Need Affiliate Expert Advice... Where are all the good Programs?

Looking for good products to sell with a decent payoff.

[grainfarmer]

Hi Everybody,

First post, been reading on here for quite a while now. This place is great! I have been at this Internet business thing for a few years, and have run a small operation that is worthy of spending time on, but am in search of knowledge that I hope some of you here may be able to give. I was wondering if any of you out there may know of or want to tell me of an affiliate program with a good product that sells? I am either looking for a good average priced product with an average commission, but good sales conversion %, or a good expensive product with a high commission, but average sales conversion %.

Also, what is "average" for sales conversion for most products? 1%? I have a couple of high priced affiliates that I average 1% sales conversion, works out to about $35-$40 a sale, just wondering if there are other programs out there like that.

I appreciate your time, consideration, and any advice you can give. Thanks.

[vibgyor79]

Off hand, it is very difficult to say which is the best affiliate program. Even if an affiliate program works great for me, it may not work out for you because the affiliate program you choose should relate to your website's topic.

I suggest your join a couple of affiliate networks like fastclick or Commission Junction. Browse the merchant categories and select a couple of affiliate program, run the programs for a couple of weeks and decide for yourself.

Ashwin

[grainfarmer]

Thanks. I am looking for first hand experience with good programs rather that wading through the many programs listed with such companies as cj.com. I think that I can make most programs work for me, even if I have to build a new website to promote it. I am hoping for some advice from webmasters who have had good experiences with certain programs to talk about them.

[aspdaddy]

I think what vibgyor was getting at is that theres more to a sucessfull afilliate project than the programs you select.

[intervelopers]

That's a much too broad question.

It all depends on how you do promotion. Or rather - how well. I can give you 2 examples from my experience (quite opposite ones):

1. A dedicated hosting affiliate program: I made only 3 sales, but as they were paying a percentage of clients' monthly fee, I was making ~$100-$120 on each of the sales every month they stayed with the company (up to 2 years). Thus, each sale brought me over $1,500

2. Amazon associate program: you can make ~$1-$4 on a book. The conversion ratio is ~1.5%-2%. But if you feature a book nicely on your website, the conversion ratio will be higher and even though you make $1-$4 on a book, having sold a thousand books per quarter you'll make over $1000 per quarter.

So, choose the program which you may promote well - any program brings money (if they do not cheat, of course) with the right promotion.

[profitpuppy]

One way you can look for profitable programs is to look for affiliate sites that are bidding on overture ... and bidding large amounts of money. For some products there are affiliate sites bidding over $1 per click. This means if you can get the traffic for free via SEO, then you will make probably at least $1 per visitor if you design the site well, which is extremely profitable. However these areas also tend to be quite competitive, so .... I guess that's the same with anything

[emptybrain]

A big hello to this community.

Some said: "I suggest your join a couple of affiliate networks like fastclick or Commission Junction".

I went to both and they both need your url for review before you may register!

And what the hell if I want to choose my affiliate prog first and then design my site ? ( which is imo the only way ).

Any answer would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike_Mackin]

Just tell them it's the site in my profile.
Most approve almost everything.

>I want to choose my affiliate prog first and then design my site ? ( which is imo the only way ).

That is correct :)

and Welcome to WebmasterWorld

[mayor]

Grainfarmer, I think beginners should really ferret out some nitche merchants to begin with and stay out of the highly competitive industries. You can be a favored affiliate for a smaller merchant and get all kinds of support while you're learning the ropes to get into the tough stuff.

The best way to find affiliates that work for you is to try promoting about a dozen in areas of interest to you and see which one or ones work for you, then build on those. If you're using the CJ stats for your decisions, just use them as a guide. They help but don't take them too seriously because those numbers are only one of many facets that make a good affiliate program.

If you don't have a site, get one and call it anything you want to get started. Later, you can add sites to most any affiliate program and you may want to start up dedicated sites for the products that work for you.

[zeus]

I have a lot of cj banners on my pages, but I maybe earn 6 dollar a month, that realy su.., with 50.000 visits a month and I only get possitiv reply from my visits.

The most clicks I get on banners of Anna kournikova and other pictures like that but they do not buy and a program with tuning op the connection speed, but the same problem there.

I think the best solution for me is paid per click but allmost every company that has something to do with that does not accept my country even if it is in scandinavien.

I think I will get the best results if the banners have something to do with something like the magazine maxim or a desktop dancer, connection speeder and then pay per click, but no nudety or something like that it still have to be famely friendly.

zeus

[mayor]

Zeus, your dismal revenues sound like you've added affiliate links to an existing website, or to a website whose function is to do something other than sell goods and/or services.

If that's not working, try building a website around affiliate programs, and attracting visitors that are looking for what you are trying to market.

[vibgyor79]

Zeus' problem is that visitors to his site are looking for freebies (His URL includes the word "free"). Since you are getting 50k visits per month, I suggest you dump CJ and join FastClick.

FastClick has a number of CPM affiliate programs.

Another suggestion -

Since your website is related to wallpapers, join a software affiliate network like RegNow. Look around for software related to desktop enhancement (there are 100s of software related to the theme of your website).

This should definitely increase your monthly paycheck.

[zeus]

vibgyor79 I have tried fastclick but I wassent accepted I think they have enogh from categorie in there index.

About regnow I tried a few month with related stuff but no effect, with time I think the best ting I can do with this site is to get a good PR for Google and then give some of this PR to other sites of mine, where I will make a site around affiliate programs, because I will not close the page because I have so many revisit and they like the site, that makes it funny to work on.

thanks

zeus

[mayor]

Zeus, no one is going to pay you much for untargeted clicks. What's more, most of those freebie visitors going to your site are going to ignore the banners you flash at them. So I concur that the best way is for you to build a site around affiliate programs if your objective is to make money (and that can be fun too).

I took a peek at the website in your profile and pointed the google toolbar at it. What I saw was the infamous PR0. So don't count on it to boost your Google traffic on a new site. If anything, it will hurt you. Build your new site from scratch. Leave all the old baggage behind. Get new links for the new site from RELEVANT websites and you'll be zipping along on the Google freeway in no time.

[vibgyor79]

objective is to make money (and that can be fun too).

I second that - the fun part, that is! :)

"Build a site around affiliate programs"

I am making good money from building a site over individual affiliate programs. That is, I'm buying a seperate domain name for each affiliate program I join. There is no real "content" to talk about, just a bunch of sales pages promoting a particular product.

RegNow affiliate Network would be ideal if you plan to use the above strategy because they offer a link directly to the credit card sign up page. This allows you to build your own website.

To be specific, I suggest you do the following Zeus. I have been successful with this, but results may vary!

1) Join RegNow and browse the "Product Finder".

2) Select the right software category to promote - try to look for a niche category. Stay away from promotion of anti virus software for example. Visitors will not buy your AV software when there are big guns like Norton/McAfee

3) Once you select a software product, visit the website and download the shareware version.

4) Buy a domain name/web host space and build a website describing the software. Take some screenshots of the shareware version you downloaded and upload it to your website. Your website should convince visitors to buy the software immediately.

I don't believe is promoting shareware affiliate programs. Conversions are generally low. Link your sales page directly to the credit card sign-up page.

The disadvantage of this affilite marketing strategy is that your website will not be listed in DMOZ. You need to use PPC search engines to promote your website.

[zeus]

mayor about the PR0 I just got that this update I dont know why usualy I have PR4-5 I hope it will get back next update late this month.

vibgyor79

thanks for the tips I will print it out and think about a good way to earn a little cash. (If thats fun to.)

all the best for you.

zeus