The Power of Free (continued, part 2)
Another advantage of these types of programs is that you can easily add value to your web site. For example, TransAct! offers a variety of brand name, blue-chip sponsors (such as Money and Fast Company magazines) which you can promote on your site and earn commissions for each visitor you refer who requests a free issue. So, if you ran an investment or finance related site, you could sign up to sponsor Money magazine, and offer a free trial issue to your visitors. You are offering your visitors something they may be interested in, for free, and it is possible they might not even realize you are being paid for it!
The one disadvantage of the pay-per-lead model is that the commissions are, on average, not as high as those using a pay-per-sale model. This is to be expected since the vendor is still unsure themselves if they will receive any revenue for the lead. The vendor is basically willing to play the numbers that a certain percentage of the leads you refer will go on to eventually be converted into sales. Simply put, the vendor is taking on more of the risk, and therefore, to offset this risk, doesn't compensate the affiliate as highly.
However, in the end, you must look at the conversion rate. And there are two aspects to this. What your click-through rates are on the banner ads, graphics, or text links you use to promote the programs, and of those, what percentage generate a commission for you. Ads that offer something for free have been proven to receive better results than other types of ads, so we can be confident that ads or links promoting pay-per-lead offers will generally result in a click-through rate equal to or better than other affiliate programs you sponsor. And, as Irv mentioned, the percentage of referred visitors that generate a commission are also much higher than the average pay-per-sale program. So, are you better earning $2 per referred lead, or $15 per referred sale? That depends on how many of your visitors will actually purchase. If you can refer 50 leads in a month, compared to 3 sales, you are obviously much better using a pay-per-lead affiliate program.
In summary, I leave you with this quote from Irv at TransAct!: "Pay-per-lead outperforms most other pay-per-sale programs for one simple reason: no sale is required. Nothing fancy, nothing magical, no real secrets. Getting paid when people request free samples, trials and club memberships is a heck of a lot easier than getting paid only when sales are made."
If you would like to add pay-per-lead programs to your web site,
I have compiled reviews of some of the current leaders at the ClickQuick
site under the category Pay-per-Lead.
You will note that most receive above average rankings, because
of my belief that these types of programs may often offer the best
results to affiliates. Be sure to stop on by and browse these programs
to find one (or more) that may best match your site.
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