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Hello Scott,
What’s the best way to contact other websites to propose an affiliate relationship? Is there a form letter that you use?
Thanks,
Thomas A.
Atlanta, GA
p.s. Thanks so much for writing Internet Riches! I think it’s a much better investment than those list-building clubs for $97 + a month.
SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER:
Dear Thomas,
It's not clear from your question if you're asking about creating an affiliate relationship as a Promoter or as a Product Supplier so I'll tackle both angles for you:
- Affiliate Partnership as a Promoter: Most people become involved with affiliate programs because they want to promote the products offered by other companies in exchange for a sales commission (aka an "affiliate bounty").
If you are interested in doing this with a company whose products you like, start by checking their web site. If they have an affiliate program, it will surely be listed on their site. Often you can enroll right away online.
If they are not publicly displaying an affiliate program, you can try emailing or calling them. Sometimes companies offer affiliate programs only on a private basis to selected partners. These partners are offered affiliate deals because they have appropriately targeted audiences, a large marketing reach, or other special characteristics that encourage the company to partner with them.
If the company is not offering either a public or private affiliate program, there's not much chance you alone will encourage them to do so. Operating an affiliate program can be expensive and time-consuming. In that case, I'd recommend finding another company with similar products that you can promote or (long shot!) try organizing a campaign amongst fellow enthusiasts to educate that company's marketing team about the efficacy of affiliate advertising.
- Affiliate Program as a Product Supplier: In this case perhaps you have a product or service that you would like to promote via an affiliate program. In particular, you have identified a web site or other marketing partner that you would like to see promoting your goods to their audiences. My answer here is (as you suggested) to contact them.
But, no, I don't have a form letter to offer here. In fact, I'd recommend against a form letter. The web is increasingly about authenticity and real relationships due to the worldwide personal contact enabled by email, blogs, blog comments, RSS, Twitter, etc. I'd write a "real" letter to the company you've targeted and follow up with emails, phone calls, etc. to get their attention.
After all, you are proposing a situation where you would both make more money - any sensible business person will be happy to have that conversation with you.
Great to hear you thinking creatively about how to grow your business online!
Scott Fox
What marketing techniques are working for you online? Will you share your "case studies" with me?
For my next book, I'm looking for "success stories" of online marketing efforts that helped small companies grow their businesses.
I'm particularly interested in successful demonstrations of marketing techniques including:
As I profiled in Internet Riches, I'm ideally looking for entrepreneurial companies - so not consultants, PR firms, or web design shops - although clients of those firms are fine. And the growth brought by the campaign or techniques should be quantifiable enough to support a “case study” approach, please.
Please visit http://www.scottfox.com/submit-a-success-story.html for more details.
Thanks!
Yes, those are BILLIONS of dollars looking for a home... And those are historical advertising revenue growth statistics, not over-heated projections.
Add in growth in international markets, mobile browsing, and increased time spent online and POW! There's increasing advertiser demand even for YOUR blog, noozle, podcast, or web site.
If you were thinking that it's too late to start your own advertising-based online business, this picture is worth 1,000 words.
The explosive growth of India (and China) offers major opportunities for online entrepreneurs.
I recently was introduced to a young blogger from Bangalore, Himanshu Seth, who offered me an excuse to dive in and learn more about the market for e-business startups in India.
What I found lead to the article below, which was recently published in two parts on Himanshu's Thoughts Prevail blog from Bangalore, India.
Internet Riches for Indian Entrepreneurs - PART ONE
Today the Internet offers to Indian entrepreneurs even more potential for e-commerce success than was available in the U.S. in the 1990’s.
The waves of broadband penetration and low cost e-commerce tools that led to mass adoption of the Internet in the United States are now reaching Indian shores. Although millions of Indians have been online for years, millions more are just beginning to gain access to the global digital marketplace. Most are still connecting at dial-up modem speeds but broadband penetration in India doubled again in 2007.
And while the early adopters of e-business in India mirror those of the U.S., these waves have also broadened their reach during the time and distance they have traveled from the U.S. to India to include more people, more kinds of people, and new platforms like mobile phones.
Its huge population alone suggests that India should be an economic superpower. Usually this massive population is viewed as a potentially profitable consumer market to be exploited. I would prefer to see India’s people as a massive natural resource that smart entrepreneurs can leverage to achieve huge financial success. Current challenges in providing basic services like electricity and water will be overcome, and India’s astounding continued economic growth rate offers major opportunities to a new wave of Indian e-commerce start-ups today.
At least 5 factors will combine in India to create exciting new markets and unprecedented millionaire-making opportunities for a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs:
1. Capitalism without Capital: The low cost of entry for starting a business online is unprecedented. The costs of a PC, broadband connection, and especially the education to put them to work remain significant obstacles. But these foundations of e-commerce success are still so much less expensive than erecting a bricks-and-mortar business that small business ownership is increasingly within the reach of millions who have not fully participated in the economy previously.
2. Low Risk: Because the e-business revolution so reduces the need for start-up capital, it is much less risky. By starting small online, millions of new Indian entrepreneurs will find that they can build their own businesses without leaving their current jobs, mortgaging their personal assets, or otherwise unduly risking their futures. This ease of market entry introduces increased potential competition but also allows rapid product development iteration, customer feedback, and online market testing to accelerate the success of winning ventures.
3. New Local Market Innovations: Internet-delivered local services and advertising are sure to spread in India even faster than they emerged in the U.S.. Years of U.S. and EU innovation in web site and mobile phone-based services will benefit localization business efforts by Indian entrepreneurs, helping them speedily deploy new tools (whether invented in India or imported) to profitably serve their vast domestic market.
