How To Evaluate an Affiliate Program Before Promoting

share your tips/ideas

[Drastic]

With so many choices of different affiliate programs, it can be hard to find the most effective/productive one(s) for you.

There are many programs that are less than honest, and some just won't pay what they owe, for whatever reasons. When evaluating a program, I try to find at least 3 other webmasters already promoting it. I email them asking of their experience, and if the company has paid them on time. I usually get 1-2 responses out of the 3, with some excellent, detailed info from a first-hand source.

I also check the site from my affiliate link. Sometimes the company will bombard your visitor with popups, entrance consoles, or exit consoles. Something that you may or may not want to accept. Find out what your user will see when they visit through your link. (I also take this into consideration when writing the copy/promo for the link.)

When checking your link, make sure there are no "leaks" on the landing page, or subsequently surfed pages. So, if you land on the home page with "?affiliatecode#here" tacked on the end of the URL, make sure all links to other pages on the site continue to pass the variable. The exceptions to this are CPC programs, where they only need to record the first click, or when the site uses cookies for tracking, rather than passing a variable.

What are some of your ways of finding good/legit programs?

How do you guys go about finding out the financial situation/viability of a company?

[rcjordan]

related question:
Why don't the affiliate networks allow publishers to just browse through their merchant program offerings BEFORE signing up as an account? It's not like they are going to keep any proprietary or competitive information from those intent on getting in. After you establish an account with CJ, Befree, and Linkshare, you feel like it's hardly worth the effort to go looking for others, yet there are a few small gems out there.

[rcjordan]

Make sure you're signing up with the "root" merchant. There are second-hand CPC affiliate programs that just offer a lower payout, and then redirect your referral.

[Ross]

Very true RC. I was investigating a new addition to an affiliate network that I use, and found that on the new addition's web site they were running an in-house affiliate scheme (no mention of the affiliate network !!), and that they were paying exactly Double the commission paid through the network.

I signed up direct !!

[Drastic]

*bump*

Can anyone tell me the best way to find out a company's financial status online? This is something I am weak on, but should be taken into consideration when finding the right program for you.

I know some of you investment-savvy guys out there know the best way to do this?

[Mike_Mackin]

>I try to find at least 3 other webmasters already promoting it. I email them asking of their experience, and if the company has paid them on time.

That is the way we go about it.

If the merchant is 15 and operating out of his/her bedroom, I don't care. Is the product/service needed and priced right + does he/she pay?

You win some and loose some. It's just like buying stuff for a brick and morter location. Some stuff will be sold at a loss just to get rid of it.

imho

[rcjordan]

If they are publicly traded, I'd start with yahoo finance and put in the 4-character stock ticker code. That and CBS marketwatch will give you the latest financial reports or links to reports.
[finance.yahoo.com...]

BUT, I think you're going to find that the affiliate programs you're most interested in researching are not offered by publicly traded companies. Or, if they are they are, the financial results of the affiliate program are lumped in with the quarterly results and you're not likely to get a good picture.

I'm getting most of my information from the newswires, watching for names I know in the headlines.