Associate Programs Newsletter #21
CONTENTS:
1. Exactly why big commissions are best
2. Yes, they should pay you more
3. Two-tier program I overlooked
4. Calculating CPMs of associate programs
5. How to get a higher EPage commission
6. TransAct! or WebSponsors? Both
7. At mercy of the banks?
8. Snippets
9. Classifieds ads
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1. Exactly why big commissions are best
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Should you be promoting MyPoints, MemberSites, CoolSavings and similar programs which pay you $1 per lead? Or would you be better off putting your energy into promoting Corey Rudl’s marketing course which pays $US65 or AIS merchant facilities which pays $US175 (with $US50 on the second tier)?
To Declan Dunn, author of the new book, “The Complete, Insider’s Guide To Associate & Affiliate Programs”, it is “a simple a case of math” – choose the programs with high commissions.
(The following example assumes you have chosen a product which is just right for your niche market and you can sell it to 1% of your 5,000 visitors a month.)
Declan says:
“One percent of 5,000 is 50; can you make enough money on 50 sales? Not if you are making $2 a book at Amazon.com. But if you are making $25 a sale, you could make $1,250 per month. Keep your expectations realistic; realize that marketing and sales are a numbers game. Know the numbers you hope to generate and focus on those affiliate programs that give you the best bang for your time and effort.”
Please don’t scoff and say you can’t sell a product to even 1% of your visitors. Some people have figured out how to do a lot better than that. For example, Declan describes in precise detail how Brian Clark of GMD Studios gets $37.50 per CPM with an affiliate program, measured in commissions.
The book is aimed only at the really keen. It costs $97. Judging by early sales, quite a few people have decided that they will get their money’s worth. They’re right.
“The Complete, Insider’s Guide To Associate & Affiliate Programs”
My experience with low and high commissions agrees with what Declan says. I’ve been giving Web Cards, which pays $1 per sign-up (now also 10% of sales), and Corey Rudl’s Internet marketing course, which pays $65 commission, equal publicity. I’ve also been promoting AIS merchant facilities fairly heavily recently.
The results:
My last commission from Web Cards: $US89.
Last commission from Corey: More than $US1000.
Commission due from AIS: More than $US1000.
Big commissions definitely get my vote.
[UPDATE: Web Cards indulged in spamming repeatedly. I stopped promoting it. AIS and Declan’s book are no longer available.]Corey Rudl’s Internet marketing course
https://www.associateprograms.com/corey
If you’re getting some good results from companies paying high commissions, how about sharing the good news?
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2. Yes, they should pay you more
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Associates who complain about low referral fees are sometimes seen as whiners who should find another company or put their energy into marketing instead of complaining.
Here’s a different perspective.
I have great respect for journalist and author Jaclyn Easton. Anything I’ve seen written by her indicates careful research and intelligent analysis.
She has now written a fascinating article called “GIVE MORE, GET MORE, Why Affiliate Programs Are Not A Fair Deal”.
She’s not at all impressed with most associate programs. They don’t pay enough.
Reel.com president Stuart Skorman told her that Reel.com spends $30 for each new customer acquired through banner ads. “They’re willing to take the risk and lose a little upfront, knowing that their low prices and great service will result in repeat sales and eventual profitability,” Jaclyn writes.
To acquire a customer through an associate program costs Reel.com about $1. That’s right – you just saved the company about $29.
The article gives associates a perspective of how much more they are likely to be making if they band together. I strongly recommend reading it.
strikingitrich.com/more_fun/article_give_more.htm
Too busy? Here’s a quick summary: If you’re an associate, ask for more. If you’re a company, pay more.
You’ll probably be so impressed by Jaclyn’s writing that you’ll look for other articles by her. While you’re at the site you may end up buying her new book “StrikingItRich.com: Profiles of 23 Incredibly Successful Websites…That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of”.
I’m still waiting for my copy from Amazon.com.
You can get it here:
https://www.associateprograms.com/striking-it-rich
If you do buy it from the StrikingItRich.com site I’ll miss out on about $1 from Amazon.com. Instead of worrying about that, I ought to be finding more companies with high commissions.
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3. Two-tier program I overlooked
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You’ve probably seen the name Werner Stuerenburg popping up in mailing lists lately as Werner, who lives in a little village near Hannover, Germany, gets people thinking about selling art on the Net.
