Where are all the Affiliate Experts?

Hi all,

I'm having a really hard time finding people who specialize in taking care of affiliate programs & know all the ins & outs.

I've posted on all the boards in the help wanted section, I've posted on bidding sites & on Craig's List. I've even searching on Yahoo for companies & they were nuts wanting $85/hr.

There's been hardly any response from the other sites or the ones that have responded don't seem to want to do the work or aren't hungry for the job. I even had one who had such a HUGE ego tell me I don't need to hire someone, I can do it all inhouse. I told him I'll make my own decisions thank you very much. (no kidding, the owner making her own decisions).

One didn't even think part of her job was to bring in more affiliates LOL

I'm a small company & won't pay $20-85/hr. I mean really, I'm initially looking for 1-2 hrs. work just to get the software set up & make sure I launch ok, then down the road we'll see what happens.

One thing I do want is someone experienced as I'm slowly learning all the ins & outs of what it takes to run a program.

Can anyone refer someone to me. At this point I'm thinking about hiring someone very jr. & paying them to train themselves. This is nuts & I've been looking for a few wks. now. I had hired one person who was knowledgeable & then she didn't do the work.

Thanks for listening


Michelle

 

I run affiliate campains for clients ( as an affiliate manager ) and I also have my own affiliate sites.

I would be happy to talk to you. Please PM me.

 

Experts require expert wages

We're a small company as well and to go in for 1-2 hrs of work for less than, say $80 or $100 per hr, is not worth it.

Hire someone local, someone with experience, someone who takes an interest in your project, someone who is possibly willing to work for a percentage - if you offer it.

Set up an affiliate development rate - gives them an interest to get involved in your project.

 

Post the project on scriptlance.com see if anyone is interested. For the money you can not expect too much though

 

Hi Michele,

I have read this post and a coupole other forums and answered, but guess I will post the answer here too in case you didn't see it at the other ones.

I think one of the challenges you are facing is that qualified affiliate managers are hard to find and worth a lot. I know BIG affiliate programs, willing to pay BIG salaries that had to pay BIG money to headhunters for months before they were able to fill a position. PartnerCentric, my largest client and the leading outsourced affiliate management company pretty much hires up any good managers that are looking.

Sounds like you just need a part-time consultant to set you up and help get you going, and even though I am very well connected, I don't know anyone that does that. Most of the companies I know only do full outsourced management to the tune of 3-5K a month or more. I wish I knew of someone good who could help you out. I get lots of requests like yours and would like to be able to refer them somewhere.

Part of the reason AM consultants charge high is they are VERY in demand and there few that have all the required skills. The ones that do are very busy and are not usually available to do small consulting jobs.

I personally have to turn away over 90% of the potential clients that come to me because I'm so busy. Everyone else I try to refer biz to seems to be over booked too. No one that's any good in this biz would charge less than 75 an hour. If you just needed the software set up - maybe 75, but there's a whole lot more to launching a successful program than that. Copywriting, setting up appropriate systems, messaging, recruiting plan, marketing strategy and lots more.

If you want "good" it won't be cheap. If you want "cheap" it won't necessarily be good.

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

Outsource it to India?

 

That's the ticket! Will you are a HOOT!

 

Did anybody say India ?

 

or perhaps this one.. www.webworksfirst.com

just stumbled across this site and already been bookmarked.

great site..they have really good design on their portfolio

 

Makati City, Philippines.

 

just missed it.

 

I have to agree with this. This is an investment you're making in growing your business.

The old saying "it takes money to make money" really holds true in the business world. Think of it this way...you're starting an affiliate program to increase sales. If you could double, triple, etc your sales how much would that be worth to you? It's smart to want to keep costs low, but paying an extra few hundreds bucks now to gain expert guidance can save you major time/hassles/money down the road. The reasons good consultants get paid top dollar is because they make their clients a LOT of money.

I'm sorry that you're having trouble finding help, but you are working with an extremely limited budget. As others have mentioned it can cost more than $20 an hour just to have affiliate software installed (let alone get management/development help).


My recommendation would be to look at alternatives....Maybe that money can be better spent on other forms of advertising. Have you done an SEO? Have you worked on increasing your sales conversions? Is your web design up to date and professional looking? What other forms of marketing/promotions are you doing?


If you share your web address with us, you might get some great input that will help you further along the road to getting your affiliate program going.

 

Oh Geeze, I just saw these replies now. I don't believe I got the e-mail notifications. Is there something wrong w/ this site?

I just PMed you & thanks


Michelle

 

Hi Linda,

Sorry I never saw this post b4 or on any other board.

Sounds like this is an area of e-commerce that needs to be developed.

I'm shocked that with all the young blood out there no one is scrambling to get themselves into the market.

Is it b/c Affiliate programs are where SEO were years ago?

What makes an affiliate expert any different than a regular online marketer that doesn't charge that much?

What do all the small companies do b/c clearly they don't have the budget for $3-5k/month.

Sounds like someone needs to start a biz.

I really seriously think it would be cheaper to hire a marketing student & have them train themselves.

What do you think?

Thanks & I managed to the get the program launched & only 3 out of the 28 people waiting signed up LOL

Of course I want the Super Affiliates

Have a great wknd.


