“5 Star Affiliate Progams” Some paying out over 10K a month

[5starAffiliates]

This forum says that invitations to affiliate programs are allowed by members, so I wanted to let you all know what we do
and invite you to join us!

We manage or consult for 12 of the top revshare programs available and are adding several new programs a month.

5 Star Affiliate Programs

~ Honest, High Paying Programs, Parasite-Free Partner Programs
~ High Payouts and Conversion Rates
~ Some cutting Checks for over $$10K a Month!
~ View Complete Detailed Full Page Program Reviews
~ Discover Affiliate News, Forums, Blogs, Articles and Tips

We also have an IPC (Instant Page Creator) datafeed tool that helps our partners build custom content rich pages or complete product sites, quick and easy!

Discover high paying, high-integrity, parasite-free, affiliate-centered programs. Let me know how I can help your efforts and increase your revshare success!

View all programs and join our team today!

We are looking forward to cutting some BIG checks for the holidays!
http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com

Linda AKA Catalyst

[ROV]

Linda

What does "parasite free" mean.

[Will.Spencer]

I linked to 'ya from What are affiliate programs? (http://www.internet-search-engines-faq.com/affiliate-programs.shtml), but I have two recommendations:

1.Add many more advertisers -- that's what makes an affiliate network worthwhile.
2.Tone down the look and feel of your site. It's showmanship style makes it seem unprofessional.

[5starAffiliates]

Hi Will and thanks for the feedback!

1) Since we manage all these programs it's not like a regular hodge podge of programs you find in most directories. We have very high standards and don't manage programs unless they have great potential. We only accept 5 Star programs. These are all high paying consulting clients, it's not a free directory. Most pay 3-5K a month for our services, which includes being listed on 5 Star. I turn down 90% of the companies that want me to promote them.

2) "It's showmanship style makes it seem unprofessional." Wow, I've never gotten any negative feedback before. I surveyed a bunch of affiliates on the design before I bought it and they all liked it. Maybe it's time for a redesign???

What does everyone else thinK?

[digitalpoint]

2) "It's showmanship style makes it seem unprofessional." Wow, I've never gotten any negative feedback before. I surveyed a bunch of affiliates on the design before I bought it and they all liked it. Maybe it's time for a redesign???

What does everyone else thinK?
I kind of had the same thoughts when I looked at it some months ago. Totally a mental thing I know, but the site look/feel made me shy away from actually looking at any of the programs.

[5starAffiliates]

Yikes, you too???

E gads. I think it's one of those things where since it's your site you don't see it as others do.

Please rip it apart and tell me what's wrong so I can re-design it. I honestly had no idea and still don't know what the turn off is.

The colors? the swirls? the 5 Star? the dollar signs? the copy? or what?

What would you do differently? Please tell me. I have big clients like National Geographic and several other big corp clients coming on board. If the site is a turn off I need to change it.

TIA for any feeback!

[digitalpoint]

Hmmm... I actually had to think about that one, because it's really not anything specific, but here's a few things I would probably do:

General Stuff
I would drop the stars next to the affiliate names altogether. They are a definite attention grabber, but in your case it's really not necessary to grab attention. They are already there, so I would think they just want simple info on what programs are available. The stars for me set off a subconscious spam alert because spam sites use the same attention grabbing techniques. Personally I'm a minimalist, so for me, the least amount of info (including flashy graphics) beyond the info I *need*, the better. If you don't want to drop them, I would scale them down 50% (in some cases they are bigger than the company name) and wash them out (put a solid white layer over them in Photoshop with a 50% opacity).

The part right above the Luggage Online entry looks like site-wide links (I know they aren't), which sets off another internal spam alert. If you have it there for keywords, put it at the bottom, because it doesn't seem to serve a purpose from a user's standpoint.

The "Hype"
Things like "Join the Leader!" and "A World of Exciting Products" also sets off a subconscious spam alert.

Give Me Just What I Want To Know
In GeneTree... "Profit from Paternity Tests and Other DNA Testing" could be "Paternity and DNA Testing".

Do your users care which programs that PartnerCentric manages? Personally I don't, and just adds unnecessary data that I have to wade through to get to the info I want.

Loose the "Details" link, the company name is clickable (just more unnecessary clutter).

This one isn't a biggie, but everything after "More Great Programs Coming Soon!" could use a redesign. For example, "Site Terms of Service - Truth in Advertising Disclosures - Privacy Policy" could just be "Privacy Policy" or something shorter.

