I searched these forums for about 20min trying to find information on how to market a affiliate program to affiliates, i guess the keywords are used so much that i haven't come across any useful information
Bottom line is this: I will be coming out with a very unique subscription website, along with a affiliate program for affiliates to promote and get paid per sale.
Could someone list some ways to get the word out about my product and its affiliate program to affiliates? Free ways and Paid ways, as I don't mind spending money to make money.
Thank You!
First things first, is the membership site actually done? If not, finishing it up is your first priority.
Why? Because before you can go to recruiting any level of serious affiliate, you need to test the conversion rates yourself first. You've got to go the extra mile to test your creatives, your page conversion, your email series, and your other promotional materials across several types of traffic sources (PPC, social, media, etc.)
If you were an established presence that had lots of contacts in the field, you could possibly bypass *most* of this, but as a newcomer, just walking up to potential affiliates asking them to use THEIR money to test YOUR unproven copy is going to get you laughed at.
That's why nobody has taken your thread seriously. It's laughable for an unknown guy to ask someone to plunk down their hard-earned cash to promote something that they have no data to back up the possible fact that anyone would actually want what you're selling.
So you're going to have to do some promotion of your OWN first.
Test several forms of copy: long vs. short, color vs color, hard sell vs. soft. You'll also have to test all forms of banners, traffic sources, and especially keywords. And after aaaaallll that, you're basically going to give your data away to potential affiliates. Along with unique promotional content, high payouts (possibly 100% and make money off the back end), and awesome contests.
And after ALL THAT you still have to find the affiliates. Just announcing an affiliate program isn't going to cut it. Affiliates have a billion different options on what to promote...things that are ALREADY SELLING. Why should they go with you? Even if you can bend their ear long enough to get them a little interested, impress them with your data, and get them all warm n' fuzzy with high payouts and cool contests you're still competing with much more established businesses that are already in the space.
I'm not trying to beat you up, but if you think its a "build it and the affiliates will fall all over themselves to promote you" world, then you'll be sorely surprised.
And if you aren't willing or able to lay out the money and effort to promote your own product to get the necessary data, then why should any potential affiliate?
Finally, after you have all that done, you may want to look into experienced JV and affiliate program brokers. And no, I don't mean googling "JV broker" and going with whoever has the flashiest website, I mean contacting people that are experienced in the space and do this day to day. The very best people are the ones you never hear about, I can guarantee you that. I've personally brokered a few JVs and affiliate programs and I wouldn't touch anything that wasn't ready to go with a solid front end, various upsells, cross promotional opportunities, high payouts, and all promotional material and data ready to go.
That being said, if you're really serious and want to discuss it further I'll take a look at what you have and we can discuss a possible venture.
If you go it alone, just be sure to have every i dotted and t crossed before reaching out to anyone serious. Best of luck to ya.
