18 Feb 2008 04:13:58 | Thomas Wall
How to select an affiliate program that works for you
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 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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