Nowadays almost every industry has adopted some sort of affiliate marketing into their strategy. When it comes to promoting products and generating sales, affiliate marketing is a great way to expand your business. About 80% of clients who want to promote their product and affiliates profit from affiliate marketing techniques. There are two options for using an affiliate program, you can run one yourself or join an affiliate network. If you want to save on monthly subscription fees and have more control over decisions you may be better off starting your own network. This article will focus on how to run your own program and the benefits of doing so.
Use Affiliate Software
Affiliate software makes the process of setting up your program much easier. Rather than coding your own software into your website, there are now many apps that make this process quick and easy. Some software even allows you to set up your program in a few clicks so your website will be ready to recruit faster than you may have thought. Users can simply sign up, fill in a form and become part of your program. Most affiliate software will still charge a monthly fee; however, this will be significantly lower than using an affiliate network and will stay the same rather than changing depending on how many affiliates are recruited. This also ensures that you avoid paying referral fees which you will have to do with an affiliate network so running your own program is wise if you have a tight budget to manage. On the other hand, this puts all the responsibility on you if there is an issue with your website or your software. This is something to bear in mind if you feel you do not have the resources or time to keep on top of your program, you may be better off using an affiliate network. Consider the risk and reward of both options and choose what is best suited to your business and its needs. Be realistic about what you can manage yourself.
Have more control over your program
Creating your own affiliate program means that you will have full control over decision making and fees. You can choose which areas you want to operate in and how to promote your business, something which you may find you are more restricted with when it comes to an affiliate network. You can be sure that your affiliates have come to your website because they specially want to work with you and their attention will not be grabbed by other companies. This is an issue with affiliate networks as they will be promoting numerous businesses and as a result, affiliates could be distracted by other brand offerings with higher commission or other perks. In addition, having your own program in place allows you to protect both your affiliates and your customers. As you are using software built into your website, user information is safely stored and will not be shared with any third parties or a middleman. You control how your affiliates are contacted and when, something which cannot be controlled or fully regulated when using an affiliate network.
Grow your brand
Once you have everything set up as you had planned, its time to start growing your business! Using affiliate partners is a great way to scale your company with some businesses reporting as much as a 56% revenue growth after adopting affiliates into their strategy. Running your own affiliate program will of course promote your brand and drive traffic to your own site rather than to a third party. Most affiliate networks have their own URLs which means that backlinks and traffic are all beneficial to their brand rather than yours. With your own program you can continue to promote your website and blogs for increased engagement and hopefully conversions too. This will also strengthen your brand reputation as it shows customers that you do not rely on another company to source your affiliate and are confident in your product or service. Ensure to offer good perks such as affiliate competitions and unique incentive packages to show that you value your partners and want to build successful relationships with them.
There are of course both pros and cons to running your own affiliate program. The programs themselves are quite straightforward to set up within your website using affiliate software but you must consider the upkeep and maintenance of the technology. Creating your own program is an effective way to maintain as much control as possible over your partners and how you operate so it can be really worthwhile running your own program. For more advice on getting your affiliate program up and running, contact us today.
