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How To Get Started with Affiliate Programs

I signed up to a progam... now what do I do?

You’ve signed up to an affiliate program. Great! Now what?
Joining affiliate programs is easy, but you’ve got to know what the best practices are after signing up to a new program. Here is a mini guide for getting started after signing up as a gaming affiliate:
Step One: Activate and Test Links
Before you can earn a single cent of commission as an affiliate, you’ve got to ensure you have working links through which to acquire players. Activate links through the affiliate administration panel. It’s important to test these links yourself to ensure that the stats are being tracked correctly.
Send your affiliate link to a couple of friends and ask them to click-through to the site and download their software. You want to test that the affiliate software tracks the number of clicks and downloads correctly. You can test this in a vacuum before releasing the link to the public where it becomes harder to ascertain if the stats are being tracked correctly.
And if one of your friends who obliges your favor of downloading the software goes on to become one of your biggest players, don’t forget to take them out for nice dinners on a regular basis!
Step Two: Contact Your Affiliate Manager
Every affiliate program worth its salt employs managers to work with affiliates to help address their questions, concerns and as well as to serve as a conduit for running promotions. Affiliates can think of their affiliate managers as teammates in the quest to create conversions. They want you to create conversions just as much as you do and are here to help.
When you first sign up to an affiliate program, it’s a smart move to reach out and make contact with your affiliate manager. Begin to cultivate a working relationship from day one.
Different affiliate managers have different value. Sad to say, there are those who are mostly interested in being everyone’s friend who do not have much helpful information. It’s a line of work with an extremely high turnover rate. But good affiliate managers, of which there are plenty out there, can be loaded with great information to pass along to help your business take off.
So what are the right questions to ask your affiliate manager after you sign-up with a program? Here are our suggestions:

  • ask about their career (how long have they been in iGaming?)
  • what ideas do they have for helping you specifically (open-ended questions like this can be great for maximizing opportunities)
  • do they allow ring-fencing when one of your players scores a big win?
  • what creatives and promotions do they think will work best with your players?
  • what commission models and rates are available to you? are there performance bonuses they can offer?
  • how and when do they process affiliate payments?
  • ask their opinion on shaving statistics and other deceitful tactics (can’t hurt to get them on record saying they detest such practices)

The rule of thumb with questions and affiliate managers is: it can’t hurt to ask. Take advantage of the help your affiliate managers can offer by asking their opinion on creative ways to perform and create conversions.
Step Three: Stick with It
Making money as an affiliate is not a cake-walk. If you turned to it as a get-rich-quick scheme, expect to be disappointed. However, if you put in the work to grow your business and maintain a dedication to the long haul, you will eventually experience some success. The secret is repeat trial and error and continuing to educate yourself by acquiring new information pertinent to iGaming affiliates found here at CAP and other resources.
Stay patient and best of luck!