Internet Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be a very attractive part of your online business. After all, you don’t have to worry about employing additional staff, ramping up your media spend or engaging in complicated marketing programs. If you attract some outside individuals or organisations to promote and sell your products and services for you, you simply need to allocate a portion of the revenues to pay them.

It’s absolutely essential to spend advertising money prudently, especially during an economic downturn. In most situations, it’s tough to analyse the actual effects of a marketing investment and it’s difficult to justify too, therefore when it comes to marketing, you should only invest after careful consideration.

By acquiring an array of affiliates, you can leverage a great deal of power. Performance-based marketing of this type is highly attractive, as you only pay when a sale is made. The affiliate assumes the responsibility of paying for advertising and marketing to initiate the interest, and this “cost per action” approach is becoming increasingly relevant today.

Any organisations that have some type of intangible product or an intangible service to offer should seek out an affiliate network. These networks have already attracted a large number of highly motivated affiliates who are actively looking for product or service providers to work with. The affiliate network company will likely need some persuading that your organisation is a good fit, and this may require some negotiation, but it is worth the setup process as you will effectively have an army of external sales consultants, ready to be paid based entirely on their performance.

Within the market there are a large number of affiliate networks. Some only handle certain types of business, and you need to do some research to make sure that yours is a good fit. It’s always in the network’s best interest to ensure that everyone profits, as their income is based entirely on a cut of the actual commissions which are paid.

Remember that the affiliate assumes the risk of marketing to the consumer through their chosen channels, and you should make sure that you adequately incentivise them. Have realistic commissions in mind, be aware of who is signing up for your program and ensure that they always follow the rules and parameters you have established at the beginning. Just be aware that the affiliates represent your organisation in many respects, so be sure that they do not act or promote in a counter-productive fashion.

Try and attract affiliates with a good reach, through comprehensive e-mail lists, well-recognised blogs or highly trafficked websites. Create a good relationship with these key sellers and your business could grow in leaps and bounds.

If you find some affiliates to be particularly productive, set aside something additional to use to further incentivise them. Your goal must always be to fertilise any relationships that you start to build with key affiliates, to build an even more fruitful arrangement.

During your website development, don’t forget to include graphics advertising your affiliate program and links to the sign-up page hosted by your affiliate network. Remember that you have to keep an eye on your affiliate program once it’s up and running, and if you want to be spending your time relaxing on a tropical island somewhere, this would be an ideal task for your virtual assistant.

Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, an Executive Virtual Assistant who assists businesses and individuals with achieving their professional goals. Want to find out more about online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Now!