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How To Choose the Right
Affiliate Program
By Zamri Nanyan
Being an affiliate or a partner to promote an online program can be
as easy as a 1-2-3. You fill up a form and a second later, an
affiliate code is generated and you are ready to go. But, not all
affiliate programs are the same. Therefore, you have to ask
questions first before you join any 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.
Here are some of the questions you can ask yourself.
1. Will it cost you anything to join?
Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of
charge. Others might require you to be a paid member to participate.
However, the best affiliates are the ones who know the product well
and the only way to know if the product is any good is to buy it.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 get
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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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 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. And, if you are interested in a multi-tier
program, you might want to
consider an internet MLM program.
9. 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.
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About The Author: Zamri Nanyan wants you to become successful
online. Find out how Zamri and his team can help you with an
internet home based business for FREE ->> http://success.mlmlessons.com
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