Businesses depend on sales to keep the lights on and the doors open. No sales, no business. Most businesses acquire new customers and sales using expensive advertising or by employing an expensive sales force. To make a profit, traditional companies have to bring in more money than what they pay for their expenses, like advertising and sales.
However, online it’s possible to get both advertising and sales for zero dollars. The secret is to establish an affiliate program to promote your products or services. For less than a hundred dollars you can setup an affiliate program, create marketing materials, and start enlisting an army of people who are eager to sell your product and advertise your services.
Affiliate programs are a winning formula for all sides. Companies are able to generate leads and makes sales. Affiliates make commissions from the sales that are generated. Customers win because they discover the products and services they’re looking for.
Many online businesses avoid starting an affiliate program because they think it will cost to much or take to much time, but in reality they are missing out on a great opportunity to promote their website that will more than pay for their efforts.
Getting started is simple and there are several low cost options for setting up an affiliate program.
Here are three options I recommend, in order of importance:
- IDevAffiliate – If you want to add on a self-hosted affiliate program to all your existing operations then I recommend iDevAffiliate. For less than a hundred dollars you can install affiliate software that will help you manage everything you need to run an affiliate program. New affiliates can self register, access promotional materials, check their stats, and update their profile information. You can even offer training videos from within their affiliate area.
- E-Junkie – If you’re looking for a solution that doesn’t require you to install and manage software, then e-Junkie is a low cost trusted option. E-Junkie even provides digital download protection services, and shopping cart options. If you don’t mind that your affiliate program is hosted outside of your website, then this is a quick and easy solution. Personally, I like to keep as many things in house as possible, especially when dealing with groups of people like customers or affiliates.
- ShareASale – This is what I consider to be a high-end solution for running an affiliate program. ShareASale is an affiliate network that will help you establish an affiliate program. Unlike the other solutions, they will expect you to cut them in on a percentage of your sales. This is an option that will only make sense once your have enough traffic and sales to offset the cost and you want to offload affiliate management to a service so you can focus on other business activities. ShareASale is just on example of this kind of affiliate services. There are other solutions available. Post questions in the forums if you want to know more.
Watch the video review for these options:
Regardless of the technical solution you pick, the overall goal remains the same. Get people to promote your products and services in exchange for a commission on the sale. The customer buys the product, you pay commissions, and you keep the remaining percentage as income. You also get free advertising from the links your affiliates create to promote your website. It couldn’t be a better deal.
Contact me if you would like assistance setting up your affiliate program.
Building a sales army,
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com
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