Attracting Publishers with an Interesting Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate marketing is a real team effort.

It’s a partnership that involves three different parties:

• the client, or visitor, that browses the various website pages looking for information about a product or service;
• the publisher, or content editor, often a specialized website or blogger that integrates links towards a partner site;
• and the brand, or retail website, that is selling the product or service.

For this trio to work well, a strong sense of trust needs to be in place between the various parties and it is paramount to find high-level publishers that can commit to the process with full transparency.

The more a publisher produces high-quality work on their website, the higher their visibility with increased visits, and increased interest in their image from brands. Not only is it necessary to find a real gem, but they also need to agree to the affiliate marketing program. Thanks to our tips and best practice, you will soon be ready to entice them with an attractive affiliate marketing program.

Offer your Publishers Winning Conditions in Affiliate Marketing

Beyond the image, trust, and interest a publisher has in your brand, retribution is always at the heart of the situation. The best way of finding publishers and gaining their loyalty is long-term engagement with products sold at an attractive price point, substantial commissions and a quick payment system. These three key elements are the foundations of your partnership and the three must work hand in hand. The higher the price, the larger your return on investment potential, and the more publishers can work to promote the brand.

Additionally, regular payments are necessary to build a relationship of trust. You wouldn’t like earning your first paycheck six months late, would you? Publishers wouldn’t, either.

Finally, offer simple tools with minimum administrative red tape. Your strategy will be more effective if the various steps are easy to implement.

A publisher can be paid in different ways, and one same system may not be a good fit for everyone. It is up to you to adapt your business model to your publishers in affiliate marketing:

• Cost per action (CPA) is a long procedure that can be lucrative if your conversion funnel is optimized.
• Cost per lead (CPL) is a useful solution to work on your MQL (Marketing Qualified Leads) and enrich your data.
• Cost per click (CPC), a more classic approach, will generate traffic on the brand website, without ensuring conversion. However, this is a useful way of exposing your brand to a new audience.
• Finally, Cost per Mille (CPM) is another strategy that can be used to develop your notoriety or build awareness.

Your business model will be able to adapt to brand and publishers needs and priorities. Maximum flexibility for optimal success.

Provide your publishers with the right tools

Affiliate marketing is about creating partnerships that work. To do so, you need to provide your publishers with useful tools that will help boost sales and communication. These are:

• landing page,
• advice on product description,
• useful content to boost online sales,
• customer testimonials,
• images adapted for various formats,
• visuals optimized for social media,
• SEO target keywords, etc.

Once your publishers have the right toolbox, they will be able to work in a more productive way in affiliate marketing.

Share the right data

To be productive, a publisher needs benchmarks.

A dashboard with precise analytics is a minimum to shed light on the project. When your publishers have access to precise data, they can optimize their workload to maximize conversions.

Win your best publishers over for an effective Affiliate Marketing

Just like a sales team, publishers are important growth drivers for your brand. When they do great work, they should be rewarded. It’s a little extra that doesn’t cost much but can strongly increase employee motivation.

You can create a premium club with your best publishers, give them bonuses, gifts, financial benefits or benefits in kind such as gift cards, trips, training…

You can also boost your affiliate marketing network by highlighting specific publishers, who will appreciate seeing their editorial work rewarded and earn additional readers. You can integrate sales challenges with prizes or specific events to meet with influencers or major advertisers. This is a useful means of developing a professional network.

Regarding publishers as true partners will increase their involvement and motivation in your project.

Provide a dedicated support department

Your publishers should be able to reach you easily whenever they have a question. Comparable to customer service for questions or claims, you also need a support department for publishers that deal with technical, sales, or financial issues.

Whether on the phone, via email or a dedicated Facebook group, internal support needs to be as effective as external support.

Attracting the best publishers is like recruiting a football team: the best players will be interested in compensation, benefits, as well as the team’s prestige, fan support and impact on their personal image.

Building a trusting relationship with your publishers is a priority in guaranteeing that your online sales moves will last. Now’s the time to get your team together! And we can help you with it. 😉