You may know Adam as Rollerblader in ABestWeb Affiliate Forum
I am fortunate to be collaborating with Adam Riemer who is the most ethical, hardest working Merchant Affiliate Manager I have come across in all the years I’ve been working with ecommerce stores online.
Adam now provides affiliate management for Executive Gift Shoppe’s gift affiliate program which I wrote about in How to Evaluate an eCommerce Merchant.
Search for the Affiliate Marketing Experts section for exceptional
Affiliate Marketing Resources
including forums, training, blogs and tips from power affiliates
I suspect many merchants are challenged to find a good Outsourced Program Manager (OPM) because they don’t know what to call them. I had never heard of an OPM until I met Adam even though I’ve been researching affiliate management for merchants for years.
Reading Adam’s post on What You Should Expect From Your OPM is an excellent place to start for merchants interested in possibly starting an affiliate program or hiring a manager. I suspect that there are not many OPMs willing to work that hard but you can use it as a guideline on pitfalls to avoid.
I also recommend his post on Common Affiliate Management Mistakes. I have been planning to write about Adam since we started working together and am doing so now to share my comments in his latest post Should Merchants Pay Afffiliates For Repeat Sales.
I encourage merchants, affiliates and OPMs to read that post and then my comments below. I recommend that merchants DO pay on repeat sales to the same customer for these reasons:
1) The affiliate sent you the buyer in the first place so you most likely would not have closed either sale without them.
2) It is very likely that the affiliate able to generate repeat sales has their own mailing list, subscriber base, and regular readers which are resources they own and created and are using to continually promoting your products and services. That next sale is not based on a one-time click – it is likely to be from repeated work they have done on your behalf.
3) If your repeat sale comes from your newsletter, your cookie is most likely going to overwrite theirs and you will not be paying them for a sale that comes from your newsletter instead of their site.
Your affiliates who generate repeat sales do so be reminding their readers about you repeatedly and not from that buyer remembering to come back to you on their own.
ShareASale is the Least Expensive, Cleanest Affiliate Network
Adam has laid out many examples in this post about ways your affiliates are sending you buyers. Their continued promotion of your products will be key to those repeat sales and they deserve to be compensated for the work they do to send you buyers.
Remember that they are only getting paid for sales they generate and not for all the work they do that may not create a sale. They have to invest their time and expertise and have the same risk you have that it may not pay off. If they are buying traffic they may even have MORE at risk than the merchant.
Affiliates and merchants are partners in what they are working to achieve – not adversaries. Instead of fighting over the existing pie they should be working together to make the pie ever larger!
AFFILIATE MARKETING BLOGS:
- Affiliate Marketing Blog of AffiliateXFiles: Affiliate Marketing Merchant Benefits
- Murray Newlands Affiliate Marketing Blog: Do You Need an OPM? (Outsourced Affiliate Program Management)
- MurrayNewlands: Thoughts on Affiliate Program Management (part 1) and Affiliate Management (part 2)
- Murray Newlands (Twitter) Affiliate Marketing for Merchants
Related articles by Zemanta
- How to Evaluate a Merchant Gift Affiliate Program (growmap.com)
- Recommended Wedding Affiliate Program: Bridaluxe (growmap.com)
- 5 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing May Not Be The Answer For Your Blog (bloggingot.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=3799c2c2-8b6a-43ca-b3f8-9e62bab5f38d)
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations on collaborating with Adam Riemer. I quickly scanned through his linkedin profile and he seems to have a good reputation. I also read Adam’s post on what one should expect from affiliate management. To be honest its quite complicated for me to understand. I am totally new to this arena and wanted to learn things quickly. I guess your blog and Adam’s are right place to do it. I have to read all of the informative posts you have written over the years to gain some knowledge. Thanks heaps bro!
.-= Melvin@Rental Properties Auckland´s last blog ..Otahuhu, Auckland City =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Melvin,
Unfortunately for many merchants and affiliates, the reputation of an Affiliate Management Company can be good even if they are unethical, dishonest or incompetent. Affiliate marketing is very complicated and it takes years to figure out who knows what is really going on.
Even other experienced affiliate marketing bloggers don\’t always recognize who is using parasiteware and taking advantage of their clients and who is honest. That is why I wrote this post now.
