A first-time seller recently emailed me and asked if she had a pop up on her site, would her affiliates lose out on their commissions if the customers bought through a link in her follow-up campaign.
I assured her that the affiliate network you’re using (ClickBank, ShareASale, etc.) gives each affiliate their own link to use and when a visitor clicks on that link, the network sets a cookie on that visitor’s computer. As long as that visitor buys within a certain period of time, (in her case, 60 days since she sells her ebook through ClickBank) the network will know which affiliate gets the credit for the sale.
Do you have a question for an affiliate? Contact me!
FACT: Affiliates aren’t going to buy every product they work with.
So, if half of your affiliates have never read or used your product or services, would they be able to describe it correctly? Do you provide enough info about your product on your pitch page and ‘Affiliates’ page that they could craft an accurate description of what it is and what it can do?
Think of every detail an affiliate would need to write reviews, articles, PPC ads and more for your product – how many pages it has, what topics are covered, what it does, etc. – and put these details on your ‘Affiliates’ page to help them market it. If it’s won awards, say so. If it was featured somewhere prominent, like on Oprah, or the Today Show, say so.
But here’s something else to keep in mind…
Let’s say you went to a really great restaurant last night and you’re emailing your friend to tell him about it:
If you haven’t been to XYZ, you are missing out, buddy! We went last night, and let me tell you! I got the steak – it was bigger than the plate! And it was sooooo good, it just melted in your mouth! Jane got the _______ and said, “You have got to try this!” It was fantastic! …
When you’re excited about something, it shows through in your writing.
Let your affiliates get excited about your product by letting them have a little taste.
If you already offer a free trial of your product on your site, then you’re all set. All of your affiliates have probably already used it and can write a rich, detailed description of what it is, what it does and what it can do for people.
If you have a monthly membership site, give your affiliates a one-month trial.
If you sell an ebook, give your affiliates a free copy. Even if one affiliate only brings you ten sales, giving away that one free copy is still a good investment.
If you really want affiliates to market your product, give them all the help they need.
So I’m on Google the other day looking for a local place to rent a mailbox (I just moved to Fort Worth, Texas and have no clue what’s around here) and an ad at the top of the sponsor ads on the side catches my eye. EarthClassMail.com. The catchy name sparked my curiosity so I just had to check it out. And being an affiliate, I immediately start looking for a link to their affiliate page but didn’t see one.
So I go back to what I was doing and hours later I’m at ShareASale and guess what site I see listed there? Now… it was just shear luck that I happened to see their ad on SAS but if I hadn’t, I would have never known EarthClassMail has an affiliate program.
The moral of the story: Don’t risk letting one hungry affiliate slip by. Put an ‘Affiliates’ page on your site that has all the info affiliates want on it.
And if you use PayDotCom, don’t just count on the page they give you. That page is about as inviting as a rectal exam. Make affiliates want to work with you by having a great ‘Affiliates’ page on your site.
Let’s face it… affiliates are money-grubbing weasels who will ditch you in a heartbeat if something better comes along. But there are things you can do to keep your affiliates (and maybe steal your competitor’s affiliates in the process!):
Do Better Than Your Competitors. Have:
a better site
better sales copy
a better offer
better free bonuses
better tools for affiliates to use
Stay in Touch with Your Affiliates. Email them often to keep your product(s) on their minds, and to…
Be Supportive. Offer to help them in they need it. Offer to make them graphic ads to match their site. Be available for interviews.
The one thing that really attracts affiliates… a product that sells itself. Make yours an easy sale and they won’t be able to resist.
Affili-Fix-ation.com shows you how to do all of these things and more so you can attract (and keep!) affiliates.
“I set up an affiliate program but affiliates aren’t exactly lining up to work with my product. What gives?”
This is why I built Affili-Fix-ation.com – for sellers just like you. Chances are there’s something about your site that turns potential affiliates off, and if your site turns affiliates off, it’s a safe bet that it’s turning off potential customers, too. Go through Affili-Fix-ation – it’ll show you the top ten things that make affiliates avoid a site and how to fix them. The Good News
Once you fix what’s turning affiliates off, you’ll start seeing more sales (even from your own marketing efforts!) and more affiliates in no time. Make Affiliates Give Your Site a Second Look
If you have an ad on an affiliate network, like Clickbank, make sure you rewrite your ad – mention that you redesigned your site, got new sales copy, added new tools for affiliates to use, etc. – so affiliates will take another look.
Since every site that’s targeted toward affiliates (affiliate directories, forums, blogs, resource sites, etc.) sells advertising space, why not change the message on one of your current graphic ads so it’ll attract affiliates to your affiliate program?
