How Much of a Salesperson Is the Affiliate Marketer? - BobWP Monetizer Podcast

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If I talk about affiliates a lot of this podcast, it’s because I have the experience with them and want to help my listeners have more success with them.

This is just a quick thoughts I’d like to share that affects both affiliate marketers and those who run affiliate programs.

As an affiliate marketer, we can only do so much for your product or service.

Sometimes a vendor—or a company who wants to sponsor a podcast or get a product review—will approach me with:

“Instead of us paying you what you are asking for, you can join our affiliate program and I will give you 30% of every sale.”

Seriously? 

The Final Conversion Is Up to the Owner of the Product or Service

Think about it. As affiliate marketers, we can push a product till the cows come home. Like me, you might create tutorials that tell people about the features of a product or service and even show them how to use it.

We can rave about it and jump up and down excitedly.

We can list it here and there, repeatedly, in the spaces that matter.

But, unfortunately,  that is where it ends.

Sure, sometimes people will make their decision based on your advice and reputation, and that’s fine. But once they click on that link, it’s out of the hands of the affiliate marketer and jumps to the hands of the vendor.

What Are You Sending Them to?

As an example of what I mean, I became an an affiliate partner with a vendor.  When people clicked on the link that sent them to the vendor’s site, it went to a page the only link I was provided with with a form to fill out to make a purchase. No sales, no features or benefits listed. I felt like they were depending on me to close the sale for them. And as an affiliate partner, that isn’t my job.

Sure, I can talk a client into purchasing a plugin for their WordPress site. Or push them towards a specific host. In a sense we are salespeople for our affiliates, but our main job is get them to click on that link. After that, well…

It’s Up to You to Sell Your Product or Service

We do all we can do as an affiliate marketer, because, frankly, we want to make that sale, too. But but once they click that link, that potential customer is gone. We affiliate marketers must convince them to click through, but you, the product or service owner, must seal the deal. That’s all there is to it.

Your site must sell and convince them to make the purchase.

Your pre-sales support must answer any questions they have.

Your company must make the customer happy and hopefully turn them into a lifetime customer.

We have make them curious or interested. The rest is up to you. The conversions rest in your lap.

We Don’t Always Use Our Links

The other piece to understand is that we don’t always use our links. There are many times when I have given a recommendation for a WordPress plugin and, well, at that point in time it wasn’t convenient to give the person my link. In fact, I have a post I wrote just about this: Why I Don’t Always Share That Affiliate Link of Products and Services I Recommend.

That Leaves Me with Two Questions

What should companies expect from their affiliates? Even for someone to click on the link means that they have to be interested in and needing that product or service.

Secondly, if you are offering me to join your affiliate program as an incentive to take the place of some service that you might normally purchase, is that a fair exchange? Because as I’ve already said, the sale is ultimately up to you and we have lost that control to affect the final decision.

Most of us are doing all that we can on our end.