Checklist Before Joining An Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are a wonderful way to build a successful and secure business, but there are some things you need to know about these opportunities before you join one. Here are 16 points to use to check out any affiliate program.
1. Does the affiliate program offer you a free way to join without buying the product or service? This is the most important facet of an affiliate program. If you have to pay to join an affiliate program, don’t join it!
2. Contact other affiliates already in the program to see if they have had any problems.
3. Is the product or service related to your target audience?
4. Can they notify you by e-mail when a sale is made?
5. How often will you receive a commission check?
6. Do they provide you with proven sales material? (links, banners, classified ads, sales letters etc)
7. Do you get credited for a sale if people come back in month and then make a purchase?
8. Can you get around-the-clock help online or offline?
9. Can they offer customers a lot of different ordering options, so in return you won't lose sales.
10. Do you get a large percentage of each sale as commission?
11. Will they give you the leeway to create promotional ads.
12. Do they offer you access to an online sales stats page?
13. Do they use a reputable system to track your sales?
14. Does the affiliate program pay commission for sales of people who sign up under you?
15. Will they keep in contact with you on a regular basis by e-mail?
16. Do they offer backend products so you can get repeat sales from the same person?
Most affiliate programs are legit and can be a great opportunity for you to earn income. As long as you can find the all the information listed above and you can see a way to use a merchant’s products to enhance your web site, go for it!
About the author:
Alan LeStourgeon operates several affiliate web sites and will show you how to start your own web based business on his web site at http://www.i-work-at-home-based-business-opportunity.com
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How To Choose A Reliable And Profitable Affiliate Program
How to choose a reliable and profitable affiliate program
With literally thousands of different online affiliate programs, ranging across hundreds of different categories, it's not difficult to see how one may become discouraged when it comes to choosing the best and most profitable affiliate programs out there. After all, since one is going to be investing a considerable amount of time, money and resources to design, build and promote the site, then one would naturally want to ensure its success by joining and promoting the most reliable and profitable affiliate programs available.
When it comes to choosing a reliable and profitable affiliate program, keep in mind the following points:
(1) How long has the business been operating?
If the business/site has been operating for a considerable amount of time, then it's likely that it is fairly stable and profitable, otherwise it would not be in business. Be careful of sites and affiliate programs that spring up overnight. It is always a good idea to monitor such affiliate programs for a while before joining them, just incase they disappear as fast as they have appeared.
(2) Who else is promoting the affiliate program?
Try to find out who else is promoting the affiliate program. Visit the websites of your competition and see if they are promoting the affiliate program that you are thinking of joining. If you find a super affiliate promoting the affiliate program, then chances are that it is a profitable program to join, otherwise a super affiliate would not be promoting it at all.
(3) How much traffic is the website receiving?
Popular, successful and profitable websites receive a considerable amount of traffic. If the site you are thinking of promoting is not very popular, successful or profitable, then chances are that it will have low traffic and therefore may not be worth promoting. Check the alexa.com traffic rank of the site.
(4) What is the commission structure?
Does the program offer the affiliate webmaster a percentage of the sale, or a fixed amount per sale? Is the commission payment recurring? Is it a one tier or multi tier program? The most profitable programs offer a revenue share income. This means that the affiliate webmaster will receive a percentage of the money which the customer spends. For example, if the affiliate program offers a 50% revenue share commission, and the affiliate webmaster sells a product for $50, then the affiliate webmaster's payment should be $25. Profitable programs also offer recurring payments for the life of the customer's membership. In other words, if the customer continues to pay $50 per month for his/her membership, then the affiliate webmaster who referred that customer should receive $25 per week until the customer cancels his/her membership. Finally, a multi-tiered affiliate program is usually more profitable than a single tiered affiliate program because it enables an affiliate webmaster to generate income from the efforts of another webmaster whom he/she referred to the affiliate program.
(5) Read reviews about it.
Try to find as many reviews about the affiliate program as you can. The affiliate program may look and sound very attractive until you find a string of negative reviews from its former affiliates warning others not to join it for one reason or another.
(6) What is the support department like?
