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Strategy of the Week - The Essential Affiliate Newsletter 

Welcome to the first issue of The Affiliate Manager Weekly Strategist from Affiliate Classroom. Each week, we’ll discuss an affiliate management strategy and ask you for your input.

We decided to start the publication off by talking about newsletters - how appropriate!

In our AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training and Certification course, we go as far as to call the affiliate newsletter “essential”.

However, we know that many affiliate managers aren’t using this strategy. So, today we want to discuss some common road blocks that keep even the best affiliate managers from writing and sending out an affiliate newsletter.

Road Block #1 - I don’t know what to say!

This seems to be a common theme. Affiliate managers want to communicate with affiliates, but they don’t know what to say.

So, start off easy - talk about the things you know. Give affiliates more information about your products. Tell them about new links or promotions that you’re running.

Road Block #2 - I don’t have enough to say!

Even the shortest updates can be useful and motivational for your affiliates. Plus, shorter messages are more likely to be read than long messages, and most readers won’t be bothered if you send short messages more frequently.

Road Block #3 - I don’t have enough time!

Of course you don’t - and, honestly, you really never will! Affiliate Managers are known for their overflowing plates. But, hey - that’s why you love this job, right!

Give yourself one hour every week for newsletters. You may actually find that setting aside an hour to sit down and cover all of the little things that you have going on - you spend less time communicating the same thing over and over to multiple affiliates.

Road Block #4 - I don’t think that my affiliates want one!

Ahhhh - this statement sound like nails on a chalk board to us. After nearly 4 years of one on one work with affiliates through the Affiliate Classroom, the biggest complaint that we still get from affiliates is “my managers don’t keep me informed. I need to know what is going on.”

Your newsletter won’t replace the personal contact you make with top affiliates - but it’s good to have it there as a steady, reliable source of information even for your most active affiliates.

Questions of the week:

Do you send out a periodic affiliate newsletter?

If not - what road blocks are keeping you from getting it done?

If you are sending one - what advice do you have for other affiliate managers?

Join the discussion and post your answers in the comments section. Remember to add the URL for more information about your affiliate program!

The AC Certified Career Center has launched and we have several companies who are looking for talented Affiliate Managers and other interactive marketing careers.

Are you looking for a career in Affiliate Marketing - signup for a free account today to search through our jobs database. We’ll let our employers know that you are “Certifiable” and they can rest assured knowing that when they hire you, they’ll have the AC Certified system waiting and ready to get you completely trained on the best practices and successful techniques for managing a profitable affiliate program.

Employers - are you looking for Affiliate Managers? Post your jobs and find your perfect match!

Andrew Wee of WhoIsAndrewWee.com interviewed our VP of Marketing, Rachel Honoway for his Friday Podcast. They discussed various topics in affiliate marketing covered in AC Certified including:

• Affiliate recruitment
• Industry terms and definitions
• What it means to be an Affiliate Manager
• The role of networks in affiliate marketing
• Understanding super affiliates
• Web 2.0/Community affiliates

Listen to Andrew’s Friday Podcast here.

Shawn Collins of Affiliate Summit and recipient of our Honorary Certification award has this to say about the AC Certified Course:

“I can see why it took you two years and a full cast of affiliate marketing experts to create this. It’s like a college course on Affiliate Marketing. With sections like How to Launch an Affiliate Program and Affiliate Program Viability, it’s obvious that you had true, experienced, veteran affiliate managers like Brook Schaaf, Heather Paulson, Sam Harrelson and Peter Figueredo working on this. I was really intrigued by the sections on Strategy and on Trending - I have to assume that the former network executives on your team, Lisa Riolo and Rachel Honoway, were instrumental in developing those.

Overall, great job! I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more Certified Affiliate Manager buttons at the next Affiliate Summit!”

Brook Schaaf, CEO of Schaaf Consulting and member of the AC Certified Advisory Board has this to say about the AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training Course:

“While there is a large body of content (blogs, forums, books, etc) dedicated to affiliate marketing management, I am not aware of any other organization that offers a comprehensive guide for managers. This coursework, which is really great quality, covers all the basics and best practices for affiliate marketing management. It is a HUGE time saver and I highly recommend it to any company.

Matt McWilliams of HometownQuotes, one of our Honorary Certification recipients has this to say about the AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training Course:

“There is no one better than the Affiliate Classroom team to put together and maintain a system such as this. Anyone who goes through this will truly be trained and ready to be a great Affiliate Manager. I look forward to sending future employees through this.  I just hope they don’t try to take my job!”

AC Certified Affiliate Manager, Lisa Caraffi of Kowabunga had this to say about the course:

“I have really had a great time with this. I’m keeping my notes in a handy place because I know I will be referring to them again and again. I was able to utilize some of the tips and tools I learned on my very first day back to work and a few of the reference links that were provided in the course will save me hours of work in the future!”

 Matt McWilliams of HometownQuotes officially accepts his Honorary Affiliate Certification in this video. Watch as he delivers a great speech and introduces us to other staff members that support affiliates - including the CFO who, as Matt points out, is the guy that writes those affiliate checks!

 Watch the video:

This time, Linda Woods interviews our CEO, Anik Singal, in her Affiliate Marketing Insider show recorded live on the floor of Affiliate Summit.

Listen to hear what Anik tells Linda about AC Certified. Plus, hear what’s new with several other top industry experts including AC Certified Advisory Board Member Brook Schaaf and Honorary Certification Recipient Jamie Birch.

 Listen now: http://www.webmasterradio.fm/Affiliate-Marketing/Affiliate-Marketing-Insider/On-Location-from-Affiliate-Summit-West.htm