Affiliate Programs: A Review of Affiliate Marketing
If you are going to be serious about affiliate marketing you have to learn the basics of what is it and how it can really help you make money online.
First some basic vocabulary: a person who signs up to find products to sell from their marketplace is called an Affiliate. A person who has developed a product and needs to find websites/people to sell it is called a Vendor. Some vendors sell their products through affiliate networks such as ClickBank or they have their own programs which they administer themselves. Some affiliate programs use ‘advertiser’ and ‘publisher’. The advertiser is the party with a product to sell, while the publisher is the website owner who would like to promote products on their site to receive sales commissions.
I generally tend to only use affiliate programs that are part of a respected affiliate network. Affiliate networks that have been around for more than a couple of years and have a history of ALWAYS making payments to their members. I’ve heard too many horror stories of affiliates not getting paid and also stories of not getting the proper credit for sales that were referred to the vendor. In the end, the scam artists soon disappear as word gets out on non-payment. This is rare of course, but still I like the idea of being part of a large, established affiliate network. But stings if you are caught up in it! If you are interested in participating in a stand-alone affiliate program, make sure it is from a reputable company – probably from a bricks and mortar business that is also online.
How do you get paid when you are involved in an affiliate marketing program?
Basically, you get paid when a person visiting your site clicks on a link or advertisement that takes them to the vendor’s website and that person makes a purchase. The commissions are variable – hard goods such as sporting equipment usually pay around 5% of the sales price; digital products (ebooks, software, etc.) pay up to 75% of the final sales price. Payment is handled by the vendor if it is a stand alone affiliate program (Example: Amazon) or through the affiliate network (Example: ClickBank).
When do you get paid by the vendor?
Depending upon the affiliate marketing program that you join, payments are sent to you at a pre-determined interval – the usual time period is monthly. It is also important to note that there is always a minimum payment threshold that you have to cross before being paid – the average is around $100 in commissions. The affiliate marketing program or affiliate network does this so that it doesn’t have to mail out tens of thousands of checks for $2.99! Let’s say you made the $100 threshold and are ready to receive the cash. You have to check with the affiliate program to see how payment is made. Some affiliate networks mail out checks while others have the ability to electronically transfer the payment to you. PayPal is used for this by some affiliate marketing programs.
So what affiliate programs are out there and how can you make money online from them? Great question! The short answer is: everything under the sun is available! If you want to sell pancake batter recipes I’m sure there is an affiliate program out there for it.
The best affiliate programs to join:
