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Klixxx Magazine Archive - Web Mastery |
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Pump Up the Volume: Help Your Affiliates Help YOU Increase Sales
Help Your Affiliates Help YOU Increase Sales
By Kath Blackwell
Knowledge is power. In many ways education is the most valuable tool of all. Yet in this industry we have webmasters - both newbie and veteran - running around the Internet, building sites without a clue as to how to properly promote their sponsors' programs or products. This is an element affecting our industry since it began. The best way to improve upon this ignorance is to educate and feed the proper tools and ideas the webmasters, to help them grow in the right direction. As the owner or operator of an affiliate program - you have the power at your fingertips to help make this idea a reality.
DIAGRAM OF A TYPICAL AFFILIATE PROGRAM
The average affiliate program consists of a few basic elements. The webmaster "tour" or sign-up page that convinces the webmaster they should sign up for, and sell, your program. The webmaster area - and I use this term loosely - generally contains a page of banners and linking instructions, an FAQ page, a TOS (terms of service) page, and occasionally a "spam page" filled with information on all of the latest and greatest sites to promote. Every now and again we'll see a webmaster forum or message board, where people can post questions and get answers, but that's still just the tip of the iceberg. - and they need it from you. Who better to teach them how to promote your program than you?
IDEAS FOR A BETTER AFFILIATE PROGRAM
By creating a better affiliate program - I am not saying create a webmaster resource. That idea has been beaten to death at the expense of the webmaster, the affiliate program, and the few quality webmaster resource sites that are actually still out there. The market is over-saturated with well-meaning articles and tutorials written by unknown webmasters, who think they can tell you how to profit from any sponsor program just by following their step-by-step plan. Not true. Each sponsor is unique and each site within that sponsor's program is targeted to a specific niche or genre. A "one covers all" article or tutorial can't give you the specific information needed to better promote that unique product.
This is where you, the affiliate program owner or operator, come in. You can develop your own "affiliate training program" that will not only increase your webmasters' sales - but your overall profits! Give them better tools, targeted instruction, tips on how to market your program, ideas on what traffic works best with each niche - and you can start to see how knowledge really IS power!
Now - this doesn't have to be a separate site from your affiliate program, this actually works very well within your own webmaster area. You're not creating a webmaster resource "hang out," but you are creating a place where they can specifically learn how to become better promoters of your programs. Here are some basic things that you can do to get your webmaster training area started:
1. Let's start with your FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page. As webmasters ask you questions about the program, write them down and then answer them. Keep a running tap of questions and answers, and add them to your FAQ page on a monthly basis. To start things off though, ask the simple questions like when do we get paid, how many sites can I promote, what's the difference between per-sign-up and recurring revenue - stuff like that. Things that you just know those newbies are going to ask. And give good, solid answers - don't cheat by just writing one-word responses. Remember - you want this to be educational!
2. Do a step-by-step tour through every aspect of promotion for your program. Take them from the most basic newbie level of understanding like placing the ads within the site, building the site around the niche, getting targeted traffic and using like-content to better sell the program. Think about this as an instructional webmaster tour. You could get creative and make a flashy Flash tour - or just do a simple one-concept-at-a-time per-page tour, with an animated "Next" button to get them moving along. You're not "selling" anything to them; you're trying to teach them. So make sure each step is in-depth and contains enough information to get them going. A lot of resource sites just fill this area with a bunch of related articles, but by targeting your specific site and programs with an easy to understand tour, you'll be giving your webmasters more hard information to put them on the right track.
3. Give your webmasters templates. Create text ads for them to use within their sites - and even give them sales text to use around or under your banners. Tell them which text goes best with each banner. Guide them, lead them - you aren't giving away the secrets to your success here. You're giving your affiliates a better opportunity to make more sales for YOU. You can even create templates of form letters for your webmasters to use on their opt-in mailing programs (make sure to have a talk about spam at this time) - or templates for building basic niche-based free sites.
4. In addition to banners and text ads, give your webmasters extra tools for initiating sales. Free content, free erotic stories and other content-based items are very handy for the new or inexperienced webmaster. However, if you are targeting a specific micro-niche that maybe only one or two content providers are selling - sometimes a small offering of photos like 20-40 pics, can help webmasters better target their audience. For example: if your site promotes midget balloon sex, just photos of midgets or just photos of balloon sex won't do. The surfers want to see midget balloon sex previews before entering the site. The quality of the photos doesn't have to be as good as what you offer on the inside. In fact, offering a lesser quality photo set can actually improve conversions. Give your webmasters text to use within their gallery pages - something like, "yeah these pics are crappy, but the ones on the inside of this site that I visit really rock!" Well, you know what I mean. Downgrade the lower quality pics and maybe even place a half page ad or banner with a better quality pic on it beneath the photos. Remember - they won't buy the cow if you give them good quality milk for free!
5. Everyone loves a success story - even webmasters. Keep a running list of the e-mails you receive from your affiliates - or even write your successful affiliates and ask if they have any secrets to share on how they do it. You can write up these stories and add a library of them to your webmaster area. These first-hand testimonials telling why your program rocks are always great inspirational pieces to get your newer affiliates going, or get poorly producing affiliates to improve.
6. Explain the niches to your webmasters. Do you have any idea how many webmasters are out there promoting fetishes and niches that they don't understand? More than you could count, I would imagine. A lot just separate adult sites into a few simple categories: babes, fetish, lesbian, gay and kinky. The entire world of fetish and kink gets lumped into one group. Anything that they see that's "too weird" for their lifestyle simply gets called fetish. A fetish and niche training area within your site can be very helpful. Define the different niches that your site offers for promotion. Explain what it is that the surfers who are looking for these sites want to see. Simple definitions are helpful too, like explaining the difference between gay niches like "bear," "twink" and "cub." Education will yield more results, as an experienced surfer can tell right away whether the webmaster "gets" his niche or not.
7. Offer an opt-in newsletter separate from affiliate registration. Some affiliates just send out the newsletter to everyone who joins. That's great - and keep sending out those notices to absolutely everyone about specials and new sites to promote. But - offer a separate weekly or monthly newsletter to webmasters who opt-in through your webmaster training center that contains tips, those success stories, new banners, new text ad ideas and information about the various niches you promote. All of the things listed in steps 1-6 can be used in this special newsletter, reinforcing the educational tips and tutorials you've provided on the site. This is also a great way to communicate and stay in touch with your affiliates.
One final way that you can improve the quality of your webmasters' sites and increase your bottom line is through communication. Be available to your webmasters. Give an e-mail address, a phone number - better yet, a 1-800 number for them to use at their convenience, to contact you with questions or concerns. A message board is a great tool - if used right - and every affiliate should have some sort of help board in place. Chatrooms can be helpful, but are often difficult and time-consuming to maintain.
Get out to trade shows, expos, small conferences and webmaster parties. Sponsor events to show your appreciation for your webmasters - throw them a party or sponsor a bar within a planned party. Then make yourself or some of your employees available for questions and answers. The bonding and relationships that come from these events can be life-changing for many of these webmasters. One little tip from your lips, as compared to a whole dialogue of information on the site, can be golden.
Whatever form of communication you use to get in touch with and stay in contact with your affiliates, make sure you always follow through, and create your reputation - someone who is accessible and easy to approach. Some of the biggest complaints I hear from webmasters of all experience levels are that their sponsor is unapproachable. They NEED that communication - they CRAVE it. Give webmasters the tools and opportunities that they need to succeed, and they will pay you back tenfold. It's worth the time and effort - and will make your affiliate program stand out above the crowd because of it.
Be unique. Be available. Be helpful. Pump up that volume!
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