With so many affiliate marketing programs available now, it can be quite daunting to find one or more that are most appropriate for your website or blog. Review this checklist to ensure that you are looking in the right place for the best opportunities.
Check 1 – Finding Affiliate Programs
The most obvious place for finding affiliate programs is through a site that aggregates them, such as Commission Junction or Clickbank. You can check out their offerings, but don’t be afraid to look for specific products or companies that may not be listed there.
Do a search for a product or company name + affiliate program and see if the direct website offers sign-up information.
Check 2 – Compare Incentive Plans
Not all affiliate programs are created equal. Some companies pay a higher percentage than others (up to 75%); some base commissions on sales only; others pay per click or per action. Find the best deal by doing a comparison. If you are using an aggregation site, it’s easy to compare several programs on one page. If you are doing independent research, consider inputting the data on a spreadsheet so you can sort the data.
Remember to look at all the details such as how often payments are sent out, what type of payment options are available, and any minimum payout requirements.
Check 3 – Types of Commissions
As mentioned above, there are several ways to earn commissions through affiliate marketing. Which one is going to earn the most money at your website? This depends on the focus of your pages, how much traffic you have already built up, and the usual behaviour of your visitors.
The key to making money from affiliate marketing is the ability to entice your visitors to act, either by clicking on an ad or performing some other action as specified in the program. Depending on the topic and aim of your site, it might be easier to make money through cost per action schemes.
Check 4 – Product Research
Spend some time researching the products associated with the affiliate marketing program before agreeing to place an ad on your page. Your reputation depends on the quality of products and companies on your site. If you wouldn’t buy the product, why would anyone else? Is it useful? If the company has received negative feedback, then it’s not one you should associate with.
Of course, you will have the most success with affiliate marketing if you choose products that are in high demand. And don’t just consider actual items; in these days of uncertain economic stability, some of the most popular offerings are debt counselling and loan services.
And remember that if your income is based on a percentage of sales, you will make the most money by offering high-end products. It takes far more $1widgets than $100 gizmos to earn a good income.
Check 5 – Track Your Clicks
Don’t just sign up for an affiliate program and then sit back, expecting the ads to effortlessly earn money. Keep an eye on statistics and particularly click-throughs. If one program isn’t earning its keep, consider switching to a new one. An unsuccessful program may be due to offering the wrong product, placing the ads in the wrong place, or not doing enough to encourage visitors to take action, but only by examining the data will you be able to determine the problem.
Here is your list for finding affiliate programs. Go through each step and check it off and you will soon be on your way to affiliate marketing success.
About Sean Rasmussen
I think your keyword research is the most important aspect when deciding on which program to promote. Finding a niche that you enjoy can be a big first step, next is Website development and optimization and the most important is marketing with blogs, article publishing and social networking.
Tim Little
Research surely will help a lot Tim, it’s important that there is a reasonable sized market searching for your product…. Find a hungry market and feed them
You’ve given some great Tips on how to find great affiliate programs, there Sean.
Another that is worth considering, is what the sales page looks like for the particular product.
Does it looks professional, and has it all the information a buyer needs to be able to make a decision. Would you buy for the sales page.
It would be disappoint if you’ve done all the hard work, in having visitor land on the sales page from your site, only to have them turn lose interest because of a poor sales page.
Regards,
Cade
That’s a great tip to add to the list Cade, and something that is extremely important. A well written sales page that’s aesthetically pleasing and has a good call to action should definitely be taken into consideration when choosing an affiliate program. Thanks for your input Cade
Nice call Cade.
I have often read through the details of an affiliate product or service only to be disapointed once I have actually gone to the sales page. Now that is usually the one of the first places that I look at.
If the sales page is up to the standard that I would but from it, its another tick in my check list.
Hi Sean,
Thanks for the great tips on finding affiliate programs. It’s definitely much easier to promote products and services that you are familiar with and love rather than ones you’re promoting just for the deal.
I’m still chasing that first affiliate sale but I think I’m getting closer all the time.
You have put together a great checklist for finding great affiliate programs. Especially when you are looking for your first product to market it can be a bit overwhelming as everything is new.
Thanks also to Cade and Cemil for pointing out the importance to check out the sales page. I do agree that this is really important as you don’t want to send your visitors to a below-par sales page with a product you promote. It will reflect back on your own image.
Hi Sean
I like checklists and this one for finding affiliate marketing programs is another great article.
I think it is wise to compare the incentive plans and check them out thoroughly. This is the time to check out the commisisions too and how they are tiered. My rule of thumb is that if they are complex or confusing – don’t go there.
The most important element of affiliate marketing to me is the product itself so doing a thorough product check is vital. I always ask for a sample of the product with contact details of 3 people that have written testimonials. I this is refused then I don’t sign up.