I am absolutely thrilled to have found Adam and highly recommend him. I sincerely doubt any other OPM works as hard as he does or has as many contacts and most importantly he is highly ethical and that is of utmost importance to me.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..BizLuv MEME: How to Support Your Fav Businesses =-.
Twitter: @clickonportal
I love reading about affiliate programs, especially those that are run by good people. You must feel glad to be able to work with him. I have just started blogging and is always on the lookout for new worthwhile programs.
Twitter: @GrowMap
The most successful affiliates decide which merchant programs to join based on who manages them because of what the affiliate manager does for them.
Adam sends them newsletters with their affiliate links already in them, implemented tiered commissions to reward them for working harder, has special banners created just for their niches, provides them with ideas for promoting products and we provide our affiliates with top selling product lists specific to their sites.
Possibly more important he keeps programs clean of affiliates who steal from merchants or other affiliates to protect them both. Catching the latest tricks is not always easy and he has the skills to identify what they are doing and make sure we aren’t losing money to some new toolbar or cookie stuffing tactic.
I hope you will consider our Gift Affiliate Program and Wedding Affiliate Program, both managed by Adam.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Recommended Wedding Affiliate Program: Bridaluxe =-.
Twitter: @seoworks
I had never heard of an OPM either – thanks for sharing the term. Another great reason why you should pay repeat commissions to your affiliates is to attract and keep good quality affiliates.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Lisa,
Thank you for sharing that you were not familiar with that term either. I have made a living full time online since 2000 and had affiliate links on sites as far back as the mid 1990s so if neither of use knew what an OPM is it is highly unlikely that most merchants will.
I hope all OPMs realize that most merchants new to affiliate marketing will not be searching for them using that title. They need to make sure merchants can find them using more common search phrases like Affiliate Management or Affiliate Manager.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.
Twitter: @BTLSEARCH
Thanks for the info, keep it up!
.-= Posicionamiento web´s last blog ..La Importancia de Google y Posicionamiento Web =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Juan,
Since you’re new here I’m going to keep your comment and link, but I hope you read this reply. Any comment that says “thanks for the info” or “nice post” or “keep it up” or many other commonly used generic statements alone or in combination is almost certain to be deleted by any blogger who moderates their comments (before OR after they’re posted).
I recommend new commentators read Tips for Leaving Comments That Don’t Get Deleted.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Verifying What is Do Follow versus No Follow =-.
Twitter: @DennisEdell
Interesting. I don’t have my own affiliate program yet, as I don’t have my own product yet, but it’s good to know there’s at least one (manager) out there, if/when I need one.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED: Theme Customization Part 3 – Banner Advertising NOT for Sale! =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Dennis,
If you decide you (or anyone else reading this) might want to launch an affiliate program let me know and I’ll introduce you to Adam. If there is something simple that you need he’ll let you know what will work best for you.
Not every site or business needs the type of affiliate program Adam manages but those that do can really increase their visibility, traffic and sales by working with him.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Recommended Wedding Affiliate Program: Bridaluxe =-.
Twitter: @DennisEdell
Absolutely I will be in touch when needed, thank you.
He must do really complicated stuff for someone to not just go to CB or PDC or somewhere similar.
Of course the super simple usually go to a place like e-junkie.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Would You Like a FREE Banner Ad Position? =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Do you mean affiliates or merchants? Setting up an affiliate program from the merchant end is really complicated. You have to set policies on trademark bidding, pay per click advertising, check for parasiteware that steals commissions that aren’t earned from both the merchants and other affiliates and so much more.
Adam also sends out regular emails, requests new coupon codes for all affiliates or exclusive offers for a specific affiliate, has new banners created, recruits power and niche affiliates, provides feedback on any issues with the product feeds and much more.
I would not advise any merchant to run their own affiliate program because even if they had the time to learn and manage it all they would not have the connections with power affiliates that brings them into your program.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.
I think the given tips are so fruitful for affiliate users. Because these are simple and vivid.
Twitter: @ttp://twitter.com/napwinc
Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, maybe because affiliates ofter use regular advertising methods. It’s like a race, that is why i really love reading this kind of topic. Nice.
.-= Nancy@National Association of Professional Women´s last blog ..March Madness streams see mad traffic =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello again Nancy,
Yes there is a lot of overlap. There are two major benefits to merchants for having an affiliate program. One is that it multiplies the number of hours and effort being spent promoting their business and they only pay for what works and the other is that affiliates often use strategies the merchants are not aware of or have not yet learned to implement or do not do as well.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.
