11 Tips for Joining Affiliate Programs

[mantavn]

By David McKenzie

Here are some things that I look for before joining an affiliate program. They are items I feel are imperative to being in a successful affiliate program.

1. The affiliate program has a great payment structure. For me, a high commission that is also a high percentage of the purchase price is essential. Nothing under 25% commission.
2. Make sure the affiliate program you are joining has a good looking site. You do not want to be sending visitors to a site that you do not like yourself.

3. Make sure they offer a comprehensive affiliate statistics page that lists the number of click throughs, number of sales and amount earned. This should be broken down per month.

4. Also make sure that the affiliate statistics are updated automatically and immediately. You do not want to find out today about a sale you made a week ago.

5. Ensure they give a wide variety of text links, banners and graphics to put on your web page. Although I prefer text links, certain types of banners and graphics still work well.

6. Know how often you are going to be paid. If you are tossing up between 2 programs and one pays monthly and the other pays quarterly, the one that pays monthly is better. You do not want to wait months before getting paid for your hard work!

7. See if the affiliate program gives examples of how the top affiliates are doing. This can be a great pointer to whether it is good or not. If some affiliates are earning many thousands per month, it is a good affiliate program.

8. Along these lines, also see if they give examples of what marketing methods these successful affiliates are using to get the best results.

9. An affiliate program that offers a special monthly newsletter just for the affiliates is great. Here you can get extra tips and techniques that are working well.

10. See if they offer email notification when you make a sale or get an affiliate signed up under you (if it is a 2-tier program). It is good to see ‘You have made another sale’ in your inbox.

11. Ensure top level support is given. If they cannot answer your query straight away make sure they can respond within 48 hours.

There is tremendous demand for affiliate programs and choosing the right one is no easy task. Make sure you do plenty of research before joining one.

[Linda Buquet]

mantavn,

Are you David McKenzie??? If not then please provide a link to his site and bio so I can give him credit for the article. This could be a copywrite violation if you are spreading articles and not crediting the original author.

[JAmieF]

I disagree with the first point. A high commission structure is not that attractive. The affiliate program has to convert well.

[watchdogam_tech]

I agree with JAmieF re:

A high commission structure is not that attractive. The affiliate program has to convert well.

I think #9 & #11 go hand and hand and should be used to evaluate the overall management of the program. A monthly newsletter is a useful tool. And of course handling of support inquiries on a timely basis is imperative. It's easy to perform a quick test and email the affiliate manager and see how long it takes to respond. If the program is managed through an OPM, Google and visit industry forums (of course 5 Star first!) to glean any useful information.

I think #5 continues to grow beyond simple text/image links. Datafeeds, dynamic showcases, coupons, video feeds, RSS feeds, etc. now "raises the bar" as to the assets that can be made available through a program.

[Ernest]

Thanks for posting this. It will help a lot of newbies. That's what a newbie needs, to be pointed in the right direction. Thanks again.

Linda, isn't saying who the article by is credit enough? If not what's the best way to avoid getting into trouble?

[Linda Buquet]

Most people that publish articles that are Ok to redistrubute have an author PARAGRAPH and link that must be included. Why would they write these big long articles and let others use them for free??? The author needs to have their little blurb and link included. A name is NOT enough.

I just did a search for the article and here is the info that is supposed to be included with the article.

Resource Box
David McKenzie is the author of a new e-book titled “The Facts You Should Know About Affiliate Programs”
Get a Free 5 Day Email Course
http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com

[Ernest]

Thanks for pointing that out. It helpful to people that just don't know.

[justlucky]

hi this is David McKenzie...

oh im just kidding you silly. nice posts, especially for a complete newbie like myself

[Linda Buquet]

"hi this is David McKenzie..."

You cracked me up justlucky!

Welcome by the way and did you know you were our 2,000th member???

[Oregon Coast Guy]

An e-book that I found especially good was Jeremy Palmer's "High Performance Affiliate Marketing." His web site is http://www.quityourdayjob.com/

One of the nice things is that he gives life-time upgrades. When the book goes through another revision, he'll let you know so that you can get the newest version.