Affiliate Programs

  • 4 Steps to Skyrocket Your Black Friday Sale with Affiliates

    Are you running a Black Friday Sale or a Cyber Monday Sale?

    One of the fastest ways to skyrocket your sales this November will be by having your affiliate partners promote your BFCM Sale for you! 

    But you cannot wait until November to tell your affiliates about your BFCM Sale…chance are if you do, they will have already decided to promote something else, be too busy with all the holiday things to pay your affiliate emails any attention, or they won’t want to spend the time throwing together promo emails for your BFCM sale last minute.

    So while it might seem a tad early to be talking about Black Friday in September, what you do this month can help your BFCM Sale be extra profitable come November.

    Let’s take a quick look at what you need to do to make sure everything is in place for your affiliates to promote your BFCM offer:

    ? Step 1: Decide on your BFCM Offer

    What will you ask your affiliates to promote for you this BFCM?  Decide not only on the sale you are running, but also what the dates are that your affiliates should promote the sale for you so that you can clearly share this information with your affiliates in advance.  

    ? Step 2:  Make sure your affiliate tracking is set up

    Once you know what your affiliates will be promoting for you, make sure that the affiliate tracking is set up so that any sales made during your BFCM Sale are appropriately attributed back to your affiliates correctly.

    {Don’t have your tech set up? I’ve got you covered here.}

    ? Step 3:  Create your affiliate promo materials

    Make it easy-peasy for your affiliates to share about your holiday sale by giving them exactly what they need to promote.  Provide them with social media graphics, email swipe copy, and social media swipe copy that they can take, copy and paste, while the commissions roll in!

     Step 4: Email Your Affiliates + Get Them Excited to Promote!

    In October {yes, October}, you need to email your affiliates to let them know the details about your upcoming BFCM Sale.  However, it’s not enough to just email your affiliates one time about your BFCM Sale and hope they’ll promote for you.  Instead, you need to email your affiliates multiple times, and do so in a way that gets them excited to promote for you.  {And they should be excited, because they are going to earn some nice commissions for promoting for you!}

    If you’re unsure of what emails to send to your affiliates about your Black Friday Sale, or when to send them, I can help.  I’ve put together the  ? Prep Your Affiliates for Your Black Friday Sale Template Pack ?  that gives you the exact emails you will take and customize and then send your affiliates for your Black Friday Sale so that you will be ready to hit the ground running with affiliates to sell more of your courses or products this holiday season! 

    > > > Check out the Black Friday Template Pack Here.

    There are five Friday’s in September… What if you spent each Friday working on your affiliate materials for your BFCM Sale so that by the end of September, you are ready to onboard your affiliates and make bank this Black Friday?  

    Or choose one Friday and knock out all your prep in one fell swoop?  

    Either way, just make sure you take the time to prepare for your Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sale in advance and that you take care of your affiliates!

  • Favorite Biz Resources [?August 2023 Edition]


    I’m back with my monthly “Favorite Things” post to share with you for August. If you’re new around here, I also want to say a big WELCOME! And secondly, know that this post is a monthly glimpse into what I’m doing and buying for my own business.

    As always, I hope you’ll enjoy reading through this post, and will take time to check out all the resources available to you! 

    Favorite Business Resources

    ? MEMBERVAULT 44 DAY FREE TRIAL

    Did you know you can get a 44 day free trial of MemberVault if you sign up by Aug 31st? I use and love MemberVault for my template shop, and can’t recommend them highly enough. ? Sign up for the extended trial at https://membervault.co.

    ? XOXO TEMPLATES – 40% OFF THIS WEEK ONLY!

    My friend, colleague, and VIP Day client Sidneyeve of XOXO Templates is hosting a 40% off End of Summer Sale on her gorgeous Canva templates!

    Here’s just some of the templates you can find in Sidneyeve’s shop for 40% off:

    ☀️ Course Roadmap Diagrams: Make it easy for us to get excited about what lies ahead!

    ☀️ Warm Welcome Slides: Encourage a feeling of belongingness and help newbies get oriented!

    ☀️ Creative Course Workbook: active learning for the win! 20 different checklists, journals, trackers to boost engagement!

    Check out more templates and shop the 40% off ☀️End of Summer Sale here ??

