This presentation is from Affiliate Summit West 2014 (January 12-14, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV). Session description: There is an array of ways advertisers may recruit new affiliates. Unfortunately, most use only a few. This session will equip you with a rich arsenal of methods and tools to recruit quality affiliates.

1. 22 Effective Ways to
Recruit Quality Affiliates
Geno Prussakov
CEO & President, AM Navigator LLC
www.amnavigator.com
Founder & Chair, Affiliate Management Days
www.amdays.com
(+1) 888-588-8866
geno@amnavigator.com
@ePrussakov
.

2. The 5 Pillars
≈80% of time

3. 2 Kinds of Affiliate Recruitment
Active
You reach out to them
Passive
They find you

4. Recruitment Through Their Eyes
Active:
Direct contact: 42.4%
Conferences: 8.9%
Print publications: 4.4%
Source: 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report

5. Recruitment Through Their Eyes
Active:
Network emails: 36.3%
Blogs: 29.6%
Online ads: 17.8%
Aff. manager emails: 13.9%
Source: AffiliateBenchmarks 2013 Global Affiliate Questionnaire

6. Active
Affiliate Recruitment

7. Active Recruitment
“S” Ways to Find Affiliates:
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Software/tools
Social media
Search engines
Summits & symposiums
Symbiotic recruitment
Structure-based recruitment
Snail mail
Specific publications
Satisfied customers

8. 1. Software / Tools
Free
Paid

9. Free & Inexpensive Tools
1.
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7.
Internet Success Spider (free)
SEO Quake (free)
Backlink Watch (free)
Citation Labs (~$20 per 500-1000)
BuzzStream ($29/mo - $249/mo)
Raven SEO Tools ($99-$249/mo)
iBusinessPromoter ($250-$500)

10. Paid Tools
1. AffiliateRecruitment.com
2. Linkdex
3. Syntryx

11. Linkdex (screenshot #1)
Dashboard (shows relative number of links and domain
backlinks; yields new mid to long-tail prospects)

12. Linkdex (screenshot #2)
Publisher Discovery (interrogating affiliate network- or
program-specific tracking domain(s), showing affiliate
sites linking in)

13. Recruitment Email
 Subject line
 Introduce
yourself/company
 Explain why you’re emailing
 Personalize
 Include concrete data on
your affiliate program (don’t
do the math for them!)
 Underscore competitive
advantages (tools, cobranding, policies)
 Primary & secondary CTA

14. 2. Social Media
The media that they use
1. Blogs (the ones they read)
2. Forums (ABestWeb, PerformanceIN,
5StarAffiliatePrograms, AssociatePrograms)
3. Groups (on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc)
Play by the rules!

15. 3. Search Engines
Or reaching out to websites that
rank high for relevant keywords.

16. 4. Summits, Conferences
2014 Affiliate Marketing Conferences (worldwide)
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01/12-01/14 – Affiliate Summit West (Las Vegas, NV, USA)
01/15 – ClickBank Exchange (Las Vegas, NV, USA)
01/29-01/30 – LinkShare Symposium West (San Francisco, CA, USA)
02/06-02/09 – London Affiliate Conference (London, UK)
02/21 – CPA Day (Kiev, Ukraine)
02/25-02/26 – Affiliate TactixX (Munich, Germany)
03/19-03/20 – Affiliate Management Days (San Francisco, CA, USA)
03/25-03/26 – LeadsCon Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV, USA)
05/13-05/14 – Affiliate Management Days (London, UK)
05/29-05/31 – Afiliados Brasil (São Paulo, Brazil)
TBA – Affiliate Dag 2014 (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
06/24-06/25 – Performance Marketing Insights Europe (Berlin, Germany)
06/24-06/27 – Amsterdam Affiliate Conference (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
08/03-08/05 – AvantExpo 2014 (Park City, UT, USA)
TBA – LeadsCon East (New York, NY, USA)
08/10-08/12 – Affiliate Summit East (New York, NY, USA)
TBA – Commission Junction University (Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
10/03-10/04 – Russian Affiliate Congress & Expo (Moscow, Russia)
TBA – Russian Affiliate Days (Moscow, Russia)
TBA – Barcelona Affiliate Conference (Barcelona, Spain)
TBA – China International Affiliate Conference (Tianjin, China)
TBA – LeadConf (Moscow, Russia)
TBA – Performance Marketing Insights London (London, UK)
TBA – Affiliate Konference (Prague, Czech Republic)
TBA – ShareASale ThinkTank 2014
TBA – LinkShare Symposiums (Japan, UK, Australia, Canada)

17. 4. Summits, Conferences
Consider also niche- and
audience-specific conferences

18. 5. Symbiotic Recruitment
Symbiosis – a cooperative relationship (as between
two persons or groups).
Source: Webster’s Dictionary
Promote your affiliate program on a crossprogram basis.
Form short- or long-term cross-program
recruitment relationships with affiliate
programs run by merchants that sell related
products or services.

19. 6. Structure-Based Recruitment
Network-based
 Newsletter inclusion
 Directory listing
 Internal recruitment opps
External tools
 Forums
 Other platforms

20. 7. Snail Mail
Experiment with postcards!
(they do catch attention)
Especially, when they come with
a gift card, or contain a
"private" offer.

