• As Stephen Covey would say, first seek to understand. Ask your smaller affiliates what they are having trouble with. This will give you insight on what solutions you should create.

• Use Webinar technology to address their issues. Webinar is a hybrid word for conducting a seminar over the Web. The Webinar can be either free or paid and will allow you to train your smaller affiliates all at one time.

• Once you have completed the Webinar you should ask your affiliates for feedback to make sure what you've delivered has helped them solve their problems.

The point here is to get as many affiliates as you can to sell your niche products. This may sound like an obvious strategy, but during the last 10 years of consulting with my clients I've learned that many companies — both big and small — don't do the little things as well as they should. Some of the biggest breakthroughs have come from doing a few simple things better. And one of those "little things" is to start training your smaller affiliates so you can begin to reap the benefits of the Affiliate Marketing Long Tail.

If there is a Web marketing topic you would like me to cover, submit your request at www.AskDionJones.com.

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Dion Jones is a web marketing specialist and who affiliated with the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship.