Q: I am the marketing manager for a software company and I am exploring ways affiliate marketing can help our business. I wondered if you could point me in the direction to see if affiliate marketing would be right for us?
A: I guess the easiest thing would be to take a look at your competitors and see if they have affiliate programs.
If so, dig around at the nuts and bolts of how they’re operating… the affiliate networks or software they’re using, the commission rate they’re paying out, type of affiliate program (revenue share, cpc, per lead), EPC, etc.
The ideal approach would be to create a real affiliate site yourself and apply to the affiliate programs of your competitors.
By doing this you can get an insider view on how they are running the affiliate program. Run the offers and get a sense for their conversion rates, review all of their correspondance, and creative, as well as checking out any public stats available to affiliates for the performance of links.
Also, try asking some questions as an affiliate to see how responsive they are to you.
I’d say it’s a positive indicator for that company if they have a dedicated person or team that gets back to you quick.
If your competitors have well staffed, thriving affiliate programs, it is a sign that you ought to launch one yourself.
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Please submit your question at http://www.askshawncollins.com and I will answer it in the order it was received on my blog.
Shawn, great blog. Question, have a product ( course ) I want to sell, and have it be affiliated out. Can you give me help on where to go to get started. How to get it set up on my website, etc…. I understand affiliated marketing, as I have done some in the past but never as the owner of the product. Thanks in advance for your response.
Yes, its definitely a good indication if competitors have affiliate programs. Also which network you launch it on is important. Who you have managing it may be the most important factor. Look for pro-active, comprehensive affiliate management to make the program a success.
@Michael Benidt:
I am one of the Co-Founders of Affiliate Summit, so it’s not an affiliate relationship.
The affiliate ads here are text ads within blog posts when these is a logical affiliate program for a post I am writing.
Great video Shawn. I love watching your Q & A videos… keep it up!
I’m blind, so bear with me. What affiliate programs power this blog? I see the affiliate summit, and several others that appear in one window at the top of your blog? Is that all you need? Just a few?
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