More and more webmasters and website
owners are using affiliate programs as a way to earn extra income online.
However, not all affiliate programs are created equal. Some will send you nice
checks every month where others will essentially rob you. This article will help
you tell them apart.
The reason affiliate programs are so
popular is because they are very easy to set up. Most of the time, all you have
to do is fill out a simple sign-up form and paste a few lines of html code into
your site.
But because it is so easy everybody
does it, and too often without questioning the program. Here are 8 important
factors you should consider before joining any affiliate program:
1) The Fit
First and foremost, the product or
service of the affiliate program must fit the audience of your site. A close
match will always yield better performance.
2) The Commission
Of course the commission needs to be
reasonable. The commission is the percentage of the price of the product that
you will receive for initiating the sale. A reasonable commission starts at 20%,
but can go as high as 50%. In addition, some affiliate programs will also pay
you a second tier commission, that's the commission you make on sales initiated
not by you directly, but by someone you referred to the affiliate program.
3) The Product
Price
It's wonderful to find a program
that gives you a 50% commission, but if the product is too expensive, no one
will buy it. Similarly, if the price is very low, many people will buy it, but
your 50% commission will be very small as well. Your goal is to find a very
useful product with a fair price.
4) The Product
Quality
Here too, if the quality and
usefulness of the product are low, few people will be interested. In addition,
the refund rate will be higher for such product. But more importantly, you don't
want to associate your business with low quality.
5) Referral
Duration
This is probably the most important
and all too often overlooked aspect of an affiliate program. After you've
referred a visitor to a site, how long does the site continue to
"remember" you as the referrer of that visitor? Believe it or not,
some affiliate programs won't remember you at all. This means that if the
visitor you referred did not buy directly on their first visit to the site, you
will never get a commission for that referral, even if that visitor went back to
the site later that day to purchase the product. A good affiliate program should
at least remember you for 60 days. The "remembering" is done by
setting a cookie on the visitor's computer when they click on the product ad on
your site. Beware of affiliate programs that don't mention anything about this
cookie and its duration.
6) Recurring
Commission
Taking the referral duration a step
further, some affiliate programs will even remember you not only for the first
product you sold to a given visitor, but also for every product they will buy
from them in the future, including upgrades, etc. This aspect is especially
attractive for affiliate programs that sell services with a subscription model.
For example with a monthly subscription-based service you earn the commission
each month. This can quickly add up over time.
7) The Statistics
Most affiliate programs will give
you reports on your sales activity. Some will send you a monthly report, others
will give you a URL to view your statistics in real-time at any time. I much
prefer the latter. Real-time statistics allow you to see early on how the
affiliate program is performing on your site. They also allow you to tweak your
promotion (e.g. use different promotion material) on a daily basis and get the
most out of the program. Personally, I am always suspicious of affiliate
programs that don't provide any real-time stats.
8) The Payments
Last but not least, you want to make
sure the payments are made often enough, preferably once a month. Some affiliate
programs will only pay you every 3 or 6 months.
There you go. I suggest you print or
save this article somewhere. Next time you are thinking of joining an affiliate
program, take a moment to evaluate its quality by going through these 8
criteria. If it passes the test, then you probably have a winner. Otherwise
don't waste your time, move on to a better program.
About The Author
Dom Vonarburg is the founder of AddMe.com,
the most popular site submission and promotion service. AddMe.com also publishes
the Add Me Newsletter, a 500,000-member ezine full of tips on website and
business promotion online. To subscribe send a blank email to: addmenewsletter-subscribe@dundee.net
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