I just got back from the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop and I learned so much great information about affiliate marketing and figured it’s about time that I begin sharing that with you.

As a plus-size business owner, you are positioned well as a great niche with lots of profit potential. While your existing products and services may be your main source of business income, one of the best ways to add an additional stream of income is through affiliate programs.

What is an affiliate?

An affiliate is also known as a reseller, or someone who promotes products and services for business owners, companies, or advertisers in exchange for a commission on leads or sales. The affiliate will display an advertiser’s link or graphic to their products or services on their websites, blogs, or email campaigns. So once the visitor clicks on the link or ad and takes action (i.e. make a sale, or submit their contact info.), the affiliate is paid a commission.

What are the benefits to having an affiliate program?

• You have the ability to leverage affiliates who are looking for niche products that sell well. For example, plus size dresses, plus size lingerie, plus size wedding dresses, etc. are quite attractive to the savvy niche affiliate marketer. They will gladly market your products for a commission (generally up to 15%).
• You don’t have to pay affiliates any fees upfront. In fact, they do most of the pre-selling for you. They have the ability to use SEO, keyword research, content marketing, product reviews, etc. for you!
• You can supplement or complement your advertising budget; the more marketing channels you have, the better.
• You can build customer loyalty by encouraging your buying customers to become affiliates. They’ve bought your products and hopefully are happy with it, so why not encourage them to earn a few extra bucks by referring your products to their friends and family?
• You can increase sales and reach markets that you may not be able to reach on your own. Plus size bloggers, community leaders, niche affiliate marketers, etc. have the ability to connect with potential customers in a way that you as a business owner may be not be able to due to unforeseen limitations.
• You can track which of your products and services are selling the best and modify your offerings based on real sales data!

What should I do now?

So if you have an affiliate program but haven’t been doing much with it, then I encourage you to get your affiliates motivated and riled up about your products, feel free to put together a special training session so that they can know the ins-and-outs of your offerings and how to navigate your affiliate center to get the appropriate links and graphics.

If you haven’t started an affiliate program then this is something you should definitely have in your Annual Sales & Marketing Plans.

For smaller plus size businesses with few products, I recommend http://www.e-junkie.com  They’re easy to use, affordable, and they’re application process is not as cumbersome as some of the larger affiliate networks.

If you have a large e-commerce site then I recommend you use one of the top 3 most reputable companies:

Commission Junction

LinkShare

ShareASale

As mentioned, these 3 networks are a bit cumbersome and their interfaces are not very intuitive. There is also an application process for the big 3 and you do have to meet specific criteria such as annual sales, number of years selling online, etc. However, they do have lots of great information, support, tips, and tutorials to help you along the way. Please review each of their programs to see which is best for your business. A strong decision maker might be identifying other plus size businesses that are using a specific network.

 

P.S. What has your experience been with affiliate programs? Have questions or concerns? Please post below, I’m happy to help!