5 Tips for Joining Affiliate Programs
5 Tips for Joining Affiliate Programs
© 2003, by Tor Pedersen
Let me get straight to the point! There is a jungle of
affiliate programs on the net. Some are good, but very
many are mediocre. If you don't know what to look for when
choosing who to go into partnership with, there's a good
chance that you will invest time and money on mediocre
programs which will never yield any worthwhile income.
Here are 5 things which must be in place for the program
to be of good quality:
1. Commission. I find it quite unbelievable that so many
programs pay out such appalling commission to their
retailers. Many are right down at 10 to 15%. Generally, the
whole process takes only 10% of the price, so who does the
other 90% go to? Marketing?
None of the programs I promote pay less than 30%
commission, and some of them are right up at 60 to 65%
commission. There are, of course, some programs which
can yield a good profit with a lower commission, but these
are a clear minority.
Look also for programs which offer lifetime commission –
that way you will be paid for all the future purchases made
by a customer resulting from your affiliate link.
2. Good-quality products. You should not sin against this.
In future, most of your success with affiliate programs
will depend on your good reputation. People (including
myself) are cheesed off by and despair of all the spamming.
The number of people who spam increases day by day.
Don't be like these: instead, focus on selling quality
products, products which meet people's genuine needs.
Yes, I know it can be expensive to test all the products
that you are going to sell. But in the long term this can
be a very worthwhile investment which will repay many times
over in terms of increased reputation and respect – which
are key ingredients in selling products online.
So concentrate on finding programs offering quality
products.
A little hint: if the product is not good enough
for you, it will probably not be good enough for anyone
else either.
3. A program which matches the theme of your website (for
instance, don't promote a dating service if your site
focuses on business).
4. A site that sells. In the course of running an affiliate
programs directory "http://affiliateinformer.com ", I see
all sorts of programs which I may or may not wish to
include. What surprises me is that many of the programs
offering high commission don't have a website that is able
to sell the product.
Many decide to offer high-commission programs without
asking themselves whether the site has the slightest chance
of selling the product, and will therefore never earn
anything from it.
When looking at a merchant's website which you are
considering a partnership with, put yourself in the
visitor's shoes. What will they see when they arrive there
via your affiliate link?
* a page plastered with adverts for other products?
* a poorly-designed and unprofessional webpage?
* a confusing site with poorly-thought-out
navigation?
If you find something which does not look promising, it
will not look good to your visitors either, and neither
you nor the program owner will generate any profit.
Many companies also advertise on their own websites in order
to make secondary earnings from this. This takes the focus
away from the main product which you are promoting, and
creates a leakage which again results in fewer sales for
you.
Every time a customer you have sent chooses to follow the
advertisement instead, this results in no profit for you.
This is not, perhaps, a deciding factor, but it is a good
idea to have it in the back of your mind when you are
making your list of potential partner programs.
5. Well-established company. Choose a well-established and
well-run company which is likely to be around for a long
time. The problem with newly-established companies is that
they lack the experience necessary for a successful net
business, and there are many pitfalls.
There's nothing more frustrating than investing a lot of
time and money in promoting a program only to find that
the company has gone to the wall and you have to start all
over again. Of course there are good new businesses with
sustainable programs, but as a rule it's safer to invest
time and money in companies which have already shown that
they know what they are doing.
You now know the most important criteria for a good
program. If you use this knowledge actively when choosing
partners, you will begin to show good profits much sooner!
Happy marketing, Tor Pedersen
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Tor Pedersen is the CEO of http://affiliateinformer.com
where he offers free articles, tips, hints and real-world
advice on how to make money with your website!
To subscribe to Tor Pedersen's Affiliate Insider just
mailto:affiliateinformer@s...
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