by Homerun Nievera, World Executives Digest |
Affiliate programs can turn out to be favorable for both the advertisers and affiliates provided the right blend of effort and knowledge put into that. If managed effectively, your affiliates will increase the reach of your products and drive more traffic to your site. But, this is all happens only if you manage efficiently.
If you want to develop an affiliate marketing program, there are a few keys that you should really consider before getting your feet wet.
- The Right Affiliate Tracking Software
Buy, borrow, or build. By any means gets the best affiliate tracking software that works above and beyond to track your affiliates’ stats. Having a good referral tracking software in place will ensure you have every single detail about the affiliate program.
Various companies like Commission Junction, who facilitate affiliate deals, have their own cookie systems to make sure that consumers are tracked right from the moment they see and ad for your product on a vendor site to till the product is purchased by the customer.
- Commit to Crystal Clear Communications
To run your affiliate program successfully, you need a clear-cut communication with your affiliates; no ambiguity. You must make sure that your communications are to the point and clear. Being clear, concise, and consistent in your communication will help you get positive responses from your affiliates. Include various communication means such as email, SMS, etc.
- Access to Tools & Resources
Your affiliates might be good at promoting your products but giving them access to the best tools and resources will let them drive your more traffic to your site. Thinking what if you don’t? Then they may just walk away. So ensure your affiliates have the media required to promote your products in a compelling and engaging ways.
- Know Your Affiliates’ Advertising Channels
No doubt you might have already had paid search marketing or direct advertising & marketing deals with popular websites. But affiliates of advertising networks who are handled rightly might begin competing with you for your own keywords and copyrights. It entirely depends on how they promote your products.
So you need to understand what sort of placement you are getting on their networks and what tools they are deploying to promote your products.
- Build Good Relationships with Your Affiliates
Trust and transparency are two essential components for an affiliate relationship. As a buyer, from your side, you make sure that you make timely payment and track every single penny you spend on your campaigns, affiliates, etc. Set up reasonable payments to your affiliates and ensure the affiliates you work with can work according to your terms.
Ultimately, an affiliate program management needs a proactive approach, the compliance to address changes as the industry grows, and assuring that your affiliates are adding value. Doing something which is not supposed to be done can result in a marketing channel that is not living up to its potential. If you did your affiliate marketing rightly, then consider you have found new channels that will help you in reaching billions of consumers.
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Homerun Nievera is the publisher of WorldExecutivesDigest.com. He has interests in several tech and digital businesses as director and chief strategist.
Homerun is a digital evangelist, content marketer and lifelong learning advocate. Homerun is the “He Said” in the popular Facebook Page He Said, She Said.
