Although it has been said that affiliate marketing is a simple way of making residual income from the comfort of your home, you should not plunge into any affiliate program without carrying out your due diligence.
You need to ask a lot of questions before you choose which affiliate program to join. This foundational stage is very crucial to your success in affiliate marketing and you should not joke with it. What are the questions you need to be asking? I have a few suggestions below.
Are you going to pay any money to join the affiliate program? If yes, drop it like hot potato. Almost all affiliate programs are free to join, and rightly so. After all, you will be making money for them; plus you increase the profit turn over the affiliate master will make on his product. It is in the interest of the affiliate master to sign you on free because he does not pay you a red cent until you make sales from your affiliate link.
How much does the product sell for? It is important that you are not wasting your time promoting products that sell for pennies. As an affiliate, your commission is paid by percentage. That simply means the higher the cost of the product, the more money you make. Do not forget that you will spend valuable time and money promoting the product; hence the commission you get on it must be reasonable enough to pay your bills and give you a comfortable profit.
What percentage of sales price are you getting as commission? Generally affiliate programs pay at least 50 percent commission, some even 75 percent. If the affiliate master knows his onions well, he will give attractive commissions so that the affiliate marketers will be inspired to really promote his products and make him money.
How popular is the product? Go to related marketing forums and ask about the product. See what people are saying about it and form an opinion. Do a Google search on the product and see how many people are selling it. If it is a product that everybody's uncle and grandmother is selling, please keep away from it. It will be all over the net and might be difficult to sell.
What type of affiliate program is being offered here? Is it a one tier affiliate or a two tier affiliate? Of course, the two tier affiliate will make you more money. This is because when you get people on your list to promote the product, you make money from their efforts as you are paid commission on every sale they make.
How do you get paid? What are the terms of payment? When do you get your commission check? This is different from program to program. Some programs will pay you once a month, some (very few) will pay your commission weekly while some might even pay quarterly. I don't like this type of program because it holds on too long to your money.
Who is the creator/owner of the product? What is his reputation online? Again you can find this out from forums and discussion boards. The gold fish has no hiding place. If he is a credible, reliable person you will know. If otherwise, people will also let you know. If there is any hint of you not getting paid what is due to you, look for another program.
How good is the affiliate tracking system? It is quite important that your chosen program should be able to track every single sale made by you so that you get truly paid on your efforts. How long does your referral remain in the system? If they buy 90 days after you sponsored them, will you still get paid your commission?
Although there are a few more questions which you may ask, but the above are the crucial ones. Once you are satisfied with the results you get on the above questions, take immediate action steps to start your business.
As you can see, affiliate marketing is a serious business and should be so handled if you want to make maximum money from it. Sure, it is possible to become extremely wealthy marketing affiliate products and that is why you should be prudent about it.
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