Basic Questions for a Successful Online Affiliate Business: Part Two
Choosing an online affiliate business opportunity that fits your interests, income goals and time restrictions is worth the time to investigate. Being an online affiliate is like being a coach. People are looking to improve something in their lives by purchasing information, physical products or services.
If a novice golfer seeks you out to hit the golf ball straighter and longer, and you hand her a tennis racket, she’ll go elsewhere. And she’ll tell others to watch out for you. But if you provide a meaningful explanation and referral to a place where she can get it, you’ve gained both a friend and a customer.
Here are some other questions you need to consider when examining which networks and providers are worth your time and effort to promote as you build your online affiliate business.
How are referrals from your affiliate site tracked? How long do they remain in the system?
As an affiliate, you receive a unique referral ID, often called your affiliate ID. This ID is a string of text, numbers or a combination, like DI18831. When you place an ad with a text link, picture or banner on your site, your ID is included in that ad. When a visitor clicks on the ad, a cookie (small piece of text code) is placed on their computer that identifies you as the referring party. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale.
You need to be confident that a system exists to track those people you refer from your site. Most referrals have an expiration date, measured from the first day they visit the website to the limit the affiliate program specifies. Look for a long-term duration, 60 days and longer. Some programs offer a year-long cookie.
Why is a long-term cookie important? Some visitors who click on your ad do not buy on their first visit. However, they may want to return at a later date to make the purchase. For example, if you have ads for GPS devices on your website and a visitor clicks on the ad on June 1, 2007, that is the date of a first visit. The visitor’s computer receives a cookie with your ID and the clock starts ticking.
Let’s say that same visitor comes back on July 15, 45 days later, and buys a GPS device for $600. If your commission is 15%, you would earn $90. But if your cookie duration is only 30 days, it would expire before the sale and your commission would be zilch. It helps to build your commission account when you still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from the date of an initial visit.
What are the kinds of affiliate statistics can you get?
Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. You should have access to those stats online at any time you wish to They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. It is important to check individual product referral stats regularly. This helps you build awareness about how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site.
In Part One of this post, I discussed EPC – earnings per 100 clicks. While most affiliate programs show the overall average, you can determine your own EPC from your personal affiliate statistics.
What kind of visitor actions earn you money?
You can earn money in more ways in just making sales. Some affiliate programs offer CPA (cost per action) payouts. For example, you can get paid for a lead when someone fills out an online form, enters a contest, or signs up for a newsletter. Credit cards and loan applications are a prime example of this.
Some of the payment per action items can pay as as $20 or more, depending on the market. So, if your web site portal or blog offers content in a specific area, investigate what offers may help you monetize your content.
Who is the online retailer?
Do your research to find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a legitimate company. Learn which products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. Do a Google search and see who else is selling their products. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.
Does the affiliate program offer a one tier or two tier program?
A one tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays not only you for the referred business, it also pays you another smaller commission on sales made by any affiliate you recruit. Some two-tier programs even pay you a sign-up fee for every new affiliate you sponsor.
Do yourself a favor and check out how Portalfeeder can help you build a successful online affiliate business or read my detailed review by clicking here. Dave Pipitone, www.portal-profits.com