Posts Tagged ‘Graphics’

The Dangers of Not Providing Your Affiliates with Support

January 14th, 2010 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Affiliate Marketing

If you run an affiliate program, you need to ensure your affiliates are doing their part. They must use your coded links and banners. If not, they are doing nothing to generate sales for you. In fact, they are wasting your time. With that said, dont write off each of these individuals as lazy. There are many cases in which those new to affiliate programs need a little help and support, be sure to give it to your members.

As previously stated, you need to provide all of your affiliates, especially those new to the program, with support. Why? Better yet, focus on the dangers of not. If you setup an affiliate program, give a few coded links, make payments when needed, but then just disappear what could happen? Continue reading on to find out.

You may lose quality affiliates. Do not make the mistake of assuming all good affiliates can do the job without asking questions. Some may be unable to access your website, may have trouble uploading your graphics, and others may have payment related questions. Anyone can have a question at anytime, including your best performing affiliates. Dont let them get angry and jump ship because it takes you one week or never to answer a question.

You may create a bad name for your affiliate program. Affiliate programs do work. They are successful. The business person using an affiliate program, which would be you, sees an increase in sales. Better yet, the affiliates who help generate those sales are paid. This information will spread like wildfire online. People are always taking about how they make money online. Dont be surprised to see an influx of applications after your payments are sent out. This is because your affiliates are talking about the opportunity online. Unfortunately, people dont just talk about good things. They share problems and complaints online. If an affiliate of yours cannot get a response from you, they may turn to the internet and broadcast their complaint. Anyone who reads it may later think twice about joining your affiliate program.

You may cause unintentional rule breaking. Many affiliate programs prohibit affiliates from using their own links to buy. The goal of affiliate programs is to generate unique sales, not planned or staged sales. If your rule on this practice is not outlined in your terms and conditions, you are likely to get an email asking about the rule. However, if you dont respond, the affiliate may go ahead and use their affiliate links to make a purchase. Not only do they get the items they ordered, but they get money from the commission too. If you catch the person, they can claim they didnt technically break the rules because they werent highlight and because you didnt respond to their original message.

You can lose money. As previously stated, you need to cater to all of your affiliates. Whether they have a question, suggestion, or complaint, it needs to be address. If you just ignore your affiliates, you will anger some. These angry individuals are likely to jump ship. When that happens, you lose money. Dont just think about the money lost immediately, but the long-term. You had an affiliate who was having problems getting your embedded banners to display on their website. You ignored their question and they left. This is bad if they had a well designed, easy to navigate, and marketed website. You may have cost yourself thousand of dollars in sales, just in the first year!

As you can see, there are many consequences to avoiding your affiliates. Never do it. If you dont already provide your affiliates with helpful support, start now before you staring seeing the consequences.

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Areas to Cover During Affiliate Training

January 10th, 2010 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Affiliate Marketing

If you want to start an affiliate program to increase product sales, you have a big task in front of you. It isnt necessarily getting a program up and running that is the hard part. There are third-party affiliate hosting websites and affiliate tracking software that will do the work for you. Your biggest challenge will come with training new affiliates.

Even if your affiliate program website is properly setup and easy to navigate, it is still important to train your new affiliates. Dont assume they are masters of affiliate marketing and promoting. They may be new the world of making money online; your program may be the first opportunity they came across and decided to try. Plus, even seasoned internet users run into problems or complications that require help. To reduce complications and confusion later on, take the time to train your new affiliates.

What is nice about affiliate training, is the options you have. You do not need to host an in-person seminar. In fact, that may be impossible to do. You likely have affiliates from all across the country. Instead, rely on instant messaging programs, email, video conferences, and the phone to train your team members.

When it comes to training new affiliates, you want to cover many topics. One off those is finding graphics to use. With most affiliate programs, you give your affiliates code embedded links, banners, and product pictures. They find these on the program website then copy and paste into their website. It is a very easy process, but one that affiliates may not understand. Walk all new affiliates through the process of browsing and searching for these graphics, talk them through the process of getting them to show on their websites, and so forth. You only need to do this once or twice for each new member. Overtime, they will be able to perform this task easily.

Next, it is important to cover the rules and restrictions of your program. In fact, if you do not have a terms and condition contract that all affiliate agreed to, create one now. This is where you will highlight any restrictions you have. Are affiliates prohibited from using their links to make personal purchases? State so. Do you prohibit your affiliates from discussing compensation with others? State so. Make sure this information is always viewable on your website, but clearly state the rules and restrictions of your program for all new members.

As you know, there is much more to making money with affiliate programs than putting affiliate links on a website. The best way to make money with affiliate links and products is to have a well marketed website. If your affiliate has banners bearing your company image, will anyone see them? Not if they dont do some marketing. A well-marketed website also increases your profits, as it should lead to more sales. Incorporate internet marketing into your training. Talk your affiliates through a few marketing tactics and emphasize the direct connection between internet marketing making money.

Most importantly, cover payment in your training. This information should also be clearly outlined on your website. Dont give your affiliates the chance to be confused or start a fuss. In training, tell and show your affiliates how they make money. Then, explain how much money they make, when they can get paid, and so forth.

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Should You Hire an Affiliate Program Manager?

January 3rd, 2010 by admin | 3 Comments | Filed in Affiliate Marketing

If you are interested in increasing sales, you may consider starting your own affiliate program. When doing so, you use either affiliate tracking software or the services of a third-party affiliate hosting website. Depending on the products you sell or the type of your business, your affiliates can use sales page templates or graphic banners and text links to promote your company. Regardless, tracking information is imbedded inside. Each time an affiliate makes you money, you both get paid. You get the sale and they get commission.

At first glance, it sounds easy to run an affiliate program; there is more to the process though. For starters, you must have graphics for your affiliates to upload. You must decide what interested individuals should be brought onboard. Then, you must be available to answer any questions, take suggestions and complaints. If this seems like a lot of work, you may consider hiring an affiliate program manager, but should you?

It should all depend on what you are selling. Affiliate programs are used to sell a wide range of products. Some use them to sell a single product, like a how-to eBook. On the other hand, retail stores of all sizes use them to increase sales. In most of these cases, it doesnt matter which items sell, as long as there are sales.

If you are selling a single product, like the above mentioned eBook, manage your own affiliate program. You should have time. You wrote, proofread, edited, and listed the eBook for sale. There is not much left to do, as sales are automatically delivered to buyers. Managing an affiliate program will not consume your time. In fact, you can start writing your next eBook too!

If you are a small to medium sized business owner selling various products, it may be a good idea to hire an affiliate manager. With that said, think about your tasks. If you order your products wholesale, the process does not take long. However, if you make each of your products by hand, you barely have enough time to maintain your website, let alone promote an affiliate program. In this instance, an affiliate program manager would come in handy.

Another factor to consider is the employees you have. If you are self-employed and selling your own handmade goods, you work for yourself and alone. If you operate a small to medium sized business, consider delegating some of the tasks. Throughout the day, various members can answer emails or take suggestions from affiliates. This step is ideal in that you do not have to pay for or create another position. Share the tasks and the job is accomplished.

If you are thinking about hiring an affiliate manager to manage your program, your first instinct may be for a part-time position. This is good, as you have to pay less. However, when affiliates want help, they want it quick. Your affiliates dont want to wait and may get discouraged if they have to wait 4 days to get an answer from your manager.

If you do decide to hire an affiliate manager, it is best to hire someone who can wear many hats. This person should have experience in sales, customer service, marketing, and graphic design. Your affiliate can handle any problems or tasks that involve your program, such as checking for links, creating and uploading new banners, providing technical support, and processing payments.

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