A virtual network of salespeople – how to build it with an affiliate program

A virtual network of salespeople that actively works for your brand is the goal of many online store owners. It’s a goal that can be achieved with the help of an affiliate program.

An affiliate program is cooperation

As the name suggests, an affiliate program is designed to enable collaborative partnerships between independent entities, where each party benefits. In our case, these are advertisers (online stores), publishers (all kinds of websites and online services that want to promote these stores in exchange for a commission on the products sold), and the affiliate network, which enables this cooperation through its affiliate platform.

E-commerce is growing rapidly and everything indicates that this will remain the case for a long time. There is no shortage of ways to promote online stores, but by the time we test them all and decide which are the most profitable, we will have lost a lot of time and money. That’s why it’s best to start with those methods that carry the lowest risk or are completely risk-free. One such method is having a virtual network of salespeople (a network of online publishers) with whom we share a commission on sales.

Affiliate program — a virtual network of salespeople

Publishers who decide to participate in an affiliate program become virtual salespeople, because they receive commissions on transactions completed in the online store thanks to their efforts. Publishers include various types of niche websites, coupon and deal sites, cashback services, price comparison engines, product search engines, owners of mailing lists, bloggers, YouTubers, and users of all kinds of social media: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Snapchat — in other words, a diverse base of users eager to collaborate!

The advertiser creates an affiliate program, to which they can either invite publishers themselves or leave this task to the affiliate network, while they focus on other areas of running an online business. The affiliate network continuously grows its base with new, attractive publishers, whom it invites and engages in actively promoting the offers available in the affiliate programs.

How to launch an affiliate program

When launching an affiliate program on an affiliate platform, the advertiser is immediately connected with publishers that are a good match for them. In addition, affiliate networks are constantly acquiring new publishers and websites to work with, which allows the affiliate program to continuously grow.

As part of the cooperation with the network, the advertiser is assigned a dedicated account manager for the program, who handles any issues and questions coming from publishers and also advises on which tools to use in order to increase sales generated through publisher partnerships. As for settlements, the advertiser receives a single collective invoice once a month and doesn’t have to worry about making payments to each publisher individually.

How to choose the right affiliate network?

There are several billing models in performance marketing, but in the context of sales the two main ones are Cost Per Sale and Cost Per Lead. For the advertiser, it is important to work with a network that has a clearly defined operating model aligned with the goal they want to achieve.

If an advertiser runs an online store and wants to increase sales in exchange for a commission on each sale (Cost Per Sale model), they should choose a network that specializes precisely in this model. In such a case, the affiliate network focuses on acquiring publishers who have experience in CPS or have the potential to deliver results in this model. webePartners specializes in this type of affiliate campaign billing. With us, you will find over 20,000 publishers who want to earn commission on sales.

To sum up, before you start working with a selected network, make sure it runs affiliate programs in the industry you operate in.