If you had asked me 2 years ago what affiliate marketing was, I would have starred blankly at you dazed and bewildered and replied “affiliate what?” I soon discovered, after my first affiliate cheque arrived, that affiliate marketing should be incorporated into all marketing strategies.
Affiliate marketing is a form of revenue sharing between two parties. A commission is paid for sales on a product or service; a great way to build your list and your sales. So now that you know what it is and the idea of setting up an affiliate marketing program makes you want to run for the hills, then turn to an affiliate marketing assistant for help.
Affiliate Program Set-Up
There are many affiliate programs available however many internet marketers use 1 Shopping Cart because of its robust, integrated affiliate program. What can a VA do to get your affiliate marketing off the ground?
- set-up your affiliate program description, commission rates, affiliate pay schedules & the payout amount
- add products for affiliates to market
- customize your welcome message to your affiliates
- format your sign up page with branded logo & simply instructions
- upload graphic banners created by a VA or graphic designer
- script sample text emails for your affiliates to use
- add/import or export affiliates
Communicate & Encourage Sign Ups
Now that your affiliate program is in place, keep the lines of communication open to encourage sales. Send out an email to new affiliates 24-48 hours after they have joined to encourage them to contact you with questions. Create an “affiliates only” newsletter that updates your people on your new products and campaigns. Run monthly contests where the affiliate that earns x amount of affiliate income wins a prize; a great way to build your relationships.
Affiliate Tracking & Reporting
Keeping track of your affiliate marketing statistics encourages you to set goals so hand over this task to your Virtual Assistant. Use either an excel spreadsheet or Google documents to create an affiliate campaign report and track:
- number of new affiliate sign-ups
- which banner ads bring in more click
- which text ads are most successful
- which affiliates consistently refer your products or services
- And more….
In short, if you are contemplating integrating an affiliate marketing program into your business than consider the advantages of working with an Affiliate Marketing Assistant. The time and energy you will save will more than pay for itself in affiliate sales and allow you to focus on building your growing business.
Theresa, you’ve done a great job showing what an affiliate marketing assistant can do.
What is an average fee to expect to pay an affiliate marketing assistant? Where would I find one? How long would it take to set up a program like described in the article?
Thanks Sherra, affiliate marketing is a growing field, one in which a VA can really help organize for a client.
Hi Angela,
Many Virtual Assistant’s are also Affiliate Marketing Assistants. I would suggest submitting an RFP here at VANA – https://www.vanetworking.com/RFP/.
It’s hard to estimate how long it would take to set up an affiliate program, it depends so much on how many text links and banner (for eg.) need to be created. You could also offer this type of service as a one time project for a VA so instead of an hourly fee, a set base price for the set-up could be created and then an hourly retainer fee could be set for ongoing support.