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ABOUT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
TIPS FOR AFFILIATES
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About Affiliate Programs |
How to Evaluate
an Affiliate Program
by: Sanjay Johari
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering
wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However,
many of these programs and the claims they make
are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs provide
tremendous earning opportunities, but they need
to be evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful
ones. There are several factors to consider before
someone decides to join any affiliate program.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate
programs generally have some products to sell. These
products can be in form of physical products, e-products
or services. It is important to ascertain that the
organization has some products to sell and that
it recruits affiliates to help them in running their
business. One should be very careful with any organization
that has recruitment of affiliates as their main
business. It is best to avoid such organizations
because their affiliate structure is like a house
of cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and
market them thru affiliate programs cut down on
the cost of advertising and distribution. This amounts
to considerable savings which they share with their
affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar
with the products, this can be helpful but this
is not a necessary pre-condition to join affiliate
program. New affiliates can learn about the products
quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult
to find out about the organization before joining
it affiliate program. Search engines are one of
the sources which can be used for this purpose.
Verifying the testimonials presented by the organization
is another source of information. The organization
should have proven track record of operating their
programs for several years successfully. If the
organization is new or just starting, the person
starting the program should be well known with good
credibility. This is precaution against joining
organizations which promise get-rich-quick scheme
and then disappear.
Support Availble to Affiliates : Most of the new
affiliates joining any affiliate program are new
to the field of marketing on the internet. They
need guidance and support for promoting their business
and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest
of the organization to help their affiliates to
succeed. These organizations are in their business
for considerable longer time than the affiliates,
are more knowledgeable about their market and about
the ways of promoting their products. They are in
best position to provide their affiliates with proper
guidance. Many organizations have excellent support
system by way of trainings, tutorials, articles,
books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums
just to name a few. These are generally available
from websites accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information
available from the website, personal guidance can
be vital. A new affiliate may not be familiar with
all the resources available and will look for mentoring
at least in initial stages. It should be remembered
by the affiliate that her success will add to the
success of the organization, the organization is
obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode
and frequency of payment to the affiliates. The
affiliate should make sure that this suits her.
Just to give an example - many organizations make
payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit
money to all the countries. Such details should
be checked before putting time and effort for any
affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways
in which organizations build up their affiliate
structure. Many organizations have single tier structure
in which affiliate is only paid commission for sale.
Other affiliate structures are 2-level or multi-level
deep in which the affiliate earns also from the
efforts of personally sponsored members. In turn,
the affiliate is expected to help her sponsored
members to earn for themselves. This is one great
feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged
earning. You can read my article on leveraged earning
at this URL :
http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.html
There are still more variations in the structure.
Some organizations allow a limited number of affiliates
directly under each affiliate. There is no "ideal"
affiliate structure. But it is important to have
clarity in the structure and the affiliate should
understand the structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in
compensation plans starting from simple commission
to more elaborate plan in which affiliates additionally
earn thru the efforts of their sponsored downline
members and also from a common pool. I personally
favor plans which have provision for leveraged earnings
where teamwork really counts. Residual earning is
another attractive feature of affiliate marketing
which can build into sizeable income over a period
of time. I am not against any compensation plan
so long as it is understandable and appears reasonable.
You have perhaps noticed that I have put this factor
as the last consideration. However it is an important
consideration after all other considerations are
found acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business
with any affiliate program, no matter how good the
program appears. After joining any affiliate program
after thorough evaluation, one needs to stay with
the program giving it time to build the earning.
Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they
are rare exception rather than the rule and cannot
be depended upon.
This small slogan should be ingrained in the thinking
when someone joins an affiliate program:
PERSISTENCE PAYS.
Copyright 2004 Sanjay Johari
About The Author
Sanjay Johari contributes articles reglarly to several
ezines. His website contains articles, information,
ebooks, tools and more for operating home based
business.
Visit his website for his choice of top affiliate
program to join: http://www.sanjay-j.com |
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