Most affiliate marketing programs offer a resources section for affiliates. Less than ½ of all affiliates use these resources to their maximum benefit. A vast majority of those that do use those affiliate resources regularly actually make more affiliate commissions.
Affiliate Resources
When you are thinking about signing up for a new affiliate marketing program, there are a lot of ways to approach it. You might do an organic SEO campaign for a content site, you might attempt article marketing, you might do a pay per click campaign. You might do a combination of all three.
Whatever you decide to do, it’s a good idea to have a look through the affiliate resources sections of the site first and then do so regularly. If there isn’t a special resource section for affiliates, you might want to talk to the affiliate program manager to gain access to get tools that are designed to help affiliates sell.
Companies with affiliate marketing programs save a lot of money on marketing by sharing commission with affiliates who are willing to do the promoting for them. But many of these companies have affiliate program managers that create material to help people sell.
Sometimes there are newsletters and there may even be online and local conferences that share strategies and creative material you can use to enhance your internet marketing efforts. They know their product and in most cases they know how to sell so it is in your best interest to make good use of the materials they’ve put together to help you make sales.
These affiliate tools could include: graphic buttons, banners, private label rights articles, autoresponder series, special reports, keyword statistics, secure access to your account to check payments, and maybe even a private affiliate member forum where you can ask questions and get advice. By using all these resources, you save time and you increase your chances of making a sale.
If you are doing affiliate marketing today and are not using the affiliate resources that are available to you, consider having a look to see what’s available. And if you’re thinking about embarking on a new affiliate marketing program or business opportunity, consider looking at affiliate resources first, to help you determine how to get started.
Sean Rasmussen
Aussie Internet Marketer
Learn Affiliate Marketing with Year Of The Affiliate © 2012
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for interesting post. One thing I’ve found while looking at various affiliate programs is the importance of tracking cookies and how long they last. I have not received affiliate commissions on sales because the tracking cookie was no longer in place (or at least I think that’s why I lost out on affiliate commissions). A post on just how tracking cookies work – to the advantage of the affiliate – would be great. Thanks Sean.
.-= Jan Littlehales´s last blog ..Raising Great Kids – Cycling =-.
Hi Jan
Yes the amount of time the cookie lasts is something that you need to consider for sure. The timeframe is something you will need to find out from the affiliate program you are associated with as they all differ. Basically, if it is say a 3 month period, if you send a visitor to an affiliate product, they don’t need to purchase immediately, but can return within 3 months of the first visit and the cookie will detect that it was in fact you that sent the initial lead and you will be entitled to a commission. I will keep an article in mind for the future.
It would be great to get some more detail on the “cookie” side of things Sean.
I am in the same boat as Jan – not sure whether it is the cookie expiring or the browser cache being cleared.
.-= Cemil´s last blog ..Outsourcing Your Blogging Empire =-.
Hi Sean,
I love the affiliate resources that the product creator provides to make it easier to market the product. These affiliate resources are generally very professional looking so it helps convey a little trust to the customer.
Your list of affiliate tools is great as I’ll be looking for these options the next time I need a new product. I find the more effort that the creator puts into providing affiliate resources and tools, the better the affiliate product is.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint =-.
Providing good resources to the affiliate marketer creates a nice win-win situation. It’s easier for the marketer to get interested leads and the product supplier gets more sales. As the supplier creates the Affiliate Resource for more than just one marketer it makes it really cost effective as well, and gives the whole product a more professional feel.
.-= Renee´s last blog ..The Best Way To Get Motivated =-.
Hi Sean,
This article is important for Affiliates. It’s important to know about Affiliates resources that’s available. I can take advantage of selling tools when the time comes to be selling a product I have chosen to sell.
The selling tools that a merchant has available to Affiliate Programs can be an indication as to how well the merchant is prepared for selling the product. If no tools are available then it is probably better to look for another product that is easier to sell because the resources are avaliable.
.-= Jill Brown´s last blog ..Couples Marry at Common Law =-.
Hi Jill,
You’re right, the tools the merchant provides to help you sell the product gives you a great indication of how much value they place on their own product. I think you should also consider the quality of the tools.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Finding Your Passion =-.
Using the affiliate resources provided can definately save you a lot of time and effort as most of them provide professional looking banners and links to add to your marketing campaign.
A question I have though is how do you get around just doing a ppc campaign as google won’t let you link directly to the affiliates site – it has to go to your site first. (is this right?)
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Types of Child Anxiety Disorder =-.
With Google Adwords, you might like to set up a sales page of your own, or a product page on your blog for instance, as affiliate link redirects are against their terms of service. Other options for PPC with affiliate links are Facebook and Yahoo Search Marketing where you can do so.
Hi Sean,
I think using quality banner ads good way of using affiliate marketing resources to your advantage because they have a bit more of a visual appeal than a simple link. Also I think Market Samurai has a lifetime cookie which is pretty awesome if you can get people to sign for products like that… imagine getting paid for something today that you promoted 3 or 4 years ago lol : )
.-= jeremy´s last blog ..jlagatule- RT @tonyrobbins For you night owls still upCome be the first to have a sneak peak of R Breakthrough insiders site http-bitly-caSRxw =-.
I always copy out and store the htmls etc for the resources and swap them around periodically for a ‘fresh-up’.
The better affiliate programs have a wide range of choices too – including text for emails which you also can adapt as content.
Thanks Sean, affiliate resources is something I was not aware of. I will keep this in mind for my future site.