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1. I search in directories from Yahoo and DMOZ, to see if there are something interesting.
2. I wright the companies down I have found on some paper
3. Then I look through the sites if they look professional and what they offer and skip those that dossent fit my needs.
4.Then there are a few left which I like, but now I look for phone number and address if there is non I drop them and I dont go for P.O box they are also droped.
5. When that is done I look every one up in whois to see what address and name they have listed under there domain name. there I drop the affiliate programs with p.o box and not completed addresses.
6.Now there is few left, then I give them a call to ask them some questions or to see if there is any activety on the line and not just a answere machine.
Thats it
have fun
zeus
I'm following Brett's advice and instead of being caught up in other things I'm going to try to answer a question. It might not be of much help, but here it is.
Just so you know, we are very slow to pull the trigger on anything. We have a lot of patience, we research, we do things one step at a time. No matter, when it comes to affiliate marketing you're going to get burned somewhere along the line.
You've done your research, as youv'e said, on affilate programs. You think you know which ones are respectable -- real -- and which ones are not. You have found a couple that might integrate well into your website. Go with your gut -- pick the one that you like the best. Work with them and see if they will work with you. Then see what happens.
It will cost you some time to prove your gut feeling right or wrong. If all it costs is time and you can recoup from that, then your okay.
There are a few sites that supposedly rank affilate programs. As always, some are good, some ain't ( do a search for "associate programs" or "affilaite programs"). One of the most respected guys in the business gives much good adivce but he also hypes the programs that make him the big bucks. And you can't blame him, he's making money.
Take everything with a grain of salt.
Oh, and getting back to being slow to pull the trigger and doing research. We researched one program for almost a year. Be Free, the companies affiliate program manager gave them a "squiggle" -- solid program, solid payment, solid support. We signed up. The company went out of business 10 days later.
We are now involved in three affiliate programs. One fairly big one doesn't really know what support is, but makes us big bucks. Another is a very small company that I went with on just gut feeling that has provided surprisingly good support and pretty good bucks. The last is one of the biggest Internet companies around, has a very good reputation, prides itself on service and sense of community -- and we can't get an accounting of what the heck is happening. Go figure.
There aren't any guarantees.
Do your research.
Go with your gut.
Be prepared to change.
You have to pull the trigger sometime.
Jim
