The number one mistake that most Internet marketers make when
they launch their affiliate programs is that they concentrate on
attracting thousands of affiliates to join their program when
they should be concentrating on other factors.

Although affiliate programs are an excellent viral marketing
strategy to implement, the problem with this is that the mass
majority (roughly 95%) of people who join affiliate programs
rarely ever make a sale.

Most affiliates do not fully understand how to market on the
Internet, which results in ineffective promotion of affiliate
products and services.

The average Internet user has:

* Limited knowledge on how to create a web page
* No opt-in list or ezine
* Very little CGI experience
* Limited ability to FTP files

Another factor that contributes to poor affiliate sales is the
thousands of affiliate programs that are available for
affiliates to choose from.

Affiliates continue to link hop, which means is that they do not
stick with an affiliate program long enough to see any results
and quickly move on to the next affiliate program hoping to make
a quick buck.

Unfortunately that is why it has been difficult for many
affiliate managers to run a successful affiliate program.

What an affiliate manager needs is super affiliates.

A super affiliate is an affiliate that brings constant sales day
after day and month after month for an affiliate program.  They
don't give up easily and they build a marketing strategy around
the affiliate program.

If you want to launch a successful affiliate program, you need
to find and recruit these super affiliates to join and market
your products or services.

The reason why super affiliates are so effective is because they
already command a lot of traffic to their web sites or have
thousands of readers on their opt-in lists.

It only takes one super affiliate to bring you thousands of
dollars in sales with one simple announcement of your product or
service to their opt-in list.

Super affiliates are serious about making money and if they see
any value in your product or service, you can bet that they will
promote it to the max.

They have nurtured their opt-in lists over the years and
established a trust with their readers.  A large majority of
Internet sales are based on trust, which is not surprising
considering the large amount of skepticism that Internet users
have today.

Not only do super affiliates generate you massive sales, they
also offer credibility for your product or service.  People will
have the perception that if an established and well-recognized
marketer is promoting your product or service, it must be pretty
darn good.

This is what separates the super affiliates from the regular
affiliates.  Since it is the super affiliates that are
responsible for a large majority of your affiliate sales, it is
definitely worth your time to seek them out.

You don't want to start an affiliate program only to have
thousands of affiliates wasting your time with tedious questions
and asking for constant marketing help.  Your time is better
directed towards working with a few super affiliates, which will
maximize the sales and commissions.

The best way to find super affiliates is to query the major
search engines with targeted keywords that are related to the
product or service that you have set up an affiliate program
for.

The search engines will return the top ranked web sites for that
targeted keyword.  These web sites are receiving a high amount
of targeted visitors that may be interested in your product or
service.

These are the web sites that can become potential super
affiliate for you and you should contact the owner of the site
to see if they would be interested in becoming an affiliate.

Once you have found your potential super affiliates, the hard
part is convincing them to join your affiliate program.

You need to remember that the typical super affiliate is already
running my projects and will be very busy to even read your
email.  The objective is very simple -- you must convince them
the value of promoting your product or service.

You should always personalize an email message you send to a
potential super affiliate.  The person will be more likely to
take you seriously is you make it look like it has been
personally sent to them.

You need to give them a compelling reason why they should
promote your product or service.  Basically tell them what is in
it for them!

Here is an example of a possible email you could send to a
potential super affiliate.

<-- Example Starts Here -->

Dear First Name,

I will keep this as brief as I know that you are very busy.

Since we both cater to the same targeted market, I thought you
would be interested in my new ebook, "Name of ebook", that I
think will be of great interest to your readers.

I would love to develop a mutual win-win relationship, where you
endorse my product and I pay you a hefty commission for every
sale that your endorsement generates.

Normally I only pay a 40% commission, but since you are a
recognized figure in the Internet arena, I am willing to pay you
a 50% commission.

Let me know if you are interested and I will send you a
complimentary copy of my new ebook for your review.

I look forward to you response.

Kind regards,

Gauher Chaudhry

<-- Example Ends Here -->

Finding super affiliates can take a lot of your time, but there
are a few software programs that can make the task a lot faster
and easier.

Internet Success Spider
http://www.freecoolcash.com/cgi-bin/lnkinlte.cgi?l=spider

Here's essentially how the Internet Success Spider works:

You go to a target web site and the software:

1. Queries the search engines and finds out which sites link to
   the site you entered (the affiliates)

2. Queries the search engines again and finds out how many sites
   link to each affiliate site

3. Returns the results in order, from most links to the fewest.
   The ones with the most links are the potential super
   affiliates of the web site you entered.

The cost of the Internet Success Spider is $79.95.
 

Affiliate Finder Software
http://www.freecoolcash.com/cgi-bin/lnkinlte.cgi?l=ml

1. You have the ability to query the search engines with this
   software and it will return the top ranking sites for your
   target keywords.

2. You can also enter a particular web site, like a competitor,
   and the software will locate all the sites that have a link
   to the requested site.  The software spider arranges the web
   site’s links in order. It will start from the web sites that
   generate the most traffic to the web sites that generate the
   least.

3. The program also provides you with the contact information if
   a specific URL that you type into the software’s search form.

The cost of this software is $97.00.

These software packages save a lot of time for finding super
affiliates and are well worth the investment.

Remember that in order to run a successful affiliate program,
you need to work smart and not hard.  Attracting super
affiliates is considered working smart.