For quite some time I have been thinking about building an affiliate network, and I mean an honest network. I do not believe in scams, and I see a lot of them claiming fast money, and most take forever to give you just a few $$ that you earned, so you either never get paid, or you have to fight to get what you earned, am I right? I am going to build the affiliate network from the ground up, and before I start, I would like to know what you expects, pros and the avg joe thinks? I would like to know what you want to see in an affiliate program...I want to make money, and I want my affiliates to make money, because if my affilates are making money, then they will promoting the site. I am also looking at ideas on how much the referal would get paid? Ideas on this? I am looking at one site that pays their referals $1.00 per signup. There is a catch, the signup has to buy something, or complete some type of offer/survey, or whatever...in a away this does make sense, so if you refer somone to the site, and that person buys something, then the site can pay the affiliate the referal of $1.00 for that affilate, so this way the site does not go BK paying referal fees. any better pay out ideas? You could refer 100 people to my site, and only 1 person may purchase, and this would be considered a low conversion rate, and low conversions are not good for anyone. I want affiliates, I want them to promote, I want them to make $$$. Its easy to get affiliates to promote the network, what is not easy is getting people to buy or purchase when they get on the site. I am also looking for strong ideas on what to offer affiliates to promote. This could be projects/services/offers, etc. I am looking for proven sites that pay $$. Affiliates do not want to market services if they are not going to make money or profit, and neither will I... I am not looking for your personal affiliate programs, so please do not post them. I am looking for affiliate products/services/offers that have been around for a long time with proven success. I am also condering offering affiliates long term pay such as residual income, which I am skeptic of MLM programs, but I would consider honest and reliable programs with proven success. I have also accquired a domain which I think will be a success. I would like your true honest opinion on the domain. I am not promoting it, nor is it active at this time. Please tell me what you really think about the domain. It is vague on what you are getting paid on, but it is easy to remember, direct and to the point... (please look for link in sig, get paid Instantly) I really do want you guys become active in this forum, and if you have ideas on what you would like to see in the affiliate program, such as features, options, etc, and your suggestions could be added., and the best thing to do is for you guys to lay it on the line. What do you want to see in an affiliate program? How would you like to see the affiliate program work. How about payouts, structure, so please make your posts, what you think might be a silly idea may not be. I am not a scammer. I want to build a legit paying affiliate network where affiliates really get paid in a timely manner, and I need your advice, feedback, comments, and suggestions.
My 1st tip, stop using annoying colors But seriously, when you run an affiliate network you have to put the affiliate as the #3 priority, advertisers at #2, and the business at #1. I know a lot of people will hate to hear that but if you left it up to the affiliates they would take 95% commissions, daily payouts, 100% custom landing pages for each affiliate, keywords, bids, dedicated affiliate managers etc. And if you don't take care of your advertisers, they will just go to the other 300 networks that are started every month.
I guess it is better then all boring black.. I am by no means an expect, and this is why created this forum to get advice and betting understanding of the entire process. I do have say, some sites are always first, and do not give a crap about anyone other then the site, and I am puzzled by putting the affilate 3rd? Correct me if I am wrong, is the affilate not the one doing the hard work to bring others to the site? I am a little confused on where the advertiser fits in? to me that means the advertiser is paying the affiliate network to advertise his/her product? and the affiliate markets the network to get others in the door? and if you do not somewhat take care of your affilates, then I guess you would have advertisers and on one coming to the site...if you do not take care of the aff, then they will leave. I am not saying pay them 95% thats just unrealistic anyway. My goal is to find how what more we can do for the affiliate and advertiser, and i dont really mean commission, I mean what do affiliates want to see in a network, sure a site can get 100 affiliates, maybe 1 sale if lucky, thats not a very good conversion rate, 100 aff can not make money on just one sale, and isnt that the goal of every affiliate to make money? We want the affiliates to make money, because if they are making money, they are happy, and they will keep on doing what they do best. If the aff does not like the site for whatever reason, or he does not like the commission, or he hates this feature, or whatever, guess what, I will not see much of him... I do not want to rush in, and slap something together and hope for the best, Id rather for it to be right to begin with. all advice is welcome.
I wont give a lot of advices, but only a few points i want to make sure of- 1. Make sure you have enough funding available so that you dont have to compromise quality. Say if you want a robust affiliate / advertiser / affiliate manager / billing and administrators ERP system. Cheap ones can be done in like 5K$ but that wont be good. Probably getting one robust one will cost 100K USD upwards. Best affiliate managers (their salary) and industry experitised team. Summing it all up assuming no profits for 6 months including working capital will cost you 10 million USD or higher. 2. Make sure you have a brilliant plan before you start implementing things.
Lets not get to unrealistic here honestly if you had $100k to 10mil would you even be on here discussing this? and really, I am not talking that high up the scale, I see some real shabby network sites making $3-$5k/mo income. I know that is pocket change to some of you that do earn $10mil but I assure you they have no affiliate managers on salary...I am getting the idea that you are talking about these super affiliate networks like CJ and others like them, no my friend, my pockets do not run that deep. I am talking on a much smaller scale. I am talking about building a much smaller version, but my goal is to take care of aff and advertisers alike, and not leave them hanging like most compaines do..."I did all this work, wheres my money?" If these sites were more honest with their affilates they may not have high turn over, instead they are in it for the quick cash, and leave the affiliate hanging out to dry...
Hide Affiliate Links - http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=885603 I have noticed talk on hiding your affiliate links. If someone can educate me futher on this, then I would appreciate it. Why is it important? the draw back, and the benefit. Thank-You
Seeing how expensive coding is... I am searching for partners willing to invest. When the the affiliate site goes live, your return will be the highest affiliate payout possible. For more details, please visit blog in sig...
update: I have rec'd my first investor to help fund the affiliate network. I could use more investors, I am not going to wait, I am talking to the coder now that will create the site. If you would like to read more, then please visit the blog in my sig. I am still taking suggestions from affiliates and advertisers/merchants. As an affiliate what would you like to see in a affiliate program? How about as a merchant? I would like to get some actual feedback on what you would like to see. I can not promise anything, it has to be for the benefit of everyone, not just yourself. It seems like i am doing all the posting, I hope to turn that around... Thank-You