Overall, it's just one of those things you have to look at it from the user's standpoint. It's sort of like HTML emails, marketing people love to send them because it makes beautiful emails, but do those same marketing people actually like to get HTML emails? Some probably do, but I'm guessing some don't.

I'm an anal nit-picker, aren't I? :)

[digitalpoint]

An example of a minimalist type of site I just threw together is http://www.worldclasshummer.com/ The first page has the questions I wanted answered when I was looking for a car online. A friend of mine who is a "traditional marketing guy" saw it and didn't like it at ALL. In fact he rewrote the first page for me as a favor. And guess what? What he sent me had absolutely no information. I was amazed that someone could write so much about valuing and earning my business without actually saying anything useful. :)

It might not be the flashiest site, but it gets the info to the users.

[5starAffiliates]

Rov, Sorry I missed your question: "What does "parasite free" mean."

Parasites are dishonest affiliates than can over-write the affiliate cookie of the affiliate that deserves the commission. We dont allow this type of affiliate into our programs.

Shawn,

Thanks so much for the detail and explaining in-depth. I'm a marketer so maybe sounds like am over hyping cuz I'm passionate about our programs and trying to get across how truly good our programs are compared to all the dishonest ones that say "No work, put up a link and make a million dollars." Funny just had 2 people on 2 other forums say they love the site. But I hear what you are saying. When I have time to breath will see what I can do about finding a middle ground.

FYI to many affiliates the fact that PartnerCentric manages most of our programs DOES matter - a lot. Many programs are not pro-actively managed and you can't get any support. PC, my partner company, is well known for excellent support and well managed programs - this is one of the most important things to some affiliates. Some of them join every PC program because of our reputation. PartnerCentric used to be Affiliate Goddess. You may not have heard the name before but many have and respect it.

[digitalpoint]

It's probably just me, so you can ignore it... I just don't have time to sift through the hype for the info I actually want (for anything, not just websites). :)

I have a 2 second attention span.

[misohoni]

I haven't checked his link yet, wondering if he's implemented the suggestions from this forum...

[Will.Spencer]

The two things which most cause my brain to stop observing an incoming information flow are dollar signs and exclamation points.

[5starAffiliates]

Shawn,

You're a coder right??? That probably explains it! ;)

Still I appreciate the feedback and will consider it when I have time to do some tweaking.

[5starAffiliates]

Shawn and all,

Made several changes. Got rid of some of the stars at the top and the big 5 star logo and cleaned up the footer quite a bit. It's a start at least.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[rushy]

i agree with whats been said above, i saw your link on another forum and am heavily into affiliate programs but was instantly turned off by 5 star. The most alarming thing for me was that it simply looked like you were out to get money. perhaps the colours the bright blue and yellow, the lists of things that tried to tell me how much money i would make, the constant reminder that you were providing only the best and highest paying affiliates. hhmm, i dont know, i think it just looks like youre trying to hard to sell your program. it screams desperation and like the suggestion before, perhaps just tone it down a little to reflect your success..you dont need anything flash, youre already a success!

dont try and fool us, just be honest about your service and you will be fine, less the marketing hype, give examples of real results, dont buff any program up (nor your own) and you will be better for it.

imo.

rushy

[5starAffiliates]

Thanks Rushy,

"dont try and fool us, just be honest about your service and you will be fine, less the marketing hype, give examples of real results, dont buff any program up."

Ok no I think I see the crux of the matter. "If it looks too good to be true, it usually is."

Wow I feel hurt and a little stupid. Everything I say on my site is 100% true. Every number is true and it all comes from my heart. Meaning that where I come from when I write this copy is a place of "we have programs that are truly good, honest and most are very high paying." I come from a place of wanting to help affiliates find good programs because there are a lot out there that aren't.

We turn down 90% of the programs that come to us and only carry ones that meet our standards. So there really are top programs.

I think there may be a couple of issue I need to look at though. I guess my sincerity and trying too hard to help people see how great these programs are looks like hype. Plus I know that we are up against LOTS of truly hype ads, copy and programs that are pure bulls*t, that say "just put up this ebook link and do nothing and you can make 1000 a day."

So would you look at these programs and the site if I took all the numbers off? How would you know how good they really were?

As far as the colors, I never tried to be flashy and didn't know the colors would turn people off. Teal is my favorite color. I ran the header design by a LOT of my existing affiliates (who can be VERY critical) and they all liked it.

I feel totally depressed. Kind of like when you say something to a friend that you thought was really helpful and supportive and they take it wrong, twist your words and make you out to be a horrible person. You have to wonder was it the way I really said it - or the way they interpreted it?

Well I did try to tone down the design somewhat. I guess I need to look at the copy. I didn't know it sounded like hype.

Thanks for the feedback

[ViciousSummer]

I disagree with all the coders (you too, Shawn)... :p ...I like the way your site looks. If I was to happen upon this site again, I would instantly recognize it (which is a good thing). The only thing I would do is break up the affiliate program descriptions on the 1st page. There is just too much info that kind of all runs together.

I wouldn't take it personally that some people are turned-off by the site, I think that just happens to be because your type of business is so "spammer-filled".

Good luck :) !

[5starAffiliates]

Thanks so much Summer,


I did just mellow it out some more. Took away the multicolored gold & teal head lines off of each program and dropped all the join here's and all the Partnercentric links. Added some dividers. Deleted most of the !!! Exclamation points. I think it looks a little cleaner now.

Thanks again for all the great feedback.

[ViciousSummer]

Wow, it looks really good. I think you found the perfect middle ground :D !

[sarahk]

Ok no I think I see the crux of the matter. "If it looks too good to be true, it usually is."I'm with Shawn, I want quick answers without the slick sales pitch

We turn down 90% of the programs that come to us and only carry ones that meet our standards. So there really are top programs.As a non-american who is affected hugely by american led politics I find one of your advertisers in extremely poor taste... 911 HealthShop The Latest Health & Nutrition At Lowest Prices
Partnering with 911 Health Shop allows you to get the hottest new nutritional sizzle products in front of your customers while demand is very high and competition is still low. Maybe these guys have been around for years and the 911 is a coincidence but 9eleven, internationally, has only one meaning.

D'oh, it's just been whispered in my ear that 911 is your emergency services number. Too late, if I wasn't writing this I would have been gone before this was pointed out. Maybe everyone else is a bit quicker on that and it doesn't matter....

Sarah

[compar]

I'm normally very turned off by hype. That's why I dislike American Football. Who wants to sit through 3 hours of pregame crap and then have to listen to John Madden for another three hours. Play the f**king game and get on with it.

But this site doesn't really bother me. It is a marketing site. You do need enthusiasm for marketing and sales. The best definition of selling I ever read was that successful selling is "enthusiasm transfer". If you are enthusiastic about your product, and can transfer that enthusiasm to someone else, they will want to buy.

I think the info about how much the top affiliates are making is very interesting and germane to a prospective affiliate. I might not use the five stars everywhere, but that is your brand and you are obviously attempting to brand all your offers.

If the site is working for you, and with clients like National Geographic it seems to be working, I wouldn't change anything.

[Will.Spencer]

Nowhere on their site does it say what "911" means to them. Heck, it could be their birthday.

Even if it does refer to 9/11, it seems to me that it must be because that day held special meaning for them. I cannot see that as a terribly bad thing.

9/11 is largely forgotten here in the U.S. Americans have big hearts, but short attention spans. Usama bin who? Was she on The Assistant?

Perhaps it is good to have an occassional reminder?

[Will.Spencer]

You do need enthusiasm for marketing and sales. The best definition of selling I ever read was that successful selling is "enthusiasm transfer". If you are enthusiastic about your product, and can transfer that enthusiasm to someone else, they will want to buy.

When someone tries to sell me enthusiasm, my instinctual reaction is to wonder what they are hiding and what I am really getting for my money.

I don't want to buy enthusiasm. I want to buy facts and ROI.

They are different kinds of buyers. I am sure that selling technique appeals to some.

Personally, I am emotionally moved by CTR and CPC. :D

[sarahk]

9/11 is largely forgotten here in the U.S. Americans have big hearts, but short attention spans.Going way off topic, Will, but I find that absolutely astounding for so many reasons... I'm actually speachless, my fingers have become numb on my keyboard!

Sarah

hush Anthony, hush

[compar]

I don't want to buy enthusiasm
I'm not suggesting that anybody sell you "enthusiasm". I said you have to be enthusiastic about your product to sell it.

If I tell you I've got this product but is only in black and white because I don't want to look too much like I'm excited by it, but if you really persist here are are some boring statistics about it, but you know what they say about statistics, so buyer beware. For god sake don't let you emotions become involved. I'm sure that's how you chose your life partner -- no enthusiasm -- just show me the facts.

