How to Find Affiliate Marketers

The best affiliates live at the intersection of conversion and commission. Position your affiliate program for that sweet spot, and the recruitment of new partners will be much easier.

I tell each new advertiser that the first thing they need to do is concentrate on their website conversion. We can be aggressive with our recruiting and the commissions offered to affiliates, but if the service or product isn't known or wanted, customers won't click and buy.

When a program is launched, our job as an affiliate program management company is to find relevant affiliates to join and start promoting the products or services. The competition is every known affiliate program on every tracking platform. The best affiliates are busy. So we need to convince them they will earn money with the new brand. We need to show them the proof that the site will convert for them and that they will earn healthy commissions.

Finding affiliate marketers is easy when you have access to your own database or have the right tools such as Impact's Media Rails, GroupHigh or a network marketplace. Apogee sends hundreds of targeted pitches each month, but it takes more than one blast to get them to join newer brands. It takes continued effort and education.

Smart affiliates have their own systems to evaluate new brands. They would start with Semrush or Similar Web and look at keywords and traffic volume. Some still use the Alexa Traffic Rank extension. Others will research the brand's social media and see how active they are and the type of content they produce.

Once they've done that research, they will look at the affiliate program statistics. They will want to know the conversion rate, average order value, average commission, and available creatives. They'll start to research what types of affiliate models are already promoting the products. What are the reviews like? What coupon and cashback affiliates are in the program? Does the program have advanced attribution that protects content affiliates from losing commissions?

A little-known secret about comparison/review sites: unless it's Consumer Reports, review sites monetize the products on their lists through affiliate marketing. Fortunately for affiliate managers, that number one ranked product probably isn't the objective winner based on merit; it's most likely the one that best crosses the intersection of commission and conversion. This is where affiliates live and where they introduce new customers to a brand.

Would you like to know more about how Apogee can help you find the best affiliates for your brand? Contact us and schedule a meeting.