Affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most lucrative businesses available online. That’s not to say it is without its faults or that it’s easy. Building an effective affiliate marketing business requires time, energy and people skills. The ability to network with other people is a key part of the success of your business.

Recruiting Your Affiliate Marketing Downline

A “viral” marketing campaign is one that spreads exponentially and reaches a very wide range of viewers. Like anything else viral, a viral recruiting campaign spreads very quickly across many areas of the Internet. Wide reach skims the surface and catches the attention of several thousand potential affiliate partners. This process will provide you continuous and never ending distribution for your ads and recruitment.

One of the most popular ways to uncover information is on forums and online communities. Visit a variety of forums where members discuss entrepreneurship, work at home opportunities or other aspects of online business. Talk with them openly and honestly about your affiliate marketing business and answer any questions they may have.

Don’t sugarcoat anything. Your leads need to understand that you’re serious about your business and that you’re in it for the long run. The most important thing they need to realize is that you’ll be there to answer any questions they may have in a timely manner. When people trust you, they are more inclined to go into a business venture with you.

Make the best use of article marketing by providing informational articles that include an open invitation in your author’s resource box. Article marketing is the fastest growing form of online marketing. Article publishers and distributors reach deep and wide to provide continuous and never ending distribution for each article you submit.

Podcast downloads, e-books and videos are great ways to share information with your downline. As often as possible, provide podcasts and videos recorded in your own voice. Your downline will appreciate hearing the confidence in your voice as much as the words you’re speaking.

Supporting Your Affiliate Marketing Downline

Don’t give your affiliate downline a link and leave them to figure out the rest on their own. Create e-mail newsletters and supportive websites for your downline to learn from you. The more information they have, the better their business will thrive. As their business grows, so does yours. Teach them how to duplicate what you’ve already proven to be successful.

Any marketing material you create or find beneficial to your affiliate marketing campaign needs to be shared with your downline. Support them by providing them step-by-step information about how you market your business. Sharing your successful methods with them will ensure depth in your business ventures.

Building and Supporting an Affiliate Marketing Business

Proper lead generation, wide reach, deep sponsorship and downline support are four of the key elements of building and supporting a successful affiliate marketing business. Once you learn how to properly turn prospects into recruits, teach the recruits the same techniques. As you polish your techniques, teach your downline by your own example and watch your business grow exponentially.

Support your downline by teaching them and providing them the materials they need to succeed. Zig Ziglar once said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want.” This statement rings true with several online business opportunities including network marketing and affiliate marketing.

Prove to your potential downline that you know what you’re doing and you’re a successful affiliate marketer. Once the ball is rolling, continue to push ever-so-lightly and nourish your affiliate marketing business. Work hard, work smart and go deep and wide to ensure continuous and never ending distribution for your promotional materials.

(Carol Palmatier is Vice President of Marketing for Article Marketer and a “Word of Mouth” marketing expert. Read the Press Release about Article Marketer’s 200 millionth article distributed.)

When recruiting for affiliate downlines, you must remember that patience is the key. Just like any other business, it takes time and hard work if you intend to be successful. Recruiting a downline for your affiliate business builds depth in your organization.

Show recruits that you are serious about building an affiliate marketing business. They need to understand that you will support them while they build their business as well. The more information you share with them, the more confidence they have in your program.

One common mistake is lack of diversity in advertising. It is important to implement more than one marketing technique when you recruit your downline. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a great way to lose everything. The Internet is an amazing affiliate marketing tool. Employ more than one marketing avenue to ensure the greatest exposure.

Five of the most obvious yet sometimes overlooked marketing tools include affiliate directories, social networking, e-mails, forum signatures and article marketing. Learning to use each of these tools to suit your affiliate recruiting needs is an art form. Practice makes perfect.

List Your Program in Affiliate Directories

Familiarize yourself with a variety affiliate directories. Study the techniques that others use when recruiting for their own affiliate programs. Not only will this allow you to find styles that work, but you will also be able to refrain from making common mistakes. You will easily be able to see where you can tweak your existing program to make it more attractive to potential recruits.

When submitting to affiliate directories, create a unique ad based on each directory’s format. If you place the same advertisement on many directories, visitors will begin to question the validity of your affiliate program. Personalize each ad with something unique. Your goal is to diversify your ad styles as much as your marketing avenues.

Social Networking

One of the hardest parts of advertising for your affiliate program is figuring out where to find users. This is why social networking has quickly become one of the most useful recruiting techniques for affiliate downlines.

If you cannot find an online community that focuses primarily on your topic, take the initiative and create one. Having the ability to communicate with people in online communities will also help you to weed out the bad apples. You will be able to tell who is genuinely interested in marketing your program.

Contact Other Webmasters

Visit websites with a subject matter that correlates with your program. If these sites are lacking in advertisements, e-mail or phone the owner and ask if they would be interested in becoming an affiliate. Briefly explain to them how affiliate marketing has increased your cash flow and let them know you’d like to help them learn more about making money online.

If you choose to use e-mail, it is imperative that your message does not look like spam. Always write a personalized letter that not only details your program and its benefits, but also includes different aspects of their site. These could include the site’s design or specific products they are selling. Webmasters are more willing to listen to what you have to say if they know that you’ve taken the time to browse their site.

Signature Lines

Many people miss out on a very easy and free form of self promotion by not using signature lines on forums or e-mails. Always include your referral link in the signature lines of e-mails, forum posts & article submissions.

Links in a signature line are very attractive to people with whom you communicate with on a regular basis. They will assume that since someone they trust as a colleague is advertising an affiliate program, it must be worth looking into. The links in your signature will remain in place as long as the forum is active.

Article Campaigns

Write articles and publish them on thousands of sites. Article distribution not only boosts your traffic, it will effectively put your name and affiliate program in front of millions of users.

You can utilize this technique by including your referral link in the biography or author’s resource box of your articles. If the article directories you submit your articles to do not allow affiliate links, simply use your own website address.

Rebecca Taylor is a coach for the Affiliate Program at Article Marketer. She assists and coaches Article Marketer affiliates and is a regular contributor to this blog. Stop by and learn about our Affiliat Support Team!