Affiliate marketing programs can be overwhelming. There is a lot to do to keep your affiliates happy and to make sure that all sales are accounted for. Technology and an experienced affiliate manager on your team can make a significant difference. The following three affiliate program online best practices can all be optimized by leveraging both technology and an experienced person on your team.
#1 Create Unique and Brandable Content
Most affiliate programs don’t take this step. Affiliate marketing programs provide an affiliate link to their sales page and then leave their affiliates to do the hard work. This isn’t a great way to create a strong affiliate program. Give your affiliates material that they can use to help promote your products or services. And while blog posts and articles are great, there are many other different types of content that your affiliates use and will readily embrace. Remember that when your affiliate succeeds, you succeed. So here’s a quick list of some content ideas:
- Infographics – Infographics are readily brandable and visual content is shared more often online than any other type of content
- Memes
- Slide shows
- Images – for example, quotes positioned over the top of a relevant image
- Tweets
- Social media posts with images for sites like Facebook and Google+
- Downloads including reports, workbooks and worksheets, and checklists
- Reviews & testimonials
- Email/autoresponder messages
#2 Give Them an Abundance of Information
To create a connection with your affiliates and to motivate them to work hard promoting your products or services, it makes good sense to provide them with as much information as possible. Here are some tips, ideas, and suggestions for providing your affiliates with information;
- Create an FAQ page that is comprehensive and easy to use.
- Make sure you have someone on your team to answer affiliate questions promptly and professionally.
- Create an education center that provides information on how to succeed as an affiliate marketer.
- Send welcome messages to each new affiliate.
- Stay connected on a regular basis and make sure they know what’s going on with your business. For example, do you have any new products or services that you’re launching soon? Special promotions on the horizon?
- Tell them how they can make more money with your affiliate program. Do you have any incentives or bonuses?
- Send them your promotion schedule. Make sure they know exactly what you’re promoting, when you’re promoting it and how. Also consider providing them with additional marketing content and materials to help you have a more successful promotion.
#3 Streamline Payments in Affiliate Marketing Programs
Make sure that your affiliate payment system is perfect. A good system will tell your affiliates whenever they make a sale. It will tell them the amount of their new sale, as well as their commission. Your payments need to go out on time every month. Keep in mind that your affiliates are making their living by promoting you. Respect their hard work and their time by making their payments on time and accurately every month. Technology can make this a simple process.
Once you have your systems in place, these best practices are easier to manage. Find a good affiliate manager or program to invest in. Plan well and remember that a happy affiliate can bring tremendous profits to your business.
