Manually searching for partners isn't the only method of recruiting affiliates. You can also attract them to you through affiliate directories or ads.
To begin with, submit your program to as many affiliate directories as possible. You can start with Google. By searching the Google directory for affiliate programs, you can view an index of all such programs. Since they're ranked in order of popularity according to their PageRank system, just start at the top and work your way down. That way you'll be sure to get your program listed in only the most valuable sites.
This submission process can be tedious, but it's worth it. You only have to do it once, and it does provide long-term exposure for you. Affiliate program announcement services, however, can save you from this time-consuming task.
Although some services do cost money, they submit your program to the major directories for you. It's certainly worth the investment if you have the budget to pay for it.
Next, be active at affiliate marketing forums. Dozens of these forums exist and many are high-trafficked sites. By asking questions, providing answers or posting general comments, you can attract affiliates if you do two things:
--Post quality content. Demonstrate your expertise by making your messages helpful and informative.
--Provide a resource link that stands out. Think of your link as a headline that needs to grab attention and persuade readers to click, not a post-script that people naturally skim over.
Third, advertise in high quality affiliate newsletters by purchasing ads and/or solo mailings. An ad or mailing may cost you $100, but think of that money as an investment, not an expense.
By investing in your affiliate program in this way, all you need to do is attract one quality affiliate to earn back your investment and more through the referrals that affiliate generates.
If you don't have $100 to invest, try $2. Several places online like Partenon sell classified ads in newsletters for a mere $2. While it's unlikely you'll be flooded with an abundance of new affiliates from these ads due to the large number of ads being sold, just one new affiliate more than pays for that investment.
Finally, buy pay-per-click ads on AdWords, Overture or other PPC search engines. Just make the search phrase extremely targeted: "keyword affiliate program" like "dog training affiliate program."
This method may not generate a lot of visitors to your affiliate center, but those who do visit will be very targeted and thus likely to join.
If all of this sounds like an overwhelming amount of work that you simply don't have time for, you can do one of two things: use specialty search tools or hire someone to promote and run your program for you.
As far as tools go, several excellent software programs can slash your research time dramatically. They do cost some money but are wonderful resources for finding new affiliates.
Or you could hand the entire recruitment process over to services that recruit affiliates for you. By putting someone else in charge of recruiting affiliates, you can focus on recruiting customers.
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