What do you look for in a good affiliate program?

[AffiliateGuild]

I'm putting together a list of elements that affiliates and affiliate managers look for in a good affiliate program.

Like me, you guys are the ones working with affiliate programs everyday. So, I thought I'd start a thread so we could list a the elements of a good affiliate program together.

The more I talk with others, the more I realize that everyone has a different idea of what a good affiliate program is. It seemed like a good idea ask you guys.

Some people I spoke with won't consider working with new merchants at all, while others love new merchants and see them as a cash cow. Others still look only for affiliate programs in unique niches and don't care about pay out ... well, you see where I'm going.

So, what's your ideal affiliate program look like?

[AffiliateGuild]

There's a nice little article on Characteristics of a Good Affiliate Program on affiliateforum.com/articles/characteristics.htm

Worth a read if you're interested in this topic

[mnb456x]

search from google

[mindarren]

Originally Posted by AffiliateGuild

I'm putting together a list of elements that affiliates and affiliate managers look for in a good affiliate program.

Like me, you guys are the ones working with affiliate programs everyday. So, I thought I'd start a thread so we could list a the elements of a good affiliate program together.

The more I talk with others, the more I realize that everyone has a different idea of what a good affiliate program is. It seemed like a good idea ask you guys.

Some people I spoke with won't consider working with new merchants at all, while others love new merchants and see them as a cash cow. Others still look only for affiliate programs in unique niches and don't care about pay out ... well, you see where I'm going.

So, what's your ideal affiliate program look like?

To have a good affiliate program, it has to covert a much traffic as possible. I say to stick with products that attract your site visitors automatically and use affiliate networks that have a history of tracking sales and paying out.

Here's a basic site that shows may affiliate networks with quality track records. I'm starting to use almost all of them. Followthecashtrail.com: Make Money Online | Best Affiliate Programs | Automated Income| Multiple Streams Of Income| Adwords Affiliate

The site has great info I think you can use.

[john238]

Some of the things I look for are:

Competitive payouts
Low minimum payouts
Many payout options
Quick payouts
Reputable company
If the products will be easy to sell or is that industry saturated
Companies customer service
How good is the site that the affiliate visitors will go to
etc...

[cdorob]

You might think about it the other way around: what things to avoid.
We have a quite good resource on what Affiliates hate, here:
As Affiliate I Hate...

or,

Mistakes in Affiliate Programs

That should help you make a good list of things that make a "good affiliate program".

[AffiliateGuild]

Thanks Cristian, good suggestion.

Yeah, I'm definately looking for the unique things that affiliates like or appreciate. It's easy to say what we don't like about something, but to stop and really contemplate what's good about a thing ... that's what I'm after.

I posted this long before "The Secret" ever hit the market, but that's the concept behind my question. What are the positives that we look for, do those positives make the difference between success and failure. Why do some of your affiliate programs do really well for you and another doesn't do anything ... what happened differently?

[cdorob]

There is another factor that has some weight in loving or hating an program: money they throw into it, as Linda says in another non-related post about some of our competitors: "They throw a ton - a TONNNNN!!!! of $ at marketing to get those affiliates though. They throw huge parties at Wynn Las Vegas, they send affiliates toys. They are a lean, mean recruiting machine!"

To put it in simpler words, If I'm a fan of Program X, then Program X will work best for me, no matter what things go wrong.

[john238]

That's true. If the person has alot of money to invest then the program normally has more chance of being a success. If they don't have much money there is more chance of the program being less of a success. People are here to earn money. They don't want to put links accrossed the whole of their site and then find that they have to take them down about 3 months later because the affiliate program failed. So money is important.

[AffiliateGuild]

I would agree with these comments too.
I think affiliates want to see well funded programs.
I know I look for them, and if I see low funds on shareasale, I contact the AM to find out why.

I like honest AMs too!!!