I think that one of the real difficulties people face when going online, especially in the current economic climate, is the need to stay focused and upbeat. It is easy to get distracted by the next great marketing scheme. And, it is easy to get discouraged when early efforts do not pay off. You have to stay motivated and keep plugging away.
Twitter: @GrowMap
The most important thing is to focus on consistently doing what works and that is not easily done. I have spent all my time on it for years and am only now getting a really clear idea of what the top priorities are for businesses.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Recommended Wedding Affiliate Program: Bridaluxe =-.
Twitter: @DimaNikolayenko
Hi all,
It’s really nice to know that there are some people (affiliate managers) who are interested to collaborate with affiliaters and care about them.
The more popular situation is when you (affiliaters) try to contact a manager without any success, unfortunatelly .
Thanks Adam and googd luck in your business.
.-= Lena & Dima@Affiliate Marketing Tips´s last blog ..Buy A Cheap Host Don’t Be A Cheap Host =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Lena and Dima,
I encourage affiliates to contact Adam because any program he runs will be honest and he does so much to make adding affiliate products and links easier. We have done a ton of work on our Gift Affiliate Program since he came on board to make it far better for affiliates.
I know him well enough to know he does that same exceptional work on every program he runs so affiliates who work with him will have a HUGE advantage.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.
If you own a blog or website you can make money just by adding affiliate links to your pages.
Twitter: @GrowMap
If you have enough traffic and use links related to your site that is possible. To make substantial income from affiliate marketing it takes much more work than just adding a few links.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Recommended Wedding Affiliate Program: Bridaluxe =-.
There is so much nonsense and half-truth bandied around as affiliate advice or tips – it is refreshing to come across some genuinely useful advice. Your point about affiliates and merchants being partners and not adversaries is priceless.
For me – the best linked resource here has been the post on Affiliate Management Mistakes. Its great to find a single point of reference for accurate and honest affiliate advice.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Trey,
It took me years to find out who to trust and who has a great but undeserved reputation. That is why I wrote this post.
The post you mention about affiliate management mistakes was written by Adam in answer to the many questions I posed to him about the experiences we had with another management company. They are well-known and respected and pulled most of those things on my client. Not good. Not good at all.
I sincerely hope more merchants start seeing their affiliates as valuable partners and more affiliates start working more closely with the merchants they promote.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Support Small Businesses =-.
Twitter: @Saventalabs
You can expect to spend a good couple of weeks before you get your first clients. I would recommend not trying affiliate marketing part time if you just start out. Great information in the article, thank you. I wouldn’t say that it is no-maintenance in the beginning but after the first couple of months it will definitely get easier. Assigning a mentor to help you in the beginning would be a great help.
.-= Saventa@Affiliate Marketing´s last blog ..Resell Rights – Make Money In The PLR Business =-.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Saventa,
The economy is seriously impacting the incomes of even existing experienced affiliate marketers so working as a team or with mentors is essential to success.
I hope more affiliates pop in so I can get their feedback on how the economy is affecting their existing income-generating sites.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..What Caused the Great Depression is NOW =-.
I think that a big thing that we notice with people just starting up in the Affiliate space and even some of those who have been in the industry a long time, is tracking their customers. In the Affiliate industry there can be so much overlap between affiliates, programs, and networks, it can be a full time job to keep it straight. Some feel that constant contact, their tracking software, or excel and outlook are enough to manage these relationships. Without the proper tools you can quickly find yourself under a pile of prospects and affiliates and get lost very quickly. CRM (customer relationship management) is a tried and true method to help you in increasing sales with your affiliates. The reasons OPM’s typically are successful in managing multiple programs and thousands of affiliates is because they have put these practices into play! You should too!
Twitter: @GrowMap
Thank you for commenting eSilverBullet. I have shared the link to your site with a couple of people who might be interested. If you would like to provide a guest post about your company I would be interested in publishing it.
Before affiliate managers or affiliate marketers will be interested in using a CRM solution they need to know how it can benefit them. The explanation needs to be simple enough that they can understand it from what they currently know which is likely to mean they are NOT currently very familiar with CRM solutions of any kind.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Best of GrowMap – Our Most Important Posts All in One Place =-.
{ 7 trackbacks }