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Affiliate Communication
Affiliate Communication
by Sharon Housley
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://tinyurl.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:
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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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
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