the right program . There are almost as many programs out there as
there are products! When you first start out, it’s easy to go overboard signing
up to as many programs as possible, but this isn’t the right way to go about it.
First, you need to decide on a niche (area of particular interest to you). What products
do you know the most about and think you could do the best job of selling?
Once you identify your specialty, you begin by sorting through the available
merchants and examine the structure of their affiliate programs.
Key areas to investigate:
1. When and how do you get paid?
Find out whether the program pays you weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc. Most
programs have a minimum payout amount, meaning that you don’t receive
your commissions until hitting a minimum number of sales for the pay period.
You’ll also want to find out whether the programs pays you via check, direct
deposit, Pay Pal or any combination of the three.
2. How much do you make per sale?
Remember you’ll be investing your own money into advertising and other
expenses to promote these programs. Therefore, you should seek programs
which reward their affiliates well.
3. Is the program managed well? Is this a reputable company?
Larger companies usually have “affiliate managers” devoted to maintaining
contact with their affiliates. Even if you go with a smaller outfit, they should at
least offer clear contact information. You might want to try e-mailing them at
their contact address to see how fast they respond to you. Mismanaged
programs are, at best, a sign of disorganization and, at worst, could indicate a
company in trouble.
The last thing you want is to be sitting on a grand worth of hard earned
commissions and see the merchant go out of business before paying you.
Keeping these factors in mind, here are some great places to seek out products
you can promote:
