Affiliate Tips

Some tips to make you a better affiliate.

Setting Up

#1. Read the affiliate agreement. You will want to know the exact terms of the agreement so any developments won't surprise you.

#2. Take advantage of all the tools available at your merchants web site. Many merchants' offer things like newsletter copy, articles, RSS or XML feeds that you can use.

Design

#1. Stick your affiliate links within your content. Text links get a lot of more respect from people. If you stick them within the text in your articles then you get more ad exposure without coming off as spamming.

Banners

#1. Find the optimal banner size. The most popular banner size is a 468x60 banner but many times it is also has the lowest click-through rate. Smaller banners actually work better on the whole and definitely work better when it comes to click per square inch on your site.

#2. Put up fresh banners. There are two reasons to do this. If your merchant is running a special promotion you will want to take advantage of these special promotions to drive extra traffic to your site. The second reason is simply because if your site has many regular visitors then they may subconsciously ignore a banner if it is the same one that has been up there for a while. Putting a fresh banner may make people think they are seeing a banner for a new product even if they aren't. Rotate banners to get a better click-thru/impression rate.

#3. Make sure your ads are as relevant as possible. If you can customize the ads for geographic area, language, or specific pages then do it.

#4. Host the banners from the merchants' site. Not only does this ensure their banners will show the most recent marketing campaigns but it will also cut down on your server hits and bandwidth. Just make sure to check them every now and then to make sure they haven't taken that banner away.

Maintenance

#1. Keep your personal information up-to-date with your program. If you move they may mail you a check to the wrong place.

#2. Check your affiliate links every now and then. Many times an affiliate program will re-configure the mechanics of their affiliate program and the old links no longer work. Many webmasters who are advertising 50 programs will have links going to their merchants but won't be getting credit for them.

Organization

#1. Organize all your affiliate information. Many affiliates advertise 20-50 programs. In a spreadsheet, keep track of your affiliate login, password, affiliate code, affiliate managers name, affiliate managers email, and maybe a plain text affiliate link for easy access.

Coding

#1. Hide Your Links. Because many web users don't like to click on affiliate links, it is a good idea to hide your link so that the affiliate code doesn't show up in the status bar in the browser when the user mouses over the link.

#2. Affiliate links are better than affiliate codes. If you have an affiliate code that your users need to type in when they go to a merchants' site sometimes they will forget. If you have a choice between giving out a code and a link, give out a link. Although it is not a bad idea to ask them to type in a code and give them an affiliate link at the same time because sometimes when someone clicks on an affiliate link and enters a different affiliate's code the code will supercede the link.

Marketing

#1. Don't spam. Ever.

#2. Put your affiliate links in your signature. This can be done in your email signature. You may be able to do this in forums depending on the forum rules.

#3. Start a newsletter. Newsletters are a great way to get your affiliate links out there. It is by far one of the best promotional tools you can use. Make sure the newsletter is opt-in only and is only sent out when you have value-added content to broadcast.

Administrative

#1. Crunch your numbers every now and then. If you are advertising different programs then compare which programs have the best click-throughs and profits.

#2. Find helpful affiliate sites through Google, like: affiliate forums, sites give out affiliate tips, sites that have helpful newsletters.

Business

#1. Don't sign up with an affiliate program that you found out about because they spammed you. If a company is a spammer they are shady. Stay away from them.