Affiliate programs are possibly the easiest type of online business to start running. Why? Well, in order to start any online business you need a product or service to sell. First, you need to create the product. Then, you will have to create a website, write advertisements and set up a marketing plan. If it's a physical product you are selling then you're going to be limited by the amount of time it takes to make or buy the item, package it and ship it. Then, there's the issue of accepting payments and filling orders. We haven't even started talking about refunds and returns! This is a daunting task especially if you've never run an internet business.
AFFILIATE PROGRAMS ARE THE ANSWER
So, what ARE affiliate programs? Affiliate programs allow you to be the "sales force" for someone else's product or service and earn commissions for each sale. You may be pretty internet savvy without ever noticing that many companies offer you the ability to become an affiliate. Check for the "affiliate program" links which are placed in a discreet manner on many sites. One big advantage is that you do not need to build a website (though you can) or handle the transaction or fill the order. Your job is to drive traffic (customers) to your affiliate link. When a sale is made, the affiliate will send you a commission! Signing up to become an affiliate is usually a pretty simple task. It usually involves filling out a web page providing some basic information about yourself. In turn, the company will give you an affiliate link. This is a special URL code that will identify that a customer came to the company's site from your advertising. It is usually the website address with a code attached to the end.
What Commissions Does the Program Pay? It is very important that you know how much you can expect to earn from a sale. There is no point in spending time and money promoting a product that pays very small commissions. You could end up spending more on marketing than you make on sales. It is probably best to stick with marketing products with a high commission value, unless you have found a niche market where you can sell vast quantities of product, and make substantial commissions on your volume of sales.
How Much Traffic is their Website Getting? Try to discover the amount of traffic the affiliate owner's website is already receiving. Alexa.com is a very useful tool for doing this research. If the website is ranked in the top 100,000, the merchant is getting a good volume of traffic, so it's possible that there may already be too many affiliates. If it is ranked below 500,000 it may be no good, or it could be a golden opportunity to make some real money by becoming one of the first affiliates! Always research a merchant's product if their website has a low traffic ranking. It may be a good idea to buy the product yourself if you can afford it. Otherwise you could do a search to find out if there are any negative reviews about it on the internet. Be careful who you listen to though because many people are in the habit of bashing affiliate programs with nothing to really support their comments. If you find a large amount of negative reviews with little positive ones then it would probably be a good idea to stay away from that affiliate program.
How Often Are Affiliate Commissions Paid? Some affiliate programs pay commissions every week; some once a month, others only pay every quarter. It is important that you know how often you can expect a pay check if you are going to have financial control over your business. Do you have the financial resources to continue to market a product if you have to wait a long time before you get paid? It would also be wise to find out the minimum commission that you have to earn before you get paid.
Does The Affiliate Program Use Tracking Cookies? Many customers do not buy on their first visit to a merchant's website. It is important therefore that the merchant uses cookies for their affiliate program, so that you get credit if the customer returns and buys at a later date. Check out how long the cookies last. The longer the cookies lasts; the better the chances of you getting paid!
Does the Affiliate Program Pay on Subsequent Sales? Some programs will only pay commission on sales that come through customers visiting their site via a direct link from your site. They pay you nothing for any subsequent purchases that the customer makes if they visit the merchants site directly. It is important that you get paid no matter what route the customer returns by if you are to build a sustainable affiliate business.
What Marketing Resources Does the Affiliate Program Offer? Look at the type and quality of the marketing resources that they provide. Do they provide articles, advertisements, or other content that you can use to put on your site? Do they provide free guides, special offers, free viral e-books, or product samples that you can send to your list? If the marketing material they provide is good then it is likely that the business will provide good support for their affiliates. Finding the right affiliate program for you can be tough to do. The best advice is to do your own research, follow the advice above, and listen to your instincts. Use the above questions as an aid to finding an affiliate program that enables you to reach your financial goals. You never know... You might just strike affiliate marketing gold!
Is their website professional? Your reputation is on the line every time you promote a product or service. If you're sending your traffic to a website that is on free hosting or just looks unprofessional, then you're going to lose the confidence of your subscribers. Now, many sales letters aren't 'pretty' but they are grammatically correct, and everything is functional, with pictures and testimonials. So, although the website doesn't have to be beautiful, it does need to look 'live'. Is their website easy to navigate? If shoppers can't figure out how to purchase, then there's no point in sending your traffic there. What are the numbers? If you have two programs you like equally well, you can choose between them or write reviews for each and compare and contrast their benefits. Or, if that doesn't fit into your site, then test both to see which gives you the best results. Free trial? Any product that offers samples or service that offers a free trial deserves a look. If you can offer your website visitors a sample of any sort to get them hooked, you'll have much higher results than trying to convince them that the product is good. Are there any tools to help you? The best affiliate programs go above and beyond in their tools and resources section. Not only do they provide the standard text links and buttons and banners, but you also have solo mailings, articles, and even product feeds. These are the affiliate programs that 'get it'. Once you find an affiliate program that you love, it's still smart to continue to test the results. Just because you think it's great doesn't mean you visitors will. Continually look at the statistics to see how much traffic you're sending and if any of it is converting. If you're not getting results and you're sending a lot of traffic, then you might want to look at a new program.
