As an Affiliate Development Manager, a common question or concern I get from Affiliates is how they can better their chances that a Merchant will accept their application to join a program. Once an Affiliate is accepted into ShareASale, there are over 3,800 Merchants to choose from. Once a Merchant has been selected, the Affiliate’s application to join is essentially as important as making a great first impression. There are several steps Affiliates take with every application to increase the likelihood of acceptance. And in the spirit of the month of “Best of”, I’ve compiled some helpful tips!
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Website is complete and contains valuable information
What constitutes for complete and valuable?
1. Content is clear so that customers know what the website is trying to convey
2. Website has a set topic and sticks to it
3. Website is organized and user friendly
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Website is relevant to the Merchant you are applying to
Example:
If you are applying to a baseball Merchant, you want your website to be related to baseball or sports. If you have more than one website, you can add additional websites inside your account under “Account”. Click on “Edit Settings” and find “Additional websites you control”.
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Provide Merchant your general marketing plan in the space provided
“I own and operate a network of content blogs and I plan on advertising your cutting board products on my food blog.”
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All contact information is up-to-date
It is important to have your contact information up-to-date so that you can receive email notification if you have been accepted into Merchant programs
You will also receive emails and newsletter from your Merchant partners as well as any ShareASale updates. You can update your contact information inside your account under “Account Settings” then click on “Edit Settings”.
There may come a time, where you have followed all of the steps above but still find that the application has not been approved. Should this happen to you, I would recommend reaching out to the Merchant directly so you can further explain why you feel there is a great partnership potential. There are a few ways to go about contacting Merchants through the ShareASale interface:
1. Contact the Merchant via the Merchant Summary Report:
- Log into your ShareASale account
- Click on “Reports”
- Click on “Merchant Summary”
There is a contact button for each Merchant on the right side of the page.
2. Contact the Merchant via email for more information:
- Log into your ShareASale account
- Click on “Tools”
- Click on “Download your Merchant List”
- Direct contact information for the Affiliate Manager will be included in the report
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