Although Werner has been generating a lot of publicity, he’s far too much of a gentleman to blatantly talk about his two-tier associate program. He tends to focus on art and whether people will buy online. This article will redress the balance and tell you why it’s in your own best interest to sell Werner’s art.
When you visit his web site he tells you that you can earn 15% commission selling posters, replicas or originals. However, it’s not until you get way down the page that he mentions his strongest selling point: Sign up sub-associates and you’ll *also* receive 5% of their sales.
(ArtUFrame and others have proved that art can be sold online ArtUFrame has a huge range of posters – I like the famous one of Marilyn Monroe cooling her legs above a grating. I’ve a version of it at AssociatePrograms.com/art.html . [UPDATE: This link no longer works.] There’s bound to be a poster that suits the theme of your site.)
Werner’s site has a gallery displaying 10 different styles and techniques. Some items are cheap, some are expensive. Whatever your taste, from Picasso to photo-realism, there should be an item that will appeal.
Want to have 100 or so sub-associates working for you? Perhaps you could interest business-to-business sites and suggest they promote the art as boardroom art. Would one of those pieces worth a few thousand dollars look just right in your boardroom?
Don’t think you can sell art? The chance of earning 15% of a few thousand dollars should make it worth a little effort.
Instead of sending people to Werner’s site, he wants you to capture their e-mail addresses and then you’ll earn commissions on that e-mail address for life.
For details, send an e-mail to:
10136 AT art-quarter.com?subject=MMA
You’ll be given your own ID so you can start lining up a few hundred sub-associates.
[UPDATE: The affiliate program has been discontinued.]==================================================================
4. Calculating CPMs of associate programs
(Warning: This item is depressing news for low-traffic sites.)
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Affiliate Programs and CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions)
By Joshua Reimer
When I join a new affiliate program, I always watch my statistics closely, as I am sure most of you do. I always give each program a reasonable chance, and if it isn’t earning me much (or any) money, out it goes.
My general test for an affiliate program is to give its banner, button or newsletter ad about 10,000 impressions. If it isn’t working after that, I throw it.
You see, I know how much all the other affiliate programs make me per CPM (thousand displays). It would probably be better to get rid of it to put more emphasis on associate programs that actually pay.
I have compiled the CPMs of a number of affiliate programs and banner networks I am involved in. I also emailed some of my webmaster friends and asked them about CPM rates on some programs. They are just to give you a few examples of the wide disparities in the amounts you can earn.
All dollar amounts are per CPM.
Eads: $0.10
heads.com
ArtToday: $0.25
arttoday.com
Webcards $5.00-$6.00
printing.com
GifWizard : $0.05
gifwizard.com
ValueClick: $2.00
valueclick.com
The Ultimate Promotion: $0.00
ultimatepromotion.com
BurstNet $1.50-$3.00
burstnet.com
Of course, all of these statistics will vary depending on the banners or text you use, and the prominence which you give to these companies’ ads. It also depends on the type of site you have. However, they should give you a rough idea of how some of the different affiliate programs perform.
I always calculate my ads back to the CPM. There is great benefit in doing this! For example, I know that I can deliver a such and such amount of ads per month, and then I can reasonably accurately calculate how much I will be able to earn each month. It can be a very revealing and rewarding exercise, and I recommend you all try it!
Joshua Reimer
https://www.PromotionWorld.com
Matt Mickiewicz of Webmaster-resources.com told I-Sales mailing list this week that he gets about one sale of Link-O-Matic per 250 visitors, for which he earns $50/sale. It’s obviously a product exactly right for his site. [UPDATE: See correction in next week’s newsletter.]
I still haven’t tried Link-O-Matic. Here’s Jim Wilson’s link from the Associate Programs Directory
linkomatic.com/index.cgi?10097
[UPDATE: Link-O-Matic was software which automated submissions to free-for-all sites. When too many people automated things instead of actually visiting, FFA sites became useless.]=======================================
5. How to get a higher EPage commission
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In May, EPage Classifieds & Auctions created a new referral program. Brad Waller of EPage says that a few clever webmasters realize that they can combine the old and the new programs and get a higher commission.
The EPage associate program has been around for a few years but was formalized as a full revenue sharing associate program just over a year ago.