21. 8. Specific Publications (Ads)
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Revenue Performance
FeedFront
Conference programs/guides
Electronic Retailer
Internet Retailer
Visibility
Website Magazine
Target Marketing

22. 9. Satisfied Customers
Invite them to become affiliates on:
 Order confirmation page
 Newsletters
 Social media

23. Passive
Affiliate Recruitment

24. Recruitment Through Their Eyes
Passive:
Merchant site: 51.3%
Search engines: 38.6%
Directories: 38%
Word of mouth: 20.3%
Support efforts: 14.6%
Source: 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report

25. Recruitment Through Their Eyes
Passive:
Support pages: 47%
Network sites: 44.7%
Search engines: 33.1%
Forums & directories: 17.6%
Word of mouth: 17.5%
Source: AffiliateBenchmarks 2013 Global Affiliate Questionnaire

26. Passive Recruitment
Ways to Get Found by Affiliates:
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Program description (with visible link)
Program FAQ and/or support site/blog
Affiliate directories
Social media
Second-tier affiliates
“Subscribe to affiliate news” link
Press releases

27. 10. Program Description
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Merchant description + link
Commission structure
Info on cookie life
Availability of data feed
Information on competitive advantages (e.g.:
anti-parasite policy, phone tracking, conversion
rates, EPC)
 Underscore tools (widgets, deep linking, cobranding opps, custom creatives/LPs)
 Any restrictions and/or special terms that
affiliates should know about

28. Avoid Clichés!
Cliché – a trite expression,
often a figure of speech whose
effectiveness has been worn out
through overuse and excessive
familiarity.
Top 10:
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/clicheterm.htm
1. “instantly”
2. “ultimate”
3. “easy”
4. “unparalleled”
5. “perfect match”
6. earn/get/make “$X in X days/months”
7. “highest payouts”
8. “impressive conversion rate(s)”
9. “best affiliate program”
10. “number one” merchant/offer/program

29. 11. Affiliate Program Support Site
Minimum
• Program Details (with sign-up link/form)
• Program Agreement
• Blog
Ideally
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Program Details
Program Agreement
FAQ Section
Tips & Ideas
Creatives
Blog
Contact Us

30. 11. Affiliate Program Support Site

31. 12. Affiliate Directories
Nearly 1/5th of affiliates use them
10 Directories to Sumit Your Program To:
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AffiliatesDirectory.com
AffiliateFirst.com
AffiliatePrograms.com
AffiliateRanker.com
AffiliateScout.com
AffiliateSeeking.com
AllAffiliatePrograms.com
AssociatePrograms.com
JamAffiliates.com
Top-Affiliate.com

32. 13. Social Media

33. 13. Social Media

34. 13. Social Media
Whatever the media, design conversions
This is the key to succeeding with social
(not only for affiliate recruitment purposes)

35. 14. Second-Tier Affiliates
One-time bounty
Recurring payouts

36. 15. Affiliate News Subscription

37. 16. Press Releases
• Branding benefits
• SEO benefits
• Visibility/exposure
• Spread of news

38. Other Methods of
Affiliate Recruitment

39. Other Methods
Delve In & Dissect:
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Reach out to influencers
Analyze similar sites
Explore related verticals
Target seasonal (holiday-oriented) affiliates
Study competitors’ backlinks
Monitor keywords and niches

40. 17. Influencer Outreach
20 Tools to Employ
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BlogDash (bloggers)
BloggerLinkUp (bloggers)
Business 2 Blogger (bloggers)
BuzzStream (all sorts of content websites)
eCairn.com (bloggers and communities)
FindPeopleOnPlus.com (Google+ influencers)
Followerwonk (Twitter influencers)
Google Blog Search (bloggers)
GroupHigh.com (bloggers)
Klout (an array of social media)
Kred (social media | check out Communities)
Listorious (Twitter)
Outreachr (all sorts of content websites)
Pitch It To Me (bloggers)
Simply Measured (analytics tool for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+)
SocialBro (Twitter)
Sulia (Facebook and Twitter)
Topsy (Twitter | check their Experts section)
Twellow (Twitter)
Twitter Search (Twitter influencers)

41. 18. Similar Websites
• Similar sites
• Site topics (more
key influencers!)
• Key phrases &
categories
• "Similar search"
(SEO & SEM
rivals)
• "HeatMap"

42. 19. Related Verticals
Travel Websites
Fashion Sites
Consider also sites catering to:
 Pilots
 Anglers
 Golfers
 Cyclists
 Snow sports fans
 Gamblers
 Women

43. 20. Seasonal Affiliates
January-September: 13,000 UVs/mo
October:
95,000 UVs
November:
2,000,000 UVs

44. 21. Competitors’ Backlinks
7 Tools to Consider
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Google (link:www.competor.com)
Open Site Explorer (by SEOmoz)
Majestic SEO
Link Diagnosis
Advanced Link Manager
Bing Webmaster Tools Link Explorer
Backlink Watch

45. 22. Ongoing Monitoring
11 Free Online Tools
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Google Alerts
Pipes (aka Social Media Firehose by Yahoo)
Omgili
TweetBeep
BuzzMonitor
Collecta.com
BackType
BoardReader
WhosTalkin.com
SocialMention
BlogPulse

46. 3 Points in Conclusion

47. “…the chief distinction of a diplomat is that he can
say no in such a way that it sounds like a yes.”
– Lester B. Pearson

48. #1. Do Not Burn Bridges!
We are sorry, but the website(s) and/or promotional
methods listed on your affiliate profile do(es) not
meet our approval criteria. We have therefore
declined your application.
If, however, you feel that we have overlooked your
potential, we would like to hear from you. Just email
us a brief explanation of how you were planning on
marketing our product/service, and we will gladly
reconsider your application.

49. #2. Remember to Follow Up
Effectiveness:
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Initial email: max. 4% sign up
Follow-ups: ≈12% more join
Frequency:
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A week from original email
1 more week down the road
2-3 months
Half a year
A year

50. #3…
persistence is key!