AFFILIATE RECRUITMENT & Management

Sudhanshu Kapoor

Affiliates Types

Affiliate Recruitment :Dos and Don’ts

Best Practices -: Recruitment Tools/Resources

Managing Affiliates

Q and A

Offer discounts Vouchers/coupons from all popular stores

Utilize email database effectively to drive broad reach

Coupon/Voucher Sites

Recruitment -: Search engines ( Any Brand name + Coupons )

e.g. Myntra Coupons, Myntra Vouchers, Myntra Voucher Codes

Affiliate Types | Cashback

Pass some or all of their commission back to the user

Require robust tracking to ensure no sales get missed.

Payments to affiliates must be timely

Recruitment -: Search engines ( Any Brand name + cashback )

e.g. zovi cashback, Myntra moneyback,

Promote products from different websites along side each other in table format.

Affiliate Type | Price Comparison

Recruitment – : Keyword + Compare

e.g. Compare price for Samsung galaxy

Generate high volume

Have high conversion rates (PPC affiliates )

Low conversion Rate ( Ramanant Inventory )

Payments must be timely to ensure continued and consistent investment

Robust Ts and Cs can ensure no brand bidding wherever not allowed

Media Buyers -: • PPC Affiliates• Facebook Affiliates • Ramanant / Raw Inventory

Extensive reach and large databases|Can target specific customers very effectively|Generate high volume, with strong consumer offers|Can require an increased CPA to use segmented data|Require html creative to be provided

Affiliate Type – Email

Affiliate Type Content

• Deal Websites • Blogs • Data Feed affiliates

Some more Examples of Content Website

Wordpress Blog

Data feed Affiliate

Do• Recruit relevant affiliates (e.g. coupon ,

deal, price comparison, category specific blogs)/ campaign specific

• Take time to Review Affiliate site• Initiate contact via email / phone• Have a defined follow up schedule

Don’tLimit your recruiting to only one type of affiliate or keyword .Don’t compile a list first.Don’t sell

Best Practices and Resources

Search Engines

Fish where the fish are.

Google Keyword Tool

Give you idea of importance of keyword term/phrase and help you in finding other important Keywords.

You can do search for both keywords and key phrases.

Advanced Options • Countries • Languages • Broad match • Exact Match

To Find fishes , use following tools

Search Similar Sites http://www.similarsites.com/

http://www.soovle.com/Use Soovle to get all related Keywords

• LinkedIn is one of the easiest affiliate recruitment tools in social media. Use

• LinkedIn Groups, Facebook groups etc. • Follow Affiliate marketing Blogs, forums.

Social Media – Use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

Affiliate Forums and Affiliate directories. 

• http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/• http://forums.digitalpoint.com• http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/• http://forum.abestweb.com• http://www.ewealth.com/• http://www.associateprograms.com/discus/• http://www.revenuesource.com• http://www.wickedfire.com• http://www.earnersforum.com• http://affiliate-marketing-

forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com

Blogs

• Amnavigator• Zacjohnson.com• IDR, Next big what,medianama, iamwire

Mistakes to Avoid

1. email length ( no one like big emails be precise 150-200 words will do)

2. Lack of Personalization ( use affiliate name and url in your email )

3. Give them something exciting initially ( e.g. a startup Bonus, special commission structure )

4. Don't miss on your USP's for e.g. for OMG India we have following

• Discover Top Campaigns In Every Vertical• 100% transparency• Save time with a speedy and easy to use interface• Track conversions and get detailed reports• Best Payouts in market for most programs• Most robust tracking Technology • Dedicated Account Management• Regular updates on best offers, deals and coupons.

5. In case affiliate don't respond ,Try, Try and try again. (at least 2 times )

Educating Affiliates

• What their Competition is doing • Best converting offers• Where to Focus• New Ideas• What's new in Market

95 – 5 Rule ( like the famous 80-20 rule of life )

95% of your sales will come from 5% of your Affiliates. ( as per OMG India stats )

Moral of the story -: Try to focus on Big Boys also Known as Super Affiliates.

How to Identify Super Affiliates

Whenever you recruit a new affiliate ask him for• Traffic stats ( Avg monthly page views, UV etc )• Sources of Traffic

Some Characteristics • Affiliate marketing is their Fulltime Business • They are Professional companies • Check Alexa for Traffic • They rank good on search engines • They spend money on media buying ( Facebook, PPC ) • Their websites / newsletter / applications usually have good

professional UI• They do Brand Bidding ( wherever allowed or sometimes

wherever not allowed ) • They are already working with Multiple networks

• Keep them Happy with your services.• Give super affiliates a quick start – e.g. Apply and

approve all programs for them. • Keep them updated with all offers, TnC (no

communication gap )• Provide transparency • Built good business Relations• Timely Payments • Ask Merchants for special Bonuses or Inhouse Bonus• Try them to start as many programs as you can

( especially coupon, cashback and pricecomparison )

Managing Super affiliates

Motivate Affiliate to make things happen

• Pay them well. Money motivates • Pay them on Time. • Bonuses, Prizes, Contests - Motivates Affiliates • Focus on Mutual Benefits • Technology is Key ( be one step ahead e.g. updated feeds,

banners, deep linking tool etc.)• Timely Communications

• Deal with disputes in a timely manner and be fair• Keep them updated on new offers and new ideas• Give suggestions ( Only if you can )• Have a Bonus Program • Be transparent • Provide superior free resources as affiliate promo tools

e.g.. API’s, Research reports , video training etc. • Appreciate their work • Imbibe best practices• Don't ignore the smaller ones

For any questions feel free to get back to me • Email : 24.sudhanshu@gmail.com• Skype : sudhanshukapoor