Want to know what separates good affiliate managers from GREAT ones? The answer isn’t complicated, but it does require discipline. Today, I’m sharing the exact principles that have driven millions in affiliate sales across programs of all sizes.
After 17 years of managing affiliate programs, I’ve distilled the most critical principles into what I call the 10 Commandments of Great Affiliate Managers.
These aren’t theoretical concepts. These are battle-tested strategies we’ve used with A-list clients like Michael Hyatt, Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington, Stu McLaren, Adidas, and Shutterfly. They’ve worked for programs selling physical products, memberships, courses, and coaching services across every price point imaginable.
I could have easily added five or six more commandments, but these ten represent the core principles that create the biggest impact. Follow them, and you’ll extract maximum value from every affiliate relationship. Ignore them, and you’ll struggle to gain traction.
Follow all ten commandments, and you’ll virtually guarantee your program’s success. You MIGHT succeed if you skip one. But skip two or more? Your program will likely underperform or fail completely.
These principles aren’t just nice-to-haves. Your affiliates EXPECT them. The best affiliates won’t promote programs that ignore these fundamentals.
Commandment #1: Thou shall start before you’re ready
The perfect time to launch your affiliate program doesn’t exist.
You’ll always find something that isn’t quite right. Your website could be better. Your funnel needs tweaking. You want more products first.
These are excuses, not reasons.
Here’s the truth: You can have a functional affiliate program up and running in 24 hours or less. Yes, you need some basic components in place, but not ALL of them. You can refine as you grow.
The “someday” approach kills more affiliate programs than bad commission structures ever will.
Click here to learn how to start an affiliate program for free.
Stop waiting. Start today. Your future affiliates are already promoting someone else while you’re still “getting ready.”
Commandment #2: Thou shall not put other forms of marketing before your affiliate program
Every major marketing study reaches the same conclusion: affiliate marketing delivers the fastest scalability and highest-converting traffic you can generate.
Facebook ads have their place. SEO matters. LinkedIn campaigns can work.
But affiliate marketing deserves priority status.
Consider this reality check: You can spend six hours optimizing a Facebook campaign and reach maybe 3% to 5% of your followers. Or you can invest two hours recruiting quality affiliates who could generate immediate sales.
The math isn’t complicated.
Here’s why affiliate marketing should be your primary marketing strategy:
**Extended Reach**: Affiliates give you instant access to audiences you couldn’t reach alone. Their followers become your potential customers without you building those relationships from scratch.
**Cost-Effective**: You only pay for actual results. No upfront advertising costs. No wasted budget on clicks that don’t convert. Pure performance-based marketing.
**Third-Party Credibility**: When someone your audience trusts recommends your product, that recommendation carries more weight than any ad you could create. This credibility accelerates the buyer’s journey.
**Scalability**: Growing your affiliate network doesn’t require growing your team proportionally. One affiliate manager can coordinate dozens or even hundreds of affiliates.
**Low Risk**: Since you pay only for results, your financial exposure stays minimal even as you scale aggressively.
Make affiliate marketing your foundation, then build other strategies around it.
If you are ready to take your business to the next level and start an affiliate program, start with my free report, Your First 100 Affiliates. This report takes nearly two decades of experience, trial and error, and lessons learned about finding top affiliates in nearly every conceivable niche and puts them all into one report. Grab your copy here!
Commandment #3: Thou shalt recruit affiliates consistently
We live by a simple motto at my company: ABR. Always Be Recruiting.
When I first implemented this principle, I was religious about it. I dedicated time every single week to affiliate recruitment. Then the company grew, things got busy, and I let it slide. That was a mistake I’m actively correcting.
The key word isn’t “aggressively.” It’s “consistently.”
Thirty minutes three days per week will transform your program. Better yet, this task delegates beautifully to a virtual assistant once you establish your system.
Consistent affiliate recruitment delivers these critical benefits:
Expanded Reach: Every new affiliate represents a new audience segment. Consistent recruitment means you’re continuously opening doors to markets you haven’t penetrated yet.
Diversified Promotional Channels: Different affiliates use different methods. Some excel at email marketing. Others dominate social media. Some create killer blog content. Consistent recruitment ensures you’re not dependent on a single promotional channel.
Faster Scaling: Your marketing reach grows without your costs increasing proportionally. This asymmetric growth is what makes affiliate marketing so powerful.
Pipeline Protection: Affiliates leave programs for various reasons. Consistent recruitment means you’re always backfilling and growing simultaneously.
My Find Affiliates Now course provides a complete system for building an effective affiliate recruitment process.
Learn more about Find Affiliates Now here.
Commandment #4: Thou shall be generous with thy commissions
What’s the right affiliate commission to offer?
Too low, and top affiliates ignore you. Too high, and you kill your margins.
Here’s the framework that actually works:
- Start with your price point
- Calculate your cost of goods (for digital products, this is minimal beyond processing fees)
- Identify incremental costs (customer support, community management, etc.)
