Best Ways to Contact Publishers

This is always a tough one as every individual will have their preferences, but there are certain best practices one can adopt to ensure a higher rate of return on contacting publishers and trying to get feedback and responses. Here are my 10 rules for getting in touch and reaching your publishers:

Rule #1: Do not over-communicate.

So many people fall into this pitfall. They think if they bombard all of their publishers every day with lots of deals and offers in a big newsletter they'll make more sales. That is simply not true. All it proceeds in doing is annoying your publishers, making them feel like their being spammed and the more e-mails they get from you, the more they will start to ignore you completely and lose interest in your program.

Rule #2: Always have something new to say.

If you keep sending the same offers again and again and again, your publishers will just lose interest because they've seen it already and have either already put it up or determined that it is not a worthwhile offer. Eventually this will run you into the same problem that we found when violating rule #1. The publishers will simply start ignoring you completely so that if you do have something worthwhile, you'll have a much lower response.

Rule #3: Don't make empty promises.

Sadly, this had to go in here also. When you send out offers and promotions and especially bonus incentives, you absolutely have to follow through on your offer. Don't be the "boy who cried wolf" to your publishers. If you have a plan to send out daily offers for a two week span, then make absolutely sure you have something up and ready for them every single day. If not, your publishers will be trained to not trust you and will eventually leave your program for a competitor they can trust.

Rule #4: If you're sending a personal e-mail, be personal!

When you're trying to reach out to specific publisher contacts personally, even if it's someone you've never contacted before, be personal. Keep it short, to the point, and make it sound like you're really interested in hearing from them personally. Lengthy and informal e-mails are almost always a sure-fire way to guarantee your e-mail to be filed away for later and probably lost or forgotten. You'll find that the more simple and personal messages are more likely to be read and responded to.

Rule #5: Be careful with your subject line.

For this one, I'll just refer you to a great Mashable article showcasing an infographic and study done by Boomerang: http://mashable.com/2012/02/09/boomerang-email-infographic/

Rule #6: "Rule of Three" for those personal e-mails.

Credit for this one goes to a couple of Account Directors at Commission Junction. I heard them speak at CJU last September and they brought up this "rule of three":

• 3 words in the subject line
• 3 paragraphs, maximum
• 3 sentences per paragraph

Always keeping messages short, sweet and to the point is always the best way to ensure you'll be heard. I'm among those that hate reading long-winded and over descriptive e-mails. When those hit my inbox, I usually save them for later and it's happened that I've taken days before I get back to them to actually read them through.

Rule #7: What's in it for me?

That's what a publisher wants to see. If you want to grab their interest, make sure there's something in there that shows them how much they can gain by promoting your offer or responding to your requests.

Rule #8: Get feedback.

As I said before, every individual will have their preferences. Once you've got them, be sure to ask them the best way to get in touch regularly that will ensure the best responsiveness. Keep notes on your top publishers and who your contacts are as well as best way to reach them and what processes are best to send them your offers.

Rule #9: Using the phone should not be your first method of communication.

Especially in this industry where everything is online, most people find random phone calls to be disruptive and extremely annoying, especially if there's been no frame of reference or past contact history. You'll find that most are super responsive to the right e-mails and prefer e-mail only communication. Of course getting on the phone should be involved at some point, and can be the only way, but it shouldn't be your first attempt. Send an e-mail first and wait for a response. I'd even suggest sending 1-2 follow-up e-mails before picking up the phone. Speaking from personal experience, I've gone out of my way to ignore those that abuse the phone like aggressive salespeople. I'm much more agreeable and responsive to any form of online communication.

Rule #10: Be Friendly

Publishers are people and they're people that you want to work hard for you. Always treat them nicely, be courteous and professional. Even if they've made mistakes, 95% of the time, it is not on purpose. Keeping them happy will guarantee that they will make you happy too.

The Top Shopping Sites you Must Familiarize Yourself with if You're going into the E-Commerce and Affiliate Marketing Business

In my capacity as an affiliate manager with a sizable agency, I come across many different clients and representatives of these clients. The people I deal with come with varying different degrees of online experience and often one wonders what they are doing working in this industry if they are not familiar with shopping online or some of the top shopping sites on the market.

I grew up with a mother who loved watching the Home Shopping Network and favorite activities included browsing through the latest mail order catalogs. Growing up like that I made the natural progression to online shopping. Being an avid online shopper from the early days when Amazon was just a book store and Google was just a small new search engine, I often find it hard to comprehend that there are still people out there that have never heard of some of these sites below or even considered purchasing something online.

So here it is, my hit list of the top shopping sites you must know if you intend to run an online store or work in e-commerce and affiliate marketing. This is broken up into two separate lists. First, the list of sites you must check out before entering into the business, and then a list of top sites you should check out after you have a decent business and are looking into affiliate marketing.

Take some time to check out each one. Shop around, see what's there, maybe buy a thing or two. If you're going to sell something online, you have to understand what it's like from your customers perspective and perhaps what your competing against.


The Before List:

#1 - Amazon.com

As the #1 site on according to Internet Retailer, of course the first one should be Amazon.com. If you're going to see what e-commerce is like, you'd better start with the best of the best and see how it's done right. With their top of line technology, merchandising and marketing, they're hard to beat. They are a huge success story and it's no wonder that the recent nexus laws for Internet sales tax has been so commonly referred to as the "amazon law".


#2 - SlickDeals.net

Any savvy online shopper will be familiar with SlickDeals.net. Their user-based forums are the ultimate source to finding the best deals, discounts and prices across the net. Founded in 1999, they have become one of the largest and most well known destinations for their user forums where other savvy consumers are sharing and posting the best deals they find. But posters beware, SlickDeals' users can be very brutal if they don't like your deal.

#3 - Woot.com

Every Internet/technology enthusiast is obsessed with Woot! along with all of their other sites and brands. Woot's brands bring together the best of both worlds in online shopping and deal hunting. Check out their multiple daily deal sites where one item is sold every day at an unbeatable price - woot.com, kids.woot.com, home.woot.com, shirt.woot.com and more. Don't forget to keep an eye out for the monthly woot off and the ever elusive bag of crap. They also have a deal forum (in a similar vein to slickdeals), deals.woot.com.


The After List:

#1 - ShopatHome.com

With a great domain name and one of the largest consumer following in the affiliate space, ShopatHome.com is a great destination. They not only provide a great place for customers to find the best discounts and deals on the net, but they also offer cashback rebates on purchases when shopping through their site. Rebate sites, like ShopatHome.com will often be the bread and butter of most e-commerce affiliate programs.

#2 - FatWallet.com

FatWallet.com is a top destination for shoppers looking for the best deals online. With their cashback offers combined with their stellar user forum and hot deals section, customers don't need to go elsewhere. They know they're getting the best deals when shopping on FatWallet.com. As their name suggests, they help us all keep our wallets nice and fat.




#3 - Retailmenot.com

As the top coupon site on the market, you can't miss Retailmenot.com. They have some of the best natural search rankings on the market for almost any coupon or discount related search terms. If a customer is looking for a discount, RetalMeNot.com will be the first site they see. Retailmenot combines both user-submitted offers and coupons as well as vetted deals they've gained through their affiliate partners. You'll also find a guaranteed voting system so incoming customers will know if a coupon listed is successful and current.