In Episode 66, we are finishing up our series on Affiliate Marketing and Affiliate Programs. We wanted to end with a look at tips for and challenges of running a large-scale program. I couldn’t find a better guest than Alfred Najem, Director of Affiliate Marketing at Bluehost, which is also our ongoing sponsor. Bluehost paid out more than $5 million in affiliate commissions last year and has run a successful and growing program since 2003. If you are thinking of starting an affiliate program for your company, or even looking to improve, give today’s show a listen.

We chatted about:

* The affiliate program at Bluehost and what makes it so successful

* Several key factors a large company should consider when starting  an affiliate program

* One of the largest challenges many affiliate programs find when they are starting out

* Some tips on what can make an affiliate program successful for the affiliate marketer

* A few examples of what has made Bluehost affiliate marketers so successful

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download a pdf of the full transcript here: 

Bob Dunn: Hey everyone, Bob Dunn here, known as BobWP on the web. Thanks for tuning in for our fourth and final show in our four-part series on affiliate marketing and affiliate programs. Today we move back into running your own affiliate program. This time we will be diving into managing a large affiliate program. I could think of no one better to bring in than Alfred Najem, Director of Affiliate Marketing at Bluehost, who of course is our sponsor as well. Hey Alfred, welcome to the show.

Alfred Najem: Hi Bob, thanks for having me.

Bob: Alfred, I want you to share a bit more about the actual affiliate program at Bluehost, but before you do that, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do as Director of Affiliate Marketing at Bluehost?

Meet Alfred Najem, Director of Affiliate Marketing for Bluehost

Alfred: Yeah, absolutely, Bob. As Director, I manage the department and all of its aspects: cultivation, recruiting of affiliates, support, projections, running multiple campaigns, beating seasonality. Really, it’s pretty much everything in the affiliate department. We have a team of about ten people and we focus on different aspects.

Bob: In other words, you don’t have a lot of downtime.

Alfred: Not at all.

Can you tell us a bit about Bluehost’s affiliate program?

Alfred: Absolutely, Bob. We’ve had an affiliate program since 2003 here at Bluehost and the affiliate program is a large part of our overall marketing strategy. We put a lot of focus on the affiliate channel. We’ve built an in-house tracking system, we offer landing pages, promotional pricing. We’ve put together everything that an affiliate marketer needs in order to be successful in the affiliate marketing industry. One of the most important pieces is we don’t have a cap on the amount of commissions an affiliate can earn. Obviously, when an affiliate is investing time, and efforts, and money in something, for me, there shouldn’t be any cap and that’s how we do it. We have a great team, probably one of the largest affiliate teams in the hosting industry. We are all experienced in affiliate marketing and love to work with affiliates. We love to optimize performance to work on all of the campaigns directly with the affiliates to drive the best results possible.

Bob: Yeah,