    ? MISC. BUSINESS RESOURCES I AM LOVING

    This $9 strategy has now made me over $1000 the past few months and has been my favorite purchase of 2023 so far.

    Need to set a budget for yourself? You need this template.

    Don’t have a freebie set up?  You might not need one to grow your list… Read more here.

    Want to run a flash sale on any of your digital products? This toolbox has exactly what you need.

    >> Shop Elizabeth’s Everything Page here.

    ? A LITTLE EXTRA MOOLAH

    Last week on my business anniversary I announced a new digital product: a little extra moolah.  This is a PDF download where I’m sharing 3 simple ways I use affiliate marketing in my own business to earn between $200 and $500 per month.  Check it out here – it also includes a list of 35+ affiliate programs you can join TODAY!

    ? AFFILIATE PROGRAM TEMPLATE SHOP

    Want to know how to pitch potential affiliate partners so that they say YES to partnering with you? You need this template.

    Already have affiliate partners?  You need to be emailing them a newsletter every month.  Grab these templates to make this easy peasy.

    Recently on the blog I shared about my favorite moments from the Ultimate Product Party… Go here to read about this awesome event.

    > > > Shop all the templates I have available here.

    ** Please note – this post contains affiliate links, but I only recommend products and resources I use and can vouch for myself!

  • Choosing the Right Affiliate Tracking Software for Your Business

    Are you a course creator who has created an amazing course, but it’s just not selling like you hoped it would?

    Or maybe you are a product seller with a Shopify store full of awesome digital or physical products, yet you can’t seem to get buyers to visit your site and make a purchase?

    Good news: There is a cost-effective solution to each of these problems:

    Working with affiliate partners.

    If you want to increase your course or product sales, you need to partner with affiliates, as it allows others to market your course or products for you in exchange for a commission.  By working with affiliates, you can tap into their existing networks, reach a wider audience faster than you can on your own, and increase your course sales quickly.

    Before they can start promoting your courses and products, you’ve got to make sure your affiliate tracking software is in place!

    One of the most common questions I get when people are thinking about starting their affiliate program is this:

    “What affiliate tracking software should I use?”

    My answer is to always check the tools you are already using first.

    Many of the popular course platforms out there offer affiliate tracking capabilities, such as MemberVault, Kajabi, ThriveCart, Teachable, Kartra, Thinkific, and others.

    If your course platform doesn’t offer affiliate tracking capabilities, there are a few tools I recommend:

    • GoAffPro – This is my favorite affiliate tracking tool for Shopify users.
    • AffiliateWP –  this is a wordpress plugin and so you will need to be using WordPress as your website or affiliate platform in order for it to work.
    • LeadDyno – If you have less than 3000 website visitors a month, LeadDyno is a great option for starting your affiliate program.
    • Refersion – integrates perfectly with Shopify, WooComemrce, and other platforms.
    • SendOwl – I use this platform for my own checkout features and they have awesome affiliate tracking capabilities.

    Before you sign up for any affiliate tracking tool, I recommend you research the platform thoroughly, sit through a demo of it if one is available and ask any relevant questions to make sure you fully understand how it work.  What you don’t want to do is set up your affiliate tracking tool, onboard your affiliates, and then figure out you should’ve gone with a different tool. #eek

    Ready to increase your course or product sales quickly, but need to get your affiliate tracking software set up first? 

    I’ve got you!

    Schedule an Affiliate Software Set-up Session today.

    Prior to the start of your Affiliate Software Set-up Session, I will make sure that the tool chosen is right for your tech stack and business needs based on a short questionnaire I’ll have you complete. During the Affiliate Software Set-up Session, I will get down to work implementing your software for you so that you’ll be ready to work with affiliate partners at the end of the day.

    All the details are here.

    Use coupon code SAVE100 to save $100 off your session when you book by August 10th, 2023.

  • 3 Reasons You Need to Ask Your Customers to Become Your Affiliate

    One of the most common questions I get from product sellers and course creators is this:

    Who should I ask to be my affiliate partner?

    One of the first places I recommend people start is inviting their customers to become their affiliates.  And in this blog, I’m going to cover 3 reasons you should absolutely ask your customers to become your affiliates after they have left a review or testimonial as well as what the benefits to doing this are!

