Forum Moderators: skibum
Askjoe
A better question would be "What is the best program for (specify niche here) "
Hope i'm allowed to mention, we just started a program trying to convert the traffic that usually just burns BW
"foreign traffic" :)
It's not my most lucrative affiliate relationship and never has been, but it performs reasonably well, the tracking is accurate, you're guaranteed to get paid, from a consumer's point of view Amazon is probably the most trusted online retailer, and their inventory is so vast that virtually any site can set up an endless stream of highly targeted ads.
Yea ... as the others have mentioned we need more info from ya...
the best?
The best what? The most lucrative? The easiest? The most dependable? The affiliate program with the most promise for the furture? The best diamond in the rough?
I would give you a different program for each of the above question. Also note that while there are sure to be those members that will share "some" info with you there will also be plenty who will hold back and it is easy to understand why....
Most online marketers (affiliate programs) who are successful have spent many hours researching programs, create sites pulling in traffic and then finding out which of these programs works best for them. That is almost like asking kfc for the "secret recipe".
On the same tokin this is an excellent forum filled with plenty of great info, dig in.
Brian
I'm currently using affiliate functionality of my combined cart/responder vendor but they have no forum for attracting affiliates.
Any suggestions? - Thanks!
...from a consumer's point of view Amazon is probably the most trusted online retailer, and their inventory is so vast that virtually any site can set up an endless stream of highly targeted ads.
Anyone here experiment with Powells?
Best program overall: Amazon.com.It's not my most lucrative affiliate relationship and never has been, but it performs reasonably well, the tracking is accurate, you're guaranteed to get paid, from a consumer's point of view Amazon is probably the most trusted online retailer, and their inventory is so vast that virtually any site can set up an endless stream of highly targeted ads.
What I like about Amazon is AWS (Amazon Web Services). They make all their items available in an XML feed that you can download and include on your site.
I agree the percentages are low, but being able to automate a lot of the busy work makes it really nice...
1) respectable? too many are fly-by-night. Speak to others if possible that have joined.
2) easy to contact? stay far away from any site that hides contact information.
3) residual commission? If you are going to market a product, why not get paid for selling the product month after month rather than just once?
There are many good ones out there. Good luck!
On the other hand, there are drawbacks to their affiliate program that have been chronicled here at some length. Among them are the one day cookie, low commissions, caps on commissions, the uncertainty of the 15% commission on books, quarterly payments, draconian rules, and so on.
BTW, in the real world would you go to work for someone who will pay you only quarterly?
The affiliate world has advanced far beyond Amazon. There are many programs that pay far more and have other advantages Amazon lacks. Some even pay twice a month. I've even seen some recently that promise to pay weekly.
Amazon may have pioneered affilliate marketing, but has never been able to abandon some of the severe limitations it originated as well. They really want to expand their product offerings, but, strangely, place a $10 commission cap on big ticket items. This removes all incentive for an affiliate to spend the time trying to flesh out product coverage.
Lastly, to the premise that your affiliate offerings will work for you only if the products or services are in keeping with the theme of your site, I say hogwash. That's the conventional wisdom. Don't listen to it.
If you have a site on any theme that has a good Google PR and ranks well, you can successfully attach any sort of e-commerce agenda to it you want. There are effective ways of doing it, good SEO being primary. You don't have to limit yourself, if you don't want to. I've proved this time and again.
?
Thanks!
If you can muster a really good in-house program, one that affiliates can trust and is so good it will spread by word of mouth or by second tier marketing, that may be the best.
I've been an affiliate marketer for four years and am now making a major thrust to bypass networks and go direct with merchants because I really don't feel the networks are adding nearly as much value to the transaction as they take away. Their main objective is to get merchants and affiliates to sign up, then to milk the cows for all time. As for tracking, reporting, managing and auditing they all suck really bad IMHO.
Whats your conversion rates?