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About The Author
John J Farina is a successful affiliate marketer. He provides expert reviews on which affiliate programs to join and which ones to avoid like the plague. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple, easily modeled systems. An example of such a system that you can study and duplicate is at: http://www.johnnysreviewsite.com
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Tips on Choosing the Right Affiliate Programs to Promote
One of the constraints facing most affiliate marketers today especially the newbies is the choice of which particular affiliate programs to promote. Nowadays, there are lots of affiliate programs to choose from and sometimes it becomes a daunting task trying to figure out which affiliate program would bring in more profit for the affiliate marketer.
The purpose of this article therefore is highlight some tips an affiliate marketer especially the newbies should consider before choosing a particular merchant to promote.
1.The sales letter of the merchant: I know you have heard this before but it’s so important that I have to state it here again. Before you promote any product you must take a look at the merchants sales letter .does it look compelling .does the sales letter make you want to buy the particular product . Pretend as if you are the buyer or customer would you be moved to fork out your hard earned money to buy the product .if no? I guess you have not hit the right affiliate product yet. The product would not make you money and it would be foolhardy for you to want to promote a particular product that you ordinarily would not want to buy.
2.The design of the website, its box covers especially when it’s an information product. This factor is often overlooked by most marketers but constitutes another important factor to consider when deciding whether to promote any particular merchants product. My experience has shown that customers are reluctant to purchase a particular product when the site selling that product is not well designed. A poorly built site gives the customer the impression that the merchant is in a very tight budget and is desperately needs to make a sale or maybe the product is not really as genuine as the merchant is making them to believe in his sales latter .Also it goes to show that the merchant is not a professionally minded person. The success of any business depends on the level of professionalism that the business renders to its customers. So my candid advice is if the website is not professionally done you don’t promote that merchant .such sites would turn off customers easily.
3.The level of support the merchant is ready to give. Some merchants just give you the affiliate the links to their site and that’s all without providing sales materials that would aid the affiliate in bringing sales to the merchants. It is therefore imperative for an affiliate marketer to only promote merchants that are prepared to assist them in making a commission. Such assistance might be in the form of providing marketing tools such as banners, keywords for pay per lick ads, solo ads e.t.c.
4.Also, make sure the merchant does not have his or her phone numbers prominently displayed all over the place particularly in the order pages to get customers to order by phone this can affect your commissions as sales by phone are most times not credited to the affiliate .
5.Look for merchants that offer two tier programs two tier programs reward you for referring other affiliates to the merchants as well as the customers .every time you refer another affiliate , and they join, they become a sub affiliate under you .you receive a percentage of their commissions. Everybody does loves to make a few bucks doing little or nothing.
6.The commission the merchant is willing to pay its merchants. My humble suggestion is that you should stick with a merchant which pays a sizeable commission rate say above $10.
7.Make sure the merchant is not aggressively competing with his or her affiliates. In other words you need to find a merchant who is not doing his or her product promotion. The reason is that when a merchant competes with you, he or she is stealing your commissions.
The purpose of this article therefore is highlight some tips an affiliate marketer especially the newbies should consider before choosing a particular merchant to promote.
1.The sales letter of the merchant: I know you have heard this before but it’s so important that I have to state it here again. Before you promote any product you must take a look at the merchants sales letter .does it look compelling .does the sales letter make you want to buy the particular product . Pretend as if you are the buyer or customer would you be moved to fork out your hard earned money to buy the product .if no? I guess you have not hit the right affiliate product yet. The product would not make you money and it would be foolhardy for you to want to promote a particular product that you ordinarily would not want to buy.
2.The design of the website, its box covers especially when it’s an information product. This factor is often overlooked by most marketers but constitutes another important factor to consider when deciding whether to promote any particular merchants product. My experience has shown that customers are reluctant to purchase a particular product when the site selling that product is not well designed. A poorly built site gives the customer the impression that the merchant is in a very tight budget and is desperately needs to make a sale or maybe the product is not really as genuine as the merchant is making them to believe in his sales latter .Also it goes to show that the merchant is not a professionally minded person. The success of any business depends on the level of professionalism that the business renders to its customers. So my candid advice is if the website is not professionally done you don’t promote that merchant .such sites would turn off customers easily.
3.The level of support the merchant is ready to give. Some merchants just give you the affiliate the links to their site and that’s all without providing sales materials that would aid the affiliate in bringing sales to the merchants. It is therefore imperative for an affiliate marketer to only promote merchants that are prepared to assist them in making a commission. Such assistance might be in the form of providing marketing tools such as banners, keywords for pay per lick ads, solo ads e.t.c.
4.Also, make sure the merchant does not have his or her phone numbers prominently displayed all over the place particularly in the order pages to get customers to order by phone this can affect your commissions as sales by phone are most times not credited to the affiliate .
5.Look for merchants that offer two tier programs two tier programs reward you for referring other affiliates to the merchants as well as the customers .every time you refer another affiliate , and they join, they become a sub affiliate under you .you receive a percentage of their commissions. Everybody does loves to make a few bucks doing little or nothing.
6.The commission the merchant is willing to pay its merchants. My humble suggestion is that you should stick with a merchant which pays a sizeable commission rate say above $10.
7.Make sure the merchant is not aggressively competing with his or her affiliates. In other words you need to find a merchant who is not doing his or her product promotion. The reason is that when a merchant competes with you, he or she is stealing your commissions.
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