I have been looking for an affiliate program for directing prospects to a reputable online discount brokerage such as E*Trade or TDAmeritrade, but I have not been able to find any affiliate programs for them. This surprises me, because I have read that these firms spend in excess of $400/customer in customer acquisition costs. Perhaps this is a regulated area, and affiliates are not allowed, or are there perhaps they are closely held programs that are meant to protect these firm's brand images from spammy sites. Does anyone know? Or has anyone had any success being an affiliate for these folks? I guess the only other choice to monetize such traffic is to put adwords on a page targeted for discount broker keywords. Thanks!
Interesting... I'm always looking for affiliate niches that aren't tapped yet. Other financial services like credit cards and mortgage loans have programs. If brokers don't, it may be legislated. I recently was reading about how it's prohibited for DRs to pay any referral fees for patients, hence no plastic surgery affiliate programs - maybe brokers can't offer finders fees either.
Thanks 5 Star - after you comments I did a little more research into NASD rules, and what did I run across? An affiliate program... its not etrade or TDAmeritrade, but at least a reputable-looking brokerage house: http://content.sharebuilder.com/MgdCon/Core/AboutUs/terms.htm Sharebuilder needs to do do some more SEO work -- I couldn't find their affiliate program after several hours of scouring the internet.