questions before i start my own affiliate program

Hi, I am considering to start an affiliate program for one of my sites, and wanted some feedback on what is fair, as well as what is good for me to protect myself.

For a start, my product is only $5... Im happy to pay 60% commission, but at only $3 commission, it might not be worth it for affiliates. So I am wondering, should I double the price of my product in order to be able to offer a better affiliate payout? I guess the question comes down to if you think you will make more sales (and have better earnings) with a cheaper product then you would with a more expensive product -> does anyone have experience with this? do cheaper products result in better overall earnings or is it vica-versa?

I am confident that my product is valuable, if you compare my product demo of what a user can make with my software:
http://zoom-demo.i4u.biz/

to my competitors free to use product:
http://testingthisserviceonline.vpweb.com.au/?preview=true
then you can straight away see that my product is better.
Again, I just need to know if i should push the price up in order to pay larger sums to affiliates.

The next thing is, what is fair in terms of minimum payout? is $50 too steep or two low?

What is fair in terms of delay in payouts? Hostgator has a 5 month delay on paying their affiliates, should I have a similar thing in place to prevent fraud? What is the industry norm?

What about ad banners? I already have 1 made up, but should I have 3-4 different sizes ready for affiliate to use?
Clearly ad banners need to be effective to maximise conversions, i would be interested in meeting people with high experience in creating high converting ads and banners.

 

With regards to ad banners:
I'd make at least a few of them..a horizontal, vertical, and a square and in varying sizes - check out what type of page layouts your audience tends to use and what size banner would work well etc.

 

Price is a huge factor to analyze, sometimes having a product too cheap makes people think it is low quality, anyways, from the links you've posted it is impossible to understand what you are trying to promote.

 

The product is a way to create a mini-website, or contact page, using a subdomain, (or an online business card as that is a more accurate description) the links in my post are the examples of the end results of both using my software, vs my local competitors, and I think my templates are *slightly* better. Other alternatives of my software are buying templates from codecanyon for $20-$30 each, then you have hosting, and domain costs on top.
When you compare what you can make with my software to all the other free and paid alternatives, I am sure its worth the $5, but you are right, I might be devaluing the product by having it too cheap.

Pricing for this wasnt easy, I really want to keep it low as I have to compete with many free products out there (about.me for example), but at the same time, when you compare what you can do with my product, (compared to other free to use options) in most cases, my site is head and shoulders above the rest.

Thanks for the advice. Any ideas if I should focus on animated banners or just normal static banners?
I have a great designer from DP which I will give the job to but I was really hoping to hire a designer / affiliate skilled in creating high converting banners.

 

I don't see a problem with increasing the price to $10 and paying the AFF $5 per sale, remember you have to cover hosting, processing %, domain, etc. The commission % is also a major factor, would you trust someone that gives you 70% of their profit? Seems too good to be true, Increase the price to $10 and offer a 50% commission.

 

I have to agree with lucardk. Commission % is a huge factor for a lot of affiliates, especially if they're just starting out. As for the banners, I'd start with maybe a mix of static and animated? Maybe have one main animated banner than runs horizontally and then have two static banners as well?

 

You need to be careful doubling your price on your product when your competitors is a free to use product you aren't really in a position to double your product. That's my opion on this matter and I would say $25 minium cash out would attractive to affiliates but no minium cash out would absolutely make then sign up also think about methods to pay them you want to offer more than one payment method.

 

One more comment on banners... I hope this link will be helpful: http://www.iab.net/guidelines/508676/508767/displayguidelines

Here you can find Display Standard Ad Unit Portfolio which can help you decide which size of banners you should choose for your product promotion.

 

you have to be very careful for both of your options.

 

Do not go anywhere near ClickSure or a product called Get Auto Commissions.
The product, which i have bought is absolute rubbish and not fit for purpose.
I have tried to get a refund but going around in circles with an automated response system. Have contacted ClickSure and they have just passed my message back to the seller of which i cannot get a decent response from.

BEWARE ALL

 

Hello
What i really think i know that one of the thing an affiliates looks at is payment give them payments with no minimum payouts, and pay them daily or every week.
tell your affiliates how to promote you service as an example it's like training.
For pricing structure $10 or $15 would be ok
I wish you the best

 

yes but with no min payouts i have to worry about scams where affiliates sign up get the payout and do chargebacks.
i think thats why hostgator makes affiliates wait for months for payment.

 

Even if the product isn't low quality, it could cause you not to make enough money. You might not want to double the price, but maybe increase it by a third.