Yup, good advice from Linda.
Another thing is when you contact these potential affiliates, you really need to be able to give reasons that they will make more money with your program than the program they are currently promoting. Does yours convert better? Do you offer bonus? Is your commission higher? Your EPC? Can you offer that specific affiliate something that your competitor was not?
People used to come after my affiliates all the time to try to poach them. It's nothing personal, and I expected them to. (Call it "pumpkin pie" if you're not happy with the word "stealing" but the end result was the same). It didn't bother me much, because I was willing to do more for my affiliates than my competitors were. I developed content for them, I made them banners that they asked for, our landing pages converted like mad, our payout were on a par with everyone else. I coded up specific pages that I thought would be good on affiliate's websites. I wrote new and unique content for them. I developed keyword lists for them. I gave them individual technical support. etc etc etc.
Because my competitors were not willing to give that level of service to their affiliates, I don't think I ever lost a single significant affiliate to them.
I welcomed people to try to steal my affiliates. It meant that I had to think of new ways to improve my program. It makes affiliate programs efficient. Only the best survive and as any good economist will tell you, letting the market decide always results in efficiency and quality.
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