Affiliate Programs
- Points to Consider
It
seems as though you can't visit a web site now without being
asked to join their affiliate program - they're
everywhere! Affiliate programs are attractive, as they
offer a means of earning money from product sales without
having to actually take orders, ship merchandise, deal with
customers, stock inventory or take a financial risk.
Post a banner to your web site and you're in business.
Affiliate programs do offer a means to make additional income
from your site, however, there are a few points to consider.
A Good Fit:
Before you run out and join a bunch of affiliate programs,
take a moment to think about your current web site visitors.
What types of products and information would they be most
interested in? For example, if you have a web site that deals
with pets, joining an affiliate program that sells pet
supplies might be a good fit. This would be something your
average visitor would have an interest in. Joining a program
that sells books on How To Kill Your Neighbor's Pesky Pet, may
not be such a good fit. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I
think you get my point. If your affiliate program doesn't
appeal to your site's visitors, you will not have much
success.
More Isn't Always Better:
If joining one affiliate program is a good deal, then why not
join 500 programs? Don't stop there, why not post as many
different affiliate banners as will fit onto each web page? If
this sounds like a good philosophy, think again! Posting too
many banners and text links on your pages will not only look
sloppy and slow down the time it takes to load your pages, but
will confuse your visitors, resulting in less click through
traffic, rather than more. (Click through traffic - People
that actually click on your affiliate banners and/or text
links.) It's best to focus on just a couple affiliate
programs. And make sure to keep your pages simple, easy to
read, and aesthetically pleasing.
Increasing Your Click Through Traffic:
As I said before, your web pages should be simple. Too many
banners, especially those that change rapidly or flash, can be
very distracting and annoying to your visitors. Also, don't
rely just on banners to generate click through traffic for
your affiliate program. Adding text links in addition to
banners will greatly increase your click through percentages.
Banner ads are becoming so common that many people don't give
them a second look. By adding simple text links on your web
pages which explain a little more about your affiliate
program's product(s) you can capture the attention of your
visitors and increase your click through traffic. Also, the
placement of these banners and text links is important too.
Putting these at the bottom of your pages will not result in
as many hits as you would have if they were displayed in a
more prominent place on your page.
Ask Questions Before You Join:
Doing a little research before you join an affiliate program
will pay big dividends later. Find out the answers to these
questions before making a commitment to join any program:
* Does it cost anything to join? Most affiliate programs
offered today are absolutely free to join.
* When do they issue commission checks? All programs are
different. Some issue once a month, some issue every quarter,
etc. Also, many programs set a minimum earned commission
amount which an affiliate must meet or exceed prior to a check
being issued.
* What is the hit per sale ratio? (The average number of hits
to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale - based
on all affiliate statistics.) This is extremely important, as
this number will tell you how much traffic you must generate
before you can expect to earn a commission from a sale.
* How are referrals from an affiliate's site tracked, and for
how long do they remain in the system? You need to be
confident in the program's ability to track those people your
refer from your site. This is the only way you'll get credit
for a sale. Additionally, how long those people stay in the
system is also important, as the visitor may not buy
initially, but may return later to make a purchase. Will you
still get credit for the sale six months from now?
* What kind of affiliate stats are available? Does the program
offer detailed stats? Are these online and available in real
time? It's important to be able to see your individual stats,
so you know how many impressions, hits and sales you have
generated from your site. (Impressions are the number of times
the program's banner or text link was viewed by a visitor to
your site. A hit is simply someone clicking on a banner or
text link - taking the visitor from your site to the program
site.)
* Does the program pay just commissions on sales, or do they
also pay for hits and/or impressions? Getting paid for
impressions and/or hits, in addition to commissions on sales,
is important. This is especially true if the program has a low
sales to hit ratio.
* Who is the online retailer? Find out who you are doing
business with. Is this a solid company? How do they fill
orders? What types of payments do they accept? How long have
they been in business? What are their return policies and how
do these affect you? What products do they sell and what is
their average sale amount? The more you know about the
retailer offering the affiliate program, the easier it will be
for you to determine if this is the program for you and your
site.
* Is this a one or two tier program? A single tier program
pays you only for the business you personally generate. A two
tier program pays you for your business, plus it pays you a
commission on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor
into their program. Some two tier programs will also pay you a
small fee on each new affiliate you sponsor - a recruitment
fee.
* Finally, what is the amount of commission paid? (And fee for
impressions/hits - if available.) 5% - 20% is common for
commissions paid on sales. $.01 - $.05 is common for the
amount paid for each hit (click through). If you find a
program that also pays for impressions, don't expect the
amount paid to be much at all. From these numbers you can see
that the program's average sale amount and hit to sale ratio
are extremely important. This is especially true if yours is a
low traffic site to begin with.
These are just a few of the main aspects of affiliate programs
which you should be familiar with if you plan to incorporate
any such program into your web site. I hope this provides the
reader with additional insight and helps them in selecting the
right program for their site.
.........................................................................
Todd W. Winslow is the Executive Vice President of TADD
Marketing Group, L.L.C. You can find more helpful information,
products, resources, select affiliate programs and links to
help you start and operate a business online by visiting their
web site. http://www.taddgroup.com
..........................................................................
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