The big question on a marketers mind when starting an affiliate program is how much commission they should offer their affiliates. This is something that only the product owner can decide.

Before making the decision, take into account the type of product being sold and the program itself.

If offering a sales based program where affiliates earn a percentage of each sale, take a look at the costs involved in creating the product or providing the service to determine how much commission can be afforded.

Digital Products

For those selling a product with digital delivery, like an ebook or a recording of an interview, there is virtually no cost involved in the product once it is finished. In this case, a higher commission rate is probably more feasible and usually expected.

Physical Products

On the other hand, someone who is offering a tangible product, like a flyrod or a floattube, will need to do a little math in order to determine how much they can afford to offer. They will need to take into account the expenses of creating the product along with shipping the product to the customer. Once they know how much cost is involved and how much they really earn per sale, product owners can better decide how much they can afford to pay their affiliates.

Back when I first started selling on eBay I made some mistakes and had to suck up the loss until I corrected the problem with shipping cost. Fortunately I had only sold a few things before realizing I wasn’t going to be making any profit.

Pay Per Lead

If trying to grow your mailing list, take into consideration the option of implementing a pay per lead program. With this type of program, affiliates are paid for each subscriber they send the owner.

Know The Value of Your List

Those with established websites that have been tracking their sales may already know how much they are earning from their list. For example, if a mailing list has 1,500 people on it and earned $3,000 in sales through email marketing efforts, the earnings average about $2 per subscriber. This means the program could afford to pay affiliates up to $2 per lead and still break even. Of course, many affiliates may be happy to earn $1 per lead leaving the owner extra profits from your new subscribers.

For those without an established mailing list or are not sure how much they can offer affiliates, here is one option to consider. Set up a teleseminar that costs a nominal fee to register for, such as $1. This teleseminar can be on any topic associated with the product or website. For this one time, offer affiliates 100% commission (the whole dollar) for each registrant they refer. In return the product owner will be growing their own mailing list and won’t be out any profits.

Those considering what to pay their affiliates should also take a look at their competition and see what type of commission those are offering their own affiliates. Keep in mind that it is not necessary to match the commission rate. Instead, take a look at the amount of money they are offering. For instance, A $20 product with a 50% commission pays $10 and a $50 product with a 20% commission pays the same dollar amount. Since both of these products pay the same commission, the real question is figuring out which one will convert into more sales, as that is the one that will net the affiliate and the product owner more money in the long run.

If ever unsure of how much to offer, affiliate program owners should always start out a lower rate. No one likes to hear that their commission will be lowered, but if the time comes that the program can offer a higher commision, affiliates will be thrilled.

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Do you agree that traffic is the life-blood of your Internet business?

It’s simple, No Traffic = No Business = Empty Bank Account, right.

So how do you get traffic?

With joint ventures and affiliates you’re relying on someone else to get you the traffic. Your business (and the size of your bank account) is in their hands. Save JVs for down the road a bit, start earning first.

With hocus pocus SEO techniques, you’ve got to stay a step ahead of the search engines and without a lot of experience in search engine optimization all I can say is: Good luck with that.

With Pay-Per-Click, you’re p-a-y-i-n-g…
… through the nose…
… forever and ever.

Ouch.

Question: What if you can get INSTANT targeted traffic to every single one of your sites, courtesy of the search engines?

No, not Adwords that’s Pay-Per-Click and you’ll be paying through the nose forever, right. Leave that for later and you will see that’s it isn’t necessary to succeed.

You NEVER ever have to pay for this traffic.

There is a whole world of buyers out there looking for what you have to offer. And you don’t need to pay Google (or anyone) for them to beat a path to your website.

Think about it… you can actually earn 5 or 6 figures a year without spending a cent on advertising.

This means you can start earning NOW, without an investment.

And you can do this whether you have your own products, or you’re an affiliate.

It doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that YOU get the traffic you need to make your living online NOW, starting today.

No matter how much you’re currently spending on Adwords, it’s too much. Why PAY for traffic when you can get the same traffic for…
nada… zip… zero… zilch… diddly-squat… and don’t forget… FREE.

I may sound like I am down on Pay-Per-Click. Well I am when it’s not necessary to make money online.

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If you have recently started an affiliate program and feel overwhelmed or perhpas you’re still thinking about starting one, but don’t have a clue where to begin, hiring an affiliate manager might be beneficial.

An affiliate manager is someone who can handle the tasks associated with running an affiliate program. Some of the more popular tasks an affiliate manager can handle include

• marketing an affiliate program
• answering affiliate questions
• recruiting new affiliates
• motivating current affiliates
• creating new tools
• resources to help with promotion and other various duties.

The reason I bring this up is because I have a friend and client that has a great ebook that earns him money every day but over the past 4 years he has not started an affiliate program. I am sure he could be rolling in the dough but he is hesitating. Too much on the go, perhaps an affiliate manager would be for him.

Of course, it’s not a neccesity to hand over all of these tasks. By outsourcing some of the tasks associated with running an affiliate program to an affiliate manager, the owner is then able to focus on the parts they really enjoy. For example, if coming up with contest ideas to motivate affiliates is something you love to do, keep doing it. Once you’ve came up with the ideas, then hand them over to the affiliate manager for implementation.

While being able to focus on the aspects of your affiliate program is a benefit of hiring an affiliate manager to some, other people enjoy the benefit of not having to do any of the work at all.

Many people start affiliate programs to increase their passive income by promoting informational products such as ebooks, special reports, and so forth. When hiring an affiliate manager to handle your affiliate program, you are able to sit back and let the business run smoothly while you do other things.

Another benefit to hiring an affiliate manager is that even though an affiliate program is new, the affiliate manger may have been working with affiliate programs for years. They may have the knowledge and experience needed. They can help walk you through parts of an affiliate program you may be unfamiliar with. An affiliate manager can also help make important decisions that can lead to the success of the program.

A well-rounded, highly skilled affiliate manager will know how to recruit new affiliate into your program. The more people promoting the products, the more successful your business will become.

An experienced affiliate manager will also be able to motivate current affiliates by creating fun contests, offering special incentives, and inspiring some friendly competition. When this type of energy happens, sales can sky-rocket.

Some people that sign up with the affiliate program will be brand new to the world of affiliate marketing. This doesn’t mean that they cannot be successful; they just need a little extra help in getting started. A good affiliate manager will know how to reach out to them by creating tools to train them and possibly doing some live training sessions over a conference call.

These are just a few of the many benefits that can be received by hiring an experienced and qualified affiliate manager. Take into consideration these things and talk with others who have hired an affiliate manager for more benefits to find out if it’s the right direction for your program.

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