Affiliate Marketing

Build a Sales Force

When you engage in affiliate marketing, you open your site up to a sea of publishers looking to form a symbiotic relationship that offers one of the least expensive customer acquisition models going.

From bloggers to coupon-code slingers, comparison shopping sites to virtual malls, there is a variety of site classes that are looking to send you traffic on a pay-per-action basis. While there is very little risk involved in affiliate marketing, there are, of course, pitfalls to be aware of, and it pays to have a knowledge of the general affiliate meme set and culture.

The first step is to decide on a home-grown or third-party affiliate network to work with. We tend to recommend working with a 3rd party like Google Affiliate Network or Commission Junction – while they are more expensive and charge a nominal fee per transaction, the network of active affiliates they allow you to recruit from makes life easier when getting started.

It’s important to note that the affiliate programs by their very nature tend to attract the occasional bad apple who will seek to exploit loopholes in terms of service agreements and, very rarely, outright scam you for commission. For that reason, it is important to regularly police your traffic and reconcile all orders at the end of the month to ensure that you are not overpaying on commission.

It’s also important to remember that each affiliate represents a relationship that needs to be maintained. New promotional materials, offers and content need to be provided on a regular basis to help them send you qualified traffic.

Once a solid affiliate base is established – usually within the first two months, this type of program offers a low-risk and productive revenue stream that can put your brand in front of a large, new audience.

Contact us today to talk about why working with a qualified affiliate manager is smart and cost effective.