Are there too many affiliates or not enough quality ones?

[lurker]

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Ok - so I'm playing devil's advocate to QGJ's thread to some extent.

But - given a quality merchant it can be a long slow slog to find affiliates who can actually perform and achieve sales. Many of the pro's concentrate on click arbitrage - buying ppc clicks + selling them back to ppc bids. Many other affs will take links for everything going but never actually load the links to their sites.

From a merchant/network perspective it can be very very difficult to find affiliates who will actually perform - easy to sign up 100 affs but only 5 of these 100 will ever actually sell anything.

[NetNeo]

I'll sell, I'll sell.....
If i'm doing it wrong, I should be put straight, many Affs dont know what to do.
I am only just starting to learn (after 2 years), and only because I was recommended this site by another member!
It's hard to be a good affiliate unless you know the best/right rules to play by.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Q1. What should the network & merchant do to procure existing established affiliates?

Q2. What should the network & merchant do to assist the affiliates with huge potential?

Q3. What should the network & merchant do to assist the new affiliates? Out of acorns grow huge oak trees.

Good affiliate managers already know the answers, some of them frequent these boards. But affiliates have to be sold to, what makes program X stand out program Y.

Many other affs will take links for everything going but never actually load the links to their sites.

We are guilty this, sometimes merchants get incidental traffic until we have a chance to fully look at the program. Until a track record is established. But after a few years a certain amount of intuition comes into it. Sometimes there is a delayed acceptance procedure. There are a number of reasons.

P.S. I think Lee's post in the Other thead explains it quite well too.

[lurker]

"Affiliates have to be sold to" - quite right, and when a proactive affiliate is sold to they will respond and achieve. I was just trying to make the point that there are an awful lot of lame ducks on both sides of the equation - it can be exciting to find an affiliate/merchant who looks really promising only to find that after a lot of effort nothing much comes out of it.
(And I did admit that I was playing devil's advocate).

Some of the performers are a great surprise - and some of the non-performers even more so (again on all sides of the equation). A lot of the newbie-posts on this forum are seeking advice either as a merchant or an affiliate as to how they can find these performers - 'cos there's a whole haystack out there and we're all hunting for the same few needles.

You're right in that Lee's post is a good balanced view across both sides of the market. I'm off now to PM him about a great CPA deal I've got for fruit-flavoured monkeys.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Personally i do occasionally need a proverbial kick up the backside from some merchants to proactively promote their program but i welcome that, some i even say please keeping nagging me...only becuase we have several projects on the go simultaneously.

[fieldandtrek]

Personally I have found it hard to find big affiliates wishing to take us on - minus a fair few. I am hoping this will change when

a) We complete our move to buy.at
b) We have the product feed up and running on both TD and Buy.At

How would people suggest that Merchants go about getting their programe noticed and signed up for? The network has not been 100% helpfull, even though we pay for an account manager.

[l234244]

Commisions! If the commision structure is poor I wont put my mind to promoting them, however if they do pay well I will pay more attention.

[drivetowin]

I think EPC is more important than the actual commission level - you could have two merchants, one paying 50p and one paying £5 but if the first one converts at 1 in 10 visitors and the second one at 1 in 1000 I know which one I would rather promote

[jess1]

What should the network & merchant do to procure existing established affiliates?

If a merchant has a good converting program, more then likely affiliates will find you. The networks and merchants duty is to look at the affiliates they have and work with what they have. Seldom do I see any news about a merchant and their affiliate program in any press releases.

Q2. What should the network & merchant do to assist the affiliates with huge potential?

Listen, understand their needs and act immediately, not three weeks later, this industry requires a fast turn around. Provide demographic details about the merchant. I am not talking about confidential stuff, but more often then not, affiliates don't really get an awful lot of info about the way a company works, who their target group is conversions, basket size, peaks and lows, geography, returns and so on. Also the kind of traffic that does not convert is quite important too. If this information were in place, it may prevent affiliates signing up (as the program is not right for their traffic, or it may attract more affiliates. Throwing money at affiliate with huge potential would be a waste for a) the afore mentioned and b) unless you know what that potential is. Reminds me of a great line from Pride and Prejudice” I would have been an accomplished pianist….had I ever learnt to play" In a nut shell, the answer is is communication and act as facilitator.

Q3. What should the network & merchant do to assist the new affiliates? Out of acorns grow huge oak trees.

You don your teachers hat, roll up your sleeves and you don’t just tackle the affiliate based on the program he/she has joined, you mentor about the website overall, its not just about banners, its about website layout, navigation, honing in on what that affiliate wants to achieve and discussing ways he/she can get to the next level, research and providing free resources, where possible, if its technical and I don’t know the answer, I know some one that does, yes its long winded, yes companies would see this as a waste of human resources but it sooooooooooooooooo works! And the reward? Its that buzzzz when you little newby makes his or her first sale.... that feeling cant be beaten either for me or for the affiliate. That affiliate will be hooked on affiliate marketing forever and most dont forget who helped them in the first place, which is why I would urge affiliate managers and networks to start rewarding affiliates not based on sales/leads per say, but your loyal affiliates! Sorry if I have rattled on, I am just passionate about this subject
I am sure there are other answers as well.

[l234244]

I think EPC is more important than the actual commission level - you could have two merchants, one paying 50p and one paying £5 but if the first one converts at 1 in 10 visitors and the second one at 1 in 1000 I know which one I would rather promote

If I got 1 in 1000 I wouldnt bother with it, obviously the merchant is a poor converting program or the affiliate stats are not accurate.

[David Bowley]

You don your teachers hat, roll up your sleeves and you don’t just tackle the affiliate based on the program he/she has joined, you mentor about the website overall, its not just about banners, its about website layout, navigation, honing in on what that affiliate wants to achieve and discussing ways he/she can get to the next level, research and providing free resources, where possible, if its technical and I don’t know the answer, I know some one that does

Definately the way to go, when I start creating my own affiliate programs I think that that level of technical consultancy should be provided for free. I think everyone should do that, provide lots and lots of help for their affiliates, cos to be honest alot of time people get it wrong, and with the merchants help they could be making a lot more money.