What to look for before joining an Affiliate Program (continued, part 3)
Several
programs have tried to alleviate this. Programs such as Virtualis
and Freedomstarr
(FCI) avoid this problem by offering services (web hosting and
long distance telecom, respectively) which customers, once signed
up for, use month after month. This allows Virtualis and FCI to
pay residual commissions. This helps turn average programs into
exceptional opportunities, because you can earn for months, perhaps
even years, on referrals you made in your first, and subsequent
months.
Spree has
also attempted to combat this problem creatively. Using cookie
technology, they claim to track all sales, and, assuming the customers
you refer visit Spree at least once per year and don't delete
the cookie somehow, give commissions on any purchases the customers
make FOR LIFE. So, even if they link from your site to Spree just
once, you will earn commissions on their purchases, even if they
bookmarked the Spree home page and never visit your site again.
Unfortunately, Spree's system doesn't seem to work as well as
they claim, and it has received many complaints from affiliates.
Other Factors
In summary, it is important to look at all of these main factors and several others, including
the commission rates they pay (I didn't discuss this because they are generally easily comparable),
the frequency of payment checks (they generally range from weekly to quarterly), and/or the
minimum dollar value you must accumulate before receiving a check (they range from nothing to $100).
A couple of other important factors: be VERY wary of any program the requires a payment or
'membership fee' for you to join or act as an affiliate. And, be sure to check what method they
use to track sales themselves. Programs that require the visitor to remember your name, or
your site's name, and enter it in when ordering, will result in many lost commissions.
So, where do you find more information on these programs? Begin
by checking out the Top Rated Programs
section. These are select programs for which I have provided detailed,
in-depth reviews. Next, click on over to the Affiliate
Programs directory which lists and reviews an ever-expanding
number of affiliate programs. Then, you might want to stop by
the ClickQuick
discussion board to see what other visitors have to say about
their experiences. If you are interested in pay-per-click
programs, be sure to check out our reviews of some of the
major banner advertising networks.
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