- Determine your minimum acceptable profit
- Research competitor commission rates
EXAMPLE #1: Digital Product
| Price Point | $1000 |
|---|---|
| Cost of Goods: | $0 |
| Incremental Cost: | $100 |
| Amount You Want: | $400 |
| Commission You Can Offer: | $500 or 50% |
.
This calculation shows you CAN offer 50%, not that you MUST. If competitors offer 30%, you have strategic flexibility.
EXAMPLE #2: Tangible Product
| Price Point | $500 |
|---|---|
| Cost of Goods: | $250 |
| Incremental Cost: | $50 |
| Amount You Want: | $100 |
| Commission You Can Offer: | $100 or 20% |
.
If your competition matches this rate, consider increasing yours to stand out. The affiliates who can move serious volume have choices. Give them a reason to choose you.
Not sure how much to pay your affiliates? Watch my free video tutorial on YouTube that walks you through step-by-step.
Commandment #5: Thou shalt pay on time every time
We missed one commission payment while scaling our company several years ago. It was the first and ONLY time, but it caused problems we’re still working to overcome with some affiliates.
Your affiliates need predictability. They budget around expected commission payments. They make business decisions based on when they’ll receive money.
Here’s a simple rule everyone understands: Sales made in June are payable on the first business day of August. This gives you time to process returns while maintaining predictability.
Why does payment timing matter so much?
Trust Maintenance: Your affiliates are partners, not vendors. Timely payments demonstrate respect for their contribution and commitment to the relationship.
Motivation: Prompt payment serves as positive reinforcement. When affiliates receive earnings on schedule, they stay engaged and motivated to generate more sales.
Loyalty Building: Affiliates have options. Consistent, on-time payments build loyalty that keeps them promoting your products instead of jumping to competitors.
Affiliate Attraction: Your payment reputation spreads through affiliate networks. Reliability attracts high-quality affiliates. Inconsistency repels them.
Reputation Enhancement: Delayed or inconsistent payments damage your brand credibility. Strong payment practices enhance your image and help you recruit better affiliates.
Paying on time isn’t just ethical business practice. It’s strategic advantage.
Commandment #6: Thou shalt not decline small affiliates
Every whale was once a minnow.
The affiliate who seems insignificant today might become your top producer in 18 months.
I’ll make this concrete: If you decline 100 small affiliates, I virtually guarantee at least one of them will become a six-figure affiliate within two years. Are you willing to lose that opportunity because you couldn’t be bothered with someone who has a small list today?
Most small affiliates are easy to work with. They make a few sales here and there. No drama, no special requests. Just profitable, consistent results.
And while you’re working with them, you’re building a relationship with a potentially massive future partner.
Watch this video about why declining small affiliates is a mistake.
Let me share a real example. We had an affiliate promote for Jeff Walker who made ZERO sales her first time out. The next year, with a list of just 2,000 people, she generated 9 sales for $18,000. Year three? 180 sales. This year she’s on track for $500,000 in affiliate commissions.
From zero to potentially $2M+ in sales in just a few years.
Here’s how to work effectively with small affiliates:
**Vet Them Properly**: Small doesn’t mean “accept everyone.” Ensure they align with your brand and can represent you appropriately, even on a smaller scale.
**Provide Clear Guidelines**: Give them the same quality guidelines you give larger affiliates. Clear expectations prevent problems regardless of affiliate size.
**Maintain Communication**: You don’t need daily check-ins, but small affiliates should feel valued. Regular updates and responsiveness matter.
**Supply Resources**: Small affiliates need the same tools as large ones. Don’t create a two-tier system where small affiliates get inferior resources.
The best affiliate programs include a mix of small and large affiliates. Diversity protects you and creates opportunities you can’t predict.
Commandment #7: Thou shalt grow faster than you think you should
Historical context matters here. Chinese dynasties took 300 years to collapse. Today, governments topple overnight. Elon Musk disrupted the entire automotive industry in under a decade.
The world moves fast. Your affiliate program should too.
You don’t need the “slow and steady” approach. You can go from zero to 100 affiliates quickly if you have the right systems.
A critical caveat: Scaling without solid foundations creates operational chaos, customer dissatisfaction, and financial problems. You need careful planning, clear strategy, and adaptability to scale successfully at an accelerated pace.
Here are factors that enable faster scaling:
- Process Streamlining: Eliminate bottlenecks and inefficiencies before you scale. Clean processes allow rapid growth without breaking.
- Technology Leverage: Implement automation tools for repetitive tasks. Use data analysis to make faster, better decisions.
- Rapid Decision-Making: Create systems that allow quick responses to market changes and opportunities. Slow decision-making kills momentum.
- Team Building: Bring skilled, motivated people on board who can handle increased workload and responsibility.
- Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with businesses or individuals who provide access to resources, customers, and markets that accelerate growth.
