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 Visit Web-Source.net to
sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
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