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A
Second Look at Residual Affiliate Programs
With
many and various businesses setting off in cyberspace, more and more people are
enticed to try this new virtual means of trade. With practically less barriers
of entry, people can simply register for free, promote and market a product, and
earn profit with minimal capital investment.
With
affiliate marketing, a form of Internet marketing, people won't need to worry
about what products to sell. All they need is a website with sufficient content
related to the products of a certain online company offering affiliate
programs. By becoming a member of the program, or by becoming an affiliate,
they can start earning a certain amount of money right away!
In
affiliate marketing, an affiliate agrees to direct some traffic to a merchant's
website. This means directing visitors from an affiliate’s website to the
website of a merchant where the actual selling takes place. The traffic is made
by the visitor clicking the affiliate link. If the traffic is converted into an
actual sale, the affiliate who directed the visitor earns a commission or a
certain percentage of the sale. The affiliate may also receive a fixed fee
instead of a percentage commission. The fixed fee is predetermined upon the
application of the affiliate on the merchant's affiliate program
Most
retailers entice people to become affiliates or members of their programs by
promising great benefits like large commissions, lifetime commissions,
click-through incomes and a lot of other benefits. In most affiliate programs,
an affiliate is paid a one-time commission for every sale or lead an affiliate
brought to the merchant's website. Commissions for this kind of affiliate
programs are usually large, ranging from 15% to a high of about 60%.
Other
affiliate programs pay an affiliate a fixed fee for every click-through or
traffic an affiliate sends to the merchant's site. Programs like this often pay
a smaller fee for every click-through, usually not getting any larger than half
a dollar. The good thing about this kind of program, however, is that the
visitor does not have to purchase anything in order for the affiliate to get
compensated.
One
type of affiliate program that is sometimes overlooked by affiliate marketers is
the residual income affiliate program. Because it usually pays relatively low
percentage of sales commission for every sale directed to the merchant’s site,
many affiliates ignore this program. They would rather choose the high paying
one-time commission program because the commission offered through residual
affiliate program only ranges from 10% to 20%.
If you
are one of the affiliates ignoring residual affiliate program, you may want to
take a look at some of the advantages provided by this program. Residual
affiliate programs would indeed pay at a lower rate, but merchants offering such
kind of programs would generally pay you regular and ongoing commissions for a
single affiliate initiated sale!
For
example, if you made a successful referral to a merchant site and the person you
referred joined in the program promoted by your partner merchant, the merchant
gives you an amount promised to you for every generated lead. If that is $10,
you get $10. Aside from this amount, the merchant gives you monthly incentive
for as long as the customer you referred stays with the merchant’s program. You
only have one effort of sending traffic but you get paid on a regular basis.
That is the advantage of a residual affiliate program.
There
actually is no problem dealing with the usual one-time commission basis
affiliate program, but you can start considering residual affiliate program to
complement your usual affiliate marketing work. It is worth promoting because
you virtually get more money from this type of affiliate program in the long
run.
Residual affiliate marketing may actually work for you, or it may not. It
depends upon how you view it and how you work for it. Experience will be your
best mentor.
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