Hey guys! First let me say thanks for offering to help with my new Affiliate Program. There are only a few of you, so we will be working closely together to see if we can get this right. This program should allow you to make some extra money by posting information about my products on your website, Facebook or social media.
Up until a few years ago, I was quite skeptical about affiliate programs. I was contacted by Bhphoto.com who invited me to try out their Affiliate Program and because it didn’t cost me anything I figured why the heck not. Their program offers 2.5% on all purchases made from customers coming from my site. My first check was for about $34. I currently get a paycheck from them for $100-200 a month. I was also later invited to become an affiliate with Youtube.com, and these monthly payments are in the $300-500 range. While it isn’t a TON of money, it has been enough to pay for new photography goodies.
To really make the most of this, you need to have a few things in line:
1. A Paypal account. This is how you will be paid each month (assuming you have at least $50 coming to you).
2. A basic knowledge of “copy and pasting” simple HTML code into the right places on your websites.
3. A basic knowledge of marketing. We need to get the ads in front of the right people, namely photographers. We want to find pockets of customers who are most likely to use this and get them the opportunity to see the product in action, sample images, etc. It is going to be a huge help if you have your own photography blog or website, or can at least get your ads in front of those groups of readers.
4. It is important that you do not abuse the affiliate program, if you send out spam, paste links everywhere, and make my company look bad in anyway, I will delete your affiliate account. We do not want to harass anyone with Spam.
If you follow these rules, you should make some really good money.
It does however take a little bit of work and there is a learning curve, but the best part about it is once you have the links set up and getting a lot of views, the rest is up to me!
Getting an Affiliate System set up is not easy. I went through 3 different companies and none of them could offer what I was looking for, there were a lot of coding issues or they also wanted ridiculous signup and subscription fees.
The solution we are going with is called “JROX”, which is essentially a plug-in for my current store. There are some HUGE advantages of this, namely, no subscription fees for anyone, which means I can afford to pay my affiliates more. I am starting it off at 5% of the product list price, which in actuality is really closer to 7% because unless I am mistaken your commission is including postage. Just know this is a very good Affiliate Commission. Once we get rolling, I will be offering monthly bonuses to those who sell the most.
To get signed up and started, you will need to sign up for an Affiliate Membership in my JROX plugin:
Here is the link:
Michael The Maven Affiliate Program
Once you are signed up shoot me an email:support(at)michaelthemaven.com – my assistant Kate will have to approve it, and then you will have access to Banner codes and Text Links which you can post to start getting click-throughs. I am using little banners for now, but we can really make any type or size we want.
What I am interested in learning is:
1. How to make the process more simple for new affiliates signing up?
2. What types of Banners and ads can I create for you to be more successful?
3. Where is confusion occurring and how can we simplify things?
4. What else can I do to make it easier for you to make money?
I am sure you will have more suggestions and input which I would l love to hear as we go. While this is still a test, you will be paid 5% for all sales coming from your own traffic. (Includes everything on the MichaelTheMentor.com/store page, unfortunately, I cannot do it with the iPhone Apps).
Here are the steps to get started:
1. Sign Up, then email me to let me know you have. I will activate your account.
2. Once Approved, login and access the Banners and Links you wish to promote.
3. Copy and Paste this code into your websites, and social media.
There are going to be several ways to tweak the ads / leverage sales with Articles, etc, and I will be giving more tips on this later. I know some of you will have questions after we get to this point, feel free to email me anytime with the subject line as “MA Affiliate”.
Thank you so much for offering to help with the test! I sincerely hope this translates into a mutually beneficial relationship for the both of us!
Best wishes!
Michael
Once you are logged into JROX. Access the “Affiliate Tools” Button:
Next Click on the type of Ad you would like to run. I have several Small Banner Ads already made which link to specific products.
When you select Banner Ad, the admin will show you which product you are promoting, as well as the code you need to copy and paste into your website. You unique Affiliate ID is already embedded into this code.
Adding Text Links – Ideal for articles, Facebook, or Twitter posts!
There are a few different ways to add text links, the first you will notice in your Affiliate Admin, right above the Marketing Tools section:
This link you see in your admin is your specific Affiliate Link. Any traffic that clicks on that link to go to the Store is being tracked for sales that are generated. You can post it just like that into your Facebook or Twitter and they will be taken to the Main DVD store Page.
A second way to add text links is through the Text Ads Button:
I will be adding more of these soon. These are essentially different landing pages for my products, all you need to do is Copy and Paste the Code into an HTML friendly site, and the link will be set up. Note that whatever is highlighted in Blue here, is what the link will appear as:
If you are feeling Daring, you can even change the title of the link (which appears in blue) as long as you are ONLY changing what is between those two marks: >……….<.
There are a TON of great little tools in your Admin, which will allow you to track click throughs, sales, and commissions:
My plan is to pay on the first of each month! (For now, only by Paypal). Once we get set up and get things going, I would like to offer a “Check” Service as well.
Please feel free to post comments and questions below!
