Before you can begin to start making any money as an affiliate marketer you have to decide what you are going to promote. After that, it’s a matter of getting visitors to purchase it.
Obviously, the niche or topic of your website will be your primary influence on what you will promote. However, no matter what your niche is, there will be some offers that are better choices than others.
We all can agree that choosing products with higher commission payouts seems logical. However, there are a few other things you need to consider when making your choice.
Whenever it’s possible purchase products that you plan to promote. Often times companies will offer free or affiliate discounts on products that will be reviewed. You’ll find that the more established you are the more inclined vendors are to provide you with products.
If it’s not feasible for you to actually use the product yourself, go on Amazon or other shopping sites and read any product reviews. This will give you a feel for the customer satisfaction rate and help you determine the product’s value.
Things to Consider
- Is it a good fit for the reason your site exists? Naturally, you want to pair up with a product that enhances your site’s purpose for existing.
- Conversion is likely. If you choose a product that solves a popular problem or fills a pressing need, it is likely to convert at a higher rate.
- Affiliate aids and tools are provided. Sometimes the merchant will provide sales tools such as product descriptions, graphics, etc.
- Payout or commission rates influence choices. There are one-time and recurring commissions. Most affiliate products will fall under the one-time commissions. However, there are exceptions that may have a recurring component like monthly fees or subscriptions. You will also want to take into account the commission rate plans. For example, Amazon has a sliding scale that increases your commission percentage as your sales volume increases.
- How long the cookie duration will affect your sales credits. A cookie is a piece of information that is stored on a computer that identifies that computer during the current and future visits to a merchant’s website. This is how an affiliate network knows to give you the credit on a sale. Cookies can have different durations that they are set for. They can expire after only a single session if a sale isn’t made on the initial click-through. Or they may be set for 24 hours, 90 days, or never expire. It’s important to know the duration and you should lean toward products that have at least a 30-90 day cookie.
Vendor or Affiliate Network
The larger affiliate networks are pretty reliable. The smaller and newer networks can and often do go out of business, just as the occasional direct merchant or vendor. Nothing worse in affiliate marketing than earning commissions and not getting paid.
Whether you select to join an affiliate network or sign up for a direct affiliate program, you’ll want to be sure that you read the Terms of Service or “TOS”. Make sure there are no restrictions that could cause a problem down the road for you. For example, some merchants prohibit affiliates from using their brand name with paid traffic sources such as Google’s Adwords.
Whatever product you select, be sure that you do your research and that your choice is a good fit for you.
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