What utter bullshit. We never do anything without developing some enthusiasm about it. One of the reasons I have not been posting much on this forum is that to a large extent I've lost my enthusiasm. Nobody seems to read anything or learn anything, they just keep asking the same dumb questions. Now you tell me that you don't have any enthusiasm about anything you do??????

[a389951l]

Bob,

Well that pretty much sucks for the rest of us that you lost your enthusiasm about posting here. I have read most but not all (not yet!) of your posts with great interest since you have some strong opinions and great insight. As a newbie, I have learned due to people like you on the forum.

Has it all been the same old dumb questions lately?? Had in there and some of us newbie's may ask some more intelligent and possibly intriguing questions.

[Will.Spencer]

There's quite a bit of difference between having enthusiam and buying enthusiasm.

It's a bit like buying love. I am not opposed to love, but I wouldn't exactly want to buy it. Yannow what I mean? :rolleyes:

Choosing your life partner isn't much related to choosing an online advertising system.

When I buy a car, I go to Consumer Reports and Edmunds and see what meets my requirements and has the best ratings from the Subject Matter Experts. Very left-brained.

Other buyers are very right-brained. My umm... "life partner" wouldn't let me buy her a Honda Accord because she didn't like the way they look. She ended up with a completely impractical (for Colorado) Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider.

Look at Google's interface. Plain. Simple. No hype. Has it worked for them? Yes. Why? Because they knew their market. The Internet then, and even now, is dominated by left-brained thinkers.

Hype, to a left-brained thinker, is a huge turn-off. It makes us think we're being scammed. The difference between enthusiasm and hype... a very fine line and one that is difficult to discern from a distance.

[Will.Spencer]

Linda:

Just as a note, we really are not discussing your site anymore. We are discussing sales techniques in general, not picking on you. <blush>

I've linked to your site from the Internet Search Engines FAQ and I've tried fruitlessly to find an affiliate program on your site which matches the content of any of my web sites. I think my web sites are just too boring and specialized. <blush>

[ViciousSummer]

...9/11 is largely forgotten here in the U.S. Americans have big hearts, but short attention spans. Usama bin who? Was she on The Assistant?...

WHAT?!

You have got to be high...I'm glad I'm not from Colorado if people there seriously have a problem remembering something as serious as 9/11 (especially since it's not like it was 10 years ago!).

You should change your post to "...here is Colorado..." because I don't know of a single American that would agree with you on that one. :mad:

[Will.Spencer]

Hey VS, do a Google search for "it's like 9/11 never fuggin happened"

You might get more than one hit. ;)

[g00gl3r]

Parasites are dishonest affiliates than can over-write the affiliate cookie of the affiliate that deserves the commission.

i swear this happens to me....! :mad:

[ViciousSummer]

Hey VS, do a Google search for "it's like 9/11 never fuggin happened"

You might get more than one hit. ;)
Oh yeah, that totally proves it...493 results for one quote from a NY cop that was taken out of context.

How about searching for "in memory 9/11"...hey look at that 1,400,000 hits.

[5starAffiliates]

Wow I can't believe all the stuff that is coming out of this thread. Very interesting perspectives on everything! :)

So interesting how different people think and view the world. One of the reasons my site works for me is that most people in the industry know me or my reputation, know how I write and know my integrity. So interesting though how people that don't know me and just look at the site perceive things. I just trusted and assumed that people would understand and believe what I wrote. But then again I am OFTEN accused of wearing rose colored glasses! :cool:

BTW 911 Health Shop was registered in August 2001 - PRIOR to 9/11 that we know and should ALL remember. 911 in this case stands for emergency health shop or *dial* 911 on the net for health stuff (I guess). It's just a domain name with no reference meant toward the event. 411 Health Shop and other variations must have been taken.

Wow tough crowd here. One of the affiliate forums I mod is reputed to be one of the most critical forums out there. People get flamed for EVERYTHING and there are super hot polical posts all the time. Not once has anyone ever taken offense or even mentioned 911 in that context.

You guys are great. Love reading what comes up in this thread!

[5starAffiliates]

Thanks again, so much, for everyone's good feedback and constructive critiques.

Made LOTS more changes and toned the site design down even more. I think I finally reached a happy medium. (Now people on the other forum that liked it the way it was may say it's too boring.)

Old:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040216071857/http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com/index.html

New
http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com

(I know the red candy cane does not look great but as soon as our Holiday Contest is over that whole paragraph will go away.)

