Free Website Content - 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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