Best Strategy for Getting Affiliates

[Gerry]

Hi Folks,

(excuse me - newbie on the board - I posted this in the Affiliate Marketing section but perhaps it should be here? If anyone can advise me I'll delete the inappropriate one! Thanks - Gerry)


It's a bit difficult to explain this as I don't yet have a site to show you - it's in development and will take some weeks more. Anyway, I'm simultaneously working out my marketing strategy.

In a nutshell, what I will be offering is a content rich site in what we might generally describe as the self-improvement/motivation/success/life coaching space. The on-site content is free. Much of that content will also emphasise the importance of pursuing a structured program over 12 months - which will be delivered by e-mail but with elements of personal one-to-one interaction too. That's what I will be asking prospective customers to sign up for.

I have not finalized the pricing yet, but it will be relatively expensive - maybe $300 (possibly considerably more depending on what advice I get about how the service should be priced, but unlikely to be much less) and while the site will be used to market the program, I would hope to have affiliates marketing the service too. I have no prior experience of doing that.

Since one of the key objectives of the site (by no means the only one) is to support people in achieving their financial goals, one thought I had was to restrict the reselling of the program to those who have signed up for it. That would add to the attractiveness of signing up - find just two or three more members for the program and you've got your fee back (say $100 commission), everything above that is profit. Restricting it in this way would mean less competition for the affiliates and would be a sort of exclusive bonus. I was thinking of giving those customers who want it their own free, hosted website to market the service as they see fit - along the lines of what they do at this site I came across: http://makemoneydonothing.com/home2.aspx (I don't know how they do that yet - do you?)

What do you think of that idea? Is restricting the possibility of being an affiliate exclusively to your customers a good idea, or does it cut out thousands of others who could be selling for you if you put your program up on some directory, or joined up with commissionjunction or somesuch to get affiliates? You may say it all depends on how well the product itself stacks up and whether it represents good value - I know that of course, and I'll show it to you as soon as I can. I can only say at this stage that a lot of thought and research has gone into it, it is unique in its approach, and I think it has very good potential.

I've only joined this forum a few days ago and I'm totally new to the online marketing game, so I would be very grateful indeed for any guidance or pointers anyone has for me!

Thanks

Gerry

[gary_the_ace]

[Lynn Terry]

I would agree with Gary - open your affiliate program to clients and to select JV partners. You can always open your program to the public later, but it would be hard to 'shut it down' as easily if you offered it upfront and then changed your mind on that down the road.

The exclusivity of the program will really appeal to your JV partners

[Gerry]