you might consider customizing your landing pages, is to create unique pages for individual affiliates. Now, obviously you won’t be able to do this for every affiliate, but when they have a proven track record this is something you should certainly consider to help them convert more sales.  You might even offer a special bonus or discount just for their leads.

2. Periodic Bonuses/Competitions

Another way to keep affiliates motivated is to offer incentives for top performance. This strategy is used regularly in major product launches, but there is no reason you can’t adapt it to a product that you already have on the market. The idea is simple: Just let your affiliates know that whoever sends the most leads/makes the most sales between now and a certain date will win prizes.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your prizes, but keep in mind that most larger affiliates will be more motivated by the cash than anything else. You might choose to run these contests monthly, or even based around events such as Halloween, Christmas, or a birthday sale. (If you’re in the dating niche Valentine’s day would be a good one to use).

3. Offer Multiple Products

This one might be obvious, but it’s worth repeating. Simply put, the more products you offer, the more chances affiliates have to find something that will fit with their list/market. Plus, you’ll find that once you have one good product under your belt (that converts), affiliates will be more receptive to promoting other products that you come out with in the future. In short, it’s about giving them what they want.

A good example of this is Affilorama.com which has four main products available for affiliates to promote in their affiliate program. Each caters to slightly different segments of the market, and has a different price point (all the way from FREE membership, up to a $497 course).

4. Offer Recurring Commissions

Carrying on from #3 (above) some affiliates prefer recurring products (while some would much rather promote only a front-end offer).  But by having at least one recurring offer (for example a membership site or monthly magazine) you cater to those affiliates who are looking for this type of offer. And what if your only product is a recurring one? Consider jacking up the commission to entice those affiliates who want all the cash on the front-end until you can come up with another offer for them specifically.

5. Offer Specific Guidance to New Affiliates

Not everyone who promotes your offer is going to be an experienced affiliate. Especially as your product becomes more well-known in the marketplace, you will find more and more ‘newbies’ are interested in promoting your stuff. New affiliates are good for business because they provide new potential streams of income. However, their inexperience can mean that quite often, they do not know where to start. So what can you do about this? Well, if you consider your affiliates as an important and indispensible part of your business, then why not help them out by offering your guidance and advice for free? In reality, many of these smaller affiliates may never even make a sale of your product. But some of them will, and others will eventually grow to be top promoters in the future.

To see an example of how we do this at SaleHoo (using an email newsletter) – go here and sign up as an affiliate.

6.  Test Test Test

You’ve seen it here on the ClickBank blog before, and I’m sure you’ll see it again. Testing is one of the most important tools in any marketers arsenal. Even if you have a great product today – and you don’t think there is any way to improve conversions… you should still be testing new ideas. The truth is, people change. And markets change. Promises that worked ten years ago (or even one year ago) do not necessarily work today. You can keep on top of what works in your market by keeping an eye on the competition, but if you really want to know for sure, you need to be testing new ideas for yourself.

(Note for Affiliates: If you want to check if a vendor is actively testing, have a quick peek at the source code of their landing page(s). If there is some code there for GWO, Optimizely, or some other testing software then it’s a good sign that the vendor is actively tweaking and refining their offer.)

7. Having a Dedicated Affiliate Manager

As your business grows, and the number of affiliates promoting your product expands, the more demands running your Affiliate program will make on your time. Using ClickBank is a huge help, but eventually you’ll still be swamped by requests, offers, and obligations. Making it hard to focus on the rest of your business.

If you want to keep growing (and still want to take good care of your affiliates) then you should seriously consider hiring an affiliate manager. They will be able to take care of all those tasks that gobble up all your time – like handling email requests, sorting out landing pages, and sorting through JV offers… while leaving you free to work on the most important parts of the business – like creating high converting offers.

About the Author: Haden de Boer is the Affiliate Manager over at SaleHoo.com. Please feel free to check out the SaleHoo Affiliate Program and their newest offer SaleHoo Stores.

ClickBank is excited to announce and invite you to the first ever ClickBank Exchange! The ClickBank Exchange is an Internet marketing conference that will take place on August 19th-20th at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York, NY. Our event will be action packed, with two days of high level educational content and networking opportunities.

An amazing collection of speakers and panelists has been assembled to teach you the strategies and shortcuts to building your digital empire. We’ve gathered a mix of industry leaders and under-the-radar marketing “ninjas” to share the specific tricks, as well as the business philosophies, that have helped them dominate the Internet marketing industry. Here are some of the many topics we’ll be covering at the Exchange:

• Keynote panel: How to build your Internet marketing empire
• The latest SEO tips & tricks from the CEO of SEOMoz
• The secrets of killer copywriting that really converts
• How to drive massive amounts of free, qualified traffic through Facebook
• How to be a marketing rockstar and get raving fans
• And much more!

