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How to select an affiliate program that works for you?
In
order to make money from promoting affiliate programs, you
must select a correct affiliate program. This article reveals
some criteria for your reference, e.g. affiliate tracking
software, commission structure, affiliate program type, etc...
Affiliate programs are a great means of earning some handy
cash; but
not all affiliate programs are profitable. Some will only
take up your
time and energy and some others may even spoil your website
reputation. This is why you got to carefully select your affiliate
marketing programs and make sure that they work for you same
as your
work for them. Given below are a few points that will help
you make
better decision in choosing an affiliate program that works
for you
rather than working only for the affiliate merchant.
Points to take into consideration before selecting an affiliate
program
1.) Your website and your visitors
If you already have a website, make sure to go for online
affiliate programs that jell with your website theme. If your
website is about cars then promoting cycle related products
is going to have very less or no impact.
Secondly finding and scrutinizing your visitors and your
target market
is a good idea. In any affiliate program, your visitor is
the one who
is going to get you returns. So primarily get to know your
visitors.
Analyze your visitor behavior using your website statistics
before
deciding on which affiliate program to go for. Your objective
should
be to find out what your visitors are looking for and then
promote
products of their interest which also match with your existing
products or services (if any).
2.) Affiliate merchant's website
Most affiliates don't give much importance to the affiliate
merchant's
website, forgetting the fact that here's where the actual
sales
conversion is to take place. It's very important that the
affiliate
merchant's website is designed to sell. So check and make
sure that
the merchant's website is free from unwanted banner advertisements/pop-
ups and focus on the affiliate product.
Other important things to check out are the sales copy, privacy
policy, product guarantees, after sales service and special
discounts/offers available with the product/service. Your
main aim
must be to find out if the product/service features would
actually
prompt the referred visitor to make a purchase.
Some affiliate merchants promote more than one product/service
on a
webpage which can dilute the conversion rate. It is best to
go for
affiliate programs that focus on a single product/service
per webpage.
3.) Quality of goods/services
Just imagine how you would feel, if you were referred by
a website to
a product that turned out to be of inferior quality? Your
visitors
will feel the same way about your website if you promote inferior
or
overly priced goods/services. Always make sure to know about
the
product/service you are planning to promote. Check for testimonials
and references from existing customers to find out about the
quality
of goods. If possible you can even plan on using them yourself
to be
on the safer side. In addition, also make sure to compare
similar
products available over the internet for features and rates.
There are many products that have trial periods or return
policies
associated with them. Products having return policies can
increase the
conversion rate but may also lead to debiting in case of a
chargeback.
Promoting products sold on a trial period basis requires cookie
detection to track sales at the end of the period which is
very
unreliable. So it's better to confirm with the affiliate merchant
the
tracking method used or the affiliate payment scheme, in case
the
products have trial periods.
4.) Reputation of the affiliate merchant
The reputation of the affiliate merchant is important because
the odds
are against you. There are chances that some affiliate merchants
may
not payout or make deductions to your actual payments. So
make sure to
find out using references about the affiliate merchant's history
of
making proper payments.
Already existing affiliates of the affiliate merchant are
your best
source of information. In addition be sure to read their business
literature to get an idea about their history of past and
present
operations.
5.) Commission scheme of the affiliate program
There are many different types of commission schemes that
affiliate
programs use to reward their affiliates. Some of the most
popular ones
are pay per click, pay per lead and pay per sale schemes.
Some others
even offer two tiered and multi tiered commission schemes.
Some
commission schemes can even be a mix and match of the above.
In case of a pay per click/hit scheme the minimum commission
that you
can expect is $0.5 to $0.10 per click. For pay per sale a
good
commission rate would be 15% to 50%. Some companies even offer
lifetime commissions, but as most of them are based on cookie
identification, they may not work out well.
With the competition increasing almost all merchants have
started
offering two tiered commissions, some even offer multi tiered
ones.
Joining these schemes can give you a chance to get paid for
the direct
sales you make and also for the sales made by affiliates referred
by
you.
