Create A Forum For Your Affiliates
5 Reasons to Create a Forum for Your Affiliates
If you operate an affiliate program, you should be in close contact with your
affiliates. It is they who help you generate sales. In some instances, they are
the backbone of your company. Their ability to advertise and sell your products is
what leads to increased sales. These sales, in turn, increase your profits. That
is why good support and help is advised, but how do you get it? With an online
message forum.
As nice as it is to hear that you can and should setup an online message forum,
otherwise known as a message board, for your affiliates, why? What are the
benefits? Continue reading on to find out.
1 – Your Affiliates Can Help Each Other
What is nice about online message boards is that internet users are able to
communicate with each other. Some post a question, suggestion, or a complaint and
others can read it. Not only that, but they can respond with an answer. If you do
not have the time to answer questions from new affiliates, an online message board
is your best option. You created an online community. Your affiliates will help
each other.
2 – It Shows You Are Interested In What They Have to Say
Often times, affiliates feel ignored. They post a question or make a suggestion to
the affiliate manager and never hear a response back. This is not what you want.
In fact, it may cause affiliates to leave the program. No one wants to wait days
or never get a response. Having a message board for members, especially one that
you visit on occasion, shows that you care about your affiliates. You are truly
interested in what they have to say.
3 – Online Message Boards Are Easy to Setup
When it comes to operating an online message board, you have many options. The
easiest is to head online and search for a software program. You purchase a
program and upload the message board format to your website. Most cost less than
$100 a year. A few clicks of the mouse here and there and you should be ready to
go. It is very easy to setup a message board. In fact, if you can operate a
functioning affiliate program, setting up a message board will be a walk in the
park. Just make sure your forum settings are set to private and require membership
to keep only your affiliates inside.
4 – They Limit Your Work
As previously stated, you should visit your online message board on occasion.
Answer lingering questions affiliates have or join in on discussions that have no
responses. With that said, only 10 minutes a day is enough. Moreover, since your
affiliates are able to provide each other with help and support, it leaves fewer
questions for you to answer by phone or email. It significantly reduces the time
and money spend on training or helping new affiliates.
5 – You Can Sticky Posts
Most online forums have posts that stay at the top of the page; these are known as
“Sticky,” posts. You can create your own. Use these messages to help new
affiliates. Have posts that show affiliates how to navigate the website, get
links, and share moneymaking tips. Better yet, create a post just for frequently
asked questions. Take the most common questions you are asked and answer them.
New affiliates can visit the frequently asked questions section and find the
answers to most of their problems, without needing to contact you.
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Comments (7)
Paula van Dun16
Retired
A forum is a nice idea but you will need much time or a a lot of hands to keep it clean. And I do not only clean from spam. Many people are lazy and don't read. Take for i.e. ASK Apsense. It is written on top that people should not post question that have been answered before and that they need to search first before posting the question. Ask Bill how many duplicate questions are posted!
Another options is a FAQ section where you answer most common questions. Eventually with links to additional
Chukwuekwu Okonta12
Forensic accountant
not only that the forum will help provide answers to questi ons about your product but also give your product more exposure. you see spamers will make the system useless they'll post outside your product, post links to their products, repeat post like what philippe said except you have to hire many modertaors to clean site. not only that the forum will help provide answers to questi ons about your product but also give your product more exposure. you see spamers will make the system useless t
Philippe Moisan16
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writer
Thanks for confirming what I thought, Fred. I have had a very limited experience as a forum admin recently, and at first there was no activity, then I was happy to see some posts, only to discover they were full of links to adult stuff, or ads for heavy machinery for construction purposes. The site owner then told me a few days later he had spent an hour deleting such posts. Unless you have many moderators or mechanismss to block spam ( I believe thwey have both at the Warrior Forum ), you will
Fred St. John6
Online Marketing Specialist
nice one Paul, yes forums can be a great assett but it seriously is a full time job to keep spam and robots out of it. I had opened a forum one time and wow, a year later, I took it out because it was just too much work.
I love the idea that that Philip suggests about creating a private group.
Paul Hines16
A New Path to Financial Empowerment
Thank you both.
Rieke F.7
Consultant
Yes Paul, when you are involved in MLM your affiliates are developing your biz which means your passive income. It is great to stay in contact with them. Others who will follow them, might learn from it.
Philippe Moisan16
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writer
Paul, another way is to create a private group here at APSense, if some people think it's too demanding to have a forum, cause it can be, when the spammers discover it and managing the site to delete their posts makes you waste valuable time.
There was the possibility of sticking posts in groups before the changes, now it's not there anymore. I'll think of other suggestions for you.
Very good article, of course, which is natural, you didn't get your APSense Advisor title in a pop corn box.