In this day and a half of inside information guests will get real time cash creation secrets from the top Internet marketing millionaires that ClickBank has assembled. The speaker line-up includes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Yanik Silver
• Joe Polish
• Chris Farrell
• Rand Fishkin
• Ryan Lee
• Marc Ostrofsky
• Jeff Siegel
• Mike Hill
• Joe Sugarman

And the list doesn’t end there! Discover the full lineup here.

ClickBank Exchange attendees are sure to learn more money-making techniques at this event than at any other event this year.

Click here for more information and to register today!

Posted by: Miles Baker, Guest Blogger

Having been a publisher, affiliate, and even an affiliate manager over the past 10 years, I’ve been able to get a unique perspective on what it’s like to be on both sides of the affiliate/publisher relationship.

Given that insight, I’ve noticed most publishers are leaving money on the table when it comes to recruiting, assisting, and building relationships with their affiliates. Therefore, I’ve put together some of the most important things a publisher should be doing in order to build and nurture their affiliate base.

Be Available – Many times I’ve been eager to promote a product or service and have a question about it, but I am unable to find an email, phone number, or any way to contact the publisher. Sometimes, even if I do find that information and contact the publisher, I never hear back from them. This doesn’t leave me with much confidence as an affiliate promoting their product. Don’t make this fatal mistake; be available in some way. One easy way is to place an email or contact box on your site and then use the phone to follow up and further your relationship with your affiliates.

Use The Phone – Don’t be afraid to talk to people on the phone. This doesn’t mean you need to post your phone number on the Web. However, it does mean that you should be using the phone to talk with potential affiliates and build relationships with them, as well as maintaining relationships with your existing affiliates.

As a publisher, you are most likely very busy, and most people don’t have the resources for a dedicated affiliate manager or the time to talk to every affiliate that emails them. However, keep in mind the 80/20 rule, which applied here dictates that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your affiliates. If your time is limited, then at least make sure you’re talking with that top 20%.

Go To Conferences – This is the best place not only to learn, but also to meet potential affiliates and super affiliates. Going to an affiliate marketing conference like Affiliate Summit, for example, will allow you to meet new and existing affiliates, other publishers, and even people from ClickBank. When going to a conference, don’t try to recruit someone as an affiliate without getting to know the person first. Your purpose should be to get to know people and build relationships first, and then decide if they are a good candidate to be an affiliate for you.

Get Feedback – Now that you’re building relationships with your affiliates and you’re in regular communication with them, you’ll start getting priceless feedback. Listen to your affiliates, be proactive by encouraging feedback, and most importantly, take action on the feedback you get! The feedback you receive from your affiliates will help you to improve your products and services, conversions, and can give you numerous profitable insights.

As you can see, all my points are based around the same concept – the relationship. Affiliate management and recruitment is all about relationships. Whether you’re approaching potential affiliates in person or on the Web, or just working with existing affiliates, your approach should always be the same. You should work to build a great relationship with them. Not doing that is one of the biggest mistakes you could make as a publisher. Besides, you never know where that relationship might take you. I’ve known a few publishers who have even started new successful business ventures with one of their top affiliates.

Miles Baker has been marketing online since 1997 and has been a ClickBank client for almost a decade. He currently resides in Fort Collins, CO where he runs several online businesses and Web sites. You can reach Miles, learn more about him, and even view his live office cam at his Web site, MarketingWithMiles.com.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is the final post in a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one, two, three, or four?

Tip 5: Advertise

To further increase exposure of your product to affiliates, ClickBank provides a means by which you can purchase ad space within the ClickBank Marketplace, highlighting your product to hundreds of thousands of affiliates.

The Marketplace ads are three-line advertisements found on the right-hand side of Marketplace pages, under ‘Sponsored Links.’ You can see some current ads here:

http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm

The costs of Marketplace ads vary, depending upon how much traffic a particular page or category receives. More exposure means a higher priced advertisement.

All contracts are month-to-month, so clients may utilize the ad space as long as they wish without being locked into any long-term agreements. To check availability and add your name to a possible waiting list, visit https://www.clickbank.com/advertise.html. Select the location where you’d like to place an ad, fill out the form, and someone from ClickBank will contact you when a space becomes available.

Final Thoughts

Many publishers spend months, if not years, in product development. After so much arduous effort, why would you want to leave the success of your product to chance? No matter how great your product is, if you don’t do a good job of communicating that fact to the people who can help you promote it, it will never be as successful as it could be. So as you build the pitch page to sell your product, be sure that you work as hard on attracting affiliates as you do on attracting customers. By putting in the extra effort to make your product attractive to affiliates, you can become a serious affiliate magnet!

Good luck, and thank you for choosing ClickBank!

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part four of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one, two or three? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace or creating an affiliate tools page or getting your site right the first time.

