Finding the right affiliate program(s) for you and for your web site is key to whether or not you are going to earn any income from that affiliate program

It's not the percentage of the commission that is the determining factor as to whether or not you should or should not promote a particular affiliate program. If you sell 0 products that have a commission of $65 each. You still have earned $0!

The following is a list of considerations to help you determine which affiliate program(s) to promote at your web site.

1. Define Your Specialty.

Do you like selling lake property in Timbuktu? Great! Go for it! If not, pass it up.

What is your passion? What could you "sell" even in your sleep? Does the affiliate program fit within this list?

What method of promotion best suits you? Search engine registration? Newsletter publishing? Offline promotions? Paid advertising? Does the affiliate program that you are considering fit well with that method?

Anderson Creations Example:
Anderson Creations is an affiliate for Virtualis. http://www.virtualis.com/vr/danderso Virtualis offers web hosting options. Anderson Creations enjoys presenting "design packages" to their potential web design clients. Therefore, since Anderson Creations is able to offer hosting (through Virtualis) as a part of their design packages, this affiliate program fits well with Anderson Creations

2. Define Your Web Site.

Ask yourself what the focus of your web site is so that you may better determine if the affiliate program compliments your website (#3, below).

Anderson Creations Example:
Anderson Creations specializes in web page design and ezine publishing.

3. Determine if the affiliate program compliments your web site.

If you do not specialize in pet grooming maybe you shouldn't become an affiliate for flea and tick powder.

When visitors and potential clients visit your web site to purchase your product or service, are they inclined to also purchase the product or service you are offering as an affiliate? Or, does this additional product or service confuse them or make them wonder why it is on the same page as YOUR product or service?

Anderson Creations Example:
It is safe to assume that if a client approaches Anderson Creations and hires them to create a web site for them, they will need a web host, if they do not already have one. Since Anderson Creations is an affiliate of Virtualis, it makes sense to offer Virtualis as a host for this newly created web site. Therefore, Virtualis compliments Anderson Creations.

4. Determine if the affiliate program is in direct competition to your product or service.

If the affiliate program is in direct competition with your product or service then the obvious answer would be NOT to sign up as an affiliate, unless you want to discontinue your product or service and focus on promoting the competitor's product or service.

Also determine if the affiliate program may be in direct competition in the future.

Anderson Creations Example:
At this point Anderson Creations does not offer web page hosting directly out of their office, nor do they plan on offering this service in the near future. Therefore, Virtualis is not in direct competition with the services offered by Anderson Creations.

5. Do you intend to become an affiliate in addition to your current web-site?

If you are really excited about the affiliate program, go ahead, but consider promoting it at a different web site if it does not directly relate to the focus of your web site as defined in #2, above.

A good analogy would be to consider a college student who majors in one area while minoring in another. Keep in mind that the same college student will not graduate any time soon if he or she majors in one subject and minors in twenty other subjects.

Tip - Create a database or list of inactive affiliate programs.

Here at Anderson Creations, we have a list of inactive affiliate programs that we do not promote every day, but are still affiliates or resellers. Whenever someone asks me a question that can be answered by the company behind one of these inactive affiliate programs, I refer this person to that company. This method has been very handy and very successful!

Happy Affiliating!

Related articles:
Your Own Affiliate Program by Jim Daniels
your_own_program@sendfree.com
To Affiliate or Not To Affiliate by Deborah Anderson
affiliate_or_not@sendfree.com

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Deborah Anderson of Anderson Creations
publishes the free Webmaster Tips Weekly ezine
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