How to Start an Affiliate Program? (51 Point Checklist)

1. Who are your customers?
2. Who are your competitors?
3. Research affiliate programs run by your competitors
   1. Public or private program?
   2. Which software/network used?
   3. How do affiliates join?
   4. Commission type and amount?
   5. How much revenue do affiliate drive?
4. Setup your goals?
   1. Who are your affiliates?
   2. How many affiliates do you want?
   3. How much revenue are you expecting per affiliate?
   4. Target a percentage of revenue through affiliate
5. Do your calculations (use Excel)
   1. Total affiliates expected
   2. Commissions paid out
   3. Total affiliate revenue
   4. Total profit
   5. Expenses
   6. Net Profit
6. Setup a budget
   1. Amount spend for attracting new affiliates
   2. Amount/Percentage spend for affiliate payouts
   3. Amount spend for prizes, bonuses, incentives
7. Choose your affiliate management platform
   1. Affiliate network
   2. In house affiliate management
   3. Outsourced program management
8. Choose your commission model
   1. PPC (Pay Per Click)
   2. PPS (Pay Per Sale)
   3. PPL (Pay Per Lead)
9. Fix the payment terms
   1. Minimum amount for payout
   2. Payment cycle NET15, NET30, NET60
   3. Payment methods
10. Finalize the commission amount
    1. Fixed amount
    2. Percentage of sale
11. Create a search marketing policy
12. Create a trademark usage policy for affiliates
13. Create an “Affiliate Program” page on your website
14. Create a policy for fraud orders
15. Create a policy for refunded orders
16. Create an “Affiliate Agreement” merging all these policies
17. Create promo banners and logos that affiliates can use
18. Create reprint articles, brandable reports and emails promos
19. Invite your own customers to join your affiliate program
20. Introduce the affiliate program in your company’s newsletter
21. Announce the affiliate program on your blog
22. Promote it to your Fans and Followers (Facebook and Twitter)
23. Reach out to affiliates directly via affiliate forums
24. Submit your affiliate program to different affiliate directories
25. Seek joint venture partners and contact them individually
26. Use affiliate recruitment agencies
27. Approve affiliate applications manually to filter the genuine ones
28. Send a welcome email to all your affiliates
29. Provide them direct contact details of their affiliate manager
30. Send weekly/monthly newsletter to your affiliate base announcing new promotions and suggesting ways to promote your product
31. Run incentive based contests for affiliates
32. Provide them tools and tips to increase conversion rate
33. Communicate with affiliates personally
34. Provide promotional material
    1. Articles
    2. Banners and Logos
    3. Emails
35. Special treatment for high performing affiliates
    1. Special coupons
    2. Promotional emails
    3. Brochures
36. Keep a close watch on daily clicks, conversions and EPC
37. Match conversions in your affiliate program with your CRM
38. Reject conversions that are marked as fraud in your CRM
39. Keep a close watch on traffic: countries, referring URL’s promotional methods
40. Check exact payments (Keep in mind refunds, fraud transactions)
41. Pay affiliates on time based on payment cycle
42. Incentives, bonuses can be paid out based on payment cycle
43. Track all sales by affiliates
44. Track conversion rates of all affiliates
45. Learn from their sales process and improve and marketing channels
46. Prepare a list of blacklisted affiliates
47. Evaluate current affiliate promo materials
48. Replace expired materials if required
49. On-going market analysis of competitors
50. Drive new affiliates consistently
51. Keep your affiliates happy
    1. Prizes
    2. Contests
    3. Increased Payouts