Tip 4: Offer High Commissions

A penny saved is a penny earned? You’ve heard it all your life, but the sound advice your mother gave you could actually be damaging in the affiliate marketing industry.

When affiliates are looking for a new publisher to promote, they have thousands of products to choose from. Searching through each pitch page for the perfect product and sales copy is not always practical. Of course, having a professional, great-looking pitch page is important, but for most affiliates, other factors take priority.

Advertising costs can be expensive for affiliates. An affiliate wants to be able to look at a product and, in a glance, be able to trust that they’ll receive a positive return on their advertising and promotional investment. One of the most important stats in the ClickBank Marketplace that affiliates look for is “% sale.” This is the average commission percentage earned per affiliate per referred sale on a particular product. With many of our top products offering the maximum commission of 75%, you really can’t afford to not be generous with your commissions.

Though it may seem that the maximum payout amount is high, remember that these are sales you would not have made otherwise.

For more information about this subject, and data that proves the advantages of being generous with your commissions, check out our Generosity as Business Strategy article by Bob Dunlap:

http://www.clickbank.com/blog/2008/04/17/generosity-as-business-strategy/

Check back tomorrow for the fifth and final tip on becoming an affiliate magnet – advertising.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part three of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one or part two? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace or creating an affiliate page.

Tip 3: Get Your Site Right the First Time

When you’re sending in your first Product Approval Request, your top priority is probably getting your site active as quickly as possible. It certainly seems like a reasonable notion; the sooner you’re active, the sooner you can start receiving sales.

However, I strongly recommend that you take the time to perfect your site content, and to double-check that your Marketplace title and description are optimized to attract affiliates. You should make it clear what type of product you are selling and list the benefits affiliates receive by promoting your site.

There are third-party companies and sites on the Internet that feature newly-listed ClickBank products for a short period of time. If your site content is not optimum, you may be losing out on an opportunity for attracting affiliates right off the bat.

Check back tomorrow for the fourth tip on becoming an affiliate magnet – offering high commissions.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part two of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates as possible to promote your product. In this five-part series, I’ll show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace.

Tip 2: Create an Affiliate Tools Page

Something that ClickBank doesn’t require, but that can make a huge difference in attracting affiliates, is setting up a Web page specifically to help affiliates promote your product.

The feedback we have received from affiliates indicates that they are more inclined to promote products that provide affiliates with assistance in their marketing campaigns. Some ideas for tools you could provide to affiliates include:

• Banner images
• Other product images
• Textual ads
• Keyword recommendations
• Cloaking scripts
• Ad content recommendations (such as features or benefits of your product)
• Customized email signature ads
• Suggestions of places where affiliates can advertise your product effectively

ClickBank also provides a method for you to recruit affiliates directly from your own Web site. This tool gives affiliates the ability to create an affiliate link for your product directly from your Web site, without having to visit the ClickBank Marketplace first. For more information on using this tool, please go to “Leveraging The Affiliate Network.”

If you decide to create a Web page for your affiliates, you should consider listing the Web address as part of your Marketplace description, for added affiliate attraction.

Check back tomorrow for the third tip on becoming an affiliate magnet – getting your site right the first time.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part one of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

As many successful Internet marketers already know, ClickBank’s extensive affiliate network can be a powerful force for taking your product’s sales from mediocre to massive. Unlike most advertising and promotional efforts, ClickBank only pays out commissions to affiliates on your behalf for completed sales. This makes our affiliate program much more cost-effective than other traditional methods of product promotion. For example, when you place a paid advertisement in a search engine, you have to pay for the cost of the ad even if the clicks you get generate little or no sales. With our affiliate program, you are only paying for marketing costs when you’re actually making money.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I’ll show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet!

Tip 1: Take Advantage of the ClickBank Marketplace

ClickBank provides all new publishers the option of being listed within our ClickBank Marketplace: http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace

The question is, with the ClickBank Marketplace containing over 15,000 products, what can you do to obtain the most exposure and make your product attractive to affiliates?

The first thing that most new publishers don’t realize is that the majority of the Marketplace audience is comprised of affiliates, not consumers. So rather than have your Marketplace title and description tailored to consumers, you should use it to describe what makes your product appealing to affiliates.

Do you have a high commission percentage, a high payout or a Web site containing useful affiliate tools to help them promote your product? Be sure to list features like these in your Marketplace description so that affiliates can quickly see why they should promote your product.

To edit your Marketplace title/description, you’ll need to log in to your ClickBank account, click the “Account Settings” tab, the “My Site” link, and the “Edit” link under the “Marketplace Information” section, then modify your Marketplace description as needed.

Be sure to click “Save Changes” when finished!

Check back tomorrow for the second tip on becoming an affiliate magnet – creating an affiliate tools page.