Top 8 Tips In Choosing Affiliate Programs
by Jean Lam
You probably already know that joining an affiliate program is a
good start to earning money on the Internet without the hassles
that come with selling your own product. You just promote someone
else's business and products and collect a commission when you
make a sale. You don't need to worry about:
(1) Collecting the money
(2) Delivering the product
(3) Customer Service
One of the better affiliate programs out there is the Internet
Marketing Center at http://www.zineguru.com/affiliate
If you have come across other affiliate programs and don't know
which one to choose, consider the 8 tips provided below:
(1) Go For Quality
When you promote someone else's product, ensure the product
is of good quality. Do your homework first either by buying
and testing the product or by getting testimonials and
recommendations from other people who have bought it. Remember
that any recommendation you make reflects directly on you.
If you recommend a quality product or service that is reasonably
priced, you'll retain your customers trust and their interest in
any future recommendations that you make.
However, if your customers have a bad experience with a product
or service that you recommend, it is unlikely they will act
on any new offers you send them.
Never promote something that's going to hurt your reputation!
(2) Look For A Program That Offers Top Commissions
It is perfectly reasonable for you to expect to be paid 20% to
50% of the profits on each product sold -- 5% to 10% is really
low. Ultimately, you should look for companies who understand
the "lifetime value" of new customers you send them and who
appreciate your efforts enough to compensate you generously.
(3) Make Sure They Have A High Sales Conversion Ratio
When joining an affiliate program, make sure that the site is
turning a reasonable percentage of traffic into sales. If not,
your efforts directing visitors to the web site will be wasted.
Look for sites that have at least a 1% conversion ratio
(i.e. 1 out of every 100 visitors buy). Check out the web site
and the sales copy to see if it "makes you want to buy." After
all, while it's your job to send targeted traffic, it's their
job to turn these prospects into paying customers.
(4) Choose A Program That Matches The Theme Of Your Website
If your site is about internet marketing, then promoting a
non-related affiliate product like car books is a poor strategy.
Your customers see you as an internet marketing expert -- not
a car expert.
Instead, you should be selling books or ebooks about web
marketing. So, it makes sense that while your visitors will be
very interested to learn what marketing books or ebooks you
recommend, you will lose their trust and respect if you start
trying to recommend car books to them.
Find out what your target market is looking for and then choose
affiliate products that meet their needs while complementing
your own product or service.
(5) Be Sure That You're Getting Credit For All Of Your Sales
Find out what kind of tracking software the affiliate program
that you're interested in joining uses. You want to go with a
company that uses quality affiliate tracking software that is
reliable and tracks ALL of your sales.
Why I emphasize "all" is because you want to make sure they
track online, phone, fax, and snail mail orders. Many companies
only track online orders, and this means that you will never get
credit for anywhere from 5 - 10% of your affiliate sales!
Also, make sure the affiliate program you join uses "cookie
tracking" because this helps to ensure that you will be credited
for the sales of people who don't buy the first time they visit,
but come back later to make a purchase.
(6) Look For Programs That Allow You To Access All Of Your Sales
Statistics In Real Time
Real Time statistics are important because they allow you to see
how different banners, text links, and recommendations are doing.
For example, after some testing on your site, you might discover
that a banner on your resource page doesn't pull nearly as well
as a personal recommendation under your newsletter subscription
box.
You can adjust which banners and text links you use, and where
they are placed, based on what you learn from your Real Time
sales statistics.
(7) Look For A Program That Teaches You The "Best" Techniques
A good affiliate program will provide you with everything you
need to be successful, including traffic-generating banners,
text links, and recommendation letter templates. And, it will
also tell you which techniques work well in which circumstances.
Because an affiliate program's success is linked to yours, the
program should be able to provide you with everything you need
to know to start earning excellent commissions immediately.
(8) Consider Commission Payment Frequency
Last but not least, you need to know how often commission checks
will be sent to you, preferably not less than once a month.
Any longer payment interval is probably too long.
Keep in mind the 8 tips noted above before joining any affiliate
program. If the program meets the mentionned criteria, you
probably have a winner. If not, look for a better program.
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