Why you should use affiliates to promote your products?
- Increase sales.
- Increase the reach of your product promotions. An affiliate program enables you to widen the audience exposed to your product as it increases the incentive for more sites and individuals to promote your product.
- Affiliate programs help to increase your number of customers – not only for the specific product they are promoting, but for your other products too.
- New customers attracted through the affiliate promotion have the potential to be transformed into long-term loyal customers if you develop a relationship with them.
- Increase traffic
- It’s easy to get started with affiliate marketing and the capital requirements are low.
- A growing market of affiliates – more people are becoming attracted to the flexibility of working at home that affiliate marketing offers.
- Affiliates also help you grow your subscriber list.
- Affiliates are your marketing department, they drive the traffic, write the reviews, create websites and are your advocates.
Are there any drawbacks to affiliate marketing?
- Sharing your profits with affiliates means there is less profit for you.
- It can be very time consuming to manage the affiliate program. Of course, this depends on the nature of your program and your affiliates. But extra tasks may include paying affiliates, mentoring them, providing them with sales material, and motivating them.
- Potential to lose control over how your product(s) is promoted.
- Affiliates are not necessary loyal – Eventually they may be tempted to stray and develop their own products.
How can you attract and keep affiliates motivated and making you money?
- Create a great affiliate sign up page. Use a sales letter to sell your affiliate program – in it explain why they should promote your product and what they have to gain from being an affiliate for you. For instance, you may want to emphasise the low risk factor associated with being an affiliate, or if you have a strong brand or a great product you may want to emphasise that. Include the conversion rates on your affiliate page to let them know how well your sales letter is converting.
- Many affiliates (but not all) are motivated by the commission. They want to get paid well. So give them specific details of the pay – how much they will get per sale, how often they get paid, how they get paid, if there are any upsells and downsells to maximize the EPC (Earned Per Click). Include all these details on your affiliate sign up page.
- Motivate your affiliates. You can do this by offering bonuses for top affiliates or running contests and offering prizes as well as Cash prizes. Also motivate them mentally through promoting the benefits of a positive mindset, strong work ethic, and a determined attitude.
- Create a “back office” for your affiliates with useful tools to help them market your product, traffic generation techniques, swipe emails, banner ads and encourage them to write articles/review on your product.
- Inspire your affiliates to be innovative, creative, and proactive. Promote their full participation and suggestions. This gives affiliates more control and helps you have not only happy affiliates but loyal ones.
- Encourage affiliates to stay active online i.e. update blogs and their sites often. Leverage social media to promote your product.
Where to find Affiliates
There are many websites which are dedicated to affiliate marketing. Also consider your own connections on forums and your social media platforms.
Check out the following affiliate networks too:
Affiliate marketing has a lot of potential and can bring lots of opportunities, but if implemented poorly it can be disastrous. So ensure you know what you are doing before commencing an affiliate program to maximise your chances.
Are you an affiliate marketer? What incentivises you to promote a product? Or do you have a product? How is your affiliate programme going? Thinking about creating a product? Please leave a comment and share
Lilach
p.s. If you want to learn how to create an affiliate programme and build an army of affiliates click here to contact me.
Lilach
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30 Responses to How to Use Affiliates in Internet Marketing 101
I built my business early on based on the affiliate model and it served me well as i learned the ropes of Internet marketing. So much so that even today, years later, I still get commission cheques in the mail from things I set up years ago.
Affiliate marketing really can be passive income if done correctly and I would recommend that if you really want to make it big in affiliate marketing you take an intensive course on it from a super affiliate who has “been there and done it”!
We have an affiliate program for our Rapid Leverage Forum which pays 30% recurring commissions each month as it is one of the best ways to reward your existing clients by paying the commissions for bringing in new members
Thanks Suraj:) That’s the thing I love about affiliate marketing, how you can literally sign up and then months/years later still receive commission – particularly on recurring commissions – which I see you’ve adopted for your Rapid Leverage Forum:)
I agree that anyone who is looking to make money as an affiliate would really benefit from a course/mentoring to learn how to monetize it and not just make a few bucks out of it.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Great article with lots of helpful information! I dabbled in affiliate marketing early last year – and I did invest in “how to” course from a successful affiliate marketer. I still quit, primarily because I could never find the right products – either I liked the product but it didn’t fit with my niche, or it fit with the niche but I wouldn’t have my name associated with it. Now that I’m just starting to develop my own products I’d like to give it another go, but this time developing an affiliate program of my own – so your article is very well timed for me! Thanks so much
Twitter: marquitaherald
Thanks Marquita:) Affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as everyone makes out it can be but with some effort and the right training it can work well. But it doesn’t happen overnight for newbies, it takes time to build a list and drive traffic to your website.
Well done for creating your own product and I wish you the very best of luck with it:) Go build your affiliate army:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
We have started to develop affiliate programs on some of websites. As yet we are not seeing much return but it’s in the very early stages and once we get our market nailed we hope to see a little income. Which we can then build upon…
It’s all about analysis and research.
Thanks:) You have to remember that affiliate marketing is like any form of marketing – volume. If you have 100 affiliates only a percentage will take action, market your product and ultimately make you money. That’s why it’s so important to motivate and incentivise your affiliates so that your percentage of affiliates actively working for you are higher.
Twitter: lilachbullock
With the standard of giving 50% of total product price as a commission, paying an affiliate $1,000 for a $2000 product sold is the same thing as buying a customer for $1000. On the other hand if the affiliate finds you then there is little or no work that goes into generating the sale which is pretty cool.
Twitter: workwithpreston
50% is pretty high as a commission rate. Most products are around 30%.
