Best ways of recruiting affiliates?

[fbeater]

Based on your personal experiences, what are some of the best ways of recruiting affiliates to promote your products? I think many people here would find this topic interesting.

[Happy Guy]

A simple google search of the product/service you want to promote and then contacting the results is one way many affiliates are recruited. Posting on forums, link exchange, and SEO are all methods as well. There are many more but these would be where most people start.

[AMFM]

A tip when searching would be to find who your competitors or sites similar to yours are linking to. Try typing link: www.competitordomain.com into search engines and see what you find. You should be able to find many good potential affiliates that way.

Then after reviewing their site send them an insightful inquiry that shows them that you took the time to look at their site and also promotes conversation not necessarily selling them your stuff. I think this is the best way to recruit good affiliates, and that is what you should really want. It may be a little more time consuming but it is worth it. If they don't respond to the email after a while, try picking up the phone. Hope this helps, good luck!

[luminary]

I've found some great affiliates by just hanging out in affiliate forums and getting to know people, too. Affiliate Summit and similar events are also great places to make connections with potential affiliates. That's especially true if you meet them socially as opposed to meeting them at your booth.

[gowithabc]

Messageboards, Forums and other affiliate networking sites are of course a great way to find new affiliates.

Also email and even in some cases phone calls to websites that you feel would be a good fit for your program. Not general spammy emails. Individually and personally crafted emails that explains what you like about their website and why you feel your affiliate program is a good fit for THEM.

Some people may disagree that emailing is a bad way to go, but I have found it to still be one of the most effective way of getting new affiliates.

You can of course use Adwords and spend $1.00 per click on the work "Affiliate program" but you will find a lot of the affiliate sign-ups from PPC advertising are very new to affiliate marketing and sometimes, not worth the $100.

[Smaxor]

Personally if you ask me theirs only 1 way to do it and do it successfully.

Put in the time to make relationships. Then help them and give them the tools they need to succeed. One thing I always liked about dealing with certain companies is them giving me what I needed for success. Keyword lists that work, build out custom stuff for me to run to and things like that.

If you're willing to work with the big affiliates most of them know what they're doing and can help you improve your offer. If you you do the standard "Hey run my offer it's great" most will just chuckle.

It comes down to relationships, relationships, relationships. Jump on forums and become part of the conversation. Put together and write blog posts on how to market your product and make money doing it. Then you'll get some real interest.

[maranda]

Well said! Recruiting is one thing, but maintaining these partnerships is equally crucial.

[Coach]

Almost sounds like you need an affiliate program to find affiliates....

Isn't it so that affiliates just want to make as much profit from promoting someone elses products or services as possible?
So what it comes down to is that you need the best products with a good commission fee in order to make it interesting for affiliates.

Is it then more interesting for an affiliate to earn a high fee for a new product or a lower fee for a popular product?

[Linda Buquet]

Originally Posted by Coach

Almost sounds like you need an affiliate program to find affiliates....

Isn't it so that affiliates just want to make as much profit from promoting someone elses products or services as possible?
So what it comes down to is that you need the best products with a good commission fee in order to make it interesting for affiliates.

Is it then more interesting for an affiliate to earn a high fee for a new product or a lower fee for a popular product?

Yes it's hard to find good targeted affiliates and one of the problems is all the competition for affiliate's attention. Not even just competing programs in your own space but in general.

Yes they want the best products and the best commission and conversion rates are also key.

As far as your last Q - yes to both. Some affiliates like to promote something new that's not saturated and some prefer to market a popular product or well known brand. It just really varies.

[6PackAffiliate]

I totally agree with all of what you guys are saying. I have however, seen some average products do really well because they have a great sales copy, got into the game early and locked in some quality affiliates. I guess it is all relative to market saturation for whatever the product is.