For a list of my top-earning affiliate programs, click here.
They go by many names: associate programs, affiliate programs, or referral partners. All of
these mean pretty much the same thing - you help a company promote their products or
services and generate sales, and in return they pay you something. They generally give you a special
URL with a code embedded in it in order to track sales from your website.
Affiliate programs vary widely. It's best to do your research and find the right program
for you. You want to choose programs that directly relate to what you're selling, or
directly relate to the theme of your website. For example, if you have a website that's
dedicated to book lovers, then join a program that sells books.
Affiliate programs are also great in that they allow you to concentrate on promoting your website,
rather than handling inventory, shipping products, providing customer service, or anything of that stuff.
The company handles all that; you just promote their product.
So what should you look for in your research?
What they sell.
As we said, it's important that you pick an affiliate program that offers something your target
market would find useful. It's also important that you pick something you really like!
It's a lot easier to be enthusiastic about promoting a product or service that you believe
provides excellent value.
How many associates they have.
Affiliate programs that are successful and that provide good compensation
tend to have more associates. Look at how many have joined since the program started. Also
check and see if they limit the number of affiliates. Why? If they limit the number of affiliates,
then those affiliates have the potential of making a great income from their program. If they don't
limit it, then the market can get saturated with everyone promoting the same product - which means less
money for everyone.
Whether the program is two-tiered.
A two-tiered program means that in addition to the commissions you bring in, you also make commissions
from sales your team makes. Your "team" are the affiliates you refer to the program. Two-tiered programs are
marvellous because they can significantly increase your earnings potential.
Commissions.
Is it a flat rate per click-thru from your site to their site (typically, $0.02 to $0.05 per click-thru)?
Is it a flat rate finders' fee per sale, eg. $5 per sale? Is it a percentage of gross sales?
A percentage of net sales? Remember, there can be a huge difference between gross sales and
net sales. A commission of 15% or more is usually considered to be generous.
How often they pay.
Some affiliate programs pay daily, others quarterly, others anytime in between. Check if you need to
generate a minimum commission before they send you your cheque.
Their tracking system.
Do they offer some method for you to track your commissions? You probably want to be able to see how many
click-throughs from your site to theirs you've generated, as well as how many sales you've made so far. You
also want to make sure that you get the sale even if a visitor clicks through to their site from yours, doesn't
buy right away, but later returns and buys the product. The visitor should still be YOURS - he or she was initially
introduced to the product by you, therefore the sale should be yours.
Exclusivity.
Do they require that they're the ONLY affiliate program of their type promoted on your website? For example, a bookstore
may require that their affiliates promote only THEIR bookstore and no one else's.
Affiliate programs should be free to join.
It's perfectly okay for a company to request payment in order for affiliates to make higher
commissions; however, you should be able to join their "basic" program for free.
One last note: While it's tempting to join affiliate programs that pay a lot per sale, don't be fooled -
the higher a product or service costs, the harder it is to sell. For example, if you become an affiliate
selling merchant accounts, you may make a whopping $200 per sale! BUT it's not easy to get someone to part with
several hundreds of dollars. You may actually be better off selling a bunch of more affordable products or services
with a $10 commission per sale. After all, people are much more willing to spend $25 on a high-quality product,
rather than $800 - no matter how great the product is!
For details on my top affiliate programs, click here.