But that said I personally think that the product owner is the real winner when it comes to affiliate marketing (which is why it’s so important to have your own product). That is if you get it right in setting up a great affiliate marketing programme. The affiliate drives all the traffic and even if they don’t buy from you straight away you often get a name/email address so it’s great for building a list.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Yes, I agree on the paying even $300 for the customer can be up there. Although it can bring in a rush of business. The difference is that you are only paying after you get paid.
So, once you get your site up and running, PPC and other methods both online and offline need to be looked at on a price per customer basis and you can do a lot of damage for what you would pay an affiliate.
But, would you ever reach that customer otherwise?
Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew Anderson recently posted..To Brighten Your Day
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I am happy to promote products that I use and get value from, I am not so comfortable asking people to buy something that I have no experience of.
Sarah Arrow recently posted..Why do you write?
Twitter: saraharrow
Thanks Sarah:) I’m the same, I only promote products that I use and love.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach,
Yes, you are right, affiliate marketing is important. I promote products that I believe in that clearly help customers. However, I believe that security of your affiliate links is a major issue and hopefully security standards for the industry will evolve that will make affiliate links more secure.
Regards
John Cosstick
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Thanks John:) I agree the security and cookie period is really important and since I’ve been affiliate marketing I have been seeing this area improving which is great – let’s hope it continues to improve across the board:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Another good post from you Lilach. Affiliate is a big business and the is certainly room for all. Thanks for the tips and resources!
John Moussan recently posted..Little Trick Contribute Big ‘Time’…
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Thanks John, my pleasure:) Yes I agree affiliate marketing is a very big business and more and more people are becoming affiliates.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Very informative Lilach. I too am adding affiliate marketing to my business, and the residual income is what’s cool about it – just like network marketing. Now, having a product and an affiliate program is something I hadn’t thought about, but now I will. Thanks for more great info!
Val Heisey recently posted..Why people fail in MLM – sorting through the noise…
Twitter: valheisey
Thanks Val my pleasure:) I’m sure you’re do brilliantly with affiliate marketing and it will definitely compliment your network marketing business:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
I have not jumped into creating products and having affiliates yet but I will tell it is one smart way to create a stronger brand and make more money for everyone. BTW it is one of my goals this year! Thanks!
Twitter: terrypetrovick
Thanks Terry, wishing you the very best of luck with your own products which no doubt will be great:)
I too am working on my own products this year and am looking forward to getting them out to market:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
The great thing about using affiliates is… multiple streams of income. It’s a good way to protect yourself in case your main stream happens to go down or they change something that you don’t like, and let’s face it, sometimes stuff just happens. Thanks Lilach!
Duke Romkey recently posted..Get Over MLM Prospecting Fears: Part 2
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Thanks Duke, absolutely:) If there was one thing I’ve learnt in business it’s not to put “all your eggs in one basket”. Things happen all the time and sometimes it’s completely out of our control. That’s what I love about affiliate marketing it’s a great way to earn a passive income and tops up your main income and of course there are plenty of people who do affiliate marketing full time but their secret is to promote multiple products so they don’t have the same problem:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
It’s like having 100% of your efforts or 50% of maybe hundreds of affiliates efforts, I know which I would rather have. Thanks Lilach.
Dave
David Sharp recently posted..Believe In Success And Create Your Own Future
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Thanks David, I know me too:) Pretty logical really:))
Twitter: lilachbullock
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Affiliate marketing is the online equivalent of commission selling in the bricks’n'mortar jungle. Having done the former for 25 years I just wish someone had introduced me to affiliate marketing 10 years ago. I won’t go so far as to suggest one is easier than the other but being able to WAH and not have to drive miles to some sales office or worse to see a prospect who agreed to the appointment then decided to do a ‘no-show’ … could write a book on the trials of commission sales but meantime affiliate marketing is the life for me. Providing you work with good merchants and leave the other cheats alone life is good.
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Twitter: affiliatesouth
This is great! Thanks for all the tips Lilach!
Twitter: bluephoenixnyc
Great article Lilach, taught me new things
I really appreciate the high quality content you deliver!
Twitter: ekarlehav
Hi Lillach – I love reading anything you care to write about as you do it with such authority and knowledge, yet always willing to learn as well.
We (Rob and myself) have dabbled in some affiliate marketing but do not have a product to sell. I agree that it is good to promote those things that you yourself like, but as we all do, we buy different things from different places. As our site suggests, everything under1roof, so it is an interactive site with lots of things to keep people interested, such as direct IM, chat, web cam, games, puzzles, dating page, shopping deals page, photo sharing, iTunes, free music, and a blog….so which way to go in the affiliate stream is a difficult one. We also offer for anyone whether they want to advertise themselves personally, their interests and hobbies, or whether it be their blog, site or business to advertise for free, some have, most have not bothered, which I find strange as our site is free – and most certainly the advertising side of it. Do you think perhaps that we are mixing the 2 and affiliates wouldn’t bother with us, even though we have had so many hits in such a short space of time (1 month since we became live)? Not sure which way to go, but definitely want to be involved in affiliate marketing…help please x Linda
Twitter: under1roofws
Hi Lilach,
I so wish I had come upon your site before attempting to develop and market my own product. Better yet, I wish I had come to understand more of how to keep your future affiliates on a shorter leash for how “they” market your inspirations – AND – keep them monetarily motivated to do more to help you! Your ideas have definitely provided me with some relevant aha’s!
Wesley recently posted..Marketing with Anik 2 Preview – Affiliate Marketing with Anik 2.0
Twitter: recessproof
Great information! Having affiliates can be a lot of work, but if you find a good system to pay them and give them good promotion tools it’s probably the best possible way to get more sales for your product.
Thanks again for the great information!
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