When discussion turns to the different types of affiliates (also known as publishers), coupon affiliates often come to mind first. While coupon affiliates may play a powerful supporting role in your affiliate program, your program will not reach its full potential if they are the only type of affiliate you focus on.
Below describes four types of affiliate publishers who will provide incremental sales and new customers through your affiliate channel. With the right strategy, recruitment and commitment, these affiliates become your top performers.
1. Blogger Affiliates. You can’t walk into any affiliate management conference without hearing the buzz about bloggers. The bloggers’ influence on your brand and purchasing cycle is undeniable. Many bloggers are new to the affiliate space and just learning how to maximize this revenue source. Unfortunately, many merchants are also new to working with bloggers so this can make for a complicated relationship.
However, the toughest relationships can often yield great growth. The affiliate blogger relationship is no exception. The merchant needs to realize that blogger sales will not match those of the content and data feed affiliates.
2. Content Niche . Some affiliate managers are confused by the difference between bloggers and content niche affiliates. A key difference is content niche affiliates specialize in search engine optimization (SEO), while bloggers specialize in building communities. Of course, many successful affiliates are knowledgeable in both specialties.
The affiliate optimizes the site for top ranking ‘buying keywords’ within the search engines. There are two main benefits For the affiliate manager, an educated consumer ready to purchase visits the site. For the affiliate, a passive income stream is formed. The affiliate’s site must be maintained to meet regular search engine algorithm updates but it does not require the same attention as a blog.
3. Social Media. Social media affiliates represent a relatively new segment to affiliate marketing. Some program won’t allow them in, however I welcome and appreciate social media affiliates’ expertise.
Some of my top performing affiliates work primarily on the YouTube and Instagram platforms. Perfect examples are skateboarders, who have an incredibly loyal following on YouTube and who promote my skate merchant, etnies. For a young target audience YouTube and Instagram is where they live. Why would you not want to be there, too?
4. Data feed. A data feed is a file provided by the merchant (the retailer or manufacturer) and the affiliate network (the portal where affiliates grab their links). The data feed includes detailed information on all the merchant’s products. This information can be manipulated by the affiliate but does require some technical skill.
The most common data feed affiliate is the comparison shopping site. These affiliates use multiple merchant data feeds to give price comparisons on specific products. The lowest priced item generally wins. While this is a great program, it does not represent every type of data feed affiliate.
Data feed affiliates can also be a niche ‘store.’ The affiliate manipulates your data feed to create an online store based on a specific target audience. A great example of a niche data feed affiliate is EnviroSurfer . Using multiple data feeds from eco-friendly merchants, EnviroSurfer created a profitable online store with no overhead concerns.
The data feed affiliate brings a highly qualified consumer to your site while enhancing your brand’s image.
Does your program have a healthy balance of affiliate types?
If the answer is yes, congratulations! If not, I welcome the opportunity to speak with you on how to integrate these four types of publishers into your online marketing mix. Visit me at my website.