THE AFFILIATE MARKETING PRIMER

---Do the company's products/services fill a need for customers, in an immediate, obvious way? Particularly, do they solve a nagging or even critical problem? (easily and cheaply?). Solving a problem is worth more than preventing one... Most people aren't foresightful enough to take preventive measures, but we all know how desperate and grateful people can be for simple solutions to problems!

---Also along those lines, is the company's own website of a high quality? In other words, is it attractive to look at, easy to use, fast-loading, etc., and able to turn the valuable visitors you send it into buyers? And does it encourage repeat visitors?  

The product range might do this of itself, but there might also be other content that attracts... Such as promises of new offerings/upgrades, contests, games, interesting articles, rotating displays, classified ads, news, a discussion board/message center, or other "free stuff". The best associate program managers make themselves responsible for making the customer want to buy.

---Is the company's website loaded with banner ads that might spirit people away from your own site? This can be a differentiating factor for affiliates trying to capture and keep traffic, especially where the other site's banners represent competing advertising. (Besides the fact that lots of junky-looking banners detract from the quality of a site.) I'd like to know that when I "send" my site visitor off to look at something of interest, s/he'll be likely to come back to my site for more instead of getting lost in the surf!
 

---In a similar vein, how long does the company offer commissions on purchases made by people you refer to its website? Some companies set a time limit of, say, 30 days, or 3 months, in which it will pay you the referral/sale commission... Meaning that if someone clicks on your banner/link and goes to the affiliate company's site but doesn't purchase, s/he has to return to the site and make a purchase within a set period in order for you to get your commission. (If it's a day after, too bad!) Naturally, then, the longer the company will track your referred visitors, the better.

Really outstanding programs, like that for Ken Evoy's "SiteSell" products (Make Your Site Sell!, Make Your Knowledge Sell!, Make Your Words Sell!, Make Your Price Sell!, Make Your Net Auctions Sell!, and Site Build It!) offer lifetime commissions... Because you did the work to give them the new customers that they have the opportunity to sell to over and over.

Beware of companies that offer only a few days grace period. Many sales are made immediately rather than through the customer's later return... But most advertisers are aware that it usually takes several viewings of an ad before someone decides to buy. (Which leads into the next factor...)

---Is the company clearly committed to helping its affiliates? Some companies offer excellent aids to affiliates, such as good FAQs, message boards where affiliates can help each other, high-quality articles about the company offerings to post or link to, newsletters specifically for affiliates, testimonials affiliates can use, examples of high-earning affiliate sites, etc. One good article, for instance, can create a huge demand for the offering. And because of the slowness of many people to respond to ads for things that are new to them, autoresponder email courses that continue to sell on your behalf are especially useful.

Consider all the ways in which you can enhance your chances of success. The most proactive affiliate companies will provide you with the means before you even figure out that you're missing out on them! ...The best associate programs make it easy for you to help them sell.
 

---Along these lines, too, is the issue of whether or not the company makes it easy for you to track your affiliate earnings and your click-to-referral ratios. Earnings will come to you, whether you track them or not - some people may want to just let them flow. However, both earnings and click-to-referral (CTR) ratios are of interest in helping you to determine whether a program you're involved in is working well. They are benchmarks against which you can analyze the effects of any changes you make. And they might help you in deciding whether to drop a program and try another one instead. Many successful affiliate marketers feel that time spent in such labors is of great value and therefore are enthusiastic about a company's efforts in this direction.

However, this consideration is virtually wiped off the board for those who purchase the excellent and very inexpensive (only $27) software, Affiliate Assistant. It tracks both earnings (those due and those paid) and click-to-referral ratios for all your associate programs. It even allows you to track and analyze a specific marketing campaign. Plus, it keeps track of each program's URLs, contact information, affiliate IDs, and passwords. People participating in several programs will immediately see the benefit of using this software - but the marketing campaign feature makes it extremely useful for any affiliate marketer.

Further tracking of importance is the efficacy of your marketing, via coded links, and first-time referrals. A program such as The Ultimate Ad Tracker (or, as it's called when you take advantage of getting it for free with SiteSell's "5 Pillar Program", The Ultimate Link Tracker) is of inestimable use in informing you of just how well all of your promotional efforts are doing. (See "Affiliate Tracking—Track Your Results/Experiment for Better Results" in the primer section "HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMS, Part 1" for more information.) First-time referrals are especially of interest in programs such as SiteSell's which pay lifetime commissions.
 

---Is the market for the product/service easy to target? If you can effectively play to a limited market, great. If you can take advantage of a vast market that's already clued in to the product in question, and wanting it, so much the better! If you already have a line to such a market, your further efforts need only be minimal...

If, for instance, your website is already attracting, or your newsletter already going out to, a whole bunch of middle-aged men... Then if you offer an affiliate link to the much-touted hair-restoring drug Rogaine, you can be assured of an interested audience in the bald men. ...If you can drive on paved roads, you'll go farther faster!

The thing to be on the watch for is market saturation... If scads of other companies/ sites are touting the same thing, and the product is available at discount stores, does it really add much to your site? - probably not.

