The flexibility that affiliate marketing offers in terms of working from home makes it highly lucrative. But it can be tough trying to make money through affiliate marketing.
Want to learn how to do affiliate marketing more easily and effectively? Read on…
The key to success in affiliate marketing is picking the right affiliate program. But that’s another problem. There are literally thousands of affiliate programs to choose from. With so much choice, it is not easy to make a decision.
How do you choose the best affiliate program?
Well, there is no single best affiliate program. You need to find what works best for you personally. What is best for you will not be the best for someone else. Why? Because the best affiliate program depends on what your customers will want, use and buy. So consider what visitors to your site would be willing to buy. For example, if you are in the travel industry you will attract travellers to your site, so you are best to promote travel-related products such as hotels, flights, luggage, and tours, so use affiliate programs associated with this. For success, it is essential that you choose the right product.
There are some key points you need to consider when choosing to join an affiliate program…
- Positive feedback on the affiliate program.
- Choose a product that both you and others are interested in (as you will be writing about it, and others need to buy it in order for you to make money). So try to find positive feedback on the company and product you are promoting, as there needs to be demand for the product for you to be successful. Also try to choose a product that has little competition and high search volume.
- Check out the website of the company you hope to promote. Ensure it is reputable and has the potential for strong sales performance.
- Look at earnings per click (EPC) to find out how much you will be earning for each visitor you send to a merchant. EPC=the overall commission divided by the number of clicks.
- Learn the conversion rate of the website you hope to promote. If is poor it will not make you much money.
- Affiliate commission plays an important part on whether to promote a product. Some products offer as high as 50-70%.
- Do affiliates get immediate payment on each sale?
- Ensure that they have multiple payment options (There should be at least two).
- Consider its long term earning potential.
- Cookie duration – Look for a longer cookie duration. Why? If it’s a 30 day cookie, the customer has 30 days to go back to the merchant website to complete their purchase in order for you to receive your commission. If the cookie has expired you will get no commission.
- Ensure the merchant provides a range of high quality tools for its affiliates. If you have no effective tools, driving traffic will be much more difficult.
- Do they offer affiliate support? Is there a dedicated affiliate manager that will provide you with the tools and help as required?
- Do they provide affiliate training and tips?
- Be cautious of high reversal rates (i.e. high percentage of orders that were cancelled/ returned/ un-commissioned). This could lead to you getting unpaid for your efforts.
- Considering the programs terms and conditions is important as it tells you your rights and what you are restricted from doing.
Useful Websites
Overall, deciding on the best affiliate program depends on many factors including, most importantly, the type of your website and your niche. So consider this carefully before making your selection.
Are you making money from affiliate marketing? Thinking about it? What products are your promoting? Please do leave a comment and share your thoughts on affiliate marketing.
- $0
Lilach
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22 Responses to How to choose an affiliate program that will make you money
Hi Lilach, I must say your writing style is very good. Nicely written article with a lot of salient points of how to choose an affiliate program that will stand you in good stead when it comes to making money. I think that the one thing I would like to say is that the first step should be to locate a buyers market! Do your due diligence when it comes to market research, keywords, check for buying terms and intent of the market. Once you are happy that people are buying and that you can actually compete, then you need to find a suitable product to market to those “Hungry Buyers”.
Lilach, thanks for a great blog.
Alan
Too many people look for a product first
Alan recently posted..So, What is The Best MLM home based business?
Twitter: Alan_Turner
Thanks Alan, appreciate your comment:) Thanks for your great tip, very important point – you need to find a product that appeals to your target otherwise you won’t be able to sell it and as you say you need to have those “hungry buyers”
Twitter: lilachbullock
I thought the point you made about making sure the product fits with the type of visitors that go to your site is very important. You have to cater to your market!
Thanks Lilach!
Duke Romkey recently posted..Rewrite Your Future And The Direction Of Your Home Business
Twitter: dukeromkey
Thanks Duke, absolutely. I could find a fantastic travel product that although is a fantastic deal and has a great commission structure it just wouldn’t sell well with my target market.
