You’ve decided to create your own home based business online and your focus will be on affiliate marketing as a way to create an eventual full time income from home. However, you’re having a problem trying to choose which of the three affiliate models would be best for your enterprise. The three available programs are: pay per sale, pay per click and pay per lead. Pay per sale, which is probably the most popular of the three is, as the name suggests, where the affiliate is paid a commission on each sale generated for the company.
With the pay per sale model the affiliate is only paid when they make money for the company and it’s the most popular because with this program the company is guaranteed a profit. With the pay per click model the member gets paid each time one of their website visitors clicks through from their home business site to the company’s website. The company assumes a certain degree of risk because they’re paying when there’s no guarantee the click through will result in a sale.
Also with the pay per click model it’s very easy, at times, for unscrupulous people to fraudulently represent themselves by using false email addresses and bogus contact information. Some even go so far as to use software which imitates an actual visitor and clicks through to the company’s website without anyone actually having visited.
With the pay per lead plan the member is rewarded for each and every lead they refer to the company. The visitor may have to perform some act such as filling out a survey or an information form or an application in order for the affiliate to be reimbursed.
This model also leaves itself open to devious individuals who may attempt to defraud the company through misrepresentation and pay per lead pays commission without any guarantee of a sale from the referral. There are several things anyone considering joining an affiliate program should investigate before signing up with perhaps the most important consideration being commission rates.
Most respectable programs pay commission rates of 60% and higher with some even rewarding the member with 100% of the sale. The reason the company is able to pay out 100% is they then up sell their client to more expensive high end products once they have them onboard. Some companies also pay a lifetime rate for each customer you refer while others only pay a commission on their first purchase; so this would be something else to look into.
You also need to find out when the sponsor pays their members? Do they reimburse on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis and also discover if they’re always on time with their checks. Also beware of affiliate programs who try to charge you a fee to join. As an affiliate you’re the one who should be paid, you shouldn’t have to pay the company for the pleasure of selling their products. Stay away from such programs.
Discover whether or not the company supplies you with the necessary marketing materials you will need such as banner ads, sales letters and email. Most of the top notch plans do provide this material for your affiliate marketing campaign. You should also investigate the company itself to find out about its track record relating
to sales and customer service. You wouldn’t want to affiliate your home business with an operation which has a poor reputation on the Internet. You also need to know if they handle customer service issues themselves or if they expect you to handle it.
These are some of the issues you need to research and consider before joining any affiliate program and when you do then you can decide which program model would provide the greatest opportunity for success for both you and your online home based business.