GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 43 - February 2019

Think bigger picture Building a relationship takes time. It’s a matter of trust, and just like negotiating the first deal you get, building a sustainable relationship is very much like dating. It takes time to get to know a brand, to promote it, to commit to it. You just can’t dive right in and hope for the best. You don’t have to have a new brand in positions 1-5 on the top of your site from the get-go. Take your time and test things out when you get started; get to know one another. That particular brand may not actually convert as well as others do for you, so giving it the best exposure might not be the right thing to do for your business in the first few months of collaborating. I always suggest starting out with new affiliate managers by meeting halfway. Start with a reasonable revenue share and a limited spend and see how you get on. If you see good results, you can ramp it up. Doing this protects your first impressions and gets you to second base with opportunities to expand. There are so many variables for traffic when you start out, and both parties are taking a risk – be reasonable, and the affiliate manager will take you more seriously. It’s worth remembering that how you value your traffic is unknown to the operator until you actually deliver it. How you continue to deliver may change over time, so if you keep an open dialogue and a regular touch point to explain how you are driving traffic to your site, your affiliate manager can consider where and how they promote their brand on your portal for best results longer term. AFFILIATE SURVIVAL GUIDE G P W A t i m e s . o r g 40