How To Choose The Best Affiliate Program

Which Affiliate Program is The Best For You?

I presume that you researched your niche and know what affiliate programs to look for. You have built a website and added interesting content related to your niche.

By now, your site generates some traffic, and one or more of your pages, articles and product reviews are getting decent search engine ratings.

If that is NOT the case, I suggest you hold off on putting promotional links to your site and instead concentrate on adding more content.

Some programs do have requirements to accept Affiliate Applications. If you get rejected, get in contact with the program manager and ask for the reasons. They will gladly provide you with details. Work on improvements to your site and apply again.

Ok, let’s get to the business at hand. For almost every product or service are literally hundreds of affiliate programs you can choose from. I have compiled a list of the most important aspects to consider when choosing which one is right for you.


5 Tips for Choosing the Best Affiliate Program


1) Your Commissions:


1.1 The Size of Your Commissions

The size of your commissions matter and is an important factor in monetizing your site. Of course, it all depends on the niche you are working in and the related products. You should look for programs that pay you between 15% and 50% per sale.

There are programs that pay 100% commissions. They are rare and you should research them carefully before entering a relationship. Most are outright Scams or Pyramid Schemes.

Then you need to consider the dollar amount of the product. If you promote a $10.00 product at 20%, you will have to make a lot of sales per day to create a decent income.

If you find programs that pay $25.00 or $50.00 per sale, a couple of sales per day will make you a pretty buck.

I know a retired pilot now working from home in the “Used Executive Airplane” niche. He earns a commission of 7.5% for every sale he initiated through his website. Last year he received commissions for 2 sales, totaling more in income than 3 years salary while piloting for a major airline.

1.2 Recurring Commissions

This is a very important aspect for your income potential. If you promote products that sell on Amazon, for example, you will not get commissions if the customer returns but logs directly into Amazon.

Always look for programs that pay recurring commissions. These are more difficult to find and it will take you some research effort to locate them. I know it’s boring to read the Terms of Affiliate Contracts. The “Legalese” is hard to understand. But you will be able to find merchants that guarantee “life-time” recurring commission.

A very good way to secure recurring commissions is by joining some of the most reputable Affiliate Programs and promote their Product/service.

I suggest you take a hard look at four Affiliate Programs I can highly recommend. These are absolute legitimate programs, which pay monthly recurring commissions from $15.00 to $50.00. Wealthy Affiliate is an “All in One Platform” that trains you to build a website to promote their first class services.

1.3 Payment Options

I don’t know about you, but I prefer affiliate programs that offer at least 2 payment options. Most pay you either by PayPal or Bank Check. There are some, that offer only PayPal, which may be a problem if you are in a location (country) that has no affiliation with PayPal. So check that out before enrolling into the program.


2) Positive Feedback


2.1 About the Product

It is imperative for you to check the consumer feedback. If you promote products that have a lot of complaints, you will anger your website visitors and, most likely, will get your commission reversed.

If it is a virtual product sold through Clickbank, for example, you should buy this product and see for yourself what it is all about. CB has a “No Questions Asked, 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee” and you can take advantage of that.

When promoting products that sell on Amazon, BestBuy or Tiger Direct, you need to read the buyer reviews and feed backs to learn about the quality of the merchandise.

2.2 About the Person(s) behind the Product

Before promoting an online affiliate program, you should learn about the person(s) that created and own the product. You know that there are many offers on the web, which are worthless and sold using unethical practices.

So, make the effort to find out as much as you can. Reading reviews, and I mean “real reviews”, should give you a good idea whether it would be a wise decision to get involved or not.

3) Marketing Materials


What do you really need to promote a product or program? Well, in most cases, 1 or 2 text links and a couple of banners will suffice. All advertisers provide at least that many.

But you would be surprised by the variety of material some advertisers carry. Some offer a banner assortment of different shapes and motives; even banner carousels or links to pages in a different language. At others you can find links to different landing pages for their products.

This material can be useful in many ways. You can give your posts and pages a different look and offer your visitor a more interesting site display. It’s not easy to find out what an advertiser really has in stock. But all it takes is to ask.

4) Affiliate Managers & Support


4.1 The “Inactive Manager”

You will deal with two types of Affiliate Managers. There are those which hardly ever get in contact with you. Their interaction with you is limited to an occasional e-mail with information about a new product and some new link and banner codes.

That doesn’t bother me too much, to tell you the truth. It gives me the freedom to work at my own schedule, post new articles whenever I want and create my own marketing campaigns.

4.2 The “Active Manager”

Working with a manager that involves himself into the affiliate’s activities can be very beneficial for you. They may look at your website and give you tips how to place banners and text codes more efficiently. Or they let you know about errors and mistakes they found (spelling, incorrect product info, etc.).

Many times the involved manager will inform you about new product releases and supplies you with material to run a “pre-launch” campaign which can lead to sales. Of course, they care about business and making money just like you do.

And the more money you make, the more money they make. Working with an active manager is a “win-win” situation.

5) Affiliate Training


Affiliate Marketing is like any other business or trade. Whatever business you choose, you will need to get some training to become successful,

The big Affiliate Networks (CJ, Clickbank, LinkShare etc.) have online training you can join. Amazon and other big online retailers, even Walmart, provide their own online training to affiliates that promote their products.

Many Advertisers offer weekly training courses via newsletters and/or lessons in .pdf format. I suggest you take advantage of these free training courses. I love affiliate programs that offer continuing training, because there is always something new I will learn.


The Best Affiliate Program For You!

Wealthy Affiliate Review
All In One Platform To Success

So let’s sum this up. Find programs that ……….

  • Are Legit
  • Pay large Commissions (20%-50%)
  • Pay Recurring Commissions
  • Supply you with additional Marketing Materials
  • Provide Adequate Help & Support System
  • Provide Training

Not all programs are equal. Some programs may have all of these things, some may not. But if you research diligently, I am sure that you will find Affiliate Programs That Are Right For You!

Continue reading here: Income Blueprint X Is Worth Nine Bucks

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