Affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular in recent
years. Affiliate programs offer merchants the opportunity to
employ vast armies of sales people who only get paid for the
results they achieve.
The rewards for affiliates are high also, and the skilled
affiliate marketer can earn many thousands of dollars a month.
This win-win situation has led to an explosion in the number of
affiliate programs that are available to the would-be marketer.
With this proliferation of opportunities has come many questions;
how do you go about choosing the right opportunity for you? What
qualities should you look for in a program and which gives you a
good chance of making a sustainable income? Below are some tips
that will help you to evaluate merchants and their programs, and
help you to avoid wasting time and money.
1. How Much Commission Does The Merchant Pay?
This may seem obvious, but it is very important that you know how
much you can expect to earn from a sale. There is no point in
spending time and money promoting a product that doesn’t pay
well. You could end up spending more on marketing than you are
likely to make on sales. It is probably best to stick with
marketing products with a high commission value, unless you have
found a niche market where you can sell vast quantities of
product, and make substantial commissions on your volume of
sales.
2. How Much Traffic is the Merchant’s Website Getting?
Try to discover the amount of traffic the merchant’s website is
already receiving. Alexa.com could be a useful tool for doing
this research. If the website is ranked in the top 100,000, the
merchant is getting a good volume of traffic, and there may
already be too many affiliates. If it is ranked below 500,000 it
is either no good or it could just be a golden opportunity to
make some real money! Always research a merchant’s product if
their website has a low traffic ranking. It may be a good idea to
buy the product yourself if you can afford to. Otherwise you
could do a search to find out if there are any adverse comments
about it on the internet. If all is well and the product is good,
you may have found a gold mine!
3. How Often Are Commissions Paid?
Some merchants pay commissions every week; some once a month,
others only pay every quarter. It is important that you know how
often you can expect a pay check if you are going to have
financial control over your business. Do you have the financial
resources to continue to market a product if you have to wait a
long time before you get paid? It would also be wise to find out
the minimum commission that you have to earn before you get
paid.
4. Does The Company Use Tracking Cookies?
Many customers do not buy on their first visit to a merchant’s
website. It is important therefore that the merchant uses cookies
on their site, so that you get credit if the customer returns and
buys at a later date. Check out how long the cookies last. The
longer the cookies lasts; the better the chance of getting paid!
5. Does The Merchant Pay On Subsequent Sales?
Some merchants will only pay commission on sales that come
through customers visiting their site via a direct link from your
site. They pay you nothing for any subsequent purchases that the
customer makes if they visit the merchants site directly. It is
important that you get paid no matter what route the customer
returns by if you are to build a sustainable business.
6. What Promotional Resources Does The Merchant Offer?
Look at the type and quality of the promotional material that
they provide. Do they provide articles or content that you can
use to promote them on your site or free guides, special offers
or samples? If the promotional resources are good it is likely
that the merchant will provide good support for their
affiliates.
Finding the right merchant can be a tricky business. The best
advice is to do your own research. Use the above questions as an
aid to finding a merchant that enables you to reach your
financial goals. You never know - You could strike gold!
Paul Winter lives in the UK. He has been marketing online for the past six years. He is the webmaster of the Internet Marketer’s Homepage which can be found at http://www.800amonth.co.uk