Arthur Freydin’s Blog

Online marketing, gadgets, business, and thoughts.

We all know how potent affiliate marketing can be to almost any type of online business. Retail can almost immediately profit from an affiliate marketing program and it’s evident by the sheer number of retailers that have a program. I recently launched an affiliate program for an online retailer and saw sales start pouring in as soon as the third day – talk about results!

Here’s the question I have for you though – my non-existent audience. What are the barriers for a niche online entity like Real Estate or Commercial Leasing if they want to get into affiliate marketing? Does Linkshare have a larger share of lead-gen advertisers than Commission Junction or Performics? If I want to stick with Commission Junction, how far do I have to go to train would-be publishers in marketing techniques and business practices? I just can’t see that there are as many publishers that are knowledgeable in retail than there are in lead-gen for real estate or similar verticals. Who do I target?

My gut tells me that if I want my niche affiliate marketing program to take off, I better be ready to recruit & educate. Not only will I gain the publishers, but I also give myself the ability to train them and make sure they are doing exactly what I would like them to do.
I may also want to research Performics, Linkshare and others to see if they have a larger share of these “niche publishers” that I’m looking for. Signing up with a service that already has a publisher base waiting for me can mean saving months of engaging and training uneducated publishers.