Starting Your Own Affiliate Program

Why bother?

1. If you were selling a product in the real world, you'd want to hire a commission sales force or manufacturer's rep. An affiliate program is the online version of having people out there beating the bushes for you.
   
   
2. As a new webmaster, driving traffic to your site can be a real challenge. It's much easier to find people who want to make money online than people who want to spend it. Put the word out that you're offering a moneymaking opportunity, and your traffic should increase, dramatically. HINT: affiliates and their friends and relatives buy products, too.
   
   
3. With just a little effort, you can turn your affiliate team into an active community where you can learn from each other and use their opinions to help improve your product line and marketing efforts. Everybody wins, since you make money when they make money.

How do you do it?

1. The easiest, and most expensive way, is to sign on with an affiliate network, like Commission Junction or LinkShare. Since the setup costs can be high (thousands of dollars) and the maintenance fees can also soar (30% as of this writing), you'll want a really good, proven product line in place before you begin. For more information, please read Affiliate Networks.
   
   
2. A less expensive possibility is to buy software and do it all yourself, but the best software can still cost around $1,000 or more. Be sure to ask for referrals on some of the "make money online" forums before you invest in any of these programs. Features, support, and ease-of-use vary widely with this type of software.
   
   
3. Make it up as you go along. Since this is the Internet, anything goes. There's nothing stopping you from doing some research, figuring out some new affiliate marketing process that makes sense to you, and trying it out. Be honest about being new and ask for help. The old pros out there will be quick to tell you what works and what doesn't. Managing an informal, manual affiliate program is no more difficult or time-consuming than setting up a manual method for selling your products online. HINT: Affiliates need to know they aren't being ripped off, so an accurate tracking system, with detailed, timely reports is vital to your success.

What do you need?

1. Something to sell online--products, services, information--just about anything that's easy to ship or doesn't require shipping.
   
   
2. A good advertising program--banner ads, text links, e-mail, press releases, blogs, articles--anything that gets the word out, effectively.
   
   
3. A well-organized website. Affiliates and customers will be coming to visit.
   
   
4. A means of accepting credit cards for sales--either a merchant account of your own, or an open account with an online payment service like PayPal.
   
   
5. A structured method of accepting affiliate applications and responding, automatically. If manual email is your only choice, it will have to do, but it's much better if your system will allow affiliates to sign up and get started on their own, anytime.
   
   
6. Some method of tracking your affiliates' traffic, leads, sales, and commissions. The more info you can give your affiliates, the happier and more productive they'll be.
   
   
7. A means of paying your affiliates and keeping track of those payments. If you expect to pay any one affiliate more than a few hundred dollars a year, you may also be required to keep income tax records. Check with your accountant or tax advisor. This is one area where an affiliate network can help keep you out of trouble, but you can do it yourself.
   
   
8. Forums, newsletters, and training are not required, but well worth the effort to keep your sales force well-informed and productive.

Before you start your own affiliate program, do your homework by researching other programs, to see what they offer. Their information can help keep you from making costly mistakes.