The Virtues of Good Communication

Hello again ! after my last post when i took a little detour in to rantsville, you may be glad to know that i am back on track with this one. After all it is what this blog is meant to be about. But be warned, it may happen again! The fact is, I think I am turning into a bit of a grumpy old git!
In this post I want to emphasise the importance of good communication. Communication should be very near the top of your list of strategies that will help to make your business a success. It is of primary importance that you contact your affiliates on a regular and personal basis. Your affiliates are the life blood of your future prosperity.
It is essential that your affiliates get all the training, backing and help that they need. And, it is equally important that those affiliates that could harm your business are weeded out. Let me explain.
Put simply, contacting your affiliates shows them that you care about the partnership. It is really poor business practice to spend time, effort and money trying to attract affiliates to your site and then cast them adrift is the uncertain and often daunting sea of on-line marketing. Don’t assume that your affiliates will contact you if they need anything. They will of course , but often only to iron out some problem that could have been avoided with proper back-up and training. Why have the hassle ! They don’t need it and neither do you.
Get into the habit of asking your affiliates if you can help them in any way. Let the buzz words, “encouragement” & “motivation” be the focus of your communications. There are many ways that this can be achieved. Personal e.mails, newsletters, promotional letters, free give-aways all help to build relationships. You should always try to make your affiliates feel that they have a very important part to play in your business. Encourage feedback. Positive feedback is a very welcome addition to your sales copy.

Contact with your affiliates also allows you to monitor whether they are promoting your product/services as you would wish. You know by now how I feel about the many con artists that populate cyberspace. We should all do our very best to weed these out. Unfortunately many of these undesirables are attracted to affiliate programs and profit from using many underhanded and illegal tactics. Merchants are now expected to closely monitor the activities of their affiliates and could be held to account should these activities violate online etiquette or more importantly national and international law.
You can see from the forgoing why it is essential that you communicate with your affiliates and even try to personalise your contact as much as possible. This may at first seem a daunting prospect but most if not all of this can be outsourced if required. The most important things to remember are, always keep your lines of communication open with the affiliate and always provide quality training and back-up. Make this a part of your overall business strategy and success will follow.
I hope this brief posting is of some help. Its just common sense really. Help your affiliates to help you and you will both reap the rewards.
Until next time, Nigel