12 Factors Define a Good Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate Marketing

You've found a potential affiliate marketing program to join. How do you know if they are a quality merchant-partner, a so-so company or even a scam-artist? Watch for the following 12 positive criteria when you evaluate the program...

+ High quality product or service -- remember, it's your reputation that is on the line (and online!). Don't recommend products that UNDERdeliver.

+ Merchant has a good site that sells effectively.

+ Ability for affiliate to link straight to individual products, rather than just to the home page. (If the visitor has to find the product that you recommend, your Conversion Rate plummets.)

+ Type of payment model -- Pay-per-sale and pay-per-lead are good. This is true "performance marketing." If your referred visitor delivers the desired response, you get paid.

+ Affiliate Support...

• Accurate, reliable real-time online accounting, preferably with some kind of ability to "audit" by spot-checking

• Detailed traffic and linking stats

• Notification by e-mail when a sale is made

• Useful marketing assistance, provides traffic-building and sales-getting tools

• High-quality newsletter that educates, trains, and accounts for amounts earned

• Professional marketing materials available

• Affiliates receive discount on products

• Great affiliate support is important for a "between the lines" reason, too. It indicates a high degree of commitment to the program and its affiliates.

+ Pays good commission -- hard goods have lower margins than digital ones. So their commissions will be lower. Still, you should make at least 10% (hard good) or 20% (digital good) on any product that you recommend. Don't be scared off by low-priced products if they offer a good % commission. The lower dollar value per sale is offset by the higher sales volume.

+ Must be free (no charge) to join, no need to buy the product.

+ Lifetime commission -- if the program pays a commission on future sales of other products to customers that you refer, this is a huge plus.

+ Two-tier commission -- if the program pays a commission on affiliates who join because of you, this is also great.

+ Lifetime cookie -- do you receive a commission if the person you referred returns and buys within one month? Three months? The cookie that tracks this should not expire. This policy should also be backed by database-matching. That way, a merchant can still identify a customer who belongs to you should the cookie be deleted. The company can even re-write the cookie in that case. A true lifetime cookie.

+ Restriction on number of affiliates -- you won't find many of these. But if you do find one, grab it.

+ Monthly payment, with reasonable minimum.

Do all those plus signs have to be present? No. But the more, the merrier.

Build your affiliate business on a solid foundation right from the start. Quality merchant-partners (and products) are essential, so use the above criteria to distinguish a good affiliate marketing program from a poor one.

Learn how you can use affiliate marketing as an easy monetization model or income stream for your online business.