If you run an affiliate program, training is important. As new affiliates come onboard, they need to learn the ropes. They need to know the rules of the program and familiarize themselves with ways to improve success. This may involve learning about banner placement and internet marketing.
As the operator of an affiliate program, it is your job to train your affiliate. The best approach is to have an easy to follow guide. Once affiliates are entered into your system, ensure they have smooth sailing from there. Your affiliates should be able to find the coded links or banners they want within minutes, add them to their website, and publish. Make sure your system is setup correctly and is easy to navigate. By doing so, the initial training required is small to none.
With that said, making money with affiliate programs involves more than putting embedded links and banners on a website. It involves good ad placement and internet marketing. Internet marketing is important because if no one sees your affiliates’ websites, they won’t see your links. You might not consider internet marketing a part of your training, but you should. Provide a detailed list of tips on how to successfully market a website and affiliate products as a whole. Make this list readily available for your new affiliates to see.
As previously stated, running a successful affiliate program involves more than showing your affiliates how to get links, banners, and other graphics. You need to teach them how to successfully market a website and product. Unfortunately, you may not have time for this. What should you do? Rely on your other affiliates to help each other. With a few simple steps, your affiliates will be helping each other through technical problems, website design problems, and internet market problems in no time at all.
So, how do you let your affiliates help each other? With a message board for members only. If you don’t already have an online message board, now is the time to create one. This is easy, as there are many programs available online for free or affordable rates. Upload the codes to your website and you should have a forum. Encourage your affiliate, through the program website and emails to join. Once they register for a free account and start participating in discussions the rest will take off from there.
The only problem you may face is that internet marketers and affiliates wear many hats. Making money through your affiliate program is just one of the many things they do online. You want your experienced affiliates to join in on the discussions, as they are the individuals who can provide the community with the most beneficial information. Ask a few affiliates or provide a small amount of monetary compensation at first. After awhile, it will become natural to these individuals and they will participate in discussions without pressure.
Although an online message forum for your affiliates is a great way to have them help and train each other, it is important to not forget about your duties. You are the person in charge of the affiliate program. Visit the boards a couple times a week to participate in discussions yourself. Quickly review the posts to ensure all tips and tricks shared are accurate and inline with the program rules. An online message board does not diminish your position, but it does lessen the work you have to do.