There are many ways to make your affiliate program stand out and get noticed by affiliates. But some affiliate programs stand out for the wrong reasons. You see, it’s good to be a diaper dandy of affiliate marketing, but not so good to stand out as a red diaper baby. But enough of the Dennis Miller esoterica, let’s discuss the nuts and bolts of getting your affiliate program in the spotlight.

Affiliates sometimes have a short www.memory (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/alan-jackson/5274.html), so you’ve got to constantly take steps to get your affiliate program noticed for recruitment and later re-noticed for retention. I’ve got a ten step plan to help you make this happen.

1. Make your affiliate program better than the rest

What would you say if a prospective affiliate asked you why they should join your affiliate program? Most affiliate managers don’t have a quick answer for this. Ask yourself what are the three reasons an affiliate should pick your program over your competitors and formulate an elevator pitch. 

Some highlights you might like to include are your conversion rate, average sale amount, EPC, top ten monthly affiliate earnings, suggested keywords for the PPC search engines and details on your data feed (this last is not applicable to all affiliate programs). If your numbers don’t look stellar, start working on repairing them.

2. Inbox to outbox in 24 hours flat

The speed with which you respond to affiliate queries tells them a lot about what you think of them. If you reply right away or at least within 24 hours, affiliates realize that they are one of your priorities. But if you can’t by bothered by emails from affiliates and they get pushed to the eternal back-burner, your affiliates are going to move on.

If you are overburdened and can simply not get back to them, first, you’ve got to quit whining and organize yourself -- we’re all busy. Second, consider setting up an auto-responder that lets the affiliates know when they can expect to hear from you. If you set up response time expectations, your affiliates will appreciate it.

3. Issue a press release

No, do not put out one of those pedestrian press releases that announce your affiliate program. You know that no media outlet cares about the launch of the 18,847th affiliate program, right? Now I say that after having issued those dopey program launch press releases myself. Nobody cares.

Instead, make a provocative press release that positions your company as a leader and gives some news, or pseudo news, that is timely and appealing. For instance, I put out a press release for my client, InstrumentPro, right before Black Friday, “Top Ten Holiday Musical Instrument Gift Ideas for the Musician Announced at Start of Holiday Shopping Season.”  The purpose is to better position the company as a leader during the holiday season to make the affiliate program more appealing to affiliates. And it got lots of affiliate links built in to track the consumer response.
 
4. Teach yourself HTML and use it

There are two really good reasons for you to learn HTML, or at least learn how to write it with Dreamweaver, FrontPage or another HTML editor. First, in order to make your affiliate program better, you ought to become an affiliate yourself. This way, you can walk in the shoes of your affiliates to get a better idea of their needs. But also, you will be better equipped to help them troubleshoot minor technical issues.

And when you’ve learned how to create your own site, you ought to apply to your competitors, so you can have a look at their messaging and creative.

5. Always tend to the cream

All affiliates are equal, but some are more equal. The top performing affiliates, the cream of your program, should be given an extra level of attention. Offer to provide custom reporting to them, call to ask if there is anything you can do for them, and generally make yourself available for whatever they need.

Generally, affiliate programs operate on the 80/20 rule, or worse. I would say most programs are running more in the league of 98/2. So you’ve got to take care of that 2 percent by any means necessary. There are lots of alternatives for them out there, so make your affiliate program more attractive to them. Don’t be afraid to budget for a holiday gift for them.

6. Ask what they want

Sounds simple, right? Just ask affiliates what they want, and then give it to them. I am frequently asked what affiliates want, and I respond, “Why don’t you ask them?” Too few affiliate managers bother to do this.

I covered this issue in a recent post to my blog, where I first emphasized that each program is unique, so there is not a universal answer to what makes affiliates happy. However, there are lots of basic components for a program, like return days, linking types, and commission structures that will make affiliates happier with your program.

7. Keep your program out there

Affiliates go to the affiliate marketing message boards for information about affiliate programs. It’s important to keep tabs on the various message boards to understand the trends in affiliate marketing, as well as maintaining visibility for your affiliate program.

Make an effort to participate in the boards and forums, but only if you have something to say. If you exhibit yourself as a helpful resource, that’s a great advertisement for you as an affiliate manager. But if you just post for the sake of it, the transparent attempt to market your program will show.

8. Advertise to recruit

You cannot have too much exposure for your affiliate program. You’ve got to try and reach affiliates at as many touch points as possible, and paid advertising can aid this effort. Many affiliate programs have long used Google Adwords and Overture to target niche affiliates. Throw down $100 for an account at each of those sites, run some recruiting ads and track the results.

The aforementioned message boards often provide an opportunity to advertise, as well as the affiliate program directories. My personal favorites are AffiliateTip.com (full disclosure -- I run it), AssociatePrograms.com and Refer-it.com.  

9. Co-market with other affiliate managers

Each month, when you are writing your affiliate newsletter, you are probably looking for some content. If that’s the case, try making an exchange with another affiliate program for a blurb in their newsletter. This is a great way to get highly engaged affiliates, because they obviously read the affiliate newsletters already.

Another co-marketing technique to consider is to exchange plugs for your affiliate program with another affiliate manager in the form of inserts with the affiliate checks when they go out. You can be assured a 100 percent open rate on that marketing campaign.

10. VIP commissions

Earlier, I touched on tending to the cream of your program. In addition to the points I covered, you’ve also got to budget for a higher rate of commission, a VIP commission, for those big players. They will generally expect the accelerated commission upon joining your program, and by issuing it right away, you’re going to make that super affiliate more likely to give you quality real estate on their site.

Conversely, if you have a one-size-fits-all affiliate commission structure, you might be saddened and surprised to hear that such a setup is affiliate kryptonite. You’ve got to pay to play with the super affiliates.

Ignore these ten steps at your own risk. Make an effort to stand out, and it will be a slam dunk for affiliates to join your program. Stay pat and you can be assured that you’ll be a card-carrying member of the lame affiliate program club.

Shawn Collins is CEO of Shawn Collins Consulting, an affiliate program management agency; Webmaster of the AffiliateTip.com affiliate program directory; and a founder of the Affiliate Summit conference. He authored the book Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants and the AffStat affiliate marketing benchmark reports.