What is a good Affiliate Program? Certainly, one that brings a lot of cash. But what makes one program better than other?

Which program looks more attractive to you - one that offers 5% commission or one based on a 20% commission? The first think that pops into your mind is the latter, It is obvious, the higher the commission the higher the earnings!

But be careful! 5% commission may not seem much but when considering other things (which I will mention soon) this program may turn out to be much more profitable.

Commission IS important, because it is a decisive factor in how much you will profit from your venture. But don't base your choice of an AP only on the size of commission. Other factors are also important.
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Cookies are small files that are left on internet users' computers. They are used for identifying the users next time they visit the same WWW site.

In Affiliate Programs, cookies keep track of what a customer purchases, and which affiliate brought that customer. Let me explain it giving an example.

1. Mr. X visits a science-fiction site. He reads a review of a book and decides that he's gotta have it. At the end of the review, the author has placed an affiliate link, which takes readers to the bookshop selling the book. Mr. X clicks the link.

2. When he enters the bookshop site, a cookie is installed on his comp, which contains the ID of an affiliate. Mr. X decides to make the purchase the next day. He turns off his comp and goes to bed, but the cookie stays there.

3. Mr.X gets up in the morning and remembers about the book. This time he enters the site directly, finds the item, and buys it.

4. Mr.X receives a package, pays for it, and enjoys the book....How about affiliate? Affiliate is also happy because he earned his commission!

As you can see, cookies are very useful to affiliates. Thanks to them, your efforts are not in vein – you will receive your commission even if your customer decides to make a purchase a few days or weeks later.

Generally there are two partnership forms:

1. Link - an affiliate receives a specially coded link.

2. Form – an affiliate receives a ready-made WWW site or a part of a site.

Let's consider all the cons and pros of these two solutions.

Affiliate link is more comfortable than anything else – all an affiliate has to do is to make a potential customer click on the link. With that click his job is basically done.

A form is more time-consuming for an affiliate – very often he will have to spend a long time and effort trying to prepare one or compose it into his website. On the other hand, a potential customer can't bypass an affiliate – customers will simply not know that the affiliate is representing another business.

Recently, a combination of cookies and links has been becoming more and more popular (as I mentioned before). This solution eliminates the problem of bypassing an affiliate. Thanks to a cookie, an affiliate will still receive his commission even if the customer made his purchase a few days or weeks after the initial visit to the affiliate's site.

In my personal ranking, the link/cookie solution is number one. It is still however poorly developed. For this reason, you should go with the form.

If there is no choice and the AP that you are interested in offers only a link – don't be discouraged. Even with this solution you should do quite well. You will simply have to convince your visitors that they should make their purchase now and not later. :-)

A two-level marketing program is defined as such that pays affiliates commissions based on the income of the affiliates they have recruited. There may be more levels – you will receive then commissions for recrutees of your recrutees. ...

I know it from experience that your income in an AP depends solely on how much YOU can sell. Another income might be just a pleasant addition – sort of a bonus. You MUST focus on how to sell the product and not on how to recruit new people.
This is simple – promote your PRODUCT and not the PROGRAM.

The most important feature of an AP is left for the end. You MUST MUST MUST choose an Affiliate Program which offers products or services that people (your visitors) will be interested in buying.

Let's imagine that you run a WWW site for Inuits (.... I could have come up with an easier example). You find an excellent AP – 45% commission (a LOT), cookie system, no entree fees, two levels.... You join it , place your links and wait ....and wait ....and wait....

... and nothing is happening. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Unfortunately, your AP manufactures and sells ice cubes...

You can't sell ice to Eskimos!
Period.
(If you can pull off that sale, you can sell anything).

You can make a fortune in an AP that offers you a 2% commission and a regular affiliate link (no cookies), but has some good products, which will draw your visitors. That's why it is so important to prepare a profile of your visitors – so you know who they are and what they want, and that will surely help you with the right selection of an AP.

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