The Affiliate Marketing Draft - Volunteer Today!

Affiliate recruiting & program management has always been something that many think they can do, many try and very few are successful at. After spending a great deal of time this last week discussing opportunities and hurdles with others in the industry at Affiliate Summit West ’08, my philosophy on recruiting good affiliates was solidified.

Affiliate Marketing
Top affiliates like FatWallet, Upromise and even the independent affiliates (out of respect will not mention names) like CouponCode.com, TopTenReviews.com and many others, will eventually get so big they will take up so much organic and paid placement that a new affiliate coming into the category will need to have deep pockets and strong commitment to the project in order to get it off the ground and keep it going.

Industry leaders like James Martell (Affiliate Marketers BootCamp) and Colin McDougall (The VEO Report) are training new affiliates every day in their own techniques and strategies. James & Colin help affiliates identify niche verticals, processes and tools to get started in affiliate marketing. They are feeding the affiliate marketing industry, but they can’t do it fast enough or alone. The demand of the Fortune 500 companies is to high and the growth they’ve experienced over the years only fuels that demand.

So what can we do to help? If you are an affiliate, demand attention and only apply to the program when you are prepared. Be ready to explain yourself and your ideas around how to promote the merchant and your website. Merchants and program managers, don’t be rushed to decline applications because they are new or their listed website isn’t relevant to your product line. I have over 10 websites, and no network let’s me list them all nor do they give an opportunity to explain what my plans are.

We are in a state of drafting affiliates into this industry, turning major publishers into affiliates, training new affiliates and creating entirely new verticals.

~ Ian

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