What do you look and expect as an affiliate?

Hey good thread!


At the least I expect some banners in many sizes and a targeted keyword list!


To add I also look for:

• custom links that have thing like no exit pop up, reduced price etc
• Email swipes that I can adapt
• Good converting PPC ad examples!!

I am sure there is more but I have tried to help as much as I can!

I'm not in a niche that has anything to do with what you're offering, but I'll chime in anyway in hopes of getting the discussion going for you.
With that in mind, my top two criteria when choosing products to promote are:

1. Is the product something that my customers will respond to?
2. Is the product good enough for me to put my name behind it?

A distant third criterion is how much will I make with it. But notice I said, "how much will I make" and not "what are the per sale payouts" -- as these are very, very different things. Moreover, I'd rather recommend a product that my customers will be really happy with that pays me less than one they aren't happy with that pays me more. I'm in it for the long term and if my customers can't trust my recommendations, I'm sunk. It's not to say payout is completely irrelevant; but as we average tens of thousands of sales per month, we easily make up in volume what we lose in profit per sale.

Delivering a great product and great service to the customers we refer is obviously our biggest need. Aside from that we need data. Again, we probably don't look like the type of affiliate your recruiting, so take it with a grain of salt. But we have thousands of products featured on our site of which we highlight and recommend dozens per day. We need to be able to verify that the products are still available, whether prices change, etc. So for us a good and well-documented API is essential.

What we don't need is training on sales, building a website or running a business. We have our business model and it's working just fine, thank you. And while I get that your potential affiliates might be somewhat different in that respect, I'd imagine even in your case most of your sales are going to come from a few high performing affiliates who will have the right blend of experience and natural talent to make the sale.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd spend less time worrying about trying to train my affiliate army -- and more time making your product better and better for your customers.

I agree with Shaun and especially kilgore.

The product has to be very solid. There is NO getting around it. I can give a little bit away on Commission and even let it slide if the Affiliate resources are not top notch if the product is fantastic and it is something the intended Audience will Love

- Robert Andrew

I appreciate the answers.

It's nice to see that we can all agree that a top-notch product (and a site that converts) is the most important thing.

I feel like we have that... Time will tell.

In the offline world, more and more companies are moving to a 'distributor' sales method. Companies like Advocare and It Works. They charge a sign up fee and yearly membership fee to distributors who then have access to the product.

A lot of distributors only sign up for the discount and don't really promote the products. With the discount we offer, it'll be cheaper than anything else on the market. Like Kilgore said, there will probably be a small percentage that run with the opportunity.

I'm thinking of having three levels... Beginner, Advanced and Pro. Just the basics for beginners. A bigger discount for Advanced members, a few t-shirts and decals. Then the full marketing kit for Pro users with shirts, decals, post cards, business cards, etc.

I guess what we're thinking is an initial follow up series with opportunities for athletes that may not be marketers... I assume that'll be the bulk of our customers. So, we want to show those people "hey, here's how you can get sales through Instagram, Facebook, offline marketing, etc."

I read an interesting article yesterday about a top level Advocare distributor. She said all of her success comes down to telling at least 5 people a day about Advocare.. Then following up. Most people convert on the follow ups.

Good epc's and a good jv page!

Many marketers struggle with creativity and their own writing skills. Having professionally written and high converting content that affiliates can use word for word (copy and paste) in their promotions, IMO, would be something they would welcome and they could always "add their own style or voice" to if desired. It would save them time, effort and stress. Many people shun quality, motivating content writing like the plague because they feel they are not good at it.

Just my opinion,

Steve