Internet Marketing
Strategies
Part Six: Setting Up Your Affiliate Program
By Shelley Lowery
If you're marketing your own product on the Internet, you can dramatically
increase your sales with an affiliate program.
An Affiliate program will enable you to recruit an unlimited number of
individuals to sell your products. The key to obtaining affiliates is to
offer a nice commission for each sale. The higher the commissions, the more
affiliates you'll recruit.
There are thousands of affiliate programs on the Internet. In order to be
successful you must sell your affiliate program just like your product. In
other words, your affiliate letter should be written like a sales letter.
You must persuade your visitors to join your affiliate program by packing
your affiliate sales letter with benefits. Tell them exactly what your affiliate
program will do for them, how much commission they will receive and make
the sign-up process simple.
One Tier Verses Two Tier
One tier affiliate programs pay commissions on one level. For each sale an
affiliate makes, they will receive a commission. For example, if you offer
your affiliates 30% commission and your product sells for $39.99, for every
sale your affiliate makes, they will receive a $12 commission.
Two tier affiliate programs pay commissions on two levels. Affiliates will
receive a commission for each sale they make and for each sale their recruits
make. Two tier affiliate programs usually divide the commissions over the
two levels. For example, if you want to give your affiliates a total of 30%
commission for each sale, you would offer 20% commission on their first level
sales and an extra 10% commission for second level sales. If your affiliate
makes a $39.99 sale, they would receive a $8 commission. If one of their
recruits makes a sale, they would receive an additional $4 commission.
Increasing Affiliate Sales
Nobody knows more about your product than you do. Provide your affiliates
with banners, sample ads, articles or anything that will assist them in making
sales.
To further increase sales, create an ebook that is directed towards your
target audience and allow it to be freely distributed. This ebook should
be packed with valuable information and, at the same time, used as a sales
tool for your product. Customize a copy of your ebook for each of your affiliates
and allow them to freely distribute it. You can customize the ebooks yourself
or purchase an ebook compiler that enables your affiliates to customize your
ebook themselves. Not all compilers will allow customizations. I highly recommend
Ebook Edit Pro. You can find it here:
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=2894
To keep your affiliates motivated, set up an opt-in list to enable them to
subscribe and receive new promotional methods, sales letters and articles
to assist them in making more sales. This will not only increase their sales,
but it will also enable you to keep in contact with your affiliates and introduce
new products.
Setting Up Your Affiliate Program
When you're ready to set up your affiliate program, there are basically two
options. The first option is to purchase an affiliate software program. Affiliate
software will track your affiliate sales and enable your affiliates to view
their stats. This option requires that you run your affiliate program and
you are responsible for accepting payment and sending out commission
checks.
The second option is to use a third party affiliate tracking company to run
your affiliate program for you. These companies will track your affiliate
sales, enable your affiliates to check their stats and send out commission
checks for you.
Affiliate Tracking Software
AssocTRAC- A great affiliate tracking software that features real time tracking
of stats. It tracks both visitors and sales for each associate to determine
not only the quality of visitors, but also if your sales copy is turning
visitors into buyers. It includes an easy sign up process that instantly
creates accounts for associates so they can be up and running within five
minutes. An autoresponse email message is instantly sent out with linking
instructions and other detailed information. This powerful software tracks
through the use of cookies and CGI scripts.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=2333
Pro-TRACK - A great affiliate tracking software that will enable you to keep
track of sales and which affiliate the sale originated. Although the standard
version won't compute any sales data (owners manually keep track of sales),
it is an excellent way to track and compensate your affiliate sales. The
Pro version will not only track where your sales originate, but also provide
you with the statistics you'll need to track how well your affiliate program
is doing.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=61
Affiliate Tracking Companies
ClickBank - This Company will not only enable you to accept credit cards,
but they will also run your affiliate program. Over 60,000 affiliates can
choose to sell your products for you. ClickBank enables any web seller to
automatically pay sales commissions to affiliates. They will bill your customers,
pay you, and pay your affiliates a commission. They charge a one-time $49.95
activation fee, and a $1 + 7.5% fee per sale. There are no monthly fees.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=196
Click Trade - Lets you create your own affiliate program to allow others
to send paying customers to you. Your business can reach new customers by
being featured on thousands of affiliate sites. They have over 120,000 affiliates
already interested in participating with your affiliate program.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=194
Take your time and select the best affiliate option for your business. If
you're just starting out, you may want to use one of the third party affiliate
companies, as this is the easiest route. You won't have to worry about anything,
as everything is taken care of for you. This will enable you to concentrate
on making more sales and developing new products.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design
Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.com
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