How to Create an Affiliate Program for My Business

So, you’ve got a website set up for your business just the way you like it and you’re even generating some sales, but you’d like to expand upon your current marketing strategy? A wonderful way to kick things up a notch is to create an affiliate program for your business. This is ideal for any business, but particularly for small businesses that don’t want to risk their advertising budget, or don’t have one, to begin with. Through affiliate marketing, you can generate leads, increase sales, improve your brand’s recognition, and more.

In fact, they say the market value of affiliate marketing as of 2023 will reach $17 billion, with $5 billion of that growth taking place over the last year alone. If you’d like to join the 82% of marketers that utilize an affiliate program to raise brand recognition, then keep reading to learn more.

What Is an Affiliate Program?

Also known as an associate program, an affiliate program is a form of marketing that’s based on referrals. An online merchant (AKA advertiser) pays an affiliate (AKA publisher), such as a blogger, influencer, website owner, or another company, to drive traffic to their website. They typically accomplish this via the use of social media, digital content creation, or product integration. After they approve an affiliate for their program, they’ll provide the affiliate with special referral links. When a visitor clicks on one of these links, they’re sent to a sales page, offer, or asked to perform a specific action.

If the customer completes the offer or makes a purchase, the affiliate receives a commission for the referral. So, it’s no surprise that 80% of brands feature some type of affiliate program to generate sales. Especially since they don’t need to pay upfront for advertising like with Facebook or Google ads. If they don’t receive any traffic/sales, that investment goes down the drain. Just one more reason why smaller businesses can greatly benefit from this strategy without hurting their wallet.

Seeing as how both the advertiser and the affiliate receive compensation, everyone comes out as a winner!

Affiliate Network or In-House

Now that you’re familiar with what an affiliate program is, you’ll need to decide what network (AKA platform) you want to use. Affiliate networks provide a comprehensive marketing system to assist in setting things up for you. However, it’s worth noting that these platforms do cost a fee. You need to decide whether your time and effort are worth the money required for this strategy. If this is the route you decide on, make sure the network you select meets all the requirements of your website/business.

Also, make sure it’s user-friendly and you’re able to monitor every aspect of your program from their platform. You should be able to upload banner ads, use affiliate tracking analytics, recruit affiliates, as well as manage affiliate payments. If your budget won’t allow you to invest in this type of strategy, your other option is the DIY approach, where you handle everything in-house. It will take some work, but it can be a fantastic solution that’s cost-effective, in particular, when compared to an affiliate platform that can take up to 30% of your sales.

If you do have the budget, but would prefer to use that money elsewhere, the bootstrap approach can be a terrific choice. It all boils down to what’s most practical for you, your business, and your affiliate program’s requirements.

Top-Rated Affiliate Networks

If you opt to employ an affiliate network, you first need to select which platform will be a good fit for your business. A top-notch affiliate network will comprise all the tools necessary to manage your program from one location. Tracking analytics, developing targeted campaigns, and sending out automated commission payments are just a few examples of what these tools can do. If you were to try to research every affiliate network out there, you’d lose your mind with the sheer number of options available to you. Especially with how fast things change in the affiliate marketing business.

Even if you’re a seasoned veteran, it can be difficult to decide. And since we know how valuable your time is, we took the time to research the top-rated networks, so you don’t have to. After painstakingly searching through the top platforms, we narrowed it down to four quality options for you to pick from.

Impact

First on our list of top-rated affiliate networks is the multi-award-winning Impact partnership platform. Considered by many to be the ideal choice for beginners with its easy-to-use interface that provides a clear insight into all aspects of your affiliate program. Employees that had previously worked at Commission Junction started Impact in 2008. So, you know they know a thing or two about managing an affiliate program.

Their platform feature tools to assist with business management, brand awareness, fraud protection, influencer marketing, and even mobile partnerships, just to name a few. You get your own branded interface as well as a payment system where you have complete control over how you get paid. Impact truly prides itself on staying up to date with the ever-changing digital trends.

They also maintain a dedicated support team that’s specifically trained to help merchants move their existing programs over to their platform. For newbies, they have put together several fantastic tutorials to help you with the setup process. If you’d prefer to speak with someone who can walk you through the entire process, their amazing support staff is very responsive and quite helpful. Impact’s cloud-based system automates and integrates every facet of the partner lifecycle.

If you require an all-in-one affiliate management solution where you can manage the whole partnership lifecycle of your affiliate program, Impact is a tried-and-true solution you can’t go wrong with.

Share-A-Sale

Purchased by Awin (more on them later) in 2017, ShareASale is our next choice for top-rated affiliate networks. One of the largest platforms around, and with over 20 years in the business, ShareASale (along with Awin) was awarded Best CPS Network for Publishers and Affiliates for 2023.

Last year alone, Awin and ShareASale generated a combined $1.3 billion for their publishers, with an additional $17 billion for their advertisers. No matter if your business is competing with the big boys or on the smaller side of the spectrum, ShareASale can assist with your affiliate program. Some say their interface is outdated and should be redesigned. While others enjoy the simplicity along with how easy the UI is to navigate. It’s all about your personal preferences and what works best with your workflow.

Their affiliate management system facilitates competitive commission rates in addition to extra incentives to entice your affiliates. Automated marketing emails can also be a huge time-saver and allow you to spend more time working on other facets of your business. They also offer mobile, web, and app-based tracking, as well as other valuable proprietary tools. And with more than a million participating publishers, you shouldn’t have any issues finding affiliates to join your program.

Awin

As previously mentioned, Awin is the parent company of ShareASale, albeit with a few distinctions. The primary distinction being Awin has a wider global reach, along with excellent multi-currency and multi-lingual support.

While Awin was formerly geared towards the European and global market, they now feature hundreds of US brands such as Hyatt, StubHub, and HP. Previously known as Affiliate Window, Awin’s platform is operated via fifteen offices worldwide with over a thousand employees, 22,000 advertisers, and nearly a quarter of a million publishers.

They’re primarily geared toward startups, entrepreneurs, and any business that’s new to the game of affiliate marketing. When compared to other affiliate networks, Awin requires less commitment along with zero setup fees which enable seamless integration into their platform.

Their tracking tools facilitate advertisers to record and report a wide-ranging set of data such as the number of products, product type, basket value, new or existing customers, along with lag time from click to sale. Another tracking feature relates to influencers where you can view which publishers are promoting their affiliate links during the course of the purchase cycle. Their in-house support team makes sure your program is organized and works efficiently throughout numerous territories, markets, and website domains.

CJ Affiliate

CJ Affiliate (previously Commission Junction) is another one of the big players that boasts almost 4,000 global companies and over 170,000 affiliates. Since the early days, back in 1998, they’ve grown to reach over 1 billion consumers worldwide. And with numbers like that, you know they know their way around the affiliate industry. Their platform allows you to discover publishers that can improve your brand awareness amongst your target audience.

You can utilize their network of top-notch influencers along with their team of specialists to execute a strategy for your specific needs. This includes thorough analytics and reports, securing quality placement, and of course, partnering with the content creators. Their Situational Commissioning helps you to set up scenarios to incentivize these publishers via a plethora of high-value order elements. Promotion type, buyer location, and customer status are just a few of the attribute combinations you can generate.

There’s also their dedicated protection to examine and implement your business’ policies through their data science insights, compliance technology, and expert auditing, that’s all in real-time. If nefarious publishers are a concern, CJ Affiliate’s advanced technology guarantees network quality, which discovers and removes any possible fraud. And as with most quality affiliate platforms, they evaluate every affiliate prior to their first payout.

If all that isn’t tantalizing enough, brands like Overstock, Priceline, Blue Apron, and Office Depot trust CJ Affiliate, so there’s no reason you can’t as well.

In-House (Bootstrap) Approach

If you don’t have the budget, or you simply prefer full control over your affiliate program, then the in-house approach is the way to go. This method requires someone (whether internal or from outside the company) to outsource or create your tools, systems, and procedures, along with finding your affiliates.

Fortunately, there is a slew of affiliate tracking software you can use to make things easier. A few of the more popular options are LeadDyno, Post Affiliate Pro, and Affise. Their affiliate software, as well as the vast majority of alternatives, provides all the tools required to operate your affiliate program utilizing the bootstrap strategy. This includes but isn’t limited to, tracking sales and leads, generating affiliate links, and sending payments to your affiliates.

And they’ll typically feature a dashboard for your affiliates so they can view how their campaigns are performing. Opting for the DIY approach offers you the flexibility to allow anyone in the public to join, or make it a private, invite-only program. You won’t have to abide by someone else’s terms and conditions. Instead, you can create your own set of rules for your affiliates to abide by. Plus, you can manage things just how you like with what works best for your brand.

We already touched upon the money-saving aspect of this bootstrap method, but how cost-efficient is this approach? Depending on which affiliate software you decide on, it can cost as little as $30 a month. When compared to the typical 30% that affiliate networks deduct from your affiliate’s commissions, the in-house strategy becomes ever more enticing if conserving money is a top priority.

Affiliate Recruiting

With your affiliate program, all set up just the way you like it, your next task is to recruit affiliates to promote your products/services. But before you dive in headfirst to signing up affiliates, you first need to identify your target audience.

