Category: Affiliate Marketing

What is Affiliate Marketing:
Your Virtual Sales Force through embeded links with a tracking code.

4 types of Affiliates:
1)Search Engine Affiliates:
through SEO and or PPC
2)Traffic Affiliates:
high traffic on there sites
3)Email Affiliates:
Large email list. Send out an email on your behalf
4)Coupon Affiliates:
Promo Codes, Coupon Code

10 Golden Rules of Affililate marketing
1: Select a solution
a) sign-up with a network:
Means connecting an affiliate with a merchant through a 3rd party.
Great place to get started..you pay the network network pays the virtual staff
b)In house solution:
-No 3rd party
-Options to use – direct track or idevDirect
-No middle man, so you have to handle all questions, billing, tracking, etc.
2)Create an Affiliate Agreement:
-Legal document written in common english. Make it simple for them (affiliates) so they will sign up.
-Can Affiliates use your brand in marketing and other keywords. Yes or No? May end up competing in $$$ for clicks/ads
-No Spam Policy
3)Recruit Affiliates:
-Have a link on your website to your sign-up page or to the network your with.
-Use a network, they promote you in new/feature/seasonals
-check out abestweb
-Watch out for scams/scammers. Do manual approvals at first to see who is marketing for you.
4)Make great creatives
-Have a simple cut and paste link with all tracking already provided in the link
-Make it easy to find on the the networks. The networks offer EPC (earning per click) info.
-Make interactive creatives, using dynamic code that updates banners and links with current promos and deals
5)Be Accessible
-You have to be there for you vitrual sales force,
-Do it though; Email, blog, phone number, twitter, facebook, IM, in person, etc.
6) Full Time Program Managers
-In house or outsources
-all contact, recuiting, gathering creatives
-Don’t think this is an easy job that can be added to someone already in the office. This is a full time position that requires knowledge, skills, and should be a people person
7) Embrace the 90:10 Rule
-Meaning that 90% of your affiliate sales/revenue is brought in by 10% of your affiliate recruites
-These 10% should be offered special terms, special creatives, take the time to get to know them. You don’t want to lose them.
8) Communicate often
-Affiliates will often be part of 100’s of programs, keep your program on the top of there mind
-Reminders, go offline too, send a product, snail-mail, demo
9)Stay current
-Things change and new tec is always emerging. Keep up!
-Geekcast.fm for pod cast
abestweb. forum
blogs like ShoeMoney
Revnews
AffiliateTip.com
10)Pay Frequently, Fairly, and Most
Give your top performers (sale people) special deals, higher paid & faster etc.
They may spend $10,000 to make $12,000 so they need that capital back to keep the cycle going.
Don’t make them wait, cash flow is important

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Ideas to market:
Use custom landing pages
Make a video. You tube is #2 website in the world
Incenives like contest
News Letters
FaceBook Business Pages Get index by search engines