3 Steps to Communicate With Your Merchant and Earn More Money

These days it’s not enough to place web banners or text links on your website in hopes that someone will make a purchase through you’re affiliate link. In order to increase your sales, save yourself time and potential stress, you need to communicate with your affiliate merchant.

Affiliate marketing has become even more challenging, and one of the reasons for this is consumers are getting smarter. Gone are the days when a being a lazy marketer still made you money. You need to be on top of your game in order to keep ahead of your competition and satisfy your customers; the easiest way to do this is to communicate and work with your merchant. Who else knows the product or service better the person who created it?

Why contact the merchant?

By contacting the merchant and letting him know that you are doing to promote their products, you can then gain advice and strategies that are being used by other successful affiliates and the merchant himself.

Over 90 percent of the sales generated for nearly all affiliate programs are made by 5 percent of the affiliates. When you contact the merchant you are showing him that you want to be among the top earners and are dedicated and enthusiastic to learn how. Good merchants take this enthusiasm to heart and provide you with information and resources needed to boost sales; some may even increase your commission rates.

Dealing with merchants

Once you email the merchant leave about a week for response. The merchant may be away, ill or have a family emergency. If you have not heard from the merchant in week try again. Ideally, the merchant should respond to you within a week or so. If you are without a response after two weeks, you may want to rethink the partnership. A lack of communication is often a predictor of other business problems such as payment issues.

Be sure that the merchant follows through on his promises. Many merchants seduce affiliates with the promise of high payout rates, knowing that very few affiliates actually achieve this. You want to avoid working with these types of merchants as this is not a good way to do business.

The art of communication

Ensure that you are professional when communicating with the merchant. Your email should be free of emoticons and slang, unless you and the merchant have established a casual tone. When first contacting the merchant do not use, “Hi, I’m John” use "Dear" and the correct spelling of the name. Some merchants are not familiar with the casual approach that has leaked onto the internet and prefer “Dear” as the salutation.

Don’t shy away from offering suggestions of how the merchant can improve their program. Merchants respect and appreciate good feedback. Good affiliates are hard to come by, wise merchants understand this, and will treat them with respect, assist them with resources, and be prompt with payments. Wise affiliates are the same way, and understand that merchants want quality promotion and sales performance.

Once you’ve worked with the merchant for a while you will get a firm grasp on how they do things. As a new affiliate it’s important to communicate with your merchant. They will not only show you how things work, but they will work with you to help you achieve success.

Jeff Casmer is an award winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His "Top Ranked" Internet Affiliate Programs Directory gives you all the information you need to Earn Money Working Online in the 21st century.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Casmer