Comic Book Marketing, Part VII: Getting your affiliate program started
Since I started this series of articles on marketing for comic book publishers I’ve been getting email questions from my readers (and watchers of the new videos). The most common question from comic publishers and creators so far is “What is an affiliate program and how do I get one started?” I hope to answers those questions in today’s video post.
This covers and expands upon some of the material I talked about in Part IV, What the heck are affiliate programs?”. I suggest checking out that post as well.
One of the things I wanted to talk about in the video but I completely forgot (because I’m old) is the idea of allowing reviewers to use your affiliate links with their reviews of your books. This is a fantastic way to expand your sales while at the same time encouraging reviewers to cover your titles. Most reviews will already offer a link over to your website, but allowing a reviewer to make that an affiliate link allows them to make a little bit of cash for their hard work.
As always, feel free to post a comment below if you have any questions. I’ll answer any and all comments or emails, and I’ll even cover the best ones in one of my video posts. Also, check out my affiliate marketing targeted website, www.NewAffiliateHelp.com. It gives a lot of information, tips and techniques for anyone interested in getting started with affiliate marketing. Check it out.
Until next time, stay Nifty!
-Mat Nastos
http://www.niftycomics.com
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:24 am
Hey Mat,
Thanks for the great tips on affiliates and marketing in general. I’ve listened to this particular update 3 times now to make sure I got it all and while I don’t think I can use it right now, its certainly interesting from an intellectual point of view. And yeah, some lazy heads out there, I can’t believe that they wouldn’t use an affiliate program. I think I read this on the other site (don’t recall) but offering reviewers an affiliate link is brilliant.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Albone:
Thanks for the new comment and the very kind words. Based on its subject (Wreslting), I think your book will do very well once you get enough content together for a trade paperback release. Professional Wrestling is huge and you’ll have a lot of opportunity for crossover. Get your affiliate programing going as fast as you can and start building it.
I’m still surprised no one has really followed through with that suggestion yet - allowing reviewers to use affiliate links is great way to help both sides (reviewer and publisher).
Thanks again and feel free to post any questions you’ve got (or email them to me) and I’ll try to address them in an upcoming video.
M