Sub affiliate questions

[c55dax]

If I am an affiliate of a merchant and they offer a 2 tier program, and I wish to sign up subaffiliates under me, I have a question. If someone clicks my affiliate link and lands somewhere other than the new affiliate sign up page, does that mean I wont get the subaffiliate under me even if they then browse the merchant site on that initial visit and go to the affiliate sign up page and sign up? In other words, does the landing page from my click have to be directly to the affiliate sign up page for me to get credit for the subaffiliate?

It seems like the links any merchant gives you generally has a landing page to promote the merchants product and not the affiliate sign up. So if you want to link someone right to the affiliate sign up page, you would not get that from the basic link the merchant offers. This would not be helpful if your main strategy in a campaign is to attract subaffiliates as opposed to picking up a commission on sales to the public. Can you instead link directly to the affiliate sign up page or does this require special permission from the merchant?

Also if someone becomes your subaffiliate, how do you know how long that is for? Is there a cookie setting up the sub or is there a pre determined time period they remain your sub or is it generally indefinite?

Is it normal or not usual for you to contact each of your subs?

Thanks for your help

[buckworks]

Merchants approach these issues in a variety of ways, so you'll need to check each one individually to determine whether you need to promote the affiliate landing page specifically. As for the time period, I've looked at many, many two-tier programs and in all but a handful, the subaffiliate is yours for keeps once they've signed up through your link. Read the terms for the merchant you're considering to make sure.

Few merchants give you enough info about your subaffiliates for you to be able to contact them. If you do have access to their contact information, you'll need to be a real diplomat to be able to use it to advantage, as well as having enough marketing savvy to be able to say something useful.

A note of caution: don't expect to recruit a squadron of subaffiliates then retire with buckets of money based on their productivity. Subaffiliates with marketing skills are a rare and precious breed, and you'll need to sign up a lot of people to find one or two that earn you anything more than nickels and dimes.

I have hundreds of subaffiliates in various programs, and my second-tier commissions seldom add up to more than 1% of my own earnings. If you want to get rich with affiliate marketing, plan on doing it yourself, and consider anything that comes from subaffiliates as a bonus.