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!

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 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.

To learn how to build the kind of ‘Affiliates’ page that affiliates want you to have, click here and go through that page and the next one.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

I tried every trick I could think of to put an example of a simple sign-up form you could add to your ‘Affiliates’ page here but I couldn’t get it to work, so click here to see one.

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.

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. [$$$]

SouthBeachDiet.com’s affiliate page says to join their program, send an email to… What?

And then there are all the programs that make affiliates wait for days before they’ll approve them…

Let’s say I dropped the ball and need to send a message out to my list subscribers, like, NOW, and I have a great idea for an article and now I need to find a product to tie in with it. Seller #1 has it all – a site that sells, good sales copy, the right price, a fat commission – but after signing up for their affiliate program, they send me a message saying I’ll hear back from them in two to three days. GAAAA!!!

Seller #2 has a similar product but their site’s design, sales copy and commission aren’t nearly as good as Seller #1’s but I need a product NOW so I applied for their affiliate program anyway and – YEA! They immediately sent me a message welcoming me to their program and gave me my affiliate link. So, I use it to finish up my message, send it out to my subscribers and head back out to the pool.

As an affiliate, I don’t want to jump through hoops just to join an affiliate program and I don’t want to have to wait for days to get approved. I want my affiliate link NOW.  If sites, like Quickbooks and LegalZoom, can approve affiliates immediately, why can’t you?

Make it easy for affiliates to join your affiliate program and start sending you traffic. And if you’re one of the ones telling affiliates to call or email you, make it easy on yourself by automating your sign-up process! Click here to learn more about some of the different options that are available.