What To Look For In a Good Affiliate Program

In some of my previous posts I have written about how you can use affiliate programs to generate money from your website. However, I never elaborated on what things you should be looking for before you join an affiliate program. So today I give you ‘What to Look For In a Good Affiliate Program.’

An affiliate programs can take may shapes and forms. At their most basic level they simply offer a percentage of the purchase price of a certain product. For example, Amazon.com currently runs one of the largest and oldest affiliate programs on the Internet. They simply pay you a small percentage (10% or less) for every book, movie, computer game, etc. that someone buys as a result of coming through your link.

Other affiliate programs will pay you just for a lead, which means you don’t have to sell anything at all to make money. This can include programs for loan applications, newsletter subscriptions or anything else where a sale is not made right away. Finally, some affiliate programs will even pay per click (similar to Google AdSesne) but this has become quite rare due to click-fraud.

Now that you have a basic idea of the different commission types available, lets look at what features a good affiliate program should have. Most affiliate programs will not have all of these things but you can judge how good an affiliate program is by how many of them it does have.

1. Fits With Your Site

The first thing you need to look for in an affiliate program is one that is appropriate for your site. For example if I have a site on the topic of traveling to Japan, I might want to include affiliate programs for hotels, airlines and Japanese language products. Other products like web hosting, Internet marking or financial services probably won’t work.

So, pick programs that fit your sites theme.

2. High Commissions

The next thing you want to look for are programs that pay you a high percentage of the sale price or a large amount per sale or lead. Remember these should fit with the theme of your site, but if you have multiple programs to choose from, it is usually better to pick the one that pays you more (kinda of a no-brainer there).

Some examples of these types of programs include ClickBank and PayDotCom products, some Commission Junction programs, Site Build It, Joe Bucks Health Supplements, Forex Affiliate and many dating sites.

Making sales can be difficult so you want to make sure that each one brings you a maximum amount of revenue.

3. Merchant Site Converts Well

This is just as important as a high commission rate. There is no point sending your visitors to a merchant’s affiliate site if you can’t make any sales. Overall, you want to find affiliate programs that have high commissions and convert well. Your sites theme will determine how well a given affiliate program works for you.

Generally, I only choose programs from merchants whose affiliate sites are ones I would personally buy from.

4. Lifetime Commissions

This is something I love to find in an affiliate program. With these types of programs all you have to do is sell once, and then you keep earning in the future. When you send someone to the merchant’s affiliate site they become your customer for life. So, if they come back in 10 years and buy something you would still be credited.

Life commission programs work best with programs that have monthly or yearly recurring commissions. These are some that I personally have had had some success with: Site Build It, DealDotCom, Joe Bucks, Forex Affiliate, Dating Sites, PayDotCom and ClickBank.

Selling once and getting paid over and over again makes earning a living online that much easier.

5. 2-Tier or Multi-tier

Many programs offer to give you a small amount of the earning of other affiliates you refer. When it is simply off people you refer directly, it is called a 2-tier program and when you earn money of people your affiliates refer, it is called multi-tier. To me this is far less important that the other factors I listed above, but is still a nice bonus.

I have found that many of the affiliates who join these types of programs focus more on signing up other affiliates rather than selling the product. If the product/service does not fit your site then there is no point signing up for it. That being said, if an affiliate program does fit your site, it is nice to earn a little bit extra off other people who may join. Some good affiliate programs that are also two tier are: Site Build It, DealDotCom, Joe Bucks, Dating Sites and Forex Affiliate.

Remember, 2-Tier only makes sense if the actual product being sold fits with your site.

6. Support

This is something else that can very important to people new to affiliate programs. Ideally you want an affiliate program that offers you ongoing support to help you make sales. This varies greatly from program to program and most times I find you have to join the program (almost always free) before you know for sure. Overall, I have found that affiliate program mangers are realizing that it is in their best interest to offer ongoing support.

Probably the affiliate program with the best affiliate support I have found so far is Site Build It. Many smaller run programs also offer good support, because their affiliate relationships are so important to their business.

However, one affiliate network that I strongly advise you to stay away from is rocket profit. A few months ago they banned my account without warning and refused to reopen it. This is despite the fact that it was a tiny infraction, which could have been solved very easily on my end. I got paid in the end but this is a perfect example of the wrong kind of support.

If you have questions make sure you ask. If they are not answered promptly you should ask yourself, if this is a company I want to do business with.

7. Payment

Finally, you want to join affiliate programs that pay you on time, every time. Occasionally, you will find yourself in a situation where a merchant fails to pay but this is exceedingly rare. I would guess that over 99% of merchants pay when they are supposed to. If you are worried about this, then I urge you to join a big affiliate network like ClickBank or Commission Junction because they handle all payment issues. Every affiliate program I have mentioned today has also paid me on time.

Keep these things in mind when you look at affiliate programs and you will make more money with less hassle than most new website owners. To find affiliate programs specifically for your niche I recommend the following resources:

AssociatePrograms.com – The biggest directory of affiliate programs on the internet.
LifeTimeCommissions.com – The largest directory of affiliate programs that pay you for life.