One big banner ad across the top of one affiliate forum will get seen by thousands of affiliates in a day and that could mean a tidal wave of sales for you. And it would pay for itself fast.
You could place short vertical banners on the sides of resource sites and affiliate program directories, full banner ads on forums and in newsletters/ezines… What sizes would be best?
468×60,
120×240,
120×90, and
125×125
When you go to the sites, their “Advertiser” info will tell you what sizes they accept. What should your message say? Well, what’s in it for affiliates? Money, easy commissions,… You get the idea. To find places to place your ads, or to get ideas for the right message to put on them, use Google, or your favorite search engine, to search for:
affiliate + directory
affiliate + forum OR discussion
affiliate + newsletter OR ezine
…and look at the websites at the top of the list. Focus on getting your ad on those sites first, and work your way down the list later to get even more affiliates and more sales.
Does your affiliate program have 2-tiers? That’s even better! Create ads that affiliates can use to send you new affiliates! Place these on the sites you find above as well as on your affiliate page.
I was looking for a product on a specific topic in Clickbank’s Marketplace recently and saw this in one seller’s affiliate ad:
“No Hint Of Affiliate Program On Sales Page.”
Um… Huh?
Think of a commercial you’ve seen on TV – Travelocity, South Beach Diet, Bowflex, Chemistry.com, NetFlix, Rosetta Stone… even Wal-Mart. Go to their website and you will see an ‘Affiliates’ link.
Gee… do you think that seller knows something that these big companies don’t.
O.k., I could see how a big, honking “Earn Money” graphic would look spammy and turn potential customers off…
…but most of them will never notice an ‘Affiliates’ link in the footer.
Affiliates WANT you to have a link to your ‘Affiliates’ page on your site. If we just happen to land on your site and don’t see one, we assume you don’t have an affiliate program and look for a site selling a similar product that does. Someone else will get the traffic we send – not you!
Don’t make the same mistake that seller is making. Make sure affiliates know you have an affiliate program.
Today, I thought I’d let you get a glimpse of an affiliate at work…
First Thing on Today’s ‘To Do’ List:
Create a new Squidoo lens on a particular topic today. It’s all written – I just need to add a few banner ads to it, which is the next thing on the list.
Second Thing on the ‘To Do’ List:
Find one or two ebooks on a specific topic that have banner ads to use in the lens.
So, I go to Clickbank since it’s the one-stop shop for ebooks. I click on the ‘View Pitch Page’ link for the first product – site looks homemade, has a cheesy domain name, lots of misspelled word. I wouldn’t buy the product and neither would anyone else. Next…
The next site looks good [read: trustworthy], the price is right for the market, lots of testimonials… yep, it’ll sell. But… there’s no link to an affiliate page. I need a banner ad so on to the next…
The next site looks good and has an affiliate page, but when I click to go there, it’s a squeeze page. If I don’t enter my email address, I can’t get to their ‘Affiliate’ page. I don’t want to but I need an ad, so I bite the bullet. And after I fill it in, it takes me to the next page, and look! No ads. On to the next site…
[Grab my 'To Do' list and add "Unsubscribe from that seller's list" to it]
Victory! The next site sells AND it has lots of good-looking graphics to choose from. I right-click on a banner ad to save it to my computer and grab my affiliate link for that product.
Yea! One down, one more to go.
When I try to go to the next site, ForceField pops up a warning saying the site is known to be malicious. Yikes! I hit my ‘Back’ button to get out of there FAST!
The next site looks lousy. The text is w-a-y out to the edges, the headline is weak, it’s written in broken English… One sub heading says this ebook will show you how to bring in thousands of dollars in your first week but there’s a testimonial from one user who says he brought in a measly $200 in his first month. I shake my head wondering what some sellers are thinking when they build a site and expect to make money off it and move on…
Next one… no ‘Affiliate’ page.
Next one… the graphics on the ‘Affiliate’ page wouldn’t make anyone want to click on them.
Next one… site looks cheesy.
Next one… have to jump through hoops to get to the ‘Affiliate’ page [I'm not falling for that again]. Next…
Victory! I finally find another banner ad. The site doesn’t sell as well as I’d like (the ‘Look & Feel’ and the sales copy could definitely be improved) but they have an ad that’ll work, so screw it. Good enough.
Cross this off my ‘To Do’ list.
Third Thing on ‘To Do’ List:
Find a banner ad for a specific product (not an ebook) to tie in with this Squidoo lens. This time I go to ShareASale.
