With affiliate marketing programs, it really helps if you are able to work well with others. Affiliate programs may also be called ‘referral programs’, which normally involve commission-based sales. If you recommend an opportunity to your visitors and they accept, you will then earn a percentage of any sale you make. You’ll benefit from your action in the commission you earn, and the merchant also benefits from the sale. In some structures you can also earn additional, smaller percentages on any sales that your customer’s might make in the future as well.
To start out with you can just utilize the affiliate sales page that the company provides that is encoded with your affiliate ID. However as soon as possible it would be best if you build your own simple website or blogsite. You are then free to combine your affiliate programs into one business with multiple streams of income, or you can actually just have websites that are focused completely on one thing alone.
If you have your own website, for one thing, your online business can be multi-faceted. You can have a certain number of affiliate programs, and earn money for referrals. You can also sell related tools that affiliate marketers may use to promote their programs. For example you can sell autoresponders, ad trackers, article spinners, list builders, etc.
As with anything, you’ll need to be careful when you select an affiliate program. There can be many benefits to an affiliate program. It does seem logical to choose programs that pay you a fair, decent percentage of the sale you make. However do consider all that your chosen program provides to you and your customers when you determine what you feel is ‘fair’. Consider all that they have already spent in product development, membership program, customer service, and etc. that they share with you. On the other side consider what they are charging you for membership fees. It should all be kind of equal.
Some general things to consider would be not to accept any less than a 25% commission in most cases. You can find many programs with good compensation structures and high percentages of pay. Be sure you understand the compensation structure as far as how often you will be paid, and how they will pay you. Some programs will pay monthly, while others will pay quarterly.
Take the time to run some statistics as you go along so as not to waste time on either strategies or programs that may not be working for you for whatever reason. Track the number of clicks that result in sales, and earnings so you’ll be able to see how you are doing. Whenever possible try to see what your peers are doing so you can judge if you might be doing something that is not meeting the mark. Always look for programs that offer a wide variety of resources and tools to help you promote the program. They should help you as much as they can since your success means their success.
Be sure that top level, timely support is included. They should be willing to answer your questions and help you as much as is reasonable. They should provide documentation which you should use first, and if you don’t understand then they have every reason to help you. At the same time realize you are in business and you are responsible. There is only so much the program can do.
