Treat month one as recruitment only, and judge it on affiliates rather than clicks
After this lesson you can
Know what month one produces (30 to 60 affiliates if listed in the marketplace, fewer if not), where they come from in week one, and why clicks and revenue are the wrong scoreboard until month two.
Treat month one as recruitment only, and judge it on affiliates rather than clicks
The most expensive mistake a new program makes is judging month one on the wrong number. Clicks in month one are close to zero for almost everyone, including programs that go on to work. Here is why, and what to measure instead.
The chain, and how long it is
An affiliate finds your program, applies, and waits for your approval. Approved, they research you, decide whether you are worth recommending, learn the product, write something, wait for it to rank or send it to their list, and only then does the first click arrive. Then that visitor signs up, trials, and pays a month later. Everything you do in month one shows up in months two, three, four and five. Nothing you do in month one shows up in month one.
So the scoreboard for the first 30 days is affiliates approved and, more precisely, affiliates approved who fit. If you are listed in the marketplace, 30 to 60 affiliates joining in month one is normal. If you are not listed, expect fewer, and expect nearly all of them to come from your own invitations.
Where month-one affiliates come from
Listing puts you in three places at once: the public marketplace, the dashboard every affiliate in the network sees when they log in, and the affiliate newsletter that announces new programs. Inbound starts the day you are listed; the first requests typically arrive within days, and some of them will be squarely in your niche. Featured placement, which keeps you at the top of both the marketplace and the dashboard, is an add-on if you want the month to start faster.
The condition for a listing is Scale Up or Enterprise on an annual commitment plus a completed installation. If you are on Growth, month one is your own network, and the next lesson is the whole month.
What to do with the first applicants
Look at each one. Accept the ones who fit your niche and have somewhere to send traffic from. Then, and this is what nobody does, ask each of them for one specific thing and give them the material to do it. An accepted affiliate is a list entry until they publish. Track 3 is about that; it starts the day your first affiliate is approved, not after month one ends.
What to expect
Ballpark figures for this stage. Not promises: your trial length and how you recruit move them in both directions.
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Key takeaways
- Month one shows up in months two to five. Nothing you do in month one shows up in month one.
- The month-one scoreboard is affiliates approved who fit your niche: 30 to 60 if you are listed, fewer if not.
- A listing puts you in the marketplace, the affiliate dashboard and the affiliate newsletter at once.
- Ask every accepted affiliate for one specific thing in the week they are approved. Activation starts at the first approval, not after month one.
The detail lives in the help centre
This lesson tells you the order and the judgement. The clicks are in the articles below. Open one, do the step, and you will find a way back to this lesson at the top of the article.
Step-by-step: do this now
The exact clicks live in the help centre. Open the article, do the step, come back.
Reference: read if you need the detail
Background you can skip on a first pass.
Do this before the next lesson
Each step says how much counts as done. Doing a third of it and moving on is how programs stall.
Logged in? These open the right screen in your Reditus account. Not a customer yet? They take you to signup first.
Questions we hear at this point
We have been listed for a week and have a handful of affiliates. Is that normal?
Yes. Inbound builds over the month as the listing reaches the dashboard and the affiliate newsletter, and 30 to 60 affiliates by the end of month one is the normal range for a listed program. What is not normal is waiting: the affiliates who convert fastest are usually the ones you invite yourself, from your own network.
Should we judge the program on clicks in month one?
No. Clicks arrive in months two and three, after affiliates have researched you, learned the product and published. Judge month one on approvals and on whether the approved affiliates fit your niche.
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