10 Tips to Make the Most of Your Affiliate Marketing Day

In a session yesterday at the Affiliate Summit East in Philadelphia, three affiliate marketing managers shared their insights on how online marketers can optimize their day-to-day affiliate marketing efforts. Karen McMahon, affiliate marketing strategist known as the Affiliate Whisperer; Amy Ely, e-commerce acquisition manager at Under Armour; and Kim Salvino, director of publisher development at Chateau 20, a provider of performance marketing solutions, led the session. Here are their 10 tips:

1. Verify the basics. Every morning I test my merchants' websites on a couple of browsers to make sure they're loading properly, said Salvino. This includes a test of the shopping cart page. Keep in mind that technology updates typically occur overnight, McMahon said, and therefore first thing in the morning is the best time to test. If everything is working properly, it's three minutes to five minutes of your day, Salvino said. On the flip side, if a site isn't functioning properly, addressing that issue is going to dictate the rest of your day, she added.

2. Review your stats. Salvino does this twice a day (once in the morning, once in the afternoon), checking the clickthrough and conversion rates for her affiliate sites. I know what my average daily revenue [from affiliates] is, so if revenue is down for the day I can begin to check in with affiliates to see if there are any problems. And if revenue is trending upward for the day, you want to check in with your affiliates to make sure what they're doing is acceptable for the brand, said Ely.

3. Stay informed. Keep abreast of relevant affiliate marketing news by checking industry blogs, forums, podcasts, social media, etc. on a daily basis, said Salvino. You need to know what's going on with the hot topics - e.g., internet sales tax.

4. Schedule time wisely. Block out times of the day for application approvals, responding to emails and checking stats, Ely said. Don't let your inbox dictate your day and focus on the tasks that have the greatest impact on your company (i.e., those that grow revenue). And in between these tasks, give yourself a "brain break" every 60 minutes to 90 minutes, Ely added.

5. Keep yourself organized. Create and prioritize an ongoing task list, McMahon said. This should include a calendar of promotions and deadlines for your merchants. Other organization tips from McMahon included maintaining tracking documents for creative requests (e.g., banner ads) and link testing, as well as a checklist to ensure all banners and text are loaded in relevant affiliate networks for each campaign. Build out your calendar for three months to six months to be aware of the promotions your merchant is planning, Ely said.

6. Implement time-saving resources. Keep notes of ongoing successes and conversations to help you manage affiliate relationships more efficiently. And take advantage of in-house resources at your disposal. For example, Under Armour has started using customer service reps (CSRs) in its call center to look for possible affiliate sites in the time when they're not on the phone, Ely said. It's a career growth opportunity for the CSRs and Under Armour benefits from a bolstered affiliate network.

7. Evaluate your routine. Take the time to review your daily routine on a fairly regular basis. Identify the two to three tasks that are directly influencing your success and focus on them, Salvino said. For example, maybe you need to request less creative from your affiliates.

8. Build in recruitment time. Use one day a week (at a minimum) to maintain a master recruitment list. Reach out to five new potential affiliate partners and follow up with five that have yet to respond to a previous inquiry, Salvino advised. To help you find potential affiliate partners, check search engines for top-performing keyword searches as well as affiliate sites linking to your competitors.

9. Make time for your affiliates. Dedicate part of the day for calls with your affiliates, McMahon said. Prepare for these calls by reviewing their sites, including where your merchants' ads are being placed and that your merchants' logos and copy are up-to-date. And it can't hurt to negotiate (i.e., schmooze) with your affiliates to get better placement for your merchants' ads, McMahon added.

10. Take time to strategize. Run commission detail reports on publishers and top performers, McMahon said. These reports can look at conversion revenues on a year-over-year as well as monthly basis. You may also want to consider the timing of promotions as well as using short-term offers (e.g., weekend sales) as a possible solution when revenue numbers are running low.