The first one I see doesn’t instantly approve affiliates. I want to get this lens up today so I don’t have days to wait for them to approve me. On to the next one…
The next one doesn’t have any ads. Forge on…
The next one has lots of banner ads and instantly approves affiliates. Yea! I grab the code for the ad I want to use along with my affiliate link.
Cross this off the ‘To Do’ list.
Feeling satisfied as I am finally making progress and getting things done, I unsubscribe from that one seller’s list and cross off another thing on today’s ‘To Do’ list.
And so it goes day in and day out. [Bet you thought the life of an affiliate was a little more glamorous than this, didn't you?]
If only more sellers knew what they could do to fix their sites to make them (and their affiliates!) more money, we’d all be happier! And richer!
The next time you hear a seller complain that their site isn’t making them any money, please, please, please tell them to check out www.Affili-Fix-ation.com. It’ll show them what they can do to make their site better and make them (and their affiliates!) more money.
[Sorry... I know I've been neglecting my blog. My sister got married at the end of June so that was crazy, my flight back left without me so I got home a day later, had to find a holistic vet for my 20-year-old cat, discovered Squidoo and creating lenses and that's been eating up much of my time... but I'm back now and will be publishing helpful posts for you on a daily basis from now on.] “Why should I collect my affiliates’ email addresses?”
As a seller, there are a number of good reasons why you would want to collect all of your affiliates’ email addresses:
So they don’t forget about you. Affiliates are constantly distracted by new products to work with and they tend to forget about others. By staying in touch with your affiliates, it’ll keep yours in their minds.
Want a boast in sales? Maybe sales are starting to taper off, or maybe you want a sudden flood of sales to buy a new sports car. Being able to send your affiliates an email to light a fire under them would be handy. [How would you light a fire under them? Hold a contest. The affiliate who brings in the most sales in a specific time period (ex. one month) wins a cool prize.]
To build loyalty. The simple truth is: affiliates aren’t exactly loyal; they’re going to go with the easiest sale (a product that sells itself). But by doing things to help your affiliates (send them tips to make them (and you!) more money, offer to create new tools and graphics for them, be available for interviews, etc.), they’ll be more likely to stick with you, and not your competitor.
About to launch a new product? You’ve probably heard that some sellers launch a new product and make $1 million on the first day. [Mike Filsaime comes to mind] They do this by sending their affiliates an email a month in advance to start getting them fired up about the launch. Then another three weeks before launch, and continue sending messages counting down until the launch. Inside the message is a message the affiliates can send to their subscribers to get potential customers so excited about the product, they can’t wait to buy it. When launch day comes, people rush to their computer with their credit card in hand. How to Get Affiliates to Cough It Up
Does your affiliate network let you contact your affiliates? [I know PayDotCom does] If they let you email your affiliates, and not every affiliate in their network, you’re all set.
If not, you’ll have to collect it yourself…
Don’t do like some sites that use a squeeze page to force affiliates to give up their email address before they’ll let them get to their affiliate page. Since sites, like these, tend to bury affiliates in email trying to get them to buy other people’s products, it’s easier to hit your ‘Back’ button and go find a different seller to work with instead.
A better way is to bribe them with a reward program. Some sites might offer an extra 10% on each sale when an affiliate reaches 50 sales in a month, 15% when they reach 100, etc. Others offer a flat dollar amount on each sale after an affiliate reaches a certain point, so instead of getting a $20 commission on each sale, for example, they get $25 on each sale. But the catch is – an affiliate can’t participate unless you have their email address.
All those extra sales will make it worth your while.
Once you add the form, then just set it up so that it sends the info to a list you set up on Aweber or whichever email list manager you use, and then you can blast a message to all of your affiliates any time you want.
So, how do you pay them the difference? If you use a network, like Clickbank or ShareASale, that pays them their regular commissions, you just PayPal them the difference. For example, if they earned $575 in commissions and your network paid them $500, you just PayPal them the $75.
See? Collecting your affiliates’ email addresses and staying in touch with them pays off in sales now and for years to come.
I was at this one site a few weeks ago and applied for their affiliate program and later checked my email and saw that they had approved me as their affiliate, but the affiliate link they gave me looked weird so I clicked on it and it sent me to a whole ‘nuther site [an ugly one that didn’t sell at that!].
Huh?
Apparently, the company owns both sites so I emailed them asking for a little verification but they have yet to respond [and I have yet to send them any traffic].
If you have different sites, set up a separate affiliate program for each one. That way there’s no confusion. And be sure to let your affiliates know about your other sites so they can join those programs as well.
Oh, and when one of your affiliates emails you, it would probably be in your best interest to respond. [$$$]
