Top 3 Reasons Your Business Needs Affiliates - Now! by Lynn Terry

If you don't yet have an affiliate program for your products or services, now is the time to consider it. If you do have an affiliate program, but you're not actively working with the program and you're affiliates, you're really missing out.

Affiliates can be a huge asset to your company. And it doesn't matter if you're a small one-man operation or a large corporation. Here are the top three reasons you should consider working with affiliates to sell your products or services online:

1. Affiliates Cost Nothing Upfront. You Only Pay For Results.

Merchants often question the cost of affiliates, and whether they want to split profits in the form of commissions. Your affiliates are your marketing team, not an expense. Instead of paying an in-house marketing team for hours worked, you pay affiliates based on their performance only.

And guess what? Seasoned affiliates will out-perform an in-house marketing team all day long!

Affiliates will reach customers for you that you may not have reached otherwise, so your affiliates are actually generating more revenue for you instead of costing you money. And if they're not generating revenue for you... they're not costing you a dime!

2. Affiliates Create Awesome Buzz About You and Your Products!

Your top affiliates will go out of their way to talk about your products. They will create blog posts, start discussions on forums, start engaging social media conversations, and even take out paid advertising across the internet - on their own dime.

All of this buzz coming from a variety of sources is much more valuable to your company than you talking about your own product.

And it's not only buzz, it's also seen as "social proof" by your target market. When you talk, it's advertising. When they talk, it's buzz and social proof. And since you only pay based on performance (ie sales!) it's the best free advertising you can possibly get.

3. Affiliates Will Increase Your Market Reach Dramatically

Most business owners are limited by time or money, if not both. You can only achieve so much on your own, even if you employ a team of geeks. That being the case, you generally target a very specific sector of your market and spend most of your resources there.

Affiliates, on the other hand, will reach all the nooks & crannies throughout the internet. They fill in the gaps. Each affiliate will have their own approach, or target different sub-niches of your market, allowing you to effectively reach customers you may not have otherwise.

Each top affiliate you recruit will increase your reach exponentially.

As you can see, affiliates can be a huge asset to your business. Consider setting up an affiliate program right away. Or if you already have one, consider giving your affiliate program more time and attention. Working with affiliates is one of the fastest and easiest ways to take your business to the next level.

One of the problems most merchants experience after setting up an affiliate program... is getting affiliates. In my next post, I'll share ways for you to find and recruit active affiliates that will promote your products.

About Lynn Terry

Lynn has been working from home and online for more than 14 years, and is both a super affiliate and a professional blogger. Subscribe at http://www.ClickNewz.com for creative ideas and actionable tips you can use today!