I also only promote products that I personally use, that way I know the product intimately and find it easier to talk about it.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Lilach, so appreciate the list of were to fine affiliate programs. I want to implement this more into my marketing plan. Also, something I have come across is some programs pay on last click and some on first click. I think the last click is the way to go, because obviously the marketing methods on the last site clicked work to push the buyer into making the purchase. So, if they have a 30 cookie, then there must be an override on clicks from different sites. Thanks!
Val Heisey recently posted..MLM Marketing Success and WHY you need to be like Nordstrom…
Twitter: valheisey
Thanks Val:) Yes it’s interesting seeing all the new and innovative ways to make an income via affiliate marketing. I’m also seeing product launches where they provide you with a video and there are cookies in the video so that if someone clicks on it you receive affiliate fees.
These lists are actually very useful to if you create your own product and are looking for affiliates to promote it:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Great post on affiliate marketing here Lilach and is something everyone online should consider, even if it is just for a little side income. Take care,
Dave
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Thanks David. Yes I agree, everyone should consider affiliate marketing, it’s a great way to earn a passive income:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach,
This is an important issue for freelancers whose main income source might not be affiliate income (e.g. graphic designers, writers, social media consultants etc) because if they develop their professional website with affiliate links it will continue to provide them with an income when they wish to slow down or retire from their main job. It is probably a separate topic, but the security of their website’s links is emerging as an issue that website owners will have to watch. I will recommend this post on my website.
Regards
John Cosstick
John Cosstick recently posted..Social Media Marketing Inisghts and Power Tips
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Thanks John, appreciate your comment:) The beauty of affiliate marketing is it’s down to the individual by how much they earn. For example there are many people who have a few links and sell services as you’ve said and it’s nice to receive a passive income from this. Then there are others who literally do affiliate marketing full time and have several websites with their affiliate links on.
The important thing to note is that it takes time and relies on so many factors to make a steady income from it.
Twitter: lilachbullock
I am willing to enter in the affiliate word and this article could help me a lot.
I am tired of depending from adsense for earn money.
Thanks. For you to profit from adsense you really need to have many websites with adsense on, you’re get a much better return from affiliate sales than adsense.
Twitter: lilachbullock
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Another thing I usually look for is a second tier affiliate payments, and if the affiliate links works as the affiliate recruitment link as well. I’m earning a decent income by this method especially in high paying niches like currency trading.
Nishadha recently posted..Make Money Recruiting Affiliates ( Two Tier Affiliate Marketing )
Twitter: rumblinglankan
Thanks Nishadha:) Yes two tier affiliate marketing can work well too. I’ve also worked as an affiliate where they’ve had a suite of upselling products and have received commission on them too which has been great.
Twitter: lilachbullock
I have found in searching for viable affiliate programs to “endorse”, that the landing page seems always too much like a bad dream. A nicely laid out pile of DVD’s with a whole lot of bold fonts and unconvincing comment threads.
It looks like you have covered much of the issues with this post.
Where do you find the cookie expiration on each product?
thanks.
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It seems that I have to come and come again and again to your blog, but I cannot resist. Thanks for your excellent post… it looks that I repeat my self, but is true your blog is amazing.
Juan G Garcia recently posted..Internet Marketing and Online Advertisement.
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i been doing this for a few weeks now and havent earnt a sale yet but i been using all the social media sites to get my site know and have some world famous stores affiliated with me
Twitter: golamafc147
I choose affiliate programs based on the products and services that I am already using, mostly in either internet marketing or personal development. I believe that to be in integrity you have to use whatever products or services that you sell.
Wayne Woodworth recently posted..How to Succeed in Network Marketing – Some People Will, Most Won’t
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As we can see, there are a lot of ways to monetize a website. Really nice post! Actually, affiliate marketing is something that I am really into so I just want to add that for beginners the best choice continues to be Clickbank. It is the best place to start.
Great post Lilach!!
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