Second Life merchants and affiliate programs

I am delighted to see the world of affiliate marketing integrated into the virtual reality of Second Life. For marketers this is a wonderful addition to the potential of Second Life success. For current content creators, product producers and business owners, affiliate marketing is a fantastic facet to add to your promotional and marketing strategies.

Some thoughts on the current availability…

For Merchants – those that make and sell products…

1. There is no reason not to allow affiliates to sell your products. This is different than a reseller. Affiliates get a commission only when an item sells. You don’t have to pay them to sell your products, and by allowing them to sell your products you potentially lessen the chance of copycats trying to duplicate. Why duplicate if you can sell the original and gain a portion of the profit.. its a great partnership!

2.  Do not confuse affiliate selling with resellers. Reselling is when you charge someone to buy your products as a reduced cost and they in turn can do whatever they want with your products. Occasionally the products are no modify. This is not the best option for you – as the product creator, you should maintain the control of price setting for your products as well as ownership. Affiliate selling retains all your creator/ownership while you allow others to help sell your products and earn a commission for doing to.

2. Make yourself available to potential affiliates. Respond to IMs or PMs they might send you. Be open to the idea of requests. A good affiliate seller/marketer will know how to sell your products, let them do it to the best of their ability and you’ll both make good money.

3. Do not require affiliates to place landmarks and website gadgets on their land for you. If someone really wants to know where your product came from, they can look at the product creator and go from there. By requiring these external landmarks and links you are only helping to distract the buyers… its like any other on or offline shopping experience, don’t make your buyers hop all over the place just to make a sale.

XStreetSL.com (previously slexchange) is a great place to get started with your affiliate venders. Here are some tips for a more successful go at promotion your products to affiliates…

1. Make sure your “product” title and description for your affiliate venders specifically say what your venders sell.

2. Don’t combine all different kinds of products as your only vender option. some affiliate will only want your ball gowns or only your men’s shirts and jeans. Don’t make all afffiliates grab all your stuff. Give them options so they can best include your products in their shop.

3. Offer multiple sizes of venders or better still, make the vender modify so your potential affiliates can fit your products in for the best sales potential.

4. Don’t charge people to sell your products., that’s a reseller program, if your products are truly high quality items that others want to buy, encourage those that love your stuff, to sell if for you. Word of mouth is the best form of advertsing in any space!

Bottom line, affiliate selling for any business is a good situation for everyone. It allows those that create great products to find a greater reach and more exposure. It also allows those that prefer selling to sell great products and earn a commission. Some of the biggest names in the retail industry have affiliate programs… Second Life is no different — the space is just a little more colorful.

Tagged as: affiliate marketing