I've been looking at affiliate programs for a couple weeks now, and there seems to be a distinction between the programs that make money for people and the programs that don't. This is probably Affiliate Marketing 101, but I was wondering if someone could clarify a distinction that I see more and more of: On one hand there is an affiliate program that allows you to put a banner or text link somewhere on your site (to say amazon, drugstore.com, etc) and they give you a commission (usually what I've seen is something between 4% and 15%, but usually 6% - 10%). This seems like an odd relationship to me because you are sending people free traffic, impressions, helping them build their brand, and you only get a % of their sales, and it doesn't seem very lucrative to me in the long run. Additionally, there are issues, what if someone makes a phone order, what if someone deletes their cookies, or uses software like anonymizer, and you don't get paid on the sale. On the other hand there are affiliate programs like ringtones, viagra, mortgages and I assume a bunch of other ones. That you actually collect information or process something on your own website to verify a transaction for your work at marketing their product. And then you send the order to them, or when you generate an actual lead it goes to the advertiser. Am I correct about this? The first example seems pretty out of market for the work needed to build a website and promote a product, the second example seems like a good deal, but I don't really see things offered like that (but still waiting for my azoogle application to be processed) So, just wondering if I'm thinking about this correctly here, any help would be much appreciated.
computerblue, You pretty much have a grip on the affiliate thing. What it comes down to is how much you want to make, and what type of site you have. Some of my sites do not have any affiliate ads or Google ads, because I want people to purchase from my site. Other sites, have ads and affiliates because all the site is there for is to generate revenue. If you are considering just making money off your site then go with the most profitable. If you want to be taken seriously or have a service/product to offer, stay away from too many (if any) ads or affiliates. Cookies are easily deleted...you are right, but if you aren't selling anything on your site, then who cares. You will still get commissions and if you have good traffic then you will do fine. If you offer good content or a service, take your site seriously...or no one will. Hope that helps!
thanks engergydude! Yeah, I just run blogs, so we have really good content, but still trying to find better ways to monetize them. Right now the monetization has been pretty bad for our traffic levels (from google adsense, etc, but have been trying to stay away from the optimal placement). Everyone seems to be making money off of affiliate programs but me. I look at my check from amazon every three months, and look at the traffic I send them, it's just dumb, which I guess means my traffic is not conversion-friendly. Are there good programs to run on-site that makes affiliate programs more measureable?