If your business sells golf-related products and services, put yourself in the mindset of your average golfer. Now, think about where you, a golfer, would go to socialize and search for information online. For obvious reasons, you wouldn’t want to go to a LEGO fan site or search Google for “Super Mario Bros. LEGO Set.” Someone looking to buy a new 9 iron or extend their drive by 20 yards wouldn’t benefit from this at all.

Therefore, you must figure out what sites and social media platforms your audience prefers to hang out at. Once this is established, you need to search for affiliates so you can begin the recruitment process. It’s also worth noting that just because one strategy works for one company doesn’t mean it’ll work for yours.

Not to worry though, since there are countless ways you can go about the recruiting process. A few of the more popular methods we’ll go over are converting existing customers, using social media, gifting influencers, and using Google to find niche sites related to your business.

Convert Existing Customers

More than 90% of consumers listen to those close to them over online advertising. Positive WOM, AKA word of mouth, can be a very powerful tool when used properly. An established customer who uses your product/service with positive results can sing your brand’s praises to their friends and family.

They can offer real-life situations where your product or service has benefited them, which adds legitimacy to their reviews that is hard to contend with. This is especially clear with your devoted customers, who will be some of your biggest supporters. Since they’re already invested in your company, they can be excellent potential brand ambassadors for your business. Their love of your products/services is already established and through WOM, those close to them are almost certainly aware as well.

When you reach out to your top customers, they feel valued; it improves your relationship and boosts their loyalty to your brand. Furthermore, since they’re your target audience, a partnership can be a great way for both of you to reap the benefits.

Utilize Social Media

When it comes to recruiting affiliates, social media can have a tremendous impact on your marketing strategy. This isn’t surprising given that sites like YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram have become a part of millions of people’s everyday lives.

If you need proof, statistics show that 70% of online shoppers research and seek out information on Instagram prior to any purchase. They pay attention when influencers they follow endorse or speak favorably about a product or service.

Influencers can range from niche bloggers and lifestyle coaches to experts and even celebrities. And you may think as long as they are in your niche and have a large number of followers, that automatically makes them a good fit. But while more followers can be a good thing, that doesn’t guarantee those people are actively engaged. You’ll typically find that the more followers an influencer has, the lower their follower engagement is. Where someone with 1,000 followers can boast up to an 85% engagement rate, those with 100,000 followers see that number drop significantly. And the higher the engagement rate, the higher their commissions.

A good place to start is with influencers that have the same target audience as your business, in addition to 1,000 – 10,000 followers (AKA nano-influencers). They endorse or mention your product/service in a post, video, etc. which increases brand awareness, and hopefully their commissions and your sales.

Influencer Gifting

Influencer gifting, or product seeding as it’s commonly referred to, is when you send free products to select influencers in your niche in hopes that they’ll use, like, and promote them. Establishing a potential partnership with free products is a fantastic way to get your affiliate program off and running.

Some brands will go the extra mile and send a special card with a personal message to the influencer to help build goodwill. This card can indirectly ask the influencer to share their thoughts and feedback on the products with their followers, or you can directly ask them to promote your product instead. Sending the card is that special extra touch that takes little time, yet can be very beneficial. Now, this doesn’t guarantee that they will promote your product since there’s not much in it for them besides a freebie.

A great way to increase the probability of them using and promoting your product is to mention your affiliate program. Ask them to join if they like, and if they decide to share your product with their followers, they can earn a commission. If they join, it can help to boost your brand’s awareness through their custom content, valuable product reviews, along with their authentic feedback. Rapidly scaling things up can also be accomplished via this method, given that you can connect with several influencers with minimal effort. And it reduces the time necessary to create a trustworthy partnership with each influencer when compared to the time required for alternative marketing strategies.

Use Google to Find Niche Sites

The most traditional method for finding affiliate partners is through a simple Google search. You’ll first need to identify your target keywords; the words you think your target demographic would most likely type into Google. Upon reviewing the search results for those keywords, you’ll want to focus on the niche sites that are most relevant to your products, business and/or industry.

When comparing the potential website partners, you’ll likely want to veer away from the major media sites, as they’ll likely not respond or require a large upfront payment vs affiliate commissions. Instead, narrowing in on the small to medium size websites (based on traffic) will most likely produce the most productive results and allow you the opportunity to establish a real relationship with them. Just as in other phases of business, relationships matter. And the affiliate world is no different.

Upon reaching out to the websites and hopefully receiving a response back, you’ll then want to entice them to the benefits of becoming a “partner” with your business by joining your affiliate program. But just getting them to join is only the first step, as the most important aspect is getting them to feature your product or brand on their website. This can be done via a dedicated new post/review, within an existing post, a “top 10” list (or something similar), or some other location on their site. Now if you’re persuasive enough, getting featured on the homepage of the site is the ultimate goal, as this will likely get the most eyes and traffic to your product/brand.