Alex Poole

There’s been a lot of talk about Super Affiliates lately. Actually there always is - talk of Super Affiliates washes up and down the IM blogosphere like waves on a beach. Lately though, there’s been more than normal. Why?

Because Neil Shearing is gearing up for another of his epic (starring Charlton Heston no less ) product launches.

There’s massive mystique around these people. There doesn’t really need to be. Let’s take an objective look at Super Affiliates.

They:

• Have high-traffic websites and/or large lists of people they can email when they choose
• Often work smarter than most of us, so they get more profitable work done in the same time
• Are always looking for quality products to introduce to their visitors / lists
• Are not primarily motivated by short-term gain. Yes of course they’re motivated by money, but as Michael Cheney said in an interview I was listening to the other night, “the money is in the relationship with the list.” A Super-Affiliate won’t risk the relationship they have with their list (or site visitors) by putting their name behind rubbish, even if the payout is good. In a nutshell they:
• Take a long-term view on their business, and want to offer VALUE to their readers

So, if you are a “newbie” marketer  - in any niche, it absolutely doesn’t have to be IM - how do you leverage the power of Super Affliates to give your business a jump-start?

• Have a quality product. How many SAs do you think would be willing to promote some rehashed PLR rubbish from 1998?
• Have a product that is a perfect fit for their audience. Its unlikely someone with a large eBay-related list is going to promote your black-hat SEO manual, unless there’s a definite eBay “angle” to it.
• Offer value. Sure that would be a large commission - that goes without saying. Don’t even consider insulting them by starting the bidding at less than 50%. 75% is common. 100% is not unheard of, (you’re “taking” their list remember, so you’ll profit from the back end even if you make no money on the front end.) Value goes further than that though. How can you help them? Other than make them a quick couple of $K (they can pretty much do that any time they want anyway, remember,) what can you do to benefit their business? This is where it pays to “think out of the box”. I’ll let Matthew Glanfield explain in more detail. Click here to watch his excellent video on this exact subject (opens in new window)
• Follow up on what you said you’d do. Respect their time. Be professional. Not too pushy. All that good stuff that makes a difference in any business relationship.

Sounds difficult. Is it worth it?

Er, yea! I was able to persuade a bona-fide Super Affiliate to promote one of my products some time ago. It made him hundreds of dollars, made me hundreds of dollars, added hundreds of new names to my tiny list and gave me an IM mentor whom I can still ask for advice - advice that would cost most people $1000 and hour mind you - today. 

And that’s the true benefit of joint venturing with people who have more experience and leverage than you do.  Even super affiliates are human beings, and it makes sense to forge genuine long-lasting relationships with people who are further down the road than you and can help light your path in so many subtle but valuable ways.

Hope you enjoyed this post and it has helped to lift the veil of mystique surrounding the Super Affiliate a little.

Tomorrow I have another article for you, entitled  ”how to find and approach super affiliates the right way”.

Tags:   joint ventures · matthew glanfield · michael cheney · neil shearing · super affiliatesNo Comments