What Is The Best Affiliate Program?

By Bob McElwain
Posted Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Hey, that's an easy one. It's the program that works best for you. It's the one that earns you the greatest return for least effort.

Note your results are quite likely to be different from those of others. But this is of no concern to you at all. If it works for you, that's it. Period.

The key in this is not really the program, but you. Who you are. What you believe in. What your visitors and subscribers want most. And so forth. All such factors collectively point to the affiliate programs that will work best for you. And not everyone will reach the same conclusion, for we're all different from one another, as are the visitors each of us draws.

The Best Approach

Decide on a program you feel fits your needs. If it doesn't work, try another. Repeat until you find one that does work.

Keep a keen eye on results. They will vary month to month, and you need to get a feeling for this variation. At some point, sales will begin to slow for you. It's inevitable. And this can happen for you, even while others continue to have success with the same product.

A common happening with most programs is at some point the product becomes known to most everybody interested. And most of those who might buy it, have done so. What remains as potential customers are those new to the Web, those who haven't heard about it, and people who discover a need for it in developing something new in their program.

While some will be content with sales from people in these groups, many will prefer to turn to a different program, a newer one maybe, seeking a better return on their time and effort.

You've Got To Work It

Putting up some banner ads is not going to make it. You need to dig in, understand the product, and sell the heck out of it. Build some pages for your site. For sure, provide a review, including your personal evaluation of the product. Build other pages with related information as possible.

Note you must be enthusiastic about the product, else find another. Most are simply unable to effectively sell a product they are not excited about.

Once you've done the grunt work, you may only need a series of ads you rotate through your newsletter and site. Or maybe consider some offline advertising.

Ads for online products frequently pop up in print publications. And this stuff costs. So you can figure it works, else a person would give up on the idea very quickly.

But whatever the plan, put it all on auto-pilot, let it run, and get on to other things. However, do watch profits. When they begin to drop off, as they're bound to do at some point, you may want to consider another program to replace it.

Every Program Has Its Day

Affiliate programs all have a natural span, much like a living thing. http//Amazon.com was grown largely through an affiliate program. Over time, Amazon buttons popped up on a lot of sites. And one could get a feeling there was at least one on every site. But now this program's contribution to total profits is greatly diminished.

Back when the idea of buying books on the Web was new, most any webmaster could make sales by linking to http//Amazon.com. Some of their visitors were glad to know about this new option and a few probably thanked the webmaster for the recommendation. Even though commissions are not much over a buck per sale, while this idea was new, many made a lot of sales.

In time, however, as more people came to know of http//Amazon.com, they tended to go to the site directly. And commission sales dropped off correspondingly. Many webmasters dropped out of the program long ago.

But some still make it work. The best strategy I've seen is to mention or recommend a book within content, and reference this work on Amazon. If you have a site upon which people seek resources, this can bring sales.

However, the original program which built the site is largely history now. Both to Amazon and to webmasters. It has changed so dramatically, few will find this a profitable program today.

Don't Hesitate To Drop A Program

The key to successfully selling affiliate products is in focusing on just a few that work well for you. As suggested, these programs will be a function of who you are, and what your subscribers and visitors want.

You'll find people representing a dozen or more affiliate programs. This doesn't work well. The better plan is to promote only two or three. Try to add in more, and the credibility of your support for any one program is diminished.

I routinely toss programs that slow down on me. In some cases, the decrease in sales, is due to ...

- Saturation: So many people are now selling the product, my offer is of little or no interest to most.

- End Of Harvest: Those of my subscribers and visitors who were potential customers have already bought it or have no interest.

- The Latest Thing: A new program is launched that makes the current program less attractive.

- The Great Unknown: In some cases, the reason for the drop in sales remains unknown.

But a drop in sales in and of itself needs a close look. In fact the reason for the drop may mean little. And that others remain successful, may mean even less. For it's the success of the program for you that matters.

In The Real World

Nothing in the above about affiliate programs is news. The same is so of businesses offline. Hula hoops have been in and out of favor a couple of times. Nike is popular, but it won't last forever. Nothing does.

Business is all about keeping up, and anticipating your potential customer's needs. Or generating new ones. Treat promotion of affiliate programs in the same way, and it's tough to go wrong.