Week 3
By week three, the affiliate team will be falling into some essential routines and the affiliate program will be gaining momentum.
Just as with the previous week, the affiliate team sites should be reviewed to determine any trends for the performance of your program. Similarly, continue participating in the discussion boards and monitoring the competition. Also, as you search for more affiliates, keep an eye on those who have not joined and check back with their sites to see if they have joined the competition.
Also, be sure to stay on top of those inactive affiliates, and track the response rates from your contacts with the inactives: How many end up putting your links on their sites? Play around with the e-mail you send out to see whether some letters get a better response.
Think about some of the hurdles that the affiliate team has experienced in creating their sites and use this as fodder for a new affiliate tutorial.
And now that your program is running, try reaching out to some other affiliate managers in your area to get together to exchange war stories and tips. The United States Affiliate Manager Coalition (www.usamc.org) provides contact information for groups in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
Those questions are increasing from the affiliates, and many are the same. Don’t forget to add them to your FAQ.
Have the affiliate team test and track performance of their own and other programs on their personal sites
Participate in discussion boards
Monitor the competition
Identify and track prospective affiliates
Target e-mail to inactive affiliates
Compose tutorial
Review log of questions asked by affiliates and add any new questions and answers to your FAQ