How to Find an Affiliate Program

One of the articles I just wrote for EzineArticles is on the topic of finding an affiliate program.

Check out the article here.

Most people start from the opposite end of the process than they should. An ad attracts them on a traffic site, or a friend recommends a favorite product, and the marketer signs up as a favor to the friend, or out of curiosity about the product being advertised. That's NOT the way to choose an affiliate program.

Products and services that sell very well tend to answer strong wants and needs among a large mass market. So start with doing research at Google, MSN and Yahoo on hot topics. Then move to major affiliate networks such as Clickbank, Paydotcom and Commission Junction, and look for products in the categories you select that are among the top 10 best sellers. There are indicators in these networks to help you determine popularity, and also how saturated the product is with other advertisers. They are terrific sites to use to pick up affiliate products, particularly information products. Check out the sales page, squeeze page, find out what kind of support is available for affiliates in the form of pre-made e-mails, classified ads, and blog posts. See of you can get ahold of the site owner, or his/her help desk. How quickly are your questions answered about the product or the affiliate program?

The commission percentage and total commission earned per sale are important to consider. Digital products generally earn at higher commission rates than hard products because there are no manufacture, storage or shipping costs associated with a digital product. If the commission is under 50%, as yourself if the amount per sale is high enough to be able to make up for a low commission percentage. Will you be able to convert enough traffic to sales to make it worthwhile advertising the product?

In Clickbank I generally look for the top 10 to 20 best sellers within the category with gravity scores of between 60 and 150. A product with a lower gravity score is either untested or may be moving down in popularity. A gravity score of higher than 150 or so has a lot of marketers already selling the product. This is not necessarily a negative, but if you are just starting out, generating sales for a product that has already been out there with a lot of coverage may be a tough sell.

There are websites that review and rate affiliate products and also the ad networks that serve up creatives for various mass market products. Google your prospective product and add "reviews" or "ratings" or "scams" and see what comes up as far as reaction to the product.

One other factor to consider is how the affiliate status is cookied when prospectives come in. Is it a first in or last in cookie? That is, does the affiliate id get tracked for sale purposes from the first person to bring that person in, or from the last? A last in affiliate cookie is most common. This will tend to make big affiliates come in with offers at the last moment during big launches, while the first in method may encourage newer marketers to come in an pitch early and often.

How long does the affiliate cookie stay on the program? Are you dropped if you don't make sales in a certain amount of time? Are you dropped even if you do make sales after a few months or a year? Obviously, the programs that keep you perpetually unless you decide to drop are best for your bottom line.

Liz Nichols
liz@desperatemarketer.com