subject: Choosing the Right Affiliate Programs for Internet Marketing Success [print this page] Choosing the Right Affiliate Programs for Internet Marketing Success
There are literally thousands if not millions of available affiliate products for you to choose from to offer. Sorting through these will be a large effort but is certainly worth the required time in order to make the best use of your time and energies. Choose wisely and you will make the most of your affiliate programs.
Dynamite Sales Page
Your job ends when your referral clicks thru your link to the vendor's sales page. Now it's up to the job they've done as to whether your referral will make a commission generating purchase or not. So look carefully at the sales page of any vendor whose product you are considering promoting. Is the information easy to follow? Is the site appealing? Would you personally make a purchase based on what you see there?
Customer Service and Sales Tools
If this is to be a long relationship you need a company that supplies excellent customer service. There are going to be times when you need to ask questions or resolve issues that come up. Try writing an inquiry to their customer service as a test and see what kinf of response you get.
Most affiliate programs, at least the ones you want to promote, offer a variety of sales tools for you to use. From text ads to flash banners to email campaigns, these tools will be a huge help in promoting and converting sales. Again look at the available tools. Would you be compelled to make a purchase if these were presented to you?
Cookies
Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies. The only problem is that they just never last long enough. The same can be said about affiliate program cookies. They are the life blood of your affiliate commissions. But how long will they last?
When someone clicks on one of your affiliate links it sets a cookie in the browser of the ad visitor to identify them as your referral to the destination site of the vendor. But how long do those cookies last. One visit, a day, 2 months. That depends on the vendor's program.
Some like Amazon require the customer to make a purchase on that visit and then the cookie's gone. Other vendors will give you a lifetime cookie so that no matter when the customer comes back to make a purchase the sale will be credited to you. That's huge and can make a big difference in your bottom line.
Commissions and Minimums
Let's face it, you're promoting affiliate products to get paid. It stands to reason if you put the same effort forth to sell product "A" as you do to sell product "B" then you want to sell the one that pays the higher commission. Affiliate commissions carry a wide range from a very few percentage points such as with Amazon, to very aggressive commissions of 75 or 80%, maybe even higher.
Another factor to consider along these lines is whether or not there is much chance for an upsell from the vendor or perhaps any type of recurring commissions such as would be the case with a subscription service. These backend commissions can be a huge boost to your bottom line as you are not required to put forth any additional effort to receive them.
Consider too whether or not you prospective affiliate vendor has any strange requirements like meeting a certain quota before commissions are paid. Read the terms of the agreement carefully and make sure there are no potential negative surprises in store for you. If in doubt, write a questions to customer support and clear it up.
Affiliate marketing can be an extremely profitable online business model. Take the time to make the right choices up front and you will thank yourself down the road with a nice income stream.
