What Makes A Good Affiliate Program?

Kim Regan 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

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Copyright 2004 Kim D Regan All Rights Reserved
FortuneExpo www.fortuneexpo.com
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About the Author

The author is a web entrepreneur with
experience in the small business,online
marketing and IT fields.