    Reason #1: You’ll get amazing testimonials from your customers

    The first step in inviting your customers into your affiliate program is asking them for a testimonial or review of your product.  Once you’ve done that, you will send them down one of the two pathways to invite them to become an affiliate, depending on if they submit a testimonial/review or not.  {I cover this here.}

    The good news is that even if they do not sign up to become an affiliate for you, you will still have their review which you can use on your website and in your promo materials.  Social proof is so important, because it helps new potential customers connect to your brand easier, and it can also help create more customer loyalty with the person who writes them.  

    Reason #2: It’s a faster way to get your business in front of new audiences

    When you invite your customers to become your affiliates, you aren’t having to spend hours researching potential affiliates, engaging and networking with them, writing a fantastic pitch to them and tracking the follow up emails needed.   

    Instead, you save so much time by inviting customers who already have used your product/course to share their experience with others as your affiliate partner.  What this means is that you will get your products/courses in front of new audiences faster.  

    And by automating this process {I also cover this here}, you aren’t adding more things to your already overwhelmed to do list.  Instead, your customers are out there promoting your products and bringing in new sales for you, while they earn fun commissions in the process.

    Reason #3: No Facebook ads needed

    If you think that in order to make more sales you’ll eventually have to figure out how to run expensive Facebook ads, I invite you to think again.  With affiliate marketing, you don’t have to run facebook ads if you don’t want to.  Instead, you can have your customers become your affiliates and then when they refer people to you, you pay them out commissions.

    And if you do want to run facebook ads eventually, use the money you make from your affiliate’s referrals to fund your Facebook ads budget. #winwin 

    Ready to invite your customers to become your affiliates? 

    Grab the Invite Your Customers to Become Your Affiliates Template Pack here These are the exact templates you need to send customers to get those reviews and testimonials to turn them into your affiliates!

  • My Favorite Moments from Ultimate Product Party 2023

    I recently had the opportunity to head to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the Ultimate Product Party, a 2-day conference for product sellers. Even as a service based business owner who works with product sellers, I had SO MANY TAKEAWAYS from this event.

    In this blog post, I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite moments from the conference.  While I won’t highlight all of the speakers and roundtable leaders, I do want to emphasize this: EVERY SINGLE PERSON was amazing. All of the speakers were awesome, I learned a ton from every single roundtable I went to, and all of the keynotes were just top notch.  So, while I won’t mention them all below, know that they were still 100% amazing.

    Okay, now onto some of my favorite moments from the Ultimate Product Party.

    Ciara Bennett’s Opening Keynote

    Ciara Bennett with Vintage Oats was the opening keynote and omgosh, her personal story was AMAZING. It’s always so amazing to hear stories of women who triumphed when the odds were stacked against them, and Ciara is one of those women. I found her story really inspiring and encouraging as someone in a growth stage in my own business.  

    Follow Ciara over on Instagram here

    Amanda Dare’s Breakout Workshop on Business Funding

    Amanda Dare with Women Owned Wallet did an amazing session all about money and how to fund your business.  One of the things she said that really stood out to me, and I think can apply to so many different business scenarios is this:  

    Don’t do what helps you today; do what helps you in 3 months, 6 months, a year…

    In other words, be future focused and don’t think so much in the “right now”. I know I can get so shortsighted sometimes, and so this was a great reminder to really focus on the long term plans I have for my business. 

    Check out Woman Owned Wallet here.

    Q&A Panel on the High High’s and Low Low’s

    Sometimes in business, especially I think as a solo entrepreneur, it can feel like I’m the only one dealing with the business struggles I go through.  So, when this Q&A session happened, it was honestly so refreshing to hear that – surprise surprise – other business owners deal with struggles too. I especially appreciated Monica Little’s stance on how problems can be opportunities. It doesn’t always feel like that in the moment, but I do like how she suggested looking at them as opportunities to solve things.

    (more…)
  • 9 Reasons an Affiliate Program is a Must-Have for Course Creators & Product Sellers

    I received an email this week from Allison Carter {co-host of Ultimate Product Party} that said “what are you too scared to say??”

    When it comes to my business, there’s not really a lot I am scared to say because affiliate programs aren’t really that controversial lol ….

    …But I am sometimes scared about being too repetitive with the things I do say. 

    But here’s the thing I am always saying because I wholeheartedly believe this:

    If you have an online course, sell products (digital or physical), or have group programs…

    You need an affiliate program.