---Do you have to be a resident of a certain country to join the program, or to benefit fully from it?  Read the fine print!  (Also, see the section below under "Crossing National Borders" for more about international issues.) 
  
 

Here's the above in the form of a checklist you can use...
 

ASSOCIATE PROGRAM SELECTION CHECKLIST:

____ Will it suit your purposes?
____ Can you feel good about and honestly recommend the product or service?
____ Does the program reflect your own interests?
____ Are you required to pay to join the program?
____ What options for linking does the affiliate company offer you?
____ Are the banners of high quality?
____ Are the company's offerings (and banners) relevant to your site?
____ Does the company pay per impression, click-through, lead, or sale?
____ How much does the company pay?
____ On how many levels does the company pay?
____ Does the company pay residual fees?
____ Does the company offer a multiplicity of, and/or repeatable, products?
____ Are the company's products/services priced to sell?
____ Is the company's own website of a high quality and does it encourage repeat visitors?
____ Is the company's website loaded with banner ads that might spirit people away from your own site?
____ Does the company use multiple means of referral tracking?
____ How long does the company offer commissions on purchases made by people you refer to its website?
____ Is the company committed to helping its affiliates?
____ Does the company, if multiple-tiered, give you information on who your sub-affiliates are?
____ Is it easy for you to track your affiliate earnings, your click-to-referral ratios, the efficacy of your marketing, and first-time referrals?
____ Is the program self-limiting?
____ Is the market easy to target?
____ Do the company's products/services fill a need, solve a problem for customers?
____ Do you have to be a resident of a certain country?
  
 

To synthesize and synopsize what can be learned from the above:  The big, cool things to look for in a program are... high payments, in whatever form (not just high percentages - percentages of what??), more than one tier, and residual payments or the likelihood of recurring purchases. In a company, it's the quality and sellability/ popularity of the product or service, an effective website, and a commitment to its affiliates.

But the best associate programs are the ones that are best for you.
 

WHAT ABOUT "LITTLE" PROGRAMS?:

You don't want to expend a lot of energy on a company that falls quite short - you are in this for the money, presumably. If you're only going to go with one associate program, choose one that will pay you well for your efforts.

BUT - if multiple possibilities will fit in with your site/plans, there's no reason on earth why you should hold each one to the highest standards... they all do pay. "Little ones" could simply be icing on the cake. You'll just choose the best little ones for your purposes... Each should clearly provide added value for your site visitors.
 
 

If you go with multiple associate programs, just avoid competing programs. A directory that lists many in a category is an entirely different matter from another type of website offering more of the same thing - the latter doesn't make sense... Unless it does make sense.

By that I mean, you might indeed offer two of the same type of program if they complement each other - if it would really help people to have a choice of both; that would make sense.

For instance, you might proffer associate programs from two different map company websites. (The same principle would apply to plain old site selection for a directory type website, whether there were associate programs involved or not.) ...One specializes in outdoor maps, the other in what you might call mainstream maps; they clearly complement each other, even though they do also overlap somewhat. But I wouldn't offer both Virtualis and Adgrafix webhosting, because they are very similar in nature and in feature - what would be the point?...It would only frustrate and confuse, which would much diminish the impact of any marketing you're trying to do.

One caution about multiple programs (from the trenches!)... They really add up time- and energy-wise.

But at least a few are a good idea - to hedge your bets against the possibility that one may fold!
 

AFFILIATE AGREEMENTS:

Once you have narrowed the field down to some good-looking options, be sure to read each company's Affiliate Agreement/Terms and Conditions carefully...

Be on the lookout for exclusivity clauses (i.e., you may not have a competing program on your site, like two booksellers).

Here you will also find out whether the company insists that you use only their banners and/or text links to advertise their offerings (and in some cases insist that you display a cumbersome "this person is affiliated with our illustrious company" notice!).

Take note, too, that some companies will only accept your application provisionally and will need to see your website (i.e., it must be "live" when you apply) before accepting you as an affiliate.
 

CROSSING NATIONAL BORDERS:

This short article by Allan Gardyne (who lives in Australia and New Zealand) illustrates a problem affiliates outside the United States face...

Many, many programs are devised in the U.S. - and a lot of them are set up by people who haven't thought outside the U.S., even if there isn't a restriction on people outside the U.S. joining up.  Allan gives some good tips on how to deal with "country-centric" sign-up forms (and even suggests waking affiliate managers up to the international interest in their program).
 

RIDING THE WAVES:

One last point on selection: You might very shrewdly go with a program in order to take advantage of hot new product or service... that eventually gets to be "old hat". The diminishment of gains from it (as it hits the discount stores and shopping channels, perhaps) doesn't imply that you didn't choose well... only that you rode the wave to shore.

Drop it (if it's single-tier and you have no investment in a sub-affiliate downline - you never know, some of your sub-affiliates could very well be reaching just the right targeted market to continue with the selling nevertheless) or ignore it afterwards if you want to. As I keep saying, it's all up to you - do what best suits your purposes.

And with that under your belt and beginning to be digested, in the next section I hold forth on a cadre of my favorite affiliate companies. (So far! - I update the list from time to time... check the bottom of this document for update dates.)

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