Shop Talk: How to Recruit the Best Affiliates for Your Brand

For instance, if the company for the affiliate program is Acme.com, go out and get the domain AcmeAffiliate.com and build it into a resource for that affiliate program. In the past I’d make the site look and feel the same as the main site, but now the affiliate site should be all about the affiliate program — e.g., details on applying, examples of creative, frequently asked questions, etc.

Do some research to identify sites that would make sense for your affiliate program, whether they’re currently running affiliate ads or not. Reach out to them via email (not recommended), phone call (some people won’t like it) or direct mail (unobtrusive and has a high open rate).

Shawn Collins is co-founder of the Affiliate Summit, as well as being an affiliate marketer since 1997. Shawn can be reached at shawn@allifiatesummit.com.