Try This Time-Tested Ecommerce Strategy That Brings In More Sales With Less Marketing Effort

Advertising and marketing take time, energy, and money.

Sometimes, ecommerce entrepreneurs don't have enough of all three of those things to really focus in on driving traffic and making sales.

Between sourcing products, handling financials, maintaining your website, and other things you have to do to run an ecommerce business, you might already be overloaded, especially if it's a side project.

If marketing isn't your thing, or you just don't have the time right now, why not get someone else to do it for you?

That doesn't have to mean hiring a marketing agency, either.

There are tons of people out there who'd love to promote your products in exchange for a cut of the profits.

Setting up an affiliate program is a great way to get the exposure you need for your brand — not to mention tons of sales you might not have gotten otherwise — without needing to do everything yourself.

It's simple, cost effective, and it can do wonders for your business.

In a recent blog post, A Better Lemonade Stand explains the benefits of opening up your products to affiliate marketers.

What is an Affiliate Program?

An affiliate program is a customer acquisition tool merchants (like you) can create to generate more sales with the help of publishers (like bloggers and websites).

When a new publisher is approved into your affiliate program, they become your affiliate and get unique tracking links that they will use whenever they share your products online.

Every time someone clicks through to your website with their link and makes a purchase, you generate a sale and they earn a commission of that sale.

As the program creator, you get to decide how much to pay affiliates and for what – such as a percentage per sale or a flat rate per lead.

You also outline terms and conditions so they know what promotional methods they are allowed to use when marketing your brand to their audience.

Why Start an Affiliate Program?

Literally anyone selling anything online can start an affiliate program, whether that’s physical products, digital goods or even services.

The only requirement is that your stuff must be sold online through your website or on a platform that has affiliate tracking capabilities.

Here are some of the great reasons to consider an affiliate program for your product business:

Your sales will increase: Quality affiliates send high-calibre traffic to your website, so your product sales will increase as a result.

You only pay for performance: Unlike advertising, which can be risky, affiliates only get paid after they’ve generated sales for you first.

Existing customers already want one: Customers already sharing your brand will be thrilled to hear they’ll now get rewarded for it, which will incentivize them to promote you even more!

It boosts your brand awareness: With affiliates talking about you all over the internet, your brand awareness will increase, leading to non-affiliate sales as well.

You can get the full scoop on how to set up an affiliate program for your own online store — including a great list of platforms you can use to get started — in the full blog post from A Better Lemonade Stand.