Q: I would like to start my own affiliate marketing business. Will you please tell me how to go about it?
A: I’m not clear whether you are interested in becoming an affiliate or a merchant. If it’s an affiliate you’d like to be, I’d suggest reading my recent post on becoming a super affiliate.
So, if you’d like to become a merchant, I just happened to have written a book on the subject called Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. It’s available in paperback and as an ebook.
This book was written over the last six weeks of 2000, so there are some dated references and current issues that are not tackled. But it will help you with the nuts and bolts of setting up and launching an affiliate program.
As a supplement, I created a site called AffiliateManager.net and this site includes articles, resources, an affiliate managers only forum, monthly newsletter, and other items to help get an affiliate program off the ground or to jumpstart an existing program.
I also publish a report called AffStat that benchmarks the various aspects of the affiliate marketing industry, based on data from interviews with over 130 affiliate managers.
Finally, this June I am running a conference called Affiliate Summit 2005 in Las Vegas. This is an opportunity to learn a whole lot about running an affiliate program, recruiting affiliates, networking, meeting with affiliate marketing vendors, etc.
OK, back to our regularly scheduled program. 😉