Over the past two years there has been some confusion as to what it is exactly that I primarily do. People have been asking me if I still manage affiliate programs, or not… and I thought it’d be a good idea to underscore it once again: I most certainly do.

To differentiate between AM Navigator‘s educational activity (blogging, speaking, book writing, article publishing, as well as consulting), and affiliate program management services, a little over a month ago I started Affilinomics.com, a management branch/hand of AM Navigator. As this time we manage affiliate programs for such companies as Forbes.com, Forex Club, Hallmark-owned DaySpring, Compete.com, HalloweenMart.com, and others. If you’re not ready to hand over the management of your program to us just yet, I’m also open to program audits and consulting.

Below you may find just a few of the testimonials on me and my work:

Geno Prussakov is an indisputable expert in affiliate marketing. During the time of his management of our affiliate program we successfully implemented his ideas, and the success extended to our Forbes advertising clients including Experian, Microsoft, Facebook, and others. I strongly and confidently recommend his services.

– Mike Smith, President, Forbes.com

I’ve known Geno for years, and he eats and breaths affiliate marketing day and night. Geno’s track record in affiliate success and his passion for sharing his knowledge is second to none. If you need to guarantee your success with affiliate marketing invest in his services before your competitors do.

– Bryan Eisenberg, BryanEisenberg.com

Geno is an affiliate marketing thought leader who routinely shares quality information through his blog, magazine articles, speaking engagements, and other venues. If you’re not paying attention to what Geno is saying, you ought to be.

– Shawn Collins, Affiliate Summit

Geno is a leading voice in affiliate marketing and an expert at putting his own advice into practice. Don’t let the polished and professional demeanor fool you. Geno has a serious will to win that’s reflected in the success of his programs. And he’s got a Rolodex in the performance marketing space that would make Anthony Robbins look like a loner. Geno’s professionalism, integrity, deep industry expertise and open communication style make him the first stop for launching new affiliate programs or driving more revenue from existing campaigns. If you’re not getting Geno’s input, you’re almost certainly leaving money on the table.

– Jason Spievak, RingRevenue

Evgenii is a great affiliate manager. He has been working with me on the Skype affiliate program and has done a great work. I highly recommend him.

– Giotto De Filippi, Skype

Geno was absolutely the right partner for DaySpring. When we first came to Geno, we were very new to affiliate marketing and he came along side us and guided us through the successful launch of our program. Geno strives for excellence in everything he does and is professional in his approach to every project; big and small. He has gone over and above what we have asked from him and has helped us achieve great growth in our program and increasing profitability. He is a trusted name in the industry and an expert at what he does. Geno is a pleasure to work with and I recommend him with confidence.

– Jesse Lane, DaySpring/Hallmark

If interested in either my affiliate program management, consulting, or training services, just shoot me an email and I’ll get back with you within 24 hours.

A business that is considering entering into the affiliate marketing realm has just had its representative email me the following question:

Do you know the average jump in sales a company might get when launching an affiliate program, or any other statistics on how it helps the company out? This would help justify the expense of the program.

This is a very good, and altogether a very difficult question.

My answer would be twofold:

1) There is no such a thing as an “average jump in sales” due to the launch of an affiliate program. The volume of sales your affiliate program will bring in, especially at its very start, will be highly dependent on (i) how popular your brand was prior to the program’s launch (the more well-known the brand is, the quicker it’ll pick up), and (ii) how competitive your offer is (again, the more competitive, the better and sooner it’ll convert for affiliates). This question is actually very similar to another one, which I’ve previously answered in my blog post entitled What Percentage of Sales Can An Affiliate Program Bring? Some see a 10% increase, while others see an up to 60% sales growth; but not in the first month, and not by itself (see point #2).

2) Unless the program is proactively managed from its very launch, do not expect to hit any significant or lasting sales increases. Beware of the Limited Potential Syndrome too (much of which is caused by an autopilot approach to management), and give your affiliate program the attention it deserves from the very outset. Just as any marketing program, if managed loosely, it may get you into more trouble than fun.

I know, these may be the type of answers you’ve been looking for, but it’s all true. Some of the best affiliate programs I’ve seen have been closely overseen from the very outset, aggressively promoted, monitored, and understanding of the fact that a steady increase in affiliate-referred traffic and sales/leads is much more important than quick sales/leads from dubious sources.

Two affiliates on different sides of the globe (U.S. and Australia) blogged about the same topic during the same week of August 2009. They talked about the things that make the life of an affiliate unnecessarily difficult, and they obviously wanted affiliate program managers to hear them.

