“Online sales have
grown exponentially over the last decade and ignoring this simple fact
as a merchant can be tantamount to retail sales suicide…”
Online
sales have grown exponentially over the last decade and ignoring this
simple fact as a merchant can be tantamount to retail sales suicide.
Offering your product or service to online customers can be most
helpful in achieving the profits your business needs. Advertising is
essential and although there exists a myriad of ways to promote your
product, one of the most effective and easiest to employ is affiliate
marketing. By trusting the promotion of your product or service across
the Internet to affiliates that are professionals in this field, you
can rest assured to be provided with a new customer base that is
interested in what you have to offer. While affiliates are happy to
help you achieve success, it is a great idea to provide them with
special offerings to keep them interested, excited, and diligent in
their efforts to promote and sell for you.
It
is first necessary to offer adequate compensation for their efforts.
Make sure to research what other affiliate merchants are offering per
sale or click, based upon the same price point. If your competitors
are offering higher percentages to their loyal affiliates, you probably
need to rethink your pay scale or offer additional incentives to keep
your affiliates in your corner instead of defecting to sell for the
competition. It is also a necessity to use an extremely dependable
tracking software to insure that all of your affiliates are effectively
recognized and compensated for every lead or sale they provide.
Sometimes it is not only money that can keep affiliates in your
stable. Offering your product or service for free or at an extremely
discounted rate is an excellent way to allow all your affiliates to
become thoroughly educated about the product they are promoting. If
your affiliates are allowed to experience your product first-hand, they
will be better prepared to write insightful reviews and testimonies as
part of their affiliate campaign. Research has shown that a
well-written testimonial has great customer appeal, allowing affiliates
to not only provide information about a product but show how this
product is so great, I use it myself. Other offerings such as online
gift cards, free downloads, and the like are excellent ways to show
your affiliates (think your employees) how much you value their
assistance in keeping your products well represented on the Net. By
showing your affiliates that you are indeed appreciative of all the
work they are doing, you will be able to count on them to continue
membership in your program and contributing to your advertising
campaign.