It will be
easier to plan out your affiliate program if you know what affiliates
want first.
Before I sign up for any affiliate program, before I bother to fill in
the “join”
info and go thru the sign-up process, I want details:
How much do I get?
Is it a percentage or a flat
fee? Is it one time or recurring (like on a monthly membership
site)?
How often do I get paid?
Every two weeks? Once a
month?
Who runs your affiliate program?
Who pays me?
More to the point – is it a
company that I’m familiar with (that I trust!) like ClickBank, ShareASale, PayDotCom, etc. or do you run it yourself?
How do I get paid?
Do you mail me a check? Do
you offer direct deposit? Do you pay only through PayPal?
Is there a minimum I have to
reach before I get paid?
Some don’t have one [which makes
affiliates very happy!], for some it’s $100. We did the work –
pay us!
Do you reward super affiliates?
Savvy sellers reward their super
affiliates [the ones who bring in most of the sales] by giving
them an extra 10%, for example, when their sales are above a certain
level.
Reward your super affiliates. Collect their name, ID, and email
address when affiliates sign up and that way you’ll know who your super
affiliates are and can contact them.
Do you offer lifetime
commissions?
When
we bring you a customer, and that customer buys from you again or on a
regular basis, do we get rewarded for that? Not all affiliate
services do this but more and more are offering it because they know it
attracts top affiliates.
[If
an affiliate sends a visitor to your site, whatever you use for your
affiliate tracking will put a 'cookie' on that visitor's computer and
it will have the affiliate's ID in it so that affiliate will get the
credit for bringing that visitor]
Affiliates
aren’t going to want to send you potential customers if there’s a
chance the cookie with their affiliate ID on it will expire before the
customer decides to buy. We want long-lasting cookies.
[Marlon Sanders's cookies last for 10
years!] Again, this is
probably determined by your affiliate service, but if they let you
choose a time period, opt for as long as you can.
If I bring you more affiliates,
will you reward me for that?
Some
affiliate programs have two tiers so if one affiliate gets a new
affiliate to join that program, the first affiliate gets a percentage,
like 10%, on the sales the new affiliate brings in.
Since the more affiliates you get, the better for you, offering
something like this means more money in your pocket.
But don’t
offer multi-tiers – anything beyond two tiers screams, “Pyramid
scheme.”
An easy sign up without having to
jump through hoops
You to use a company we’re
familiar with (that we trust!) - CB, SAS, PDC, etc.
Real-time stats (Some programs do
this for you)
Long-lasting cookies
Pays ASAP
No minimum commission
Lifetime commissions
Rewards for super affiliates
Two-tiers
To be able to contact you
You to be available &
supportive
To see an affiliate agreement
An Affiliate Agreement
shows you’re serious about your affiliates. Here’s an example of one.
[Note:
They have a link to their affiliate agreement at the bottom of the main
page but there’s no link to an affiliate page anywhere to be
found.]
Now that you know what affiliates want, what do you
want? What do you want to offer them?
What do you want affiliates to do
for you?
-
Bring you visitors?
- Bring you leads?
What will you pay them?
-
A percentage on each sale?
- A flat commission?
How much do you want to pay
them?
Don't
forget – you wouldn't have gotten the sale if weren't for the affiliate
so
you're making money around the clock and they're doing all the
work. Make it worth their while.
Do you want to run your program
yourself or let someone else do it?
Decide
if you want to buy and install software and act as tech support when
affiliates have problems and write and send lots of checks to your
affiliates every month, etc., etc. or if you'd rather let someone else
deal with all that so
all you have to do is sit back and wait for the cash to roll in.
Another thing to consider is that affiliates like working with
affiliate networks they know and trust. Plus it's easy. If
they're a Clickbank affiliate, for example, they can start driving
traffic to your site within seconds without having to join a new
program or jump through hoops if you sell through
Clickbank.
Do you want to offer one-time
or recurring commissions?
If
you're selling an ebook or software, then you'd offer a one-time
commission, but if you have a membership site where the members have to
pay every month, or every year, decide if you want to pay the affiliate
once for bringing you the visitor or pay them every time the customer
pays.
You've
heard of the 80/20 rule. Well, 20% of your affiliates may bring
you 80% of your sales so it makes sense to keep your money-makers happy.
You can set a reward system up any way you want. Maybe an extra
10% for when an affiliate brings you 100 sales or more, 15% if they
bring in over 250 sales, etc.
Vonage
pays a $30 commission on each sale when an affiliate brings them 0 - 99
sales in a month, $35 on 100 - 124 sales, $40 on 125 - 149 sales, and
$45 per sale when an affiliate brings them over 149 sales in a month.
SouthBeachDiet
pays 55% on each sale until an affiliate brings in $3250 in sales in a
month. If an affiliate brings in $3251 - $6500 in sales, it
shoots up to 70%, and for sales over that, it's a whooping 90%
commission.
If
you're just selling one product, like an ebook, this won't come into
play, but if you're selling something like Ken Evoy's SiteSell! or have a site like Overstock.com
where customers will keep buying from you over and over, your
affiliates will be more inclined to send you business (and lots of it!)
if they know that it's going to pay long term.
Depending on the affiliate network you sign up with, you may or may not
have this option, but if you can offer it to your affiliates, do.
It'll be well worth it $$.
Do you want to offer a
two-tiered affiliate program?
Affiliates
will eagerly send you lots of new affiliates if you do, and more
affiliates means more money for you. Again, your affiliate
network may or may not give you the option but if they do, take it.
How much are you willing to do
for your affiliates?
Do
you want to let them interview you? Will you make them new
graphic ads if they need a certain size? Do you want them to be
able to contact you at all? Think about it.
Do you need one affiliate page
or a whole site just for your affiliates?
If
you just sell one product, all you need is one 'Affiliate' page on that
site, but if you have a number of products, it makes better sense to
have one site where affiliates can easily find all of your
products. Plus, if you want to make changes or hold a contest to
light a fire under your affiliates, you only have to do it in one place
and not on a number of different sites.
TIP:
Since you’ll be competing with your
competitors for
affiliates, look at what they're doing and make your affiliate program
even better!