Michelle

 

I haven't posted on Scriptlance, but I have on Guru & Elance & I don't even consider anyone if they spam me their bid/resume/cover letter without even reading my job post or treating me like a human being, so that discounts many of the people who respond & not many responded to that job posting.

Thanks


Michelle

 

SEO just hired someone & they aren't even as expensive as an Affiliate Expert.

I'm not willing to pay someone $80/hr. just to answer a 5 minute e-mail & IMO that's just not good biz sense & I've been in businesses b4 that made money. I'm not a newbie.

Software didn't need to be installed, it just needed to be set up & that's done.

Clearly one has to have money to make money, that I agree with, I just don't think certain positions warrant being paid more than other positions & who says they are going to triple my income in X months & how much do I have to pay out to someone just to get that kind of increase? Obviously giving away $1,000 only to get back $1,000 just isn't good biz sense.

Also keep in mind that my area is niche which makes it harder to sell.

Yes my sites are up-to-speed - (www.exoticpublishing.com & www.becomeanescort.com)

I wasn't going to start the program until it was & I'm still not intending to go full hog on it until my e-book has been redone which could take another few months, depending on sales.

I'm trying to increase my sales conversions now, but I have to invest in a good tracking software, so that's on hold for the moment.

I do AdWords & am currently looking for someone to take that over b/c 2 people screwed it up & cost me money.

I've hired someone to go around to certain sites & drum up some sales, but that takes time & dedication & she's only been at it a few weeks.

I have to be very careful what I spend my marketing dollar on just as any other biz should.

I was looking for an online marketing exper. & came across someone, but he was more of an offline marketer than a very good online marketer.

So that about rounds it up.

Thanks & once again, sorry for the delay.

I hope I'm notified this time when there is a post to this thread


Michelle

 

When you have the expertise to do something like this professionally and effeciently you work for yourself

I'm not trying to be an ass, but if you don't anticipate your affiliate program bringing in 5k/month in sales, is it really worth the hassle? If your potential for online sales is low who is actually going to want to be an affiliate for it?

Super affiliates go where the largest demand is.. some of them are making over a million dollars a month. Where they can make 1,000's of sales a month or make $100/sale.

Now I've never actually looked into it (because I don't run a retail business) but have you checked out places like www.cj.com , www.shareasale.com and www.linkshare.com ?? I don't know if they do the setup for you...

Conclusion: You get what you pay for when it comes to any form of online marketing.

 

Actually I'll disagree.

You don't always get what you pay for, that's just something people tell everyone so we are given this illusion that something that costs more is worth more. Most of it can be brainwashing in fact.

Sometimes things are worth more & other times they are not.

That goes for anything from a tangible product to web design, to marketing or any product or service I've come across in my many years of paying for things. Only rarely do things stand up to be worth more b/c they cost more & that even goes for expensive restaurants. I'd rather go for a rest. that offers great home style cooking with an ok ambiance then a fancy rest. w/ high prices where people just go to be seen & that's across the board even back when when I had a lot of money.

I can fluctuate my rates for my e-books & services at any time I choose & that doesn't change what I know inside & can teach others or how much the e-book is worth b/c it was already written.

All it changes is how people perceive my service, whether I get a lot of sales, not as many or I'm greedy or not so greedy, depending on my expenses.

I don't believe people have to overcharge to make a good healthy income. IMO that's raping people of their money & this has nothing to do w/ what the market will bare, but rather how we feel about ourselves inside when we overcharge people for something we know isn't really worth what we are charging.

Businesspeople can be honest & ethical contrary to how some biz people have been labeled in the past.

Also I think a better way of doing biz is to figure out a way to charge people based on a sliding scale according to what they can afford. Companies with more money can afford more, smaller companies generally can't & so on.

I've seen horendous web sites that companies told me they paid BIG bucks for & I know they got totally ripped off.

As for whether I think I can pull in $5k per month? I have no idea. I'll wait & see what happens & how the numbers play out. Niche is niche & there's nothing that can change that. One thing I know, I'm still growing my concept, so there's definitely more to come.

Thanks


Michelle

 

Things are worth whatever a person is willing to pay.

Fancy restaurants offer (usually) better service, better tasting food and an overall higher standard. When this is done right, it's deffinently "worth" more.

Remember. Prices revolve around supply and demand. It is possible to hurt the industry by charging "too low"

That's a great way of looking at it. I wish you the best of luck. I would even consider joining the program, but the adult industry (like gambling) is out of my league

 

Hey, you must have really good high priced rests. where you live; which is??? LOL - your profile is empty

Here in Toronto I've only come across one rest. that served such good food that stood behind it's prices & the waitstaff wasn't pretentious which I find in most high priced places.

This is coming from a foodie

Unfortunately he hired a new chef & I'm afraid to go back & see what the food is like b/c I don't like having good food one night & mediocre the next.

But even Sidney Sheldon mentioned the rest. in his last book, so I was impressed LOL

So do most affiliates shy away from the adult industry? And why?

I love dogs btw, not that you care LOL, but I thought I'd just throw that in there.

Dying to get one soon.

Thanks for your well wishes & I wish you all the best toooo


Michelle

P.S. Sorry I had to delete your post b/c it says there are too many smileys in the post LOL - first time ever seeing that b4.