I am referring to the “5 Things That Make My Affiliate Life Easier” post by Rae Hoffman, and the “10 Things I Hate About Affiliate Marketing” one by Kirsty McCubbin. Both of these posts are must-reads for every affiliate program manager.

Sam Levenson is known for saying: “You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” I like to re-phrase this utterance with affiliate program management in mind. Affiliate program managers must learn from the mistakes of others precisely because they can end up making them all in their own management, hurting the development of their affiliate program, and their relationship with affiliates, along the way.

Looking through Rae’s and Kirsty’s lists, I’ve boiled their observations down to 7 points, or 7 things that affiliates dislike in affiliate programs. They are:

1. Lack of communication or poor/one-way communication
2. Lack of detailed reporting
3. Lack of linking flexibility
4. Poor quality product feeds
5. Unexpected/unannounced changes
6. Unrealistic/unattainable sales/contest goals
7. Affiliate program managers who fail to put themselves into affiliate shoes [more of a summary of the above points]

Are you guilty of any of the above?

Someone was searching my blog for a phrase “networking with affiliate managers”, and I’ve decided to devote my today’s post to this. There is, in fact, a place where you can discuss affiliate program management questions with colleagues, meeting other affiliate program managers online. It is the Affiliate Program Management group that I run on LinkedIn.

As apparent from the above screenshot, the group currently has over 500 members and includes multiple OPM’s, in-house affiliate program managers, network reps of all major affiliate networks, some affiliates, as well as other online marketing professionals. The focus of the group is on the discussion of issues pertaining to affiliate program management. The official group description says:

This group has been created for affiliate managers (working on in-house or outsourced basis), affiliates, network reps and other affiliate marketers to discuss issues related to the management of the affiliate marketing programs, and to network via LinkedIn.

You may join the group here.  Prior to posting, please read the “Group Policy” and refrain from affiliate recruitment types of posts, respecting the time and objectives of the other group members (largely, your fellow affiliate program managers).

About a month ago I posted a layout of an affiliate newsletter in my blog.

Today I have sent out an August newsletter for the DaySpring.com’s affiliate program, which covered 6 of the 7 points listed in the above-quoted post. Several affiliates emailed back almost immediately (they didn’t have to do it, but they did) just to say “thank you”, and one affiliate wrote:

I have been with Commission Junction for almost a year and you are the first advertiser to send out such a personal, intriguing, well written newsletter.

Wow. How encouraging!!

Emotions aside, to me – and hopefully to my fellow affiliate program managers – the above response illustrates two things: (i) that it’s realistic to know what affiliates want to see in your newsletter, and (ii) it is still easy to stand out, because very few merchants are doing their newsletters the right away. Affiliates want your newsletters to be:

1. Personal(ized)
2. Motivating (and here you want to remember that effective change always starts from creating a sense of urgency)
3. Helpful

Finally, do not forget the three must-pay-attention-to P’s while focusing on the above characteristics.

How often do you visit a doctor if nothing is wrong with you (or, rather, when you feel that everything is alright)? I personally  seldomly do so unless I am concerned about something. The last time when I checked my cholesterol levels was three of four years ago when I felt chest pain. The cholesterol levels needed improvement, but the pain wasn’t in any way related to my heart… However, this example provides a good illustration to how many merchants really treat their affiliate programs. Many do not seek any assistance from an affiliate program manager (an OPM or an in-house one) until something is going wrong with the program. I call this a reactive affiliate program management. It is better than a non-existing one, but merchants can/should do better than that.

What’s really needed is a proactive approach to affiliate program management. Webster’s Dictionary defines “proactive” as “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes”. You do not want to wait for the problem to come. You want to foresee it, and deal with its causes much earlier than it’s appearance in your own backyard. Proactive approach is always more constructive than a reactive one.

Which approach are you practicing now? My question is largely rhetorical, but I hope it gives you some food for thought, and room for improvement.

Having read through one of Harvard Business Publishing’s management tips of the day, I have decided to elaborate on the same topic but in a more narrow context — that of affiliate program management.

