Read Cody Moya’s article titled “Keys to a Great Affiliate Program”.


Cody Moya’s article is reprinted here.

******

Keys to a Great Affiliate Program

When it comes to creating a successful affiliate program, it is important to look at what others have done well, and not so well. In order for your affiliate program to be successful and profitable, you will need to learn from the mistakes that others have made, as well as emulate what the most successful affiliate programs are doing. This article is designed to provide some of the best tips we have gathered through the years.

Proper care and feeding of your best affiliates
The importance of taking care of your best affiliates is almost impossible to overstate. Your most profitable affiliates should be identified as early as possible in your program, and singled out for special care and attention. After all, these people are your best clients, and they should be treated with the attention they deserve.

Call your best affiliates and ask them if there is anything you can do to help them. You may want to offer them some sort of custom reporting, or offer to promote an upcoming special or product launch. Either way, it is important to let your best affiliates know that they are appreciated.

Most affiliate programs tend to operate according to the 80/20 rule, with eighty percent of the affiliates failing to deliver the goods, while the remaining 20 percent deliver the goods. For many affiliate programs, this percentage is even more skewed. No matter what the ratio of top performers to also rans, it is important to take good care of your best affiliates.

Ask your affiliate what they want
This tip sounds so simple it should not even need to be included, but you would be shocked at the number of affiliate program managers who fail to take the needs of their affiliates into account. Paying attention to what the affiliate needs from the relationship is the best way to make sure both parties get what they are looking for. Keeping the needs of the affiliate foremost in your mind will help the affiliate to realize more sales, and you to realize more click throughs, better conversion rates and fatter commission checks.

Market, market, market
Many affiliate program managers set up their program, market it aggressively, achieve the results they want and then forget about it. This is a big mistake, because the internet is an every changing, dynamic place. There is always a need to market your program, and to keep your name in front of the top affiliates.

Message boards are a great place to get your name out there, but only if you have something to say or contribute. Simply using message boards for advertising will leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and get you all the wrong kinds of attention. Contributing useful, relevant information on trends in the affiliate world, however, will lead others to look to you for advice and wisdom.

Combine your talents
If you are like most affiliate program managers, you probably find yourself searching for content when it is time to put together your monthly newsletter. If this is the case, you may want to set up an exchange with another affiliate program. For instance, you can provide some content for their newsletter, along with a short ad in exchange. The next month, your partner will do the same. This is a great way to get fresh content and fresh ideas while doing some clever marketing at the same time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cody Moya writes about “Affiliate Program Creation And Management” in his Free Courses on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his free Courses and get additional information at his website: http://FreeInternetMarketingCourses.com

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Cody Moya for granting permission to reprint this article.