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organizations which have products to sell
and market them thru affiliate programs
cut down on the cost of advertising and
distribution. This amounts to
considerable savings which they share
with their affiliates. If a new affiliate
is already familiar with the products,
this can be helpful but this is not a
necessary pre-condition to join affiliate
program. New affiliates can learn about
the products quite fast. Organization's
Track Record : It is not difficult to
find out about the organization before
joining it affiliate program. Search
engines are one of the sources which can
be used for this purpose. Verifying the
testimonials presented by the
organization is another source of
information. The organization should have
proven track record of operating their
programs for several years successfully.
If the organization is new or just
starting, the person starting the program
should be well known with good
credibility. This is precaution against
joining organizations which promise
get-rich-quick scheme and then disappear.
Support
Availble to Affiliates : Most of the new
affiliates joining any affiliate program
are new to the field of marketing on the
internet. They need guidance and support
for promoting their business and earning
money for themselves. It is in the
interest of the organization to help
their affiliates to succeed. These
organizations are in their business for
considerable longer time than the
affiliates, are more knowledgeable about
their market and about the ways of
promoting their products. They are in
best position to provide their affiliates
with proper guidance. Many organizations
have excellent support system by way of
trainings, tutorials, articles, books,
marketing plans, marketing tools, forums
just to name a few. These are generally
available from websites accessible to the
affiliates.
Apart
form the promotional material and
information available from the website,
personal guidance can be vital. A new
affiliate may not be familiar with all
the resources available and will look for
mentoring at least in initial stages. It
should be remembered by the affiliate
that her success will add to the success
of the organization, the organization is
obliged to help her.
Payment
: Another factor to consider is the mode
and frequency of payment to the
affiliates. The affiliate should make
sure that this suits her. Just to give an
example - many organizations make
payments thru PayPal, but PayPal does not
transmit money to all the countries. Such
details should be checked before putting
time and effort for any affiliate
program.
Affiliate
Structure : There are many different ways
in which organizations build up their
affiliate structure. Many organizations
have single tier structure in which
affiliate is only paid commission for
sale. Other affiliate structures are
2-level or multi-level deep in which the
affiliate earns also from the efforts of
personally sponsored members. In turn,
the affiliate is expected to help her
sponsored members to earn for themselves.
This is one great feature of multi-level
marketing leading to leveraged earning.
You can read my article on leveraged
earning at this URL :
http://www.sanjay-j.com/artlever.html
There
are still more variations in the
structure. Some organizations allow a
limited number of affiliates directly
under each affiliate. There is no
"ideal" affiliate structure.
But it is important to have clarity in
the structure and the affiliate should
understand the structure.
Compensation
Plan : There is lot of variation in
compensation plans starting from simple
commission to more elaborate plan in
which affiliates additionally earn thru
the efforts of their sponsored downline
members and also from a common pool. I
personally favor plans which have
provision for leveraged earnings where
teamwork really counts. Residual earning
is another attractive feature of
affiliate marketing which can build into
sizeable income over a period of time. I
am not against any compensation plan so
long as it is understandable and appears
reasonable. You have perhaps noticed that
I have put this factor as the last
consideration. However it is an important
consideration after all other
considerations are found acceptable.
Persistence
Pays - It takes time to build up business
with any affiliate program, no matter how
good the program appears. After joining
any affiliate program after thorough
evaluation, one needs to stay with the
program giving it time to build the
earning. Get-rich-quick scheme do work
some times but they are rare exception
rather than the rule and cannot be
depended upon.
This
small slogan should be ingrained in the
thinking when someone joins an affiliate
program:
PERSISTENCE
PAYS.
Copyright
2004 Sanjay Johari
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