Here below are the advised mission-critical management processes for setting up an affiliate program from scratch for your business. Our Affiliate Management Team manage affiliate programs to discuss you may Contact Us directly or online here. Try our affiliate marketing agency services today1

Affiliate marketing agency tips and strategy guide

• 1. Market Research

Before embarking on any affiliate program you should always do some market research which in the affiliate marketing space heavily revolves around competitor analysis. Find out what your competition are offering affiliates currently. By assuming metrics similar to your closest competitors with your affiliate program you are guaranteed to be competitive and well-geared to negotiate from a decent starting position with new affiliates in your market space.

We always advise to assess potential lead volumes from big new affiliates, especially with affiliate networks where big volumes of traffic can be acquired quickly and cost-effectively from established affiliates.

• 2. Affiliate Program Promotions and Terms

It should be made very clear to affiliates exactly what conversion need to occur in order for their traffic to be qualified as a conversion. Cookie lengths of at least 30 days are recommended as fair. Incentivised traffic such as cashback should be considered as a separate business case, as this type of traffic converts really well for some brands however badly for others. Some affiliate programs do not all you to send traffic to their website, others do. Many affiliate programs outlaw search engine traffic from affiliates, whereas others are happy to take it. Almost all affiliate programs ban affiliates signing up friends and family. Payment terms must be made clear and strictly adhered to at all times. Some advertisers like to run multiple promotions split by product and service-type. Others affiliate programs run seasonal promotions in line with their seasonal peak demand. Regular affiliate incentive promotions are advised to keep affiliates stimulated and engaged with your affiliate program.

• 3. Establish Affiliate Program Software

Affiliate Networks provide Affiliate Program Management software as standard, and you can run your affiliate programs using those. If you are launching a stand-alone Affiliate Program we advise renting some existing market-leading affiliate management software for a relatively low cost ranging from £125/month.

• 4. Confirm Affiliate Management Team

You will need an Account Manager to promote your brand and be available to onboard new affiliates and manage relationships with existing ones. We provide a fully managed service which includes Set-Up, Onboarding and Affiliate Account Management.

• 5. Confirm Affiliate Marketing Creatives

You will need a range of Advertising Banners in various sizes which the affiliates can use to advertise your business. You will also need at least one landing page on your website, which affiliates can send their traffic to online. If you have more landing pages by product/service this always converts best. Affiliates love being provided with as many product/service-specific creatives and user journeys as possible to generate the most conversions with their advertisers.

• 6. Test Affiliate Tracking

Before you engage with any potential affiliates you should robustly test that your affiliate tracking works across all creatives, landing pages and customer conversion points e.g. Lead Form Submission / Sale Complete. Affiliates hate nothing worse than being provided with creatives that do not track properly, hence wasting their valuable traffic; time and money.

• 7. Launch Your Affiliate Program

Most affiliate networks give your new affiliate program a promotional launch and marketing push when you launch your affiliate marketing campaign with them online. If you launch your own stand-alone affiliate program you will need to actively promote this to recruit affiliates.

• 8. Establish New Affiliate Network Partners

Once your affiliate program is ready you need to be pro-active to recruit affiliates. We recommend using Affiliate Networks to recruit affiliates quickly in volumes. We also advise approaching hand-picked larger affiliates individually – which you can do online, and at industry events. Super/master affiliates can also be amazingly useful for acquiring large volumes of traffic.

• 9. Manage Affiliate Recruitment

You will need to push your affiliate program to regularly recruit new affiliates. This can be done through various online marketing channels including LinkedIn, search PPC and industry trade shows. New affiliate sign-up promotions can also be run to good affect.

• 10. Affiliate Account Management

Affiliate accounts need regular monitoring to ensure value is being realised for both parties. All affiliates appreciate regular promotions for both their customers and themselves directly. Often existing affiliates will send more traffic on the basis of being provided with more creatives that fit their site/s, along with more commission which is often tiered based on volume. Affiliates always appreciate advice on how to improve their conversions and your mutual ROI. Along with regular promotions we keep our affiliates happy through prompt, friendly, professionally qualified communications via email, telephone and in person meetings.

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