Affiliate Communication
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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:/ inyurl.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
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
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