__________________ Finding Affiliates by Ben Ellis __________________ Note: If this shows in your browser, simply click "File" in your browser and select "Save As" and make sure that file type is text (.txt) Links in this article do not show as active because this is a text file. Why text (.txt) format? Text files are much easier to download, don't require much disk space, and easier to print. ======================================================== THE CENTER FOR INTERNET MARKETING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION http://bizinfo.manila.ph ======================================================== Hi, This is Ave Ramel, the Coach of the Center for Internet Marketing Research and Education, exponent of internet marketing since 1999. This article was evaluated by your Coach and made available for The Center's archive for new subscribers. After mastering this article, proceed to our Internet Marketing Knowledge Base at http://bizinfo.manila.ph/knowledge-base As a favor, please forward this article to all your friends you want to help and who would like to earn income from the Net. Cheers, Ave Ramel, Coach P.S. Start your home business online with this global opportunity - the world's first instant powdered green iced tea P.P.S. You can do your business in 32 countries using the internet. Proceed now to http://freeonlineschool.manila.ph/resensa ================ YOUR NEXT STEPS: ================ Internet Marketing Services: 1. Get Coached - personalized coaching, at your most convenient time and place Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching 2. Hire A Retainer-Consultant for your corporation or marketing campaigns Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy 3. Add one profit center to your company minus the overhead costs - your own internet marketing arm. 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Proceed to your Coach's Weblog located at http://aredconsult.blogspot.com and discover secrets, tips, and tricks _____________________ Finding Affiliates 3/4/2004 by Ben Ellis _____________________ One of the big questions for any business contemplating starting their own program is, where will I find my affiliates? Even those affiliate managers that run a program within a network will soon find that out of the many hundreds and thousands of affiliates in the network, only a handful of them actually make any sales. So what's an affiliate manager to do? If you want to find good affiliates for a new, or up-and-coming program then you got to get your hands dirty. You need to find sites yourself and contact them with a compelling offer to join your program. =============== Existing Links. =============== First of all check out the sites that are already linking to you. This can be done by going to the following free sites, entering your url and then looking at the results; * http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com * http://www.linkpopularity.com * http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ From these results you now know who is linking to you, from what page, and in what manner e.g. are they being favourable to towards your company or not? They may have a text link on a links page so you can email them and ask them if they'd like to link to you by joining your affiliate program as they could earn some money if they refer sales. Why ask sites to join your program if they're already linking to you? They could promote your site even more. They could add more links to their site if they know that they can actually earn money from them. Link checking is a useful tool in finding sites that link to you, and a growing number of links is a good sign, but the actual figure should not be deeply analysed too much. Finally, check that their links to you work, and that they are not misspelt, or that they go to a page that does not exist. ================= Competitor Links. ================= That's the friendly, technical term for copying. Carry out link popularity checks, as above, on your competition and find out who is linking to them. You will probably find sites linking to them that can also link to you as well. Let these sites know that you exist, that you are offering the same or a related service/product to your competitor and that they are invited to join your program too. I would not recommend that you contact a site and ask them to delete a link in favor of yours - that just isn't cricket! ============================ Piggy Back The Top Listings. ============================ From your search engine keyphrase research you'll have a list of phrases that you want to be found for. In the real world you'll never rank number one for all these phrases in all the engines, but the sites that are stopping you from achieving SEO greatness can still help you. If you sell a particular comic, there'll be sites that list comics, sell other comics, have information on comics, independent comic fan sites, etc. All these sites have the potential to carry your link, and if they are ranking number one for 'comics' then they'll also have a lot of relevant traffic. Check all the main search engines and directories to see what sites are ranking highly for keyphrases relating to your site and products. =================== Search For Your URL =================== Carry out a few searches in a few search engines for your name - 'www.yoursite.com', 'yoursite.com', 'yoursite', 'your company name' or even a product or service name. You'll then find some sites that have listed your name but not in a hyperlink. ============ Directories. ============ Apart from searching for the sites with top rankings in directories, you should also examine all the sites listed in categories related to your site/business/products. They'll be sites listed that won't rank well but they could still be good affiliates. Most subjects tend to have a niche directory or two. These will list good potential affiliates, as well as the niche directory itself that could be a good affiliate for your program. ============= PPC Listings. ============= Look at the sites that are listed within PPC results for competitor products and services - Overture.com, Google.com (AdWord listings), Espotting.com, FindWhat.com. Some of these sites will be affiliate sites worth contacting to persuade them to join your program too. ==================================== Submitting To Affiliate Directories. ==================================== You can submit your affiliate program to the affiliate directories below and try to gain more affiliates that way; * http://www.affiliate-programs-directory.com * http://www.affiliateguide.com * http://www.paymeup.com * http://www.esponsors.ws * http://www.affiliates4u.co.uk * http://www.affiliatefirst.com * http://www.recurring-commissions.com * http://www.affiliate-programs-guide.com * http://www.affiliate-scheme.co.uk * http://www.home-business-directory.com * http://www.affiliatetip.com * http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com * http://www.adbility.com * http://www.associateprograms.com If you haven't got the time to submit to a whole load of directories, you could always contract Neil Durrant and his team of little elf workers to do the submissions for you. ============= Going Forward ============= These should be some good starting points to recruit some affiliates and get your program going. When contacting potential affiliates take the time to write a personal email letting them know that you've visited their site, you know what it's about and that you think your program would be a good fit. Don't send out a general email that only says 'Join our program it's great' - remember the old Head & Shoulder's advertisements - 'You don't get a second chance to make a first impression'. Also, during your recruitment drive, be prepared to answer affiliates swiftly. There's no greater turn off for an affiliate than being ignored by the merchant (apart from not getting paid!). Good luck. ============================== Let Me Help You Get Customers: ============================== AREDCONSULT SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS I. EXECUTIVE COACHING - for busy entrepreneurs, decision-makers and marketing executives who can't spare much time away from their office operations but must immediately grasp and harness internet marketing to contribute to the company's profitability. 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Business processes that can be outsourced include submission of your website to search engines, email campaigns, mailing list management, product upsell and cross-sell, website content build-up, weblog content, link exchange with other websites, customer relations management, etc. http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy http://bizinfo.manila.ph/outsourcing ======== CONTACT: ======== Ask Aredconsult online for any internet marketing questions: http://www.aredconsult.com/ask-aredconsult.htm E-mail: mastermind@ask-the-expert.com Production Office: Tel. # 728-9613 or leave voice mail Corporate Address: Rm. 404 Parchouse II EDSA, Guadalupe Nuevo, beside Sogo Hotel 1200 Makati City, The Philippines ***Trust in the Lord with all your heart***