Why Start An Affiliate Program?

As any business owner knows advertising can be a very expensive aspect of starting and maintaining a business. Advertising on the Internet can take many forms form Pay Per Click search engines to ezines. You could literally spend hundreds of dollars just to get a few people to visit your site but there is no guarantee that they will buy anything. So wouldn't it be nice if you could forgo all the hype and pay for only what works.

With pay per performance advertising you only spend money when you make money. Here's how it works. When someone signs up for your affiliate program they will do the advertising for you and you pay nothing. If they refer someone to your site who makes a purchase then you pay the affiliate a commission for the sale. You only pay when you get payed. Commissions vary from program to program usually ranging from 10% to 75%.

Name recognition is benefit of affiliate programs. If someone knows about your business and what you offer they will be most likely to buy from you then a competitor they've never heard of. With multiple affiliates advertising your products even if they don't sell your products you still receive publicity at no cost to you.

The first thing many ask is where do I find people interested in being my affiliate. The first place to look is your build in audience. Your normal visitors and customers is an excellent place to start. If you run a subscription based business you could offer your customers a discount on there next statement for ever customer they refer. There are also many affiliate networks available that will advertise your program for you and many will also over see your program, keeping track of affiliates and commissions so you won't have to.

Living in a post dot com bust world the cost and quality of advertising as depreciated exponentially. What used to work years ago no longer will. Many businesses that start affiliate programs see a noticeable increase in sales. No only that but it is a win win situation where both you and the affiliate profit from the sale. The only thing you have to ask yourself is who will start taking on affiliates first, you or your competitors.

Affiliate Programs Directory

Latest News


Affiliate of Pentland Enters Into Monetization Transaction
FOXBusiness - 3 hours ago
The monetization transaction (the "Transaction") permits Pentland and its affiliates to monetize a portion of their holdings of these shares in order to ...

Rally Software Awarded Affiliate Company of the Year by ...
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
(R), the Agile lifecycle management leader, was awarded the 2008 Affiliate Company of the Year by Entrepreneurs Foundation (EF). Rally was selected for this ...

New Relic Launches Affiliate Program
PR Web (press release), WA - 19 hours ago
Eight companies and one Rails community user group have already joined the program as charter affiliates. The charter affiliate companies are Atlantic ...

PubEasy Adds Southern Book Service as New Affiliate Partner
MarketWatch - Nov 19, 2008
As the newest PubEasy affiliate, the company will now be able to offer their customers the ability to check price and availability on various book titles, ...

T-Shirt Monster Launches Affiliate Program for Web Owners and Blog ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - 11 hours ago
T-Shirtmonster.ca, Canada's leader in online T-Shirt customization, launches it's Affiliate Program for blog publishers and website owners looking to ...

Vaporizer Store - VaporNation Announces Vaporizer Affiliate Program
1888 Press Release (press release), TX - 21 minutes ago
VaporNation.com presents Vaporizer Affiliate Program. It is a program that helps in developing a network and earning in the process. ...

CJRW and Burson-Marsteller Sign Affiliate Agreement
MarketWatch - Nov 18, 2008
CJRW is currently Burson-Marsteller's only US-based affiliate. Through this relationship, CJRW clients will have access to Burson-Marsteller's global ...

Court blocks Sprint Nextel affiliate iPCS’s motion to delay WiMAX deal
Bizjournals.com, NC - Nov 18, 2008
s $14.5 billion WiMAX deal can continue — for now — without trouble from affiliate iPCS Inc. An Illinois circuit court said Monday that iPCS must withdraw ...
Sprint affiliate backs down in Wimax case IT Examiner
Clearwire Path Clears Unstrung
OMS: We are not a telco, says Xohm TelephonyOnline
Washington Times - Bizjournals.com
all 173 news articles

Purdue Research Park Affiliate Company Launches Educational ...
MarketWatch - Nov 19, 2008
The new program is available from Computer-Aided Learning LLC, which is an affiliate company of the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana. ...

The Whitlock Group Achieves IOCOM Preferred Affiliate Status
MarketWatch - Nov 18, 2008
With this Preferred Affiliate status, The Whitlock Group has enhanced flexibility in using IOCOM's products to deliver sophisticated videoconferencing ...

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