Three Things That Separate a Good Affiliate Manager From a Bad One


Your affiliate manager sucks. I'm saying this because most affiliate managers do, and after dealing with over a dozen different affiliate managers from various networks over the last two years I have learned one thing: none of these people know a darn thing about how to make money as an affiliate. In fact, most affiliate managers are marketing majors out of university or college and are simply in the position because it has "manager" in the title. Not all, but most.

Don't get me wrong- there are plenty of affiliate managers that knew nothing about this industry or how it works before they became a manager that are doing well today. There are many that can talk SEO and PPC like the best of them, but those affiliate managers are hard to find. Why? Because they are always tied up with their affiliates. As soon as a company realizes that they have a golden opportunity with a well-liked affiliate manager they tend to bombard that affiliate manager with as many new affiliates as they can. The result? Saturation. The affiliate manager has more affiliates and more action than they know what to do with and, having not necessarily had experience in the affiliate marketing industry before, they don't know where to focus their efforts.

It's a sad reality, and it happens quite frequently. But this also truly showcases the differences between a good affiliate manager and a poor one.


  1. A good affiliate manager is able to divide their time up - All affiliates, be they the top performers or the bottom feeders, will need a few words with their affiliate manager every now and then. A bad affiliate manager won't dedicate the time necessary to staying in contact with their affiliates, and as a result the affiliate will either perform poorly or jump ship to another network that has the time to communicate with them. Communication is the driving force behind any affiliate relationship, so if you're an affiliate manager reading this make sure to communicate with your affiliates.

  2. A good affiliate manager has a good grasp of all of the campaigns available through their network- The network that I represent has over 500 different campaigns, but I make sure that I take a few minutes every day to familiarize myself with any new campaigns, their payouts, and their conversion ratio over time. Being able to recommend a campaign to my affiliates is important as my affiliates turn to me to recommend campaigns that are tailored to their websites and will perform well.

  3. A good affiliate manager will know who should run what - No matter how many affiliates they have (be it 50 or 500), a good affiliate manager will know which sites should run which ads. This is something that only a bit of intuition and experience can yield, so don't be surprised if your affiliate manager doesn't know which direction to go or how to help you.
    4. Do you have a good affiliate manager? If so, great! Communicate with them and work with them to make as much money as possible. Remember, business is business regardless of where you sit on the playing field.

    Cameron Martel is an affiliate manager with OurFreeStuff.net and has been an active affiliate for over four years. You can reach Cameron anytime via AIM at "cmartelcdnspnsrs".

    Source: www.isnare.com