Affiliate Marketing – An Introduction

Jan Bischoff, May 6, 2019

You've heard of affiliate marketing and want to use it for your business, but aren't sure how to build your own partner program? This article gives you an overview. I've been working in this industry since 1997 – first as an affiliate, then as an affiliate manager and software developer for inhouse partner programs.

First, make sure you've already made fundamental optimizations to your lead forms and online shop for traffic coming from SEO, Google Ads, and similar sources. In particular, minimize drop-off rates caused by technical barriers and poor usability. A conversion rate just 2–3% worse than your competitors can make the entire affiliate model unprofitable.

Is your shop optimized, do you offer common payment methods, and is your product worth its asking price? Then you'll need creatives for your affiliates. Classic banners are an option, though almost nobody clicks them anymore. You should still offer them in all standard sizes. More effective today are text links for blog posts, product descriptions, pre-written newsletter copy, and inquiry forms.

Backups, scalability, and uptime must be ensured, because outages in your affiliate program mean lost income for affiliates – and they'll quickly look for alternatives. Nothing is more damaging than an affiliate program that crashes at the exact moment an affiliate website gets featured on television.

What to look for when choosing a solution: All systems work – more or less well. But technology accounts for only 10% of your partner program's success. What makes it successful is the planning and execution of your marketing activities.

Further reading: What makes good affiliate software?

Questions? Request a demo.