Develop Your Affiliate Program To Multiply Your Income

Once you've got your product created, tweaked, and selling, you can reasonably expect to multiply the number of units sold many times over by launching your own affiliate program.

You'll be faced with a tricky decision at this stage...

Which affiliate system should you run with?

Buy some Software and run it on your own Server

This is probably the most complicated approach to running an affiliate program, but it is also probably the most cost effective! The principle is that you purchase some off-the-shelf software and run it on your own server (or rather, the one at your ISP where your website is based).

The software will enable affiliates to sign up with your program and then track referrals through to your website. It will provide a sign-in area for your affiliates to check their referral and sales stats. And typically, the software will deal with everyday tasks like emailing lost passwords back to your affiliates on request.

Run your Affiliate Program via a trusted Third Party

This is my least favorite option, but it is possible to outsource your entire affiliate program.

This tends to be done by the biggest affiliate players, as the entry costs can be quite prohibitive. Also, because the third-party company running the service is dealing with yours and thousands of other affiliate programs, the signup for your potential affiliates to join your affiliate program can be mysterious and complex!

If I haven't put you off, then check out Commission Junction as the most famous example of this type of third-party based affiliate program. 

ClickBank Affiliate Program

The third and most straightforward approach to running an affiliate program is only available if you opt for a ClickBank merchant account. In other words, you must sell your product via ClickBank to take part.

You simply set an affiliate commission level in the administration area of your ClickBank account and your product is automatically listed (after your first sale) in ClickBank’s own marketplace. ClickBank boasts 100,000+ online marketers (affiliates), any of who can market your program without even registering with you first!

The biggest advantages of using ClickBank as your affiliate program are as follows...

Quite simply, you can do ZERO administration work. They will monitor the affiliate click thrus, as well as cut the checks and send them out to your affiliates. In fact, you are so remote from your affiliates, it can even prove to be a drawback. It's likely some ClickBank affiliates don’t even realize which product they’ve just sold when they receive a ClickBank sale notice!

There are three other significant downsides to running your affiliate program via ClickBank. I discuss these in detail in Chapter 15 of my Create and Sell Products Online Toolkit. 

So, before you jump in and tie yourself up with the wrong affiliate program partner, be sure to check that out.

You've got to build a Faithful and Loyal army of Affiliates

There's much more to running a successful affiliate program than most people realize. That's why most owners of affiliate programs don't see the returns (the huge boost in sales) that they expected.

Your affiliate team is important to you and you must work to build their loyalty.

NOTE: I would estimate that typically only 1 in 10 affiliates actually do anything after signing up. In fact, only about 1 in 20 ever makes any sales!

But why?

Here are some of the reasons:

• Your affiliate program looks so attractive that they are sold into signing up as an affiliate purely out of curiosity, but don't really plan to do anything.

• Your affiliate signs up meaning to get busy promoting your program but puts it to one side, and then forgets about you.

• Your affiliate signed up with you, but that was the last time you ever contacted them.

• Your affiliate signs up, but then changes in their own life (maybe a job change) prevent them from getting involved in promoting your program.

• Your affiliate doesn’t really have the skills or knowledge to promote your product, and you haven’t supplied them with the relevant tools.

• Your affiliate only signed him/herself up to try to get a discount on your product!

• Your affiliate puts in a bit of effort and refers a few people to your website, but doesn’t achieve any sales and gets fed up with your program.

That's the bad news!

But the good news is that you can increase the odds of your own affiliate team working hard for you. It all has to do with building communication and educating your affiliates.

The secrets to generating an army of committed, enthusiastic affiliates are just too detailed to get into right here. However, I have detailed every last trick in the book to creating your own affiliate super army in my full toolkit - Create and Sell Products Online.

A successful affiliate program can make the difference between a mediocre online business and one that really creates lasting wealth for you. Getting your affiliate program right is an objective well worth pursuing!

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