The true test is Shawn - hey Shawn what do you think now? A little better???

[iconrate]

I don't know why but when I visit that your site it literally hurts my eyes. It could just be that I've literally been on my pc for the past 39 hours or it could be the combination of white background with somewhat light blue text.
To be honest when I view the site for the first time it looks just like a generic parking page take one of my parking pages as an example http://www.bubbarmy.com there's links on the left and aff links in the middle. Maybe try some darker background colors and not such bright linking colors :]

[Cyclops]

Looks fine to me.... ;) .....I must join one of your programs soon, tenant stream is intriguing.

Cyclops

[5starAffiliates]

Hi Cyclops,

TenantStream is no longer a client and don't know if their program is even running still. You must have seen that on the "old" copy of my site.

Please see the link below for all current programs. We have added a TON of new ones so the old version of my site is not accurate at all. Love to have you on our team though.

[Cyclops]

>>>TenantStream is no longer a client and don't know if their program is even running still.<<<

Aaarrgh, I only saw it recently and have spent quite a bit of time researching keywords and ways to promote it :( .......back to the drawing board :D

Cyclops.

[5starAffiliates]

Cyclops,

So sorry, we are always trying to add the best programs and some of them just don't work out for various reasons. That one was VERY niche and hard for affiliates to make money at since it only targeted apartment owners.

Check out some of our others and PM me if you want some advice. We have many more coming in Jan. and a HOT one coming that's perfect for post Xmas sales.

[piniyini]

Changing the topic here a little bit, or I could start a new topic just for this stupid little question, or maybe not ...

How can we identify "parasite free" site cookies? Linda please enlighten me (or us?)

Ta

[5starAffiliates]

Hi piniyini,

We really should start a new topic. It's a long answer and there isn't really any fool proof way to do it. But parasites aren't in cookies so no way to check that.
One of the many ways, although not always accurate is to check at cleanmerchants.com.

My carpal tunnel is acting up again, so can't write a book about parasites today. But if someone starts a new thread we can all add to, I can over time share a lot more info, recources and articles about parasites and detection methods.

[Cyclops]

That would be great, I for one am confused by this whole parasite issue and have never been able to find information that didn't end up confuseing me even more.
So many conflicting views.

Cyclops.

[Michael]

It's probably just me, so you can ignore it... I just don't have time to sift through the hype for the info I actually want (for anything, not just websites). :)

I have a 2 second attention span.This of course is slightly longer than the average user :)

I agree with you 100% on minimalism and have for the last three years been implementing minimalist sites myself. Minimalist design coupled with a 'don't make me think' approach to usability really does seem to work.

The traditional marketing types just can't seem to understand that behind the search engine referral is a real person who just wants to know the answer to their question - instantly!

I would make a small change to the text on your Hummer page - 'Do you sell new Hummers under MSRP?' to 'Do you sell new Hummers under the manufacturer's suggested retail price?'. (Don't make me think!)

Way to go...

- Michael

[CleanMonkey]

>One of the many ways, although not always accurate is to check at cleanmerchants.com.

Hi People!

I'd like to point out how Cleanmerchants.com can be innaccurate.

It can't always detect a parasite in a program. It can't detect WhenU for instance. You put your merchant name in the search box - and if it says that merchant is clean they might be. They'll certainly be cleaner than most.

If it says a merchant is infested, they are infested. They were found on a parasite bragging list of merchants the parasites steal from.

It will never tell you a clean merchant is dirty when they are not, unless the merchant only recently dropped parasites.

So you will get occasional false negatives, but no false positives I've seen so far.


Hey Linda! I like your site better now. I can find the info I need without having to pick through every last word!


Monkey

Cleanmerchants

[5starAffiliates]

Hey Monkey, good to see you over here!

FYI All, I should have clarified that Monkey's site is not inaccurate, but the parasite info it reads from sometimes is. For instance when we take over a program and drop all the parasites sometimes the program stays on the parasite list because the parasites are sometimes very slow to update their lists. I have to admit that sometimes our managers drop the parasites but don't always get around to contacting them to demand we are removed from their sites. Plus sometimes even when we ask to be removed they dont do it. So that's what I meant.

[eduardomaio]

I kind of had the same thoughts when I looked at it some months ago. Totally a mental thing I know, but the site look/feel made me shy away from actually looking at any of the programs.

So do I... It's too many information for a stating page, and there is text, text, text... I don't read it, so I don't know what the site is about... You should organize the first page... You know, first impressions really do the trick!