This article is for Affiliate Program Managers: Interested in increasing the amount of revenue that each of your affiliates creates for your business? Read on to learn about how to use your existing articles to grow your affiliate program strength.
From an affiliate perspective, there are only a few 'deal breaker' type things that I insist any affiliate program that I join must provide me:
Real-time reporting statistics
Real-time email alerts upon each sale
Payment on a consistent monthly basis
High price-point products
Package of articles that I can reprint on my websites and ezines
One strategy that many newbie affiliate program designers fail to offer is a package of articles that can be reprinted on my website along with my unique affiliate link. Of the tens of thousands of dollars I'll do this year as an affiliate, you would be shocked at how much of the revenue comes directly from reprinting articles of the affiliate programs I am involved in. This strategy works for me and it can work for you!
Here's what to do:
Designate 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 articles that will be made available to your affiliates as a dump (meaning all at once and immediately).
Provide them with 3-10 articles per month thereafter that they can reprint along with their affiliate link.
Be certain to spell out the reprint rights of this type of affiliate article marketing so that your articles don't show up on bad websites you wouldn't want to associate with.
Here's what NOT to do:
Allow your articles to be private labeled. This is a poor strategy and will dilute your credibility. They should carry your name or the name of your primary author brand.
Don't give out all of your articles for your affiliates to use. Best to designate a specific "lot" of them that can be used by your affiliates and the rest are yours to keep exclusively for your direct sales audience.
Why this type of article marketing is important for affiliate program managers and affiliates:
Articles are like "sales agents" in that they keep selling for you, day after day, year after year. They also help expand your reach as each article gets indexed by the major search engines. Lastly, they give you another reason to send an email to your list members about the articles available.
This is a credibility builder for the affiliate program manager and it's a "Give" before the "Take" which begins the reciprocation cycle in a positive direction.
Note For Affiliates Who Use Articles To Promote Their Affiliate Programs:
Some sites (like ours at http://EzineArticles.com/ ) don't accept articles that promote affiliate programs, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go find other sites that do accept articles that promote affiliate program links. I really meant this article to speak directly to affiliate program managers and not the needs of affiliate marketers.
To save you the trouble of sending me an email to ask why EzineArticles.com doesn't accept articles that promote affiliate programs, there are three reasons:
1) Because we don't accept articles that are available on a non-exclusive basis (meaning we only want to see original or exclusive licensed content) and...
2) Because affiliate marketers are not our ideal author profile type and...
3) Because most ezine publishers don't want to reprint articles that pitch an affiliate link. One of the primary purposes of our site is to be a resource for ezine publishers to find supplemental content for their next email newsletter.
With that said, there are plenty of competitor article sites that will allow you to submit your affiliate-link-laced articles, not to mention listing them on your own website.
Bottom line: If you offer an affiliate program to promote your products and services, consider immediately offering a package of articles that your affiliates can add to their website or send to their email newsletter lists to further promote your business.
About The Author:
Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best quality original articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ expert author community. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links intact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/
(c) Copyright - Christopher M. Knight. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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There are thousands of affiliate programs to join, but only a select few that are worth your time. I tend to receive a lot of e-mails asking my opinion on affiliate programs x, y and z. Most of them I've never heard of, so I can't lend my support to these readers. Chances are they aren't one of the big networks.
When choosing an affiliate program, try to keep these points in mind.
What merchants do they work with? Are they reputable?
I've seen some affiliate programs that advertise companies I've never heard of, or ones that aren't even located in North America. One program I joined turned out to only feature adult merchants, but you'd never know it by the publisher sign up page.
When do you get paid? And how?
I only join programs that pay by check or PayPal. I don't like wire transfer payments for many reasons. The first one being I don't want to give away my bank account information. Secondly, there are usually fees associated with accepting wire transfers. Sometimes the fees outweigh your actual profit. If a program says you'll get paid every 2-3 months, pass on it. Usually you'll get paid once a month, or sometimes every two weeks (which I recommend). I don't like waiting to get paid and neither should you.
Does the affiliate program have an affiliate program?
This isn't absolutely necessary, but if the program you belong to has its own affiliate program where you can earn extra commission for signing someone else up, it's an added bonus. Most of the time you'll get paid a certain percentage for tier 1 sign ups and a lower percentage for tier 2 sign ups. Some programs offer lifetime payment from your referrals, but some will only pay you for one year from your referrals. Either way, it's extra money in your pocket.
Do your research. What's everyone else using?
When I chose to sign up with NeverblueAds, I already knew quite a bit about the program, because I had seen other bloggers using them. I contacted a few of the publishers with the ads on their site and asked their opinion on the program. I only heard positive feedback, so I decided to give them a try. Take notice and pay attention to what kind of ads other sites are serving. Most of the time the ads are high yielding and perform well, especially if you have a great amount of incoming traffic.
Are there incentives?
Some affiliate networks offer a sign up bonus, which basically puts free money in your account as soon as you open it. AuctionAds offered $25 immediately after you got approved during the month of September. Other programs will give you similar incentives, but you shouldn't make it a requirement when considering to join or not. Incentives are nice, but it shouldn't be your deciding factor.
Chris Jacobson is an Internet entrepreneur and freelance author who writes on various topics.His official website is http://www.MoneyMakingScoop.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Jacobson