Do good affiliate managers exist?

A program recently emailed GAG asking to put a banner on the home page. Obviously they didn’t take the time to expect the purpose of the site and notice that their program was indeed listed in the casino listings. If they looked around they may have noticed that the site also doesn’t really show banners.

Can I get my banner on your site?

Thanks for your e-mail,

The reason why I have sent you that e-mail is to inform you that I have noticed on your website www.gamingaffiliatesguide.com that you don’t have any banners from our brands on the home page.

Please will you let me know if you can give our brands more exposure?

Do good affiliate managers exist?

Hi Affiliate Manager,

I think I’ve seen your email before where you asked me to put a banner on the home page. I don’t need banners to promote any brands and people tend to click on text links far more than banners. I might not ever use a banner on the site, I have no problems with images, logos and such but please don’t ask me to put a banner on my index page. I do have your program listed here:

http://www.gamingaffiliatesguide.com/affiliate-programs/casino-affiliate-programs/

Some of my friends are top affiliates, they really hate emails that simply ask to put banners up on their homepage or don’t even see where they are listed. If you looked at my site you would have noticed where your program was promoted and how. I probably didn’t answer your email because you asked for this. I don’t have any banners on the site at all and I promote affiliate programs.

What would a good affiliate manager do?

Perhaps start by trying to contact the user and ask how to work together and get more exposure. Maybe ask if they could meet at the conferences or have a chat. Look at their website carefully and identify their unique selling point (USP) and it doesn’t hurt to throw in a compliment about the affiliate’s site as well. If you just ask for the number one listing and say your casino is the best then the top affiliates won’t take you seriously.

Unfortunately a program I recommend did this mistake but I have to admit it is not easy finding and training a good affiliate manager. The really good ones tend to leave for higher positions or better yet become affiliates themselves.