Second. "Send a sincere "thank you" email. Don't just send a cursory "thank you" with your new affiliate's linking code. Once again, offer some more information about program. Tell them a little more about product, or mention a technique or two for placing classified ads for their site. Always close any communication with your affiliates by letting them know that they can always contact you with questions or concerns.

Third. Keep on top of sales alerts. Try to set up a regular schedule for informing affiliates of their sales. Frequent alerts, say once or twice a week, will keep people much more interested than a monthly mass mailing.

Fourth. Keep in touch. Start an affiliate newsletter, or send out emails with updates about your program, sales statistics from your top affiliates, and marketing tips. This will keep people excited about potential of program.

These tactics may seem a little time consuming, but believe me they're worth it. And besides, just think of recruiting hours you'll save if everyone sticks with it. Now obviously, there are going to be affiliates who leave your program no matter what you do, that's just nature of business, but, provided you have a good product, if you follow these steps and stay in communication with your people, you'll find that your program is a lot more successful.

"Wait, I don't know anything about web sites. I'll have to hire someone to do it. Isn't that expensive?"

Not at all. In last few years, competition among web designers has become fierce, and hence driven prices down. You can get a pretty good job done for very little money if you just comparison shop a bit. You might even find a web design student who needs portfolio material and is willing to set up your site for free.

Setting up your own site frees you to do exactly as you see fit. Emphasize a different angle of program, use better graphics, and use a different title to trigger different keyword searches. Make sure your site is attractive, clean and professional looking. Of course you should link back to your affiliate program, (otherwise how will you get paid?) but if you are a member of more than one program, you should consider having a banner ad which links to your other sites, and vice-versa. This way you can really increase your business from all sides.

The key to getting ahead in affiliate world is to stand out from crowd. With that in mind, using a pre-packaged web site just doesn't make sense. Take time and money to create a unique site. When your sales start to improve, you'll be glad you did.