4. India’s English Triple Advantage: With their greater literacy in English, Indian entrepreneurs can...
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Please visit the Thoughts Prevail blog from Bangalore, India for the rest of this article and for on-going more coverage of the exciting startup world of today's India.
Any Indian entrepreneurs reading this? What do you think of the points I make above?
Am I being too optimistic or not optimistic enough? Please comment!
OK, as an example of clever marketing this goes in the "just plain funny" category. Another example of an unexpected copywriting approach that forces you to engage with the advertiser.
I ran across this on a blog I just discovered called Ittybiz.com. Naomi has lots of good, down-to-earth advice about starting and managing a home-based business.
To read the conclusions she draws from this gentleman's clever plea, check out her post titled "Home Business Marketing Lessons from the Homeless Dude" here.
The weekend brings with it 2 "Special Offers" for you:
1. Scott Fox Phone Coaching: We've found room in my schedule for just 5 more personal phone coaching sessions. If you'd like to talk to me personally, grab one of these few openings for a "New E-Business Brainstorming Call" or a "Web Site Tune-Up Call" with me now.
I'm often told that one-on-one conversation with me makes a great difference. Visit here for more details (including 100% no-hassle money-back guarantee). I'd enjoy talking with you!
2. Site Build It Summer Sale: If you're looking for a system to help you set up and turn your e-commerce idea into a working site, you know that I recommend Site Build It.
They're running a "Summer Sale" so right now you can save a chunk of money. It's a good time to take the plunge if you've been considering SBI (or wondering how to get started yourself). Visit them here to learn more about the special deal.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Want to learn more about how to market your business on Facebook? Confused about the differences between the social networks?
Just click on the radio player to listen to this week's Online Business Success Radio show. You'll hear a thorough discussion of the online marketing opportunities Facebook offers your business.
My guest this week was Dan Byler, an expert on Facebook. Dan's a college student who's actually writing his thesis on "Social Capital" as expressed and measured on Facebook. This means that he has lots of valuable insights to share about Facebook profiles, friend strategies, advertising, and groups. These include FR-EE tools you can use to launch viral marketing campaigns. I think Facebook (even more so than Myspace or Linked In - other top social networks) is a worthwhile platform for you to invest some promotional effort in. |
Click to tune in and learn why!
Please come back and share Comments once you've heard the broadcast, too.
You can also visit the Archive of past Online Business Success Radio Show broadcasts here. Listen to past shows and interviews any time.
Try Scott Fox's new 
Indian Internet Riches - Part Two
Here's part two of my recent article about the explosive growth opportunities available online to Indian entrepreneurs.
Recently published in two parts on Himanshu's Thoughts Prevail blog from Bangalore, India, below is the second half of my recent article "Internet Riches for Indians".
Internet Riches for Indian Entrepreneurs - PART TWO
... (continued from Part One - which you can read here...)
... greater literacy in English, Indian entrepreneurs can continue to capture a greater share of English-speaking customer dollars than entrepreneurs from other countries like China.
This linguistic advantage is important because it allows Indian startups to:
- Compete on a global basis by more easily marketing their e-commerce products and services outside of India into affluent English-speaking markets worldwide,
- Take advantage of proven e-commerce platforms from the U.S. for use in India. Services like Google’s Adsense, Paypal, eBay, Café Press, Elance, and many others are all available to English-speaking Indian entrepreneurs today, at least for imitation and research if not outright deployment in Indian markets,
- Access the huge amount of technical and strategy information available in English online. Many of the most important lessons learned by American entrepreneurs are well documented online and often available for free. This expertise includes technical documents, the U.S. Patent Office libraries, community forums of all sorts, and even thousands of free email newsletters and e-courses (like those I offer at ScottFox.com) that teach many of the e-business revolution’s tactical innovations for free.
5. Anyone Can Play Online: Perhaps most exciting about the E-Business Revolution is the liberation of the creativity of “non-traditional” entrepreneurs. With little capital required, low risk, and worldwide reach, the World Wide Web offers economic opportunity to a wider class of people, including the disenfranchised, the physically disabled or house-bound, and lower socio-economic classes, than ever before in history.
Particular opportunities are emerging to serve youth markets (with more than ½ of the Indian population under the age of 25), and women (only 23% of Internet users in India are female), for example. As previous online innovations like eBay, YouTube, Facebook, and Craigs List have demonstrated in the U.S., it’s difficult to predict how new platforms for commerce and communication can empower people.
Today e-commerce’s egalitarian approach to allowing participation and making money is increasingly available to inspire bursts of creativity from Indian entrepreneurs. Additionally, it’s easy to foresee dramatic advances, including the establishment of new billion-dollar companies dedicated to serving the unique needs of previously underserved sectors of Indian society.
Increasingly, the only entry requirements into the race for internet riches are a broadband connection, creativity, and some hard work. As discussed in my book, Internet Riches, and with free updates by email from my blogs at ScottFox.com, I look forward to helping nurture this coming tidal wave of achievement too.
I am excited to see the innovative, profitable, and inspiring ways that Indian entrepreneurs of all kinds will find to respond to the opportunities offered by the e-business revolution.
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Please visit the Thoughts Prevail blog from Bangalore, India for more coverage of the exciting startup world of today's India.
Any Indian entrepreneurs reading this? What do you think of the points I make above?
Am I being too optimistic or not optimistic enough? Please comment!
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