Word Count: 748 Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 7:51 AM
Five Ways to Recruit Your Affiliate Downline
When recruiting for affiliate downlines, you must remember that patience is the key. Just like any other business, it takes time and hard work if you intend to be successful. Recruiting a downline for your affiliate business builds depth in your organization.
Show recruits that you are serious about building an affiliate marketing business. They need to understand that you will support them while they build their business as well. The more information you share with them, the more confidence they have in your program.
One common mistake is lack of diversity in advertising. It is important to implement more than one marketing technique when you recruit your downline. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a great way to lose everything. The Internet is an amazing affiliate marketing tool. Employ more than one marketing avenue to ensure the greatest exposure.
Five of the most obvious yet sometimes overlooked marketing tools include affiliate directories, social networking, e-mails, forum signatures and article marketing. Learning to use each of these tools to suit your affiliate recruiting needs is an art form. Practice makes perfect.
List Your Program in Affiliate Directories
Familiarize yourself with a variety affiliate directories. Study the techniques that others use when recruiting for their own affiliate programs. Not only will this allow you to find styles that work, but you will also be able to refrain from making common mistakes. You will easily be able to see where you can tweak your existing program to make it more attractive to potential recruits.
When submitting to affiliate directories, create a unique ad based on each directory's format. If you place the same advertisement on many directories, visitors will begin to question the validity of your affiliate program. Personalize each ad with something unique. Your goal is to diversify your ad styles as much as your marketing avenues.
Social Networking
One of the hardest parts of advertising for your affiliate program is figuring out where to find users. This is why social networking has quickly become one of the most useful recruiting techniques for affiliate downlines.
If you cannot find an online community that focuses primarily on your topic, take the initiative and create one. Having the ability to communicate with people in online communities will also help you to weed out the bad apples. You will be able to tell who is genuinely interested in marketing your program.
Contact Other Webmasters
Visit websites with a subject matter that correlates with your program. If these sites are lacking in advertisements, e-mail or phone the owner and ask if they would be interested in becoming an affiliate. Briefly explain to them how affiliate marketing has increased your cash flow and let them know you'd like to help them learn more about making money online.
If you choose to use e-mail, it is imperative that your message does not look like spam. Always write a personalized letter that not only details your program and its benefits, but also includes different aspects of their site. These could include the site's design or specific products they are selling. Webmasters are more willing to listen to what you have to say if they know that you've taken the time to browse their site.
Signature Lines
Many people miss out on a very easy and free form of self promotion by not using signature lines on forums or e-mails. Always include your referral link in the signature lines of e-mails, forum posts & article submissions.
Links in a signature line are very attractive to people with whom you communicate with on a regular basis. They will assume that since someone they trust as a colleague is advertising an affiliate program, it must be worth looking into. The links in your signature will remain in place as long as the forum is active.
Article Campaigns
Write articles and publish them on thousands of sites. Article distribution not only boosts your traffic, it will effectively put your name and affiliate program in front of millions of users.
You can utilize this technique by including your referral link in the biography or author's resource box of your articles. If the article directories you submit your articles to do not allow affiliate links, simply use your own website address.
About the Author
Rebecca Taylor is a coach for the Affiliate Program at Article Marketer. She assists and coaches Article Marketer affiliates and is a regular contributor to this blog. Stop by and learn about our Affiliat Support Team!
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