Communication with merchant?

[jjblond]

How much communication does an affiliate have with any certain merchant. If affiliates have multiple merchants. How would they keep up?
If you sign up with multiple merchants via, CJ, how often does the merchant and the affiliate actually communicate?

Thanks in advance for your replies?

 

[jazzguy]

Hi tjblond. Like any relationship, communication is key. From all that I have read and listened to from the "Super" Affiliates, communication with merchants is Number One! If you are focusing on a particular product or merchant, you may get by by just having links on your site and directing traffic to the merchant site. However, there may other ways of working an affiliate program and the merchant can only help you figure this out. This comes into play especially if you are using PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising where the expenditure can be be brutal if you not PPC savvy.

I would also consider brand or merchant loyalty. Find one product that you feel strongly about and develop it in earnest. This way when you do contact the merchant, they won't see competing products on your site which may hinder the relationship.

For every merchant you sign up for I think it would be in your best interest to at least whip off an introductory email saying hello, why you joined, and what your plans are for future development. Once communication is open, you may be pleasantly surprised how much they'll want to work with you. After all, it's a two-way street with everyone benefiting. Take care and all the best.

Jazzguy (Lyle)

 

[Linda Buquet]

Great input Lyle, thanks!

"If you sign up with multiple merchants via, CJ, how often does the merchant and the affiliate actually communicate? "

As far as routine communication, most merchants send a welcome email after you join and then get out at least one newsletter a month. Important to try to read these as sometimes they will have coupons or new products or something else that will help you make sales. If you are joined to a ton of merchants it can be hard to read all the newsletters.

Bottom line though is if you are a newbie, joining a bunch of merchants is probably not a good strategy. Some affiliates try to start off with a mall type site that carries everything but the kitchen sink. Bad way to start if you are brand new.

You should be focused on one primary niche for starters. You may add a couple different merchants if there are several in that niche. You may expand down the road. By the time you start adding lots of merchants you will understand more about and be better equipped to handle the communication issues.

One related note: some programs unfortunately are not pro-actively managed, so many times your email to the AM will go unanswered. A responsive AM however can be your best ally and give you lots of tips and ideas. They know how to sell their product better than anyone. Many times they can give you important tools like key word lists to help you get started.

 

[jazzguy]

"Some affiliates try to start off with a mall type site that carries everything but the kitchen sink"

That's my next site: Kitchen-sinks . com No competition...

Jazzguy (Lyle)

 

[jazzguy]

"One related note: some programs unfortunately are not pro-actively managed, so many times your email to the AM will go unanswered."

Good point Linda. In fact if this happens, you may want to reconsider that account since there may be deeper issues within that merchant that might affect your commisions in the future.

Jazzguy (Lyle)

 

[Linda Buquet]

Lyle SHHHHHHH! Don't let on that Kitchen-sinks . com is a good niche.
Before you know it, everyone will be doin' it!

 

[jazzguy]

Gotcha! Mums the word...

Jazzguy (Lyle)

 

[Chris83]

Hi Jaime

I'd say communicate as much as you can. It is amazing how few affiliates reach out to their affiliate managers and ask for help. That is what the AM is there for, and if he/she made the decision to approve you into their affiliate program then they are also making a decision to support you in your business. So contact them often and extract all the value you can from them to help you succeed.

The ones that don't reply...remove them from your site.

Cheers

Chris

 

[YourMlmTools.biz]

When I first tried to build my affiliate base I decided to contact Clickbank merchants. Shortly after that I wrote an article on What Sales Pages Need lol.

Very few of them had contact information. One trick I picked up was to join their newsletters and email them from there. They responded thanking me for being their affiliate (I always provided my own info descretely as well including link codes)

The contact info is generally poor in my experience. Merchants seem more concerned about spam than good communication

Rick