So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose

So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?

Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program. Do a little research about the choices of program that you intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.

Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining.

When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the 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 on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially 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.

What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.

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

Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

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

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

These are just some of the questions that needed answering first before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you select the right program for you site from among the many available.

BONUS : Successful Affiliate Marketing

There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs
out there, all of which claim to be the best. Many
of them try to give you the impression that all you
have to do is use their banners and links then wait
for the money to start rolling in. Although this
can be the case, this type of scenario normally
applies to large sites with a lot of web traffic.

Choosing banners
With most affiliate programs, you are offered a
variety of banners to plan on your website, as very
few of them will be effective. The problems with
most banners are their size. If you choose a banner
that is high in size, it will take a long time to
implement and use. Therefore, it's recommended that
you use banners no more than 15kb in size.

When you select any types of graphical advertising,
you should try and keep the theme of your website in
mind. Even though graphical ads are meant to stand
out and catch people's eye, they shouldn't be to
the point where everything else on the page is
completely ignored.

Pop ups and unders
A lot of companies will now give their affiliates
the chance of using pop up or pop under ads. In
most opinions, pop ups aren't the way to go. They
can easily annoy visitors and are normally closed
before they even have the chance to load. You
should instead go for pop unders and those types
that only display once per visit.

Text link ads
Once of the most successful means of advertisting
is text link ads. They are easy on bandwidth, don't
use a lot of space, and they easily be implemented
into most types of page layouts. Good text links
offer some information as to why your visitor
should investigate your offers.

Email advertising
The direct promotion via email has really taken off
over the last several years, although it has
brought tons of spam with it. If you plan to use
email as a method of advertising your products,
you should stand behind what you sell and make
yourself available to answer any questions.

Patience
If you feel confident that your site can generate
great sales for certain company's, you should
contact them to negotiate an arrangement. If they
don't seem to enthused to begin with, you should
remain patient as companies are approaced every
day with affiliates looking to make better deals.

The reality remains that most affiliates can't
deliver what they promise, and companies are
aware of this.

You should always keep in mind that most forms of
advertising will take time. No matter what methods
you plan to use, give it some time before you make
any type of decision. Although something may not
happen overnight - it very well could in a few
days or weeks.

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