    And if you don’t have one, you’re losing out on lots of potential sales a.k.a you’re not making as much money as you could be.

    Chances are you’re following me because you’re interested in starting an affiliate program so you can double your course or product sales…

    … and maybe you just haven’t taken action yet…

    … or maybe you’ve kind of piece-mealed things together but haven’t really done anything with your program yet….

    If any of these describe you, I want to share the following 9 reasons an affiliate program is a must-have for course creators and product sellers like you!

    (more…)
  • What to Include in Your Monthly Affiliate Newsletter

    Kelly here, with a super quick tip and to-do for you today that is going to help you help your affiliates make you more sales.  

    {Not working with affiliates yet? This template will get you started.}

    Here’s the tip:

    If you have an affiliate program set up, make sure that you send your affiliates a newsletter to let them know how they can promote for you this month!

    Why?

    Because sending a monthly newsletter is a great way to keep your affiliates updated about what’s happening in your business, and to remind them how they can earn commissions as your affiliate partner.

    Sending your next {or first!} affiliate newsletter in April is great timing because it’s a new quarter! 

    Here’s what to include in your next affiliate newsletter:

    ✅ Check in with your affiliates to let them know what you’ll be focused on in Q2 and encourage them to continue sharing out your affiliate link {or to start if they haven’t already}. 

    ✅ Make sure you are making it easy-peasy for your affiliates to find where their unique affiliate link is, as well as the promotional materials you have created for them. 

    ✅ And remind them where they can go to see their monthly commissions inside your affiliate tracking software!

    Your newsletter does NOT need to be long or complicated.  But it does need to tell your affiliates the important details they need in order to be successful in promoting for you.

    Want some support with writing your affiliate newsletters each month? ??? Click click click to check out the Affiliate Newsletter Template Pack I’ve put together for you.

    This template pack is delivered in Google Doc format, and contains 12 newsletters {one for each month of the year!} ready for you to customize with your specific affiliate program details and information.  You can simply copy the google doc, and then edit the newsletters straight away.

    I’m not doing a big launch around it or anything, just wanted you to know it’s available for you if you’re committed to sending out a monthly affiliate newsletter and want it to be easy.

    Leave me a comment if you found this blog helpful – I’d love to hear from you!

  • Do This Simple Activity to Start Increasing Sales?

    I’ve got an activity for you today that is going to help you increase your sales this month if you carve out the time to do it.

    Let’s start by raising your hand if you sell a digital product, such as templates or an ebook, or even an online course… ?‍♀️

    If you’ve got your hand raised, did you know that you are in a great position for working with affiliates?

    It’s true!

    Because when you work with affiliates, that gives you the opportunity to get your products and courses in front of new potential customers…

    … which means more sales and more money in the bank for you and your affiliates who share your offers with their people! ?

    Wondering who your affiliates should be?

    ? Past customers.
    ? Current clients.
    ? Colleagues with complimentary products to yours (because that means their audience is most likely full of your ideal customers!)

     That’s a short but simple list of good places to start looking for affiliates.

    Today, I want you to do this simple but impactful money-makin’ activity:

    Who are 5 – 10 people you can think of that might be willing to share your freebie or offers with their community?

    Make a list.

    Then reach out to the people on your list and *ask* if they would like to be an affiliate for you.

    You might be surprised how willing people are to share your work with their community! ❤️

    As I always say, setting up your affiliate program doesn’t have to be hard…

    Start with reaching out to potential affiliate partners!

    If you don’t know what to say when pitching these potential affiliate partners, grab this Invitation to Send Potential Affiliate Partners email template here.  You can take this google doc template and customize it for sending out to your potential affiliate partners.

    If you’re reading this post and wishing you could make more sales, do the activity above asap.

    I know that even if just one affiliate partner says YES to working with you, you have the opportunity to increase your sales dramatically.

    But they can’t say yes to being your affiliate if you don’t ask them.

    So, make your list and send those pitches today!

    Let me know over on Instagram if you give this activity a try – I’d love to hear how many YESes you get! 

