Choosing An Affiliate Program That's Right For You

By Author: Paul Menzie
Total Articles: 11
Comment this article

So what exactly is an affiliate program? An affiliate program is where a company offers to pay you a commission for either a click through from your site, generating a sale of an item on theirs, or a fixed amount for a lead ( a visitor is asked to sign up for a newsletter, etc.) Even if the visitor does not make a purchase initially, most programs offer "cookie duration" around 30 - 90 days.

Do your homework before entering any affiliate program. Get some definitive answers because they will be the deciding statement of what you will be achieving later on. The following are some questions that should be answered.

1. Will it cost you something to join? Most partner programs existing nowadays are absolutely devoid of any cost. So why select a program that will cost you money just to sign up.

2. When do they issue the commission checks? Every plan is different. Some release their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Choose the one that is suitable to your payment time range. Many affiliate programs are now initiating a minimum earned commission quantity that an affiliate must generate or exceed in order ...
... for their checks to be issued.

3. What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the typical number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to produce a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This issue is very important because this will tell you how much traffic you must produce before you can earn a commission from the sale.

4. How are referrals from an affiliate's website tracked and for how long do they continue in the system? You ought to be secure on the program enough to trace those people you submit from your site. This is the only way that you can be given credit for a sale. The amount of time that those people remain in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy on their first visit but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day. In other words, how long do the cookies last? The longer the better as this will produce sales commissions for you in the days or months to come.

5. What are the kinds of affiliate stats offered? Your affiliate program should be able to offer detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you choose to confirm them . Constantly perusing your individual stats is important in knowing how many impressions, hits and sales are being generated from your website. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link are viewed by a visitor to your website. A hit is clicking on the banner or text links.

6. Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions in addition to the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also rewarded, as this will add to the revenue you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to hit ratio.

7. Who is the online merchant? Find out whom you are dealing with to know if it is actually a sound business. Know the merchandise they are promoting and the regular total they are achieving. The more you know about the merchant offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is truly for you and your website.

8. Is the affiliate a one level or two level program? A one level program pays you only for the sales you alone have generated. A two level program pays you for the sales, plus it also pays you a commission on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-level programs are even paying small fees on each new associate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.

9. Finally, what is the percentage of commission paid? 5% - 20% is the commission paid by most programs. .01% - .05% is the quantity paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the total paid is not much at all. As you can see from the numbers, you will now understand why the median sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important.

These are just some of the questions that require an answer before you join any affiliate program. You should become familiar with the many important aspects that your selected program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you choose the right program for your website from among the many existing.
Paul Menzie is an author and entrepreneur for Global Cash Flow Networks, a continuing education and business development company showing people how to build business success. Get No Obligation Free Tips And Training at http://takingthefirststep.ca. Find out if you qualify to be trained in having your own business