Hi I am developing a project that I believe would work well as a product that could be sold via a team of affiliates. It is the fist time I have looked to sell via affiliates and I am interested to know what you guys would look for in a good affiliate operator / partner? The project I am working on is a monthly subscription costing the subscriber $24.99 a month, it is similar to a mentor program to help people earn from adsense, but also a lot more. I was planning on offering the Affiliate $10 for the initial sale and $5 per month per sale that renews, I expect a high renewal rate as those members who sign up should make more than 10 times there subscription costs in profits. I do not want to go in to details of what is available until it is ready to launch. Do these figures sound reasonable, the $10 per sign up and the ongoing $5 a month?
Generally it is not recommended to start your online business with an affiliate program. Most affiliates want to know you've got a well oiled machine before they sign up. If you are still playing with your business model and questioning pricing I suggest you simply start selling it first, get the traffic and conversions up, then see if adding an affiliate programme will help. For sure by then you will have more convincing arguments why they will make money and proof that your site closes the sale. There are affiliate platforms out there that can handle recurring subscriptions, but as I said, don't let this take away your focus from getting the main business right. Regards, Peter
Hi SKE11 While your commissions sound OK I don't think you are ready to decide that yet. I agree with asr_guy. I'm an affiliate management consultant and always tell companies they should not even think about starting an affiliate marketing program until they have thoroughly tested conversion rates and optimized the site to increase conversions. When you do the testing you may find out the price point is all wrong, so how can you decide on commissions yet? What I always recommend is set up a Google Adwords PPC account. Start advertising and PRETEND you are your own 1st affiliate. Track how much you spend vs how much you would make based on the proposed commish. Are you making a profit? If you were really your affiliate, would you Keep promoting your program? Test your conversion rates. You will almost certainly need to tweak your site in some areas to optimize your CR. The last thing you want to do is launch an affiliate program prematurely with a program that is not ready for prime time. If you burn out good affiliates with bad conversions, well lets just say your reputation in this biz is a terrible thing to waste.