Deciding Upon An Affiliate Marketing Program That Works

Written by: Nestor Stone

There are so many affiliate marketing programs available online, that the beginning marketer may feel overwhelmed with options. It is common for a beginning marketer to fall into the trap of spending time and money on a program that will give them nothing in return. What is the best way to avoid spinning your wheels on a worthless affiliate program? There are several qualifying factors as well as red flags that can steer you toward or away from affiliate marketing programs.

The potential profits may seem good, but there's more to consider than what you see on the surface. Before an affiliate market programming reaches the public eye, hours of programming, planning, and testing have been undertaken and a support staff has been trained. The support team and the technology behind the program should integrate smoothly for a nearly flawless marketing program No program is entirely flawless. Any abnormalities should be rapidly addressed by the techs. The contact information for the support staff should be highly visible., A quality support team will have the right answers to the affiliates' questions, or be willing to find the answers. Some affiliate marketing companies have staff of only a couple people. Don't let that worry you. Often a small upstart company with one or two members is more willing to help its affiliates.

An affiliate marketing program can have seamless programming and a superb support team, but if the product or service it stands behind is junk, the whole program is worthless. Read opinions other people have on the product or service, but avoid hyped-up sales pages. Buy the product yourself, give it a test run, and honestly assess its detriments and benefits. If you feel at all uncomfortable about the claims the marketers make, pass it up. Start researching a different program.

You can have a fantastic product or service, but if there is no need for it in the marketplace, you essentially have nothing. Study the online community to determine if the product is saleable or if the service is in demand. Don't ignore the fact that a popular product will have a high number of competitors marketing the same product.

Don't spend much time on programs with inferior pay-outs. Focus your efforts where you will see the highest returns. The commission?the amount of each purchase you will receive?should fall around 50% or even higher. The product itself does not need to be expensive if it will sell in high quantities.

Ideally, when you have done the work of getting visitors to your site and gotten them to click through to the product or service you are marketing, you want a pay-off. The people need to but the product for you to get a commission. The percentage of people who buy the product compared to the number who have clicked through to view it is called the conversion rate. Research the conversion rate of the affiliate marketing program you are considering. Either check their website for information or run a mini-campaign as a test run for the product.

Signing up for an affiliate marketing program without first researching its potential is a foolish move. A user-friendly program with an accessible support staff is a great start. If it offers an exceptional product with commendable commission and conversion rates, you may have a winner. There is no guarantee that any program will work, but finding one that meets these criteria will increase your changes of online success in affiliate marketing.