Are you managing your affiliate program(s) staying continuously motivated and happy? Here are my 3 tips on how to be a happier affiliate program manager:

1. Lead instead of managing. I always talk about the impossibility of managing affiliates [see this post and this comment, for example]. Don’t even try to! Be a leader. Sensitive to the affiliates’ needs, flexible to change yourself, and always approachable.
2. Put together a contest. Make marketing fun for your affiliates, and it’ll become fun for you too. To differentiate contests from trivia (which are also good, but not directly tied to your practice of affiliate program management), I divide productive contests into two groups (i) those helping affiliates market better (performance-based contests, guess-the-product in another affiliate’s order, etc), and (ii) those helping you get to know your affiliates better (any photo, hobbies or similar contest).
3. Start developing relationships. Chances are that you are not happy, because you’re missing out on one of the most important parts of the equation — individual relationships with affiliates. Unlike in traditional management contexts where leaders are appointed, in affiliate program management context much is based on personal relationships, genuine care, and emergent leadership.

Wishing everyone a great weekend, and happier work from now on, as well!

To answer this question we need to briefly look into the expenses involved in (a) setting up and (b) running an affiliate program.

On the program setup stage, you will have to choose whether to go with an affiliate network (prices and comparison here), or an in-house affiliate program software (prices range between about $100 and $300). After that you will need to create banners, landing pages, and product datafeed (if you are marketing multiple SKUs, and not a service, or a subscription). Depending on your in-house capabilities you can either do these by yourself, or outsource this work to an external designer and coder. At the end of the day, your total setup costs will vary from $300-500 to $1,000-2,000. Contact me if you want me to suggest the most sensible and affordable plan for your particular business.

Once your program is set up, you need to decide how your affiliate program will be managed. No affiliate program can be run on an autopilot (see my “Autopilot Affiliate Program Management – A Recipe for Failure” article), and there are three ways of handling the management part: (a) manage it by yourself, (b) hire someone to manage it for you in-house, or (c) outsource your affiliate program’s management to a company like mine. In this post I will not go into the benefits of doing it one way or another. Let me only emphasize that between the above-quoted three options, you can definitely find one that fits any budget.

After that, you’re ready to fly! The rest of your expenses are all performance-based (you pay only when there is an order, or a lead), and this is the main beauty of the affiliate marketing channel.

Can small businesses afford affiliate marketing? Absolutely! Out of all known methods of online marketing, this one is among the most affordable ones, and, in my opinion, it yields the best ROI too.

Today is the day when I’m starting to use videos in my blog, and I have decided to devote the first one to a question we’ve been discussing with Nancy (aka 2busy) via e-mail after she posted this comment of hers in my blog. After reading her comment I came up with a term “merchant naivete”. By analogy with the ecological naivete, it characterizes merchants that start their affiliate programs (i) without any Terms of Service (naively entrusting the promotion of their brand to whoever decides to join their program), and (ii) without any affiliate manager to actually manage the program (naively presupposing that it is the affiliate network’s responsibility to manage it). Both of these facts can (and often do) lead to deadly consequences.

Here is my video on the subject:

Nancy has shared with me that she has “evaluated 29 new (Jan 2009) affiliate programs, and found 17 with no terms at all, some claiming that they were professionally managed by a trusted third party.” 7 more programs “had some unusual terms, maybe PPC Restrictions but no real TOS” and “only 5 had full TOS and detailed PPC restrictions.” Wow. Stagerring stats! They do correspond to what I myself discovered when conducting an analysis of 100 affiliate programs for “A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing” back in December of 2006. I documented that 51% of the affiliate programs lacked Terms of Service (TOS) agreements altogether, 36% had extremely generic ones, and only 13% had full affiliate program agreements in place. In Nancy’s smaller sample the spread has roughly corresponded to mine: 60% had no TOS, 23% had very generic ones, and 17% had TOS in place. Over 2 years have passed, but things haven’t changed much. The sad fact is that they have actually worsened. The merchants that have no affiliate program agreements now say (and often believe!) that they are “professionally managed by a trusted third party,” misunderstanding an affiliate network for an affiliate program management agency [read about the differences here]. They make themselves vulnerable to those affiliates that are just waiting to feast on another new merchant’s affiliate program who has no clue what he/she is doing.

Nancy said that “whenever possible” she “would rather work with programs that are managed by people who know what they are doing,” and I believe, this summarizes the approach that the majority of serious affiliate marketers take. When an affiliate program is run an an ‘auto-pilot’, it is wide-open to unethical affiliate practices that we speak about daily. “No terms at all shows a poor understanding of the arrangement that they have with the network or a poor understanding of affiliate marketing,” says Nancy, and “in today’s economy it can make all the difference between survival of the program and failure.” I could’ve not expressed it better!