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by: Sanjay Johari
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
©2004-2005 Sanjay Johari
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of
benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and
the claims they make are not to be trusted. Good affiliate programs
provide tremendous earning opportunities, but they need to be
evaluated to distinguish them from doubtful ones. There are several
factors to consider before someone decides to join any affiliate
program.
Products: Organizations which operate affiliate programs generally
have some products to sell. These products can be in form of
physical products, e-products or services. It is important to
ascertain that the organization has some products to sell and that
it recruits affiliates to help them in running their business. One
should be very careful with any organization that has recruitment of
affiliates as their main business. It is best to avoid such
organizations because their affiliate structure is like a house of
cards which can crumble at slightest impact.
The organizations which have products to sell and market them thru
affiliate programs cut down on the cost of advertising and
distribution. This amounts to considerable savings which they share
with their affiliates. If a new affiliate is already familiar with
the products, this can be helpful but this is not a necessary
pre-condition to join affiliate program. New affiliates can learn
about the products quite fast.
Organization's Track Record : It is not difficult to find out about
the organization before joining it affiliate program. Search engines
are one of the sources which can be used for this purpose. Verifying
the testimonials presented by the organization is another source of
information. The organization should have proven track record of
operating their programs for several years successfully. If the
organization is new or just starting, the person starting the
program should be well known with good credibility. This is
precaution against joining organizations which promise
get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support Available to Affiliates : Most of the new affiliates joining
any affiliate program are new to the field of marketing on the
internet. They need guidance and support for promoting their
business and earning money for themselves. It is in the interest of
the organization to help their affiliates to succeed. These
organizations are in their business for considerable longer time
than the affiliates, are more knowledgeable about their market and
about the ways of promoting their products. They are in best
position to provide their affiliates with proper guidance. Many
organizations have excellent support system by way of trainings,
tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums
just to name a few. These are generally available from websites
accessible to the affiliates.
Apart form the promotional material and information available from
the website, personal guidance can be vital. A new affiliate may not
be familiar with all the resources available and will look for
mentoring at least in initial stages. It should be remembered by the
affiliate that her success will add to the success of the
organization, the organization is obliged to help her.
Payment : Another factor to consider is the mode and frequency of
payment to the affiliates. The affiliate should make sure that this
suits her. Just to give an example - many organizations make
payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not transmit money to all the
countries. Such details should be checked before putting time and
effort for any affiliate program.
Affiliate Structure : There are many different ways in which
organizations build up their affiliate structure. Many organizations
have single tier structure in which affiliate is only paid
commission for sale. Other affiliate structures are 2-level or
multi-level deep in which the affiliate earns also from the efforts
of personally sponsored members. In turn, the affiliate is expected
to help her sponsored members to earn for themselves. This is one
great feature of multi-level marketing leading to leveraged earning.
You can read my article on leveraged earning at this URL :
http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.html
There are still more variations in the structure. Some organizations
allow a limited number of affiliates directly under each affiliate.
There is no "ideal" affiliate structure. But it is important to have
clarity in the structure and the affiliate should understand the
structure.
Compensation Plan : There is lot of variation in compensation plans
starting from simple commission to more elaborate plan in which
affiliates additionally earn thru the efforts of their sponsored
downline members and also from a common pool. I personally favor
plans which have provision for leveraged earnings where teamwork
really counts. Residual earning is another attractive feature of
affiliate marketing which can build into sizeable income over a
period of time. I am not against any compensation plan so long as it
is understandable and appears reasonable. You have perhaps noticed
that I have put this factor as the last consideration. However it is
an important consideration after all other considerations are found
acceptable.
Persistence Pays - It takes time to build up business with any
affiliate program, no matter how good the program appears. After
joining any affiliate program after thorough evaluation, one needs
to stay with the program giving it time to build the earning.
Get-rich-quick scheme do work some times but they are rare exception
rather than the rule and cannot be depended upon.
This small slogan should be ingrained in the thinking when someone
joins an affiliate program:
PERSISTENCE PAYS.
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Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles on small business to
various ezines. Benefit from International Success Mentoring! Earn
while you learn - join the longest running internet business
opportunity, because it works.
http://www.sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html
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