Big-name
companies know affiliates
are the secret to raking in big profits – companies like Amazon,
NetFlix, Dell, eBay, DirecTV, and even Wal-Mart and PayLess Shoes.
If You
Don’t Have
an Affiliate Program,
Most of the companies you see advertised on TV –
Esurance, HotWire,
Bowflex, NutriSystem, Travelocity – have an affiliate program,
too.
Some companies call their affiliates “associates,” others call them
“partners,” or even “referrers,” but the bottom line is:
Having an affiliate program is one
of the smartest things you can do for your business.
So, What is an Affiliate Program?
“Refer-a-friend” offers are everywhere – on TV (“Refer a friend to
DirecTV and you’ll get 50 bucks, and they’ll get 50 bucks”), your
bank’s website (“Refer a friend and get $25”), the guy you rent a
storage unit from (“Hey! If you know someone who needs to rent a
storage unit, I’ll give you a free month’s rent”), even your neighbor,
that shifty real estate agent (“If you know someone and you give ‘em my
name, I’ll give you 50 bucks when they buy or sell a house”).
Almost every company offers some kind of incentive to get you to refer
business to them.
Rewarding people for bringing you business works, especially for online
businesses. Look at what it did for Amazon, eBay, NetFlix,…
Those sites rocketed from zero to mammoth, money-making, mega-monsters
seemingly overnight – all thanks to their referral programs.
“But I’ll make less money if an affiliate gets a cut.” That’s
money you wouldn’t have had in the first place if it weren’t for the
affiliate. It’s
cash in your pocket for doing nothing.
Affiliates are doing all the work to get your name everywhere – PPC
ads, banner ads, articles, blogs, product reviews, even interviews – plus they’re paying for
all the ads, blogs, and websites that are
bringing you the traffic – not you!
Having affiliates is like having
your own army
of salespeople working tirelessly around the clock.
Their mission is
simple: To
make you money because…
Affiliates Get You:
More exposure
More traffic
More sales
A higher page rank
And
then it starts a snowball-effect. The higher your page rank,
the more new people find you (including new affiliates!) and that means
even more traffic, more sales, and a higher page rank, and with the
higher page rank, even more people find you (including new affiliates!)
and the cycle just
keeps feeding on itself going around and around getting bigger and
bigger.
Just
think… Once your affiliate program is up and running, you can go
to the beach for a week or two and relax knowing your sales force is
hard at work bringing you the sales.
If
the honest answer is no, then no one, not even the top, most successful
super affiliates in the world, could work a miracle and create a demand
for it. The hungry market has to be there before the magic can
happen.
We’ll
talk about what goes into a referral, or affiliate, program
later. First, let’s talk about the people who bring companies
business – the affiliates (click here).
Powered by 6 sites for only
$8.95 a month! Yea, baby!