Do the support staff answer queries promptly? Are they fast, friendly and helpful? Test the affiliate program's support staff by asking them a few questions about the program.
(7) Do the statistical reports work?
Be weary of statistical reports that do not update. Find out how often the statistical reports are updated. Test your links by clicking on them yourself and seeing if they register in the statistical report.
(8) Minimum commission payment
Some affiliate programs require an affiliate webmaster to generate a minimum commission amount before receiving payment. This is fair enough since it would not make much sense to send an affiliate webmaster a check for a few cents when it would cost more to write, send and process the check. However, find out what the minimum commission payment is before you join.
There are a number of other things that one can look for when searching for the most reliable and profitable affiliate programs available, however, these are the main and most important points that every affiliate webmaster needs to pay attention to.
About the Author: Copyright © 2005 http://www.casinoguide.ws - Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved.
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How to Run A Successful Affiliate Program
There are many people who log onto the internet everyday looking for a way to make money online.
They start with all the best intentions, but unfortunately, before they know it they are getting bombarded with information and are simply spinning their wheels.
I completely understand this. There is so much internet marketing information online and once you get started it seems like “information overload”.
Therefore, I will try to keep this as simple and short as possible.
Many people will sign up with an affiliate program promoting the affiliate’s product or program. This makes sense. Starting as an affiliate marketer is probably the easiest way to get started online. There are many affiliate programs out there that will give you everything you need to promote their products or program…Well almost everything.
You see, many of these affiliate sites will give you a website, but you don’t own the site. It is a gateway site. You don’t even own the domain name for that matter.
Being part of one of these programs is not bad though. I belong to several. SFI is a perfect example. I joined their program and have several sites that they gave me to promote their products and their affiliate program.
But if you are truly going to make money with these types of sites you are going to have to do a lot more than simply sign up for their program.
It is simply unreasonable to think that people are going to just stumble upon your site and sign up for your program and start making you money.
There are a few things you need to do if you truly want to make an affiliate program work.
First of all, you must have your “own” web page with your “own” domain name and your “own” host. You will then have links from your “own” site to the other “gateway” site(s). You will promote your gateway site it, but you will promote it through your own site.
There are so many reasons for this I couldn’t possible fit it into this one article, but basically the site is yours to run the way you want to. Think of it this way…it is “your” store and you are selling “their” product.
Your web page could be designed as a short sales letter that focuses primarily on this one program if that is what you choose. Or, you could focus on several affiliate programs and products within the same market. For example, a sales letter with the top 3-5 money making opportunities.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Either way, promoting one program/product or promoting several, you will not only want to own your own site, you definitely want to be able to “drop in” on potential customers from time to time. What I mean by that is you want to capture email addresses of people who visit your site.
To do so you need to give something away that is of enough value that people are willing to give up their email address and receive something from you week after week or at least month after month.
A newsletter/ezine is perfect for this. Send out a weekly or monthly newsletter on your topic that includes articles, tips, e-courses, bonuses etc. This way you can plug your programs over and over again (not just once).
I know this sounds like a lot…design your own web site and your own newsletter.
However, there are programs available that actually set everything up for you, including a website, an autoresponder, a pre-written newsletter, and even unlimited support.
Plug-in-Profit (PIPS) (http://www.money-teacher.com/pluginprofitsite.htm) is a perfect example. You can have a web site that site is 100% yours to change however you wish. The site comes ready to promote 5 different programs. You could work with as many of them as you want and you can also add your own.
You also get a pre-written newsletter and autoresponder that is also 100% customizable. The newsletter is obviously designed to promote the programs that come with the web site, but you can change it however you wish.
PIPS may or may not be what you are looking for; however, if you truly want to be successful online you will definitely need your own web site and your own newsletter.
Copyright 2004 Adam Waxler
Adam Waxler owns and operates The Money Teacher web site and publishes The Money Teacher’s Home Business Tips Newsletter teaching others how to reach online success. To get your free newsletter subscription send a blank email to: newsletter@money-teacher.com or visit our web site at http://www.money-teacher.com.
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