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This is Part 4 of the Create Your Own Affiliate Program Series. For the first 3, see the links at the bottom of this post…

Another big question that I get when it comes to creating an affiliate program, is “where will I find my affiliates?”

Unfortunately, most people get so worked up over getting some big name, big list partner on board that they miss out on the most obvious answer.

More on that in a second.

But first, let me say this: don’t let the question stop you from creating your product, and setting up your affiliate program.

Because the truth is, without your product DONE, and your affiliate program FUNCTIONING, it won’t matter where you look for your affiliates. If they have nothing to promote, and they can’t trust that you’ll be able to keep track of who they send you, they won’t give you a second thought.

That of course is perhaps an over-exaggeration. But if you’re not creating an affiliate program because you don’t know where your affiliates will come from – you’re never going to grow your online business as fast as you could.

So, where do you find affiliates?

If you use the hosted affiliate programs, like Clickbank and PayDotCom (see Part 3), then your product can be listed in their marketplaces. You can also post your affiliate sign up page on various affiliate marketing community sites and forums.

But the #1 place to find affiliates in my book is right under your nose.

Let me explain what I mean…

When people buy your product, they’ll do so because they believe it will be an appropriate solution for them at a fair price. No matter how much you spend (time or money) on copywriting, someone else’s personal recommendation can be the biggest factor on their purchase decision.

So typically, your best affiliate is going to be a satisfied customer who already knows the benefit of what you offer.

This brings up a point I learned from my mentor, Mike Filsaime. In his classic internet marketing book, Butterfly Marketing, he introduced something called the Vx factor. Basically, it’s a variable that predicts how quickly your site will grow (or die off). A site with a Vx factor of 1.0 will maintain itself, but not grow. Anything less will eventually die off, and higher will always expand.

To put it in regular language, if you do have an affiliate program, and 1 out of every 10 members refers an additional member to your site, while nobody else ever leaves, then your Vx is 1.1. With 100 members during month 1, your month 2 would be 110. In month 3, you’d have 121, etc.

How is this accomplished?

First, by making sure you have something worthy of people’s recommendations.

Second, by having an instant affiliate program in place. This means that as soon as someone is a free subscriber or customer to your site, they shouldn’t have to do anything else to be an affiliate.

You’ll notice this happening on all my sites.

For example, let’s say you want to learn some quick tips about how to do a teleseminar. You can learn from my 7 Secrets To Success With Teleseminars intro course for free at TeleseminarFormula.com. Whether you take the full course or not, you’ll notice next to your download of the audio and transcripts is your own unique affiliate link.

This allows you to recommend my free training to others, and help other people learn what you learned. But on top of that, if your friend/colleague buys my full course, you earn up to 75% commissions on that.

And you didn’t have to jump through extra hoops, or even buy anything, to have that opportunity.

This type of instant affiliate system turns your free and paid customers into your affiliates automatically. And it’s my favorite way to put your online promotions on autopilot.

To make this happen, I use the Butterfly Marketing software. You can get Butterfly Marketing 2.0 for free on March 24. More importantly, when you go to that site now, you can get a free copy of the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript right away, which teaches more about the Vx factor and how to grow your site through an effective affiliate program. It’s my favorite ebook in my library of internet marketing.

So forget about finding the big affiliates to promote your site for now. Focus first on rewarding those that already know, like, and trust you – your existing customers.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. While it’s true that you can have some great pay days connecting with big JV partners, it’s difficult to get on their radar. And even if they like what you offer, they may not be able to “squeeze” in a promotion for you for months down the road. So give your existing customers the power to promote the stuff they love.

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