VIOLETDOLOR

No, no. It’s not what you think. I haven’t had an actual baby.

Ever had that feeling? When a project becomes so personal, you treat it like it’s your own site? Your own child? Well I feel exactly that way. Please welcome to the world my new bundle of joy to the world: The EuromedOnline Affiliate Program

Setting up a new affiliate program is not that easy. I can manage an existing program with my eyes closed. If an affiliate program has been running for about a year, and you have several affiliates in your network, it will all boil down to relationship building. But starting a new one from scratch, now that’s a totally different story.

The Birth Pains

First, there was the issue of licensing. As the program manager, it is my responsibility to find out whether the online drugstore has proper documentation. Part of the development process is the creation of the terms and conditions. Legal mumbo-jumbo aside, it’s quite impossible to use a pro-forma T&C for a pharma program. So I had to bleed my brain dry to find every possible angle that could cause a snag in our operations. After finishing the draft, we had to run it with the lawyer to make sure everything is tight.

Second came the problem of the affiliate network. To the big networks (LinkShare and CJ, for instance), a pharmacy program was simply untouchable. It becomes a truly bloody affair when they find out that the company is selling prescription medication. I was already dead-set at running the program through the big networks when they suddenly decided that our services and theirs just don’t match. So off I went to look for other networks. It took me another week and about a hundred calls before I found one that would even take a look at my case.

Three weeks later, we were still having issues with the campaign approval. It all went back to the fact that VIPPS certification is a must. So there I was, with a well-designed affiliate program that was running through a decent network. I ought to be happy I was able to pull it through…I would be, had there not been a catch. The campaign was tagged as private.

This means that while I have access to the network’s affiliate base, they will not introduce the program via their newsletter or any other channel. The affiliates won’t even know the campaign exists unless I invite them to view the details.

So off I went combing through each affiliate site that matched some keywords that I was targeting. Some were a bit off and others were just spam sites. By the third day of the campaign, I was able to invite 200 affiliates.

Silly me. I thought I could sit back and concentrate on developing creatives and the monthly newsletter. Towards the end of the month, however, I began to realize my fatal mistake. Affiliates don’t respond to an invitation that fast. My manual search did not pay off. The campaign has been running a full month and I only had 8 affiliates to show for.

A Little Experimentation Never Hurt Anyone

Seeing how we had a very rocky start, I knew that marketing required a little creativity. Here’s where I put my SEO knowledge to the test. I’ve tried a couple of viral and link building tactics:

• First on my list was affiliate directory submission. There’s actually quite a lot of directories that focus on affiliate program (although a lot of them require reciprocal linking – which really really annoys me). So far it’s brought traffic to the site. No sign ups from them yet though.
• Next card up my sleeve: the viral marketing angle. I’ve been through forums and answers channels. I’ve posted over at “Make Money Online” blogs. Again, a good traffic source.
• Last night, I tried email marketing. I put in a short piece to introduce our affiliate program in our monthly newsletter with the hopes that a couple of our subscribers happen to be webmasters. It’s still too early to tell how the results will turn out.
• Tomorrow, I’ll try an old link building trick known as link begging or direct targeting (there are probably other names out there that I don’t know about). Anyway, what it entails is sending out individual emails to health-related blogs/websites or shopping sites asking them if they are interested in the program. Sort of spammy, but I’ll risk it. Afterall, I could whip up a pretty decent letter with my copywriting background.

Clearly, this program is not going to make my life easy. But I am really excited to see it grow.

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