What Makes A Good Affiliate Program?

With so many affiliate programs out there, it makes sense to work with the best. High commissions and good affiliate administration is a good start. Of course you want high commissions, but what about commissions that keep coming in without additional work on your part? Sounds good to me! 2-Tier affiliate programs are worth looking for. They allow you to set up your own "sales force" and receive commissions on all the sales they make. It can add up pretty quickly. Residual affiliate programs pay you repeatedly month after month. Usually you'll find these with subscription services, or medical related "refills". These too can be very profitable. It is well worth your time to search out decent 2-tier and residual programs. Regarding sales commissions, they can depend on the traditional profit margins of an industry. For example computer hardware has very low profit margins and 5% would be a good commission percentage. Information products tend to have very high profit margins and 40-50% are decent commissions in that industry. Some companies offer performance incentives. The more units you sell, the higher your commission percentage. Another thing to consider is cookie duration. Cookies tell the vendor who sent the customer and makes sure they are credited properly for any sales. I tend to avoid programs with a short duration cookie. Many people do not buy the first time they visit a web site. With a cookie of short duration you are giving the vendor customers, but are less likely to reap the rewards for your efforts. A vendor who REALLY wants to work fairly with you will offer a better deal. The best offer a lifetime cookie. Customers you send would be "yours" forever. (or until they have to replace or reformat their hard drive, thus losing the cookies) Good program administration is essential too. Some offer full tracking services to help you determine successful advertising efforts. Being able to check click-throughs and sales keeps you on track to meeting your goals. Proven advertising materials are invaluable. Many programs offer a nice variety to use "as-is" or customized to match your client base. Whatever your industry, you can probably find an affiliate program with products or services that work well with yours. They are great ways to expand your product line without spending a lot of money. If you are looking for products to market, affiliate programs can be an easy way to test "best sellers" easily and inexpensively. We're offering a free e-book containing some of the best residual affiliate programs and free or low-cost advertising resources. Download at: http://www.fortuneexpo.com/resaffbook/resaffbook.zip -- Resource Box -- This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged. Copyright 2004 Kim D Regan All Rights Reserved FortuneExpo www.fortuneexpo.com -- -- -- -- --