“Waking up” Your Affiliates

While this website solely focuses on the affiliate side of things, this article is intended for the affiliate managers among us who need to shake things up a bit and get their affiliates back to making money. As an affiliate, it is important to know this side of the business and be aware of the things you can ask for as well as what would make you a favorable affiliate (beyond bringing in good traffic, of course).

Why do Affiliates Even Need to be “Woken Up”?

Affiliates earn money based on their performance – so why would they be performing at anything below their best? Sometimes, it’s down to some of the most basic elements. Often times, you’ll find that your media tools are lacking. This means that your affiliate has little to work with and feels like he’s hit a wall in terms of his ability to promote your product. As an affiliate, it’s always best to ask for more media (banners, reviews, etc) – it also shows you have the intention of working hard to bring in more traffic.

Sometimes, your affiliate may find a similar product with a better deal, leading him to move his resources to someone else. A good way to deal with this is to come up with some incentive that makes it worthwhile for the affiliate to promote your product. As an affiliate, it never hurts to ask for a better deal or exclusive promotion to run through your network.

Waking Them Up

1.     Incentives – It never hurts to give someone more to work for. While you may have a standard CPA deal, you can easily offer extra payment when your affiliate goes the extra mile. For example, if your affiliate places you in a better spot, why not make it worth his while? Eventually, a better deal will come along and you will slipped further and further down.

2.     Stay in Touch – Keeping in touch with your affiliates is a great way to make sure they know you’re watching and that business is running as usual. Furthermore, it never hurts to stay in touch – you may hear about competitors’ offerings and industry gossip.

3.     Create & Push New Media – Having great media tools is the right way to start your relationship with the affiliate, but it’s not enough. Show you’re serious by researching the different results that different texts and banners provide and let your affiliates know what works best. This shows that you are serious about your business relationship.

4.     Create Exclusive Promotions – When an affiliate has an exclusive discount to offer your clients, it means that an extra effort will be put in to bring more traffic. An affiliate earns his living by marketing – so he knows that when he has an exclusive promotion, his competitors will have a hard time pushing an inferior offer. This is why quality affiliates are the only ones who should receive such offers.

Once you’ve made contact with your affiliate, be sure to maintain communication with him – even if only twice a month – a few words go a long distance.