  • 3 Mistakes to Avoid When Reaching Out to Potential Affiliates

    Today I’m getting ready to send out 15 emails to potential affiliates I have researched for one of my affiliate management clients. {One of my favorite tasks I do for her!} 

    As I’ve been crafting each of the emails to send, I realized that I had some important things to share with you about what makes for a great pitch {the email you send asking someone to affiliate for you!}.

    So, without further ado, here we go!

    3 Mistakes to Avoid When Reaching Out to Potential Affiliates

    Mistake 1: Making your pitch only about you! 

    Instead of making your pitch ONLY about YOU, instead make it about the person your pitching’s audience and how your collaboration can benefit them, and why partnering together is the best way to make that happen!

    Mistake #2: Sending a generic pitch! 

    Whatever you do, please, do not send a generic pitch.  Instead, do your research on the person/company you are pitching. Send a pitch that shows you know about their company, and their audience, and that you are genuinely interested in serving their audience by partnering together.

    Also, check their website BEFORE you pitch… they might already have a page on their site about how to best reach out re: collaborations and potential affiliate partnerships.  If they do, follow the instructions on that page.  

    Mistake #3: Sending all the details before it’s needed 

    Friends, do NOT send a novel with all the collaboration details and sign up information in the first email. People are busy {aren’t we all!} and so they don’t have time to read all of the details about the collaboration you have in mind.

    Instead, I recommend sharing a high-level overview of the collaboration you have in mind, and then asking them to hit reply if they’d like to hear more!  Then, once they say YES to partnering with you, you can send them through your affiliate onboarding process!

    If you are considering working with affiliates and will be doing any outreach soon, make sure you keep these things in mind so that you can get more YESes and less NOs {or worse, no reply at all!}

    Let me know if these tips are helpful!

    Need some help with writing your pitch to affiliates? I’ve got a template for you HERE that you can customize for each affiliate reach out email you create.  If you grab it, let me know what you think!

  • Three Reasons You Need to Organize Your Google Drive ASAP

    One of the tools I use the most here at Create Your Affiliate Program is Google Drive which I love and use on a daily basis. But if we’re being honest, the excitement of having a free tool like Google Drive is erased by the total lack of guidance on how to actually use it. {Google does provide a training on using it but it’s… pretty lackluster at best lol.}

    So you find yourself with random docs floating around like that feather in the Forest Gump movie, and you waste so much time looking for things in your Drive, I want to share with you three few reasons you might want to get your Google Drive organized, PLUS a resource for making that happen!

    Three Reasons You Need to Organize Your Google Drive ASAP

    1. It increases your productivity!

    When your Google Drive is organized, you can quickly locate the files you need, saving you time and increasing productivity in your daily work. You won’t have to spend time searching through cluttered folders to find what you’re looking for, and instead, can focus on your work and get things done efficiently.

    2. It leads to better collaboration!

    If you work with others on projects like I do, organizing your Google Drive makes it easier to share files and collaborate without worrying that your collaborators have access to everything in your Drive. Plus, when everyone knows where to find files, you can work together more effectively, without wasting time looking for missing files, or worse, creating duplicates.  

    3. It makes more things secure!  

    Organizing your Google Drive can also help keep things more secure for you and your clients.  When you have a clear folder structure, you can easily identify sensitive files and ensure they’re stored in secure locations that only you have access to. You can also use Google Drive’s sharing settings to control who has access to your folders and files, which helps protect your files from unauthorized access or deletion.

    Now that I’ve told you why you should organize your google Drive, I want to share with you a resource for making it happen.

    Introducing Organize Your Google Drive.

    Organize Your Google Drive is a self-guided, online course created by Becky Moffit, aka The Organized CEO.

    A self-professed organizational nerd of the highest order, Becky says that literally every client she has ever worked with – from the newbies to the 7 figure folks – has asked her first and foremost how to get their Google Drive tamed. 

    In 4 quick lessons, she shows you how to get and stay on top of your storage so you never have to wonder where the heck everything went the last time you closed your laptop. Dedicate an afternoon to following the Take Action boxes, and boom, you’re one organized CEO. YAY!

    (Also you get two bonus lessons on Google Docs and Google Sheets! Finally learn what all that stuff on top of your browser window does! Woohoo!)

    Don’t miss out on this (super affordable) course! 

    Click here to access Organize Your Google Drive.

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    This blog post contains affiliate links, but as always, know that I only recommend products and programs that I use and love myself!