Finding affiliates for a small (single-product) software company

[Nickmatic]

Hi all-
Looks like a great forum, so I hope someone can help me out!

I'm a software entrepreneur and created a really innovative product that I've been selling online for 7 years. It's been going well by word of mouth but I realized it was time to start an affiliate program. So I joined Shareasale.

I've been reading posts on this and other forums and have fine-tuned my program to try to make it as attractive as possible, including adding a datafeed, good creatives, auto-deposit, etc. I offer high (20%) commissions and I think my program looks attractive.

I've got about 55 affiliates that have signed up and a couple have even made a couple of sales. Not bad for a couple weeks in. However, they're all very general-purpose sites not related to business productivity software.

I know my product would be a slam-dunk for software affiliates and especially business and productivity affiliates so I'm looking for advice on how to get these kinds of SAS affiliates to notice my program.

I've already reserved a 'featured program of the week' ad in a few weeks but I'm wondering if there are recruiters out there or if anyone knows if it's worth paying SAS to do it. I'm completely new at this so I hope someone has some ideas on how to get good affiliates for my product!

Thanks in advance,
Nicholas

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Nicholas,

1st off I offer a free consultation and free advice by phone, because i have carpal and it's hard for me to type everything I want to say. So a few quick thoughts/tips.

Building a program up takes time no matter how you cut it.
B2B programs are especially slow and tough to build up.

When you join SAS if you don't do any pro-active recruiting, you typically will get some very general and sometimes not very productive affiliates. There are a bunch of inexperienced affiliates that pretty much join every new program, but don't do much with any of them.

Many of the pros - the super affiliates that you want:

A) Are already buried this time of year and have a to-do list 10 pages long for merchants they already know, trust and are earning from.

B) The pros only join sites they feel are a good match after lots of research. So it may take the pros awhile to find you and then a long time to join cuz they're busy.

C) Some pros won't waste time on new merchants because so many flake out. They will wait until you get some traction to see if you are serious and most importantly to check out your EPC to be sure you're honest, your tracking works, your conversions are good and other affiliates are making money with you. That's a catch-22 for you cuz hard to get affiliates if you don't have good numbers, but can't get good numbers until you have some good affiliates.

RECRUITING - I used to know a couple companies that did recruiting only, but they aren't around any more. I do a hybrid combination of recruiting, program promotion and PR but typically don't take on software products or brand new affiliate programs.

I'd say the featured program would be good to try. I assume SAS's recruiting is good but I've never heard any feedback. Since you are BtoB and we are in Holiday Season I think it would be a waste of money to pay for recruiting right now. I would just work on some of the tips I give you by phone if you call that are totally free to do. Work on trying to build up your numbers and then think about putting some more resources into recruiting after 1st of the year.

Like I said I can talk and give more ideas, but won't be able to do any free consultations until the end of October. Email me October 27th if you want to set up an appointment to talk. Sorry I can't do it any sooner.

[Nickmatic]

Well thanks for the quick reply, Linda! Maybe not what I wanted to hear but I went into this knowing there was no magic bullet and it would take work.

I'll definitely take you up on the phone call and also let you know how the featured program slot goes. I'll also give SAS a call to ask about their recruiting.

Nicholas

[Linda Buquet]

Originally Posted by Nickmatic

I'll definitely take you up on the phone call and also let you know how the featured program slot goes. I'll also give SAS a call to ask about their recruiting.

Yes PLEASE do. I often have merchants ask about the effectiveness of each but I've never gotten any direct feedback on it. So appreciate that you'll let me know.