What you want from affiliate program

[markwolff]

Hi Guys
I am putting together my new affiliate program wolffpaccash.com for my group of muscle/solo jock and wrestling websites
It should be up and running by the end of October, i went through some old threads, as well as talked to many of my existing webmasters regarding what they want to see with my program. I wanted to get your thoughts one more time before i put it all together. Here is what i have put together so far with my program.
1 you will not see a sales pitch about how great my sites are and how low the conversions are, and how much money you are going to make. I will let my high end, exclusive content and cutting edge site design and tour do all the talking. Great looking guys, award winning photographers and exclusive content is what i have been successful with in the past, and that will not change.
2 There will be no traffic leaks, or upsells on my sites
3 Exclusive hosted content, of all my exclusive models, from all my sites, updated with fresh content every month, to use in TGP's etc this will be content that was shot that same month, so it will not be overexposed.
4 A huge selection of banners in all sizes and shapes (flash and non-flash)
5 I will be using CCbill for my processing 50% recurring and a 15% webmaster referal program
This will be the first time for me to open up my sites to webmasters,( other than banner links) so i want to do it right, and make sure you guys are happy, and i have covered all the basis. I will have my 4 current sites in the program, all my sites are being expanded, as we speak, with new designs, tour area, and expanded members areas.The new www.jockbutt.com launched last week the new www.markwolff.com will launch Oct 15th wolffpaccash my affiliate program will launch End of Oct and the new designs to markwolffvideo.com ( my largest site) and projectmuscle.com will be live in Nov. Please let me know if there is anything else you guys would like to see with my program.
Thanks for your imput.
Mark

[Lee]

you will not see a sales pitch about how great my sites are and how low the conversions are, and how much money you are going to make. I will let my high end, exclusive content and cutting edge site design and tour do all the talking. Great looking guys, award winning photographers and exclusive content is what i have been successful with in the past, and that will not change.

Unfortunately, if you do this, you wont get any affiliates to signup.

You know that you have cutting edge designs, great looking content, award winning photographers and exclusive content however, many of the webmasters who will become your affiliates dont and unless you tell them this, they wont sign up because you will be 'just another affiliate program'.

There will be no traffic leaks, or upsells on my sites

That is something else that you should mention on your affililiate signup page.

Exclusive hosted content, of all my exclusive models, from all my sites, updated with fresh content every month, to use in TGP's etc this will be content that was shot that same month, so it will not be overexposed.

Sounds good and again, you should mention this on your affiliate site.

A huge selection of banners in all sizes and shapes (flash and non-flash)

Again, a good thing to mention on the affiliate site, however, be cautious of using flash ads as Flash now ads an additional click to the sales process.. A click that could cost sales.

I will be using CCbill for my processing 50% recurring and a 15% webmaster referal program

Personally, i wouldnt offer 15% its going to eat in to your profits to much if you get a lot of people pushing your WM referrals. 5-10% is more than enough for WM referrals IMHO.

Now all of that is out of the way, one thing that you need to be made aware of is that webmasters, for the most part, are oblivious. You need to treat them as such when it comes to marketing, if you dont tell them that you have benefits and features that no other sites have, they arent going to know.

Getting webmasters to join an affiliate program is pretty much a full-time job as it is, with there being so many tried and trusted affiliate programs already in the market place. You need to offer them something that they cant find anywhere else, that is going to make them switch their traffic from the PPS sponsors to your 50% revshare program.

The other thing that i have also noticed the past month or two, launching new sites keeps affiliates interested in a program, i havent launched any new sites in the last three months and i have seen a definate decline in new affiliate signups because of this, by keeping your portfolio of sites constantly updated, not only will you keep the interest of your existing affiliates but, you will attract a much wider audience of new affiliates.

As i said earlier, for the most part, webmasters are oblivious, and to stop them losing interest in something, you need to constantly remind them of why they are sending traffic to you and not to a sponsor that is going to pay them $40 for a $2.95 trial

Regards,

Lee

[Chilihost]

good advice, Lee. I agree that wm referrals don't need to be 15%, a max 10% is standard and gets a good amount of referrals. And, yes, make sure you mention all that good "sales pitch" stuff as its important to tell affiliates as much info as possible.

For hosted galleries, make sure you submit them to places like freehostedgalleries.com and other resource sites, a lot of webmasters rely on those sites.

And of course, don't forget to make announcements across all the boards, people do read those sections

cheers,
Luke

[Xstr8guy]

I'm going to disagree with Lee yet again. Lol.

My program is only months old. So I am certainly no expert when it comes to running an affiliate program. But I don't think you will lose one good potential affiliate if you don't use the cheesy sales text. Who believes that crap anyways. In fact, I run the other direction if an affiliate program brags too much... especially when they mention that they don't shave. In my mind, that means they surely do. Lol.

If you have unique content in a sought-after niche (which you certainly do) and an attractive tour (which you do), you won't need to resort to used-car-salesmen tactics to attract webmasters.

[Xstr8guy]

I agree with Lee about Flash banners. I think they are so attractive but that extra click that IE requires now has killed them completely.

And you are right about offering a large selection of banners in a variety of sizes. Don't forget to make a lot of vertical banners and supesized horizontal banners. And constantly add new ones. One of my pet peeves with so many CCbill sponsor programs is the poor selection of banners. And as an AVS webmaster, I love BIG FPAs around 750x1000... not 400x600.

[markwolff]

Hey thanks Lee for taking the time to help me with it.

On the first point, i think you are correct, i will outline all the things that make my group of sites stand out from the competition, and why they should choose to business with me. Some webmasters have told me they just want the facts and do not care about a big sales pitch. I don't think i need a big sales pitch per se, to promote my group of sites, however i will outline what i offer. high quality exclusive content, award winning photography and video, so i will make sure affiliates know what sets me appart and why i am not just another affiliate program.
Yes i am planning on mentioning on a point by point basis the no traffic leaks, hosted content etc. So it is quick and easy for webmasters to get.
Yes maybe i was being to generous on the webmaster referral, i think i will reduce to 10%
I have hired a part-time affiliate manager to start, that will be available for webmasters questions, special requests etc. He will also keep them up to date on new content updates, site news and other promotions i have planned. One advantage of also owning a video production company, is that content is not a problem for me. All my sites are updated weekly, i will also be adding new photo sets every month for my webmasters. I was planning on releasing several sets to my webmasters, a week before the model even appears on my site, so the content will be fresh and new.
Thanks Luke for you advice on the hosted galleries, as you know Stephen will be helping me on this, and i will make sure he is on it. I also realize that alot of it is building trusting relationships with your affiliates,and being accountable. Even though i do travel alot, i am planning on leaving my contact info as well as my affiliate rep.

[Lee]

I have hired a part-time affiliate manager to start, that will be available for webmasters questions, special requests etc.

It isnt EddieK is it?

I have heard he is looking for a new mark.. err.. 'Job'.

If it is, id run as far away from him in the other direction as possible

Regards,

Lee

[markwolff]

Thanks xstr8guy
I think i am going to give the facts about my sites, and what they offer, what sets me appart, without sounding like foot in the door salesman. I have printed off your banner advice, and i will make sure i cover all the sizes etc,
Thanks again guys for the great advice, i really appreciate your time.