I’ve been passionate about affiliate marketing since 2000 when I started managing Handspring’s affiliate program.

Jesse Lakes, an affiliate marketer, stumbled on my blog about a month ago. I found out he wrote a HUGE and AMAZING eBook describing the ins and outs of the iTunes affiliate program.

It’s called Mastering the iTunes Affiliate Program.

It’s made up of 9 chapters and 162 pages. It is full of great information.

This eBook would be very helpful to you if:

• You’re an iPhone app developer and wondering if/how you can make additional money using the iTunes affiliate program. Did you know you can use affiliate links in your mobile ads, your links back to iTunes from your app, and from your website? This eBook help you understand how to pursue that.
• You’re an affiliate marketer struggling to understand the iTunes program. Say you’ve got a website that is full of great content about music or you have an iPhone app review website. You can link to iTunes and earn a 5% commission on anything those users buy for 72 hours.

This eBook will give you a ton of helpful information.

Here are some of the chapters I think you’ll find especially helpful:

Chapter 1 – Introduction

This chapter gives you the necessary background to understand the rest of the eBook. Jesse explains affiliate programs in general, the iTunes program, and all the high level things you should understand about how Apple runs their affiliate program.

Chapter 2 – Get into the program

Because Apple gets so many people applying to their program, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle or get your application denied.

So in Chapter 2, Jesse explains things like:

• A plan of attack (page 19),
• How to apply (page 20), and
• What to do if denied (page 25)

In this chapter Jessie gives you a list of possible reasons you may be denied.

Chapters 3-6

These 4 chapters are by far my favorite. Jesse walks you through:

• Linking methods (banners, text links, etc)
• Link creation tools (Link Builder Tool, Link Maker Tool, and more)
• Reporting (especially helpful because Linkshare’s reporting is somewhat confusing)
• Tracking (more in depth tracking methods like Linkshare’s Signature Program)

Chapter 8 – Best Practices

Chapter 8 gives you in depth best practices for a bunch of different areas of the iTunes program. You’ll find over 20 different best practices that you should consider as you use the iTunes program.

In Summary

So that’s it. If you’re in any way connected to iTunes, I highly recommend this book.

Learn more about the Mastering iTunes eBook.

About Jesse

Jesse now works in affiliate marketing for Apple. Before that Jesse wrote a HUGE eBook describing the ins and outs of the iTunes affiliate program.

By the way…did I mention that Jesse did such a great job with this book that it eventually got him a job at Apple!

I talk to a lot of companies about affiliate marketing. For those not familiar, an affiliate program is a program where you pay partners for sending you sales or leads.

Companies like Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, and many others all have internet affiliate programs.

But the truth of the matter is that they don’t work. I repeat, they don’t work (in bold to emphasize how firmly I believe this). 

Top 10 Reasons Affiliate Programs Don’t Work

In David Letterman style, here are the top 10 reasons you should definitely stay away from affiliate programs.

#10 The concept is way too simple to work
“No one would sell our goods on a commission only basis.”

#9    It’ costs too much to get started
“I’d rather hire sales people with a salary, medical benefits, and company cars.”

#8    We don’t have someone to manage it
“Because there aren’t LOTS of companies out there to outsource to.”

#7   The revenue potential is too low
“I’ve heard an affiliate program might only increase my revenue by 10-20%.”

#6   I’ll have to give up too much in margin
“I’d rather pay 15% to our agency for awareness, than 15%  to an affiliate for a sale.”

#5   It seems so risky
“I’d rather bet it all on a superbowl commercial with a sock puppet.”

#4   There are other more cost effective ways to get sales
“Let’s hire an Elvis impersonator and hit the trade show circuit.”

#3   I can’t control my marketing messages
“Like I can on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media websites.”
 
#2   I don’t want 1,000’s of commission only sales people
“They may make my in-house sales team look bad.”

Drum roll…and the #1 reason not to launch an affiliate program
#1   I don’t want to grow my business!!!
“I like my job and don’t want to risk getting promoted.”

NOTE: If you missed the sarcasm above I’m sorry .

All kidding aside, affiliate programs work. Try em, you’ll like em.

Photo Credit: cesarastudillo

I am both an affiliate and affiliate manager.  Playing these two very different roles, gives me a sense of what affiliates look for when evaluating programs.  Unfortunately, many affiliate programs are just average when it comes to helping their affiliates be successful. For the sake of this post, I’m puttin on my affiliate hat.

Here are some elements I find in stellar affiliate programs.

The Bottom Line

It’s so basic.  Can I make money with your program?  Will the time I put into it reap rewards? An affiliate manager should put themself in the affiliate’s shoes and run the numbers before they launch a program.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What can I afford to pay my affiliates?
• Will they earn enough per click to make it worth their while?
• Is there a competitor’s affiliate program that they’ll make more money promoting?
• If I were an affiliate, could I make money promoting this product/service?

Here are some quick numbers comparing two fictitious programs:

These are not real companies or numbers, but any good affiliate will be running various scenarios and any good affiliate manager should as well.

Many companies share earnings per click via Commission Junction, but I prefer to talk to the affiliate manager directly about my plans and ask them what types of conversion rates I might expect.  I look to run tests with companies that will share data with me on the front end.

Account Management

There are two main things I look for in an affiliate manager. 

1. Extreme helpfulness – I want answers quickly. I want someone who goes the extra mile. I’m spending my time and money promoting their product.  If they don’t give me quick, helpful answers, then there are others out there that will.
2. More than just pat answers – An account manager doesn’t have to have all the answers, but it sure makes a difference when they understand their business AND affiliate marketing.  I like an exchange of information.  If I’ve got 5 ideas on how to promote their product, I want honest, knowledgeable feedback that will save me valuable time and help me get to profitability with their program as soon as possible. 

Tools

I could write a VERY long post about tools, but don’t have time for that now.  I will say that tools are very important for affiliates.  Let  me give two examples.

Campaign Tools - If I want to create links to the 25 different categories in your website and I end up having to do this by hand, that’s a waste of my time.  A data feed or a link building tool is what I need.

Reporting – Reporting is so key when it comes to working with an affiliate program.  For example, if I promote a program like Shoe World above using 100 keywords, I need to be able to know exactly which keywords drove sales and which did not.   Otherwise I’m spending money with no connection to where I’m making it.  Even big programs, like iTunes, don’t always offer that level of tracking.  I find that unacceptable.

So there you have it.  A few of the common strengths that I find in the affiliate programs I eagerly promote.

So who are some of those programs?  My two favorites in this regards are StubHub and HomeGain.

Perhaps I’ll get to writing about these 2 programs more later. 

Are there any programs out there you find exceptional?

Are there any keys to great affiliate programs you think I’ve missed?