Choosing The Right Affiliate Marketing Program

By Anna Johnson

There are so many affiliate marketing programs available that choosing between them - in fact, choosing any affiliate program at all - can be a daunting task.

If you're like most affiliate marketers, you really only want to join programs that offer products and services that you:

(a) Believe you can sell; and

(b) Are comfortable promoting.

But if that's the case... why do so many of us end up joining numerous affiliate programs offering products and services that don't qualify on either count? Yes, me included!

Well, let's leave the past in the past, and focus on which is the right affiliate marketing program for you now.

Firstly, as indicated, it should satisfy (a) and (b) above. If you don't think the product or service will sell... or if you're not comfortable promoting it... you might as well as forget about it.

However, there are also some other criteria to consider. Which is great because such criteria will significantly help you sort the high performing affiliate programs from the "chaff".

Here are some key qualities to look for:

1. High rewards in TOTAL DOLLAR terms.

That's right, I mean dollar rather than percentage terms. You see, it's not uncommon for Company A to offer a 80% commission, while Company B may only offer a 20% commission... but what if Company B's product is worth $100, while Company A's product is only worth $10?

But there's even more to it than that... what if Company B only offers a 20% commission AND its product is only worth $10... but its product is a proven seller that you can sell week in, week out? That $2 per sale may add up more than the $8 on Company A's product.

So, when I mean "total dollar terms" I really mean how much money, overall, are you likely to earn from promoting the products and services available in a given affiliate program? It's not so much the commission rate or dollar amount per product as the overall equation:

(Commission Rate x Price) x Likely No. Sales Per Annum = Total Dollars Earned Per Annum

Or

Total Dollar Amount Per Product x Likely No. Sales Per Annum = Total Dollars Earned Per Annum

2. Products that are likely to sell to YOUR prospects

As the above point indicates, you want to promote products that sell! Now, one indicator of selling ability is the conversion rate achieved by other affiliates and/or by the merchant (i.e. the affiliate marketing company). But the extent to which such conversion rates are meaningful to you depends on how similar your prospects are to those of the other affiliates and/or merchant.

In other words, an affiliate who focuses on the Internet marketing niche might achieve a 15% conversion rate with a product like "How To Succeed in Internet Marketing"... but an affiliate whose prospects are interested in personal development may only achieve a 1% conversion rate.

Again, what really counts is the total dollar reward that you are likely to achieve by promoting a given product. If your likely conversion rate is 0.5% but the commission per sale is $500... are you going to avoid promoting that product because it doesn't precisely fit your target market?

Of course, that's not to suggest that you should try to sell products and services to people who are likely to have no interest whatsoever in those products and services. Not at all! For instance, it would be futile trying to sell steak sauce to a list of vegetarians.

But it does mean being open to products and services that are likely to appeal to at least some people in your list. For example, it may well be worthwhile selling a personal development program to a list of people interested in working at home as there is likely to be some cross-over in terms of interests.

3. Pro-active support

Those behind a good affiliate marketing program do not leave their members in the lurch! Good merchants provide pro-active support. They provide sufficient sales and referral tools. They provide guidelines and tips for selling their products and services. They send regular newsletters with information about how to promote existing and upcoming products. In short, they keep in touch and are available to help their affiliates.

4. Plug-and-play sales and referral tools

I mentioned this in the above point, but let me emphasize this. A good affiliate program provides you with sales and referral tools - banner ads, emails, articles, text links, etc - that you can "plug" into your website, emails, ads or whatever, and relax while they "play" (earn you money).

5. Legitimate company

Unfortunately, the Internet marketing world is full of cases of merchants who have ripped off their affiliates by not paying the commissions they owe. Do your due diligence! Find out what you can about the company behind the program. How long have they been around? What are their contact details? Who are the people in charge? Do they respond to your enquiries? How do they respond? Is their business model sound?

There you have five essential qualities to look for in an affiliate program. Given that there are so many programs around, I wouldn't waste any time on a program or network that doesn't qualify on all five counts.