There are some excellent - and sophisticated - affiliate marketing systems available. However, these systems can be expensive or difficult to learn. They are essential when you've built momentum, but I'm going to suggest an easier way to get started.
Start by finding one person or company you would like as an affiliate. Talk to them; explain the commission deal you're offering; and invite them to be an affiliate.
Then, before you install any affiliate software on your Web site, simply create a special page for that affiliate to promote whatever product you want them to sell. This page is an exact duplicate of the public page on your Web site promoting that same product. But your affiliate's page is private - only they know the address. And you have some way of knowing if somebody orders through that page (For example, you can use a unique product code).
You then ask them to do their promotion for you, and refer people to that private page. You can supply them with sales copy, or ask them to write it themselves.
Now you sit back and wait!
You have an affiliate eager to find you customers; you've chosen your best product for them to promote; and they've sent some promotional material sent to a database. This is about the best scenario possible.
If you get a strong positive response, congratulations! This is a good sign it's worth expanding the program.
However, my guess is you'll be disappointed with the results - because, as I said earlier, most business owners over-estimate their results. That's not necessarily a bad sign, because this was just a test run. It gives you valuable information about what works and what doesn't. You have the opportunity to adjust a few things and try again.
You might even decide an affiliate program isn't right for you just yet. Perhaps the returns were so low you realise it shouldn't be one of your top priorities. Perhaps you didn't realise how difficult it would be for other people to promote your products and services. Perhaps you ended up with too many leads that didn't turn into sales - and hence wasted your time.
Regardless of the results, this experiment has been a success. Even if you decide not to continue, it was a fast, inexpensive way to reach that decision.
If you do decide to persevere with your affiliate program, repeat the experiment with a few more hand-picked affiliates. Remember that you engineered the best-case scenario the first time, so it's worth experimenting again. If this still works, you can invest with confidence in proper affiliate software.
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