Unsuccessful merchants are usually the ones with poor management skills; people who do not know how to deal with their affiliates and keep them happy by offering a variety of programs. Your business can benefit heavily from the creation of a niche affiliate marketing program. Such a program should offer publishers something more than the usual commission or payouts.

It is good to offer certain useful marketing tools to your publishers. You can give them comprehensive keyword lists or adverts that they can incorporate in their campaigns. If your affiliates publish newsletters, give them useful content that they can publish on your behalf. Apart from this, you can share your creative ideas with them and help them do a better job.

Another great way of luring affiliates is giving them monetary incentives other than the usual commission. If a publisher has been consistent with you and has performed well, reward him with a cash prize. This will propel him to come up with even better marketing strategies for your business.

If you are involved with a network, do not completely rely on account managers to take care of the communication aspect. As an advertiser, you should also make efforts to deal with your publishers individually. Use various communication tools to let them know that you care for them and their compensation too. Encourage them to ask questions about your business and the programmes you offer. Try and minimise the intervention of your network once you have chosen your affiliates.

The attrition rate in affiliate programmes can be quite high at times. Do not be disappointed if you lose out on some good publishers. Instead, keep recruiting new ones with the help of networks, or companies that provide affiliate marketing services. Blogs, forums and social networking websites will help you reach out to a target audience.

The key to success lies in being proactive. Do not take things for granted and initiate steps at your own end. If you manage to keep your affiliates happy, you'll surely be able to make better impact with your business.