6.) Tracking software used
Tracking software is used by the affiliate merchant to track
individual affiliate sales. An affiliate merchant can make
use of in-
house tracking software, join an affiliate network or use
services of
an ASP in order to track leads.
In case the affiliate merchant makes use of independent tracking
software or ASP services, make sure to find out if the software
is
reliable and has the ability to track all kinds of sales.
If the
software uses cookie tracking, find out the duration of the
cookie.
Although using cookies to track affiliates does not always
work fine
as the cookies can be deleted by the buyer.
Most affiliate merchants today make use of affiliate network
services.
Affiliate network services are the safest when it comes to
making
payments on time, conflict resolution and accurate tracking.
Affiliate
Networks are also great sources to find good affiliate programs
and
can help you get payments from different merchants through
a single
cheque. So make sure to register at some good networks. Some
reputed
affiliate network services are commission junction, LinkShare,
Clickxgalore, and ClickTrade.
7.) Terms and conditions for payment
You do all the hard work as an affiliate and hence you should
make
sure that you get paid for it. There are chances that the
affiliate
merchant might have some unwanted rules and regulations in
his
affiliate agreement; so in-case you don't like to get a bitter
shock
in the aftermath, be sure to check out the terms and conditions
with
utmost care. Some things that you got to look out for in the
terms and
conditions are as follows,
a.) Payment frequency/Payout rate
Make sure that the affiliate merchant makes payments at the
end of
every month or with- in a few days afterward. Anything above
2 months
for making payments is not advisable. Also find out the mode
of making
payments. Payment gateways are safer and faster as compared
to
cheques.
b.) Payment for future sales
Many visitors won't buy products on their first visit. They
might come
back though after some time to make the purchase. Make sure
that the
affiliate merchant pays you for future sales made by a customer
referred by you. Although the chances that you get credit
for future
sales is low due to cookie deletion possibilities, but it
is better to
have options open.
c.) Minimum Balance Amount for payout
Most affiliate merchants and affiliate networks have a minimum
amount
for payout. An affiliate would require reaching that amount
to get a
payment. Find out the minimum balance and estimate if the
target is
easily achievable for the given product/service.
d.) Roll over/carry over terms
Roll-overs or carry-overs are related to the minimum balance.
If the
affiliate fails to achieve the minimum balance within a month
(or the
set payment date), the payment keeps rolling on. Although
this is not
a problem, some merchant's may have a fixed rollover period
after
which the payments will not be issued. Joining such programs
is not
recommended.
e.) Conditions for Charge-backs on product return
Some merchants have a product return policy which allows
the buyer to
get full refund in-case he is dissatisfied with the product.
The
period within which the buyer should return the product to
get a
refund is called the chargeback period. Make sure to take
note of the
chargeback period of the merchant and also find out how much
of your
commission will be debited if this happens. Although products
having a
return policy will have a better conversion rate they can
also lead to
the affiliate's cash getting debited or completely taken back.
In addition to the payment terms some other conditions that
you got to
check out are the 'condition of exclusivity' (which could
mean the
affiliate cannot promote any other product except the affiliate
product/service or that he should not promote competitor
products/services) and conflict resolution method of the merchant.
8.) Additional facilities offered
In addition to simply offering banner ads most good affiliate
merchants offer other facilities like, real time sales statistics
and
tracking information, free training on how to promote the
products/services, newsletters, affiliate help lines and even
website
improvement programs. Some affiliate merchants even offer
their
affiliates a say in their decision making process.
Many good affiliate merchants also have a policy of rewarding
better
performing affiliates with incentives, over and above the
commissions.
Joining such programs can really be a rewarding experience.
To succeed in the affiliate marketing game requires knowledge
of
promoting goods/services not only through your website but
also using
other online promotion means like email marketing, online
advertisements etc. So, make it a point to do lots of reading
and
information gathering before plunging into the arena. There
are many
websites that offer quality resources and information on affiliate
programs. Some good ones to refer are http://www.bizbrim.com,
affiliate-programs-guide.com and affiliatesdirectory.com.
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