Bottom line: You can and should scale faster than feels comfortable. The question isn’t “Can we grow this fast?” It’s “What systems do we need to grow this fast safely?”
Commandment #8: Thou shalt teach thy affiliates
Your most important job as an affiliate manager is helping affiliates understand your vision and adopt strategies that actually work.
This doesn’t happen by accident.
Affiliates need to know what tactics drive sales in your niche. They need promotional calendars so they can plan effectively. They need help converting leads and closing sales.
When we trained Jeff Walker’s affiliates, we showed them how to increase from 5 sales to 12 sales. That might not sound dramatic until you multiply it across 100 affiliates. Suddenly you’ve added 700 sales to your launch.
Here’s what comprehensive affiliate education covers:
- Product Knowledge: Affiliates must deeply understand what they’re promoting. Surface-level knowledge creates weak promotions and increases customer service problems.
- Brand Consistency: Proper training ensures affiliates maintain your brand voice and values across all promotional materials.
- Quality Promotion: Beyond swipe copy, educated affiliates create original content that resonates authentically with their specific audiences.
- Compliance and Ethics: Teaching ethical marketing practices and compliance guidelines prevents legal issues and protects your brand reputation.
- Optimized Marketing Strategies: Sharing effective tactics helps affiliates improve results, which benefits everyone.
- Motivation and Engagement: Supported, well-equipped affiliates stay motivated and engaged, leading to increased sales and stronger partnerships.
Investing in affiliate education creates better marketing, stronger partnerships, and increased revenue.
Want to see exactly how we train affiliates? Click below to watch a complete affiliate training session we conducted for one of our coaching clients.
This training covers:
…Promo calendar creation
…Multiple promotional strategies
…Live Q&A that addresses common questions
Plus you’ll get these valuable bonuses:
Commandment #9: Thou shalt reply promptly
Never make affiliates wait for responses.
Yes, you’re busy. Everyone’s busy. But a simple “Got your email, looking into this” response takes 30 seconds and prevents frustration.
Even for minor issues you can’t address immediately, acknowledge receipt and set expectations. Your affiliate relationships depend on communication quality.
Here’s what happens when you ignore or delay responses:
Decreased Motivation: Affiliates lose enthusiasm when they feel ignored. Their promotion intensity drops proportionally to response time.
Eroded Trust: Delayed responses, especially regarding earnings or support issues, damage the partnership foundation.
Reduced Commitment: Affiliates start prioritizing programs where they feel valued and supported. Your program slides down their priority list.
Damaged Reputation: Negative experiences spread quickly through affiliate networks. Unresponsiveness becomes part of your program’s reputation, deterring quality affiliates.
Fast response times demonstrate respect, build trust, and keep affiliates engaged. Set up systems that allow you to acknowledge messages quickly even when immediate resolution isn’t possible.
Commandment #10: Thou shalt make thine rules clear
Your affiliate program needs rules. Clear, specific, enforceable rules.
Every program differs. Spell out your expectations explicitly on your affiliate page. Can affiliates bid on your trademarked terms? What about logo usage? Email copy requirements? Social media guidelines?
Affiliates must understand and follow your rules to protect your brand.
Here’s why clear rules matter:
- Clarity and Transparency: Explicit rules establish terms, conditions, roles, responsibilities, and compensation structure without ambiguity.
- Consistency: Rules create a consistent framework for promotional activities, ensuring all affiliates follow the same guidelines.
- Quality Control: Setting standards for content, messaging, and promotional methods protects brand reputation and ensures promotions align with company values.
- Compliance: Rules help affiliates comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including disclosure requirements and data privacy regulations.
- Prevention of Unethical Practices: Without rules, some affiliates resort to spam or unethical tactics that harm brand reputation and alienate customers.
- Affiliate Motivation: Clear commission structures and reward systems help affiliates understand exactly how to maximize earnings, increasing their promotional investment.
Rules provide the foundation for successful, ethical, mutually beneficial partnerships.
THE SUPREME COMMANDMENT
Here’s the principle that governs all others:
Your affiliates are your partners.
Always act in their best interests. Treat them like family. Don’t look for every opportunity to extract maximum value at their expense.
When you genuinely care about your affiliates’ success, they reciprocate with loyalty, consistent promotion, and honest feedback that improves your program.
Action Steps You Can Take Right Now
- Review your entire affiliate program against these ten commandments. Where are you strong? Where are you weak?
- Evaluate your commission structure. Is it generous? Is it competitive?
- Access the complete affiliate training webinar mentioned in Commandment #8 by clicking here.
- Create or update your affiliate program rules document.
- Schedule 30-minute blocks three times per week for affiliate recruitment.
These commandments aren’t suggestions. They’re the difference between an affiliate program that struggles along and one that drives significant revenue growth.
The choice is yours.
Questions?
Text me anytime at (260) 217-4619.
Or…check out some of my free reports to help you get on the right track:
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