Members asked about the loss of customers that they had brought into EPage. “They got paid for anything placed through their site, but some customers would return directly to our main site,” Brad says.
So EPage started tracking customers as well. “We changed the original program to a 20% commission, and added the referral program that pays 10% on everything we ever collect from a customer for a total of 30% max payout,” Brad says.
The code for an affiliate link is:
ep.com/ep/csp.html?csp=163 (Member site #163, the VetteNet linking to the custom co-branded site)
The code for a referral link is:
ep.com/ep/sub.html (Member ID#30414, Brad Waller referring a user to EPage)
But how can one webmaster earn 30%? By signing up for both programs and combining the two numbers:
ep.com/ep/csp.html?csp=163&r=30414
(member site 163 and ID 30414)
“As of October 13, we have 6,704 affiliates and 875 referrers. Although we do mention that you can combine the two programs, I expect less than 10 have done this (at least until this article makes it out!),” Brad says.
Create your own FREE Custom Auction & Classified Site
https://ep.com/
https://ep.com/b/csp.html
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6. TransAct! or WebSponsors? Both
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Jim Reardon of https://www.freecenter.com is pleased with the results he is achieving with pay-per-lead service WebSponsors. All those small payments add up to more than $US1000 a month.
But is WebSponsors just an associate of TransAct! or vice versa? It’s not that simple.
Irv Brechner of Transact! – smartbiz.com/transact – explains: “WebSponsors on some offers is an affiliate of ours, on others we are an affiliate of theirs, and on yet others we have no relationship. It works out very well.”
So which one do you choose? Both. Sometimes one will have the better deal – sometimes the other.
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7. At mercy of the banks?
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The Associate Programs Message Board (just click on the link at the top of any page at AssociatePrograms.com) keeps revealing useful information.
For example, I’m keeping a close eye on Advanced Internet Solutions (AIS) because it pays commissions as high as $US175.
Thomas Harpointner of AIS made this post recently:
I’d like to respond to Brian K. Roemmele’s post:
The bottom line with a company like Virtual Merchant’s is that they are number 5 or 6 in the chain of hands that process that application. Bill Long is so far removed from actually approving a merchant that he is simply at the mercy of the bank. He will not know the status of an application for days and weeks because of how the approval process works for him because of the many middle men between him and the bank.
Brian certainly has a point. Many “merchant services companies” are just one of many middlemen. What makes AIS Merchant Services different, is that our Merchant Services Representatives work DIRECTLY with a VARIETY of banks and financial institutions.
While we are still dependent on the bank to approve an application and issue the merchant account, 98.5% of all the applications we send to the back GET APPROVED. Furthermore, with AIS Merchant Services, dealers/affiliates know what the status of the application is simply by referring to our real-time online interface.
This eliminates the guess work and there’s virtually NO need for a dealer to email us with questions regarding the status of an application.
After a customer submits an application, a Merchant Services Representative diligently attempts to contact the customer via telephone within one business day. After the information on the application is verified, and we have a good understanding of their business, their monthly sales volume, average ticket, etc., we explain all the rates, fees, terms, and conditions.
Then, via OVERNIGHT mail, we deliver the necessary paper work to the customer which requires a signature. After the customer returns the paperwork to us and we submit it to the bank, the customer will have his/her new merchant account within 4-5 business days.
Because of the DIRECT relationships we’ve established with the banks, AIS Merchant Services can pay a $175 in first level commissions plus $50 in second level commissions. I would also like to point out that (besides the administrative help) AIS Merchant Services is 100% commission based. Simply put, Merchant Services Representatives, AIS, (or I in that matter) make NOT ONE DOLLAR from an application that is not approved.
Why is this important to you? Because with this type of structure in place, you as a dealer, can be 100% assured that each application that’s submitted on your behalf to AIS Merchant Services, will receive diligent follow-up and proper attention from a qualified professional.
Sincerely,
Thomas Harpointner
To learn more about AIS Merchant Services, visit:
aismedia.com/x/cc.cfm?AG45xpost
If you enroll as a FREE dealer and start generating sales, the above URL will ensure that Allan receives $50 for each of your successful referrals. This should help keep this site and forum free for us all.
(Well, thank you, Tom! But I’ll still be keeping a close eye on my “pending” sales. A 98.5% approval rate? I wonder if you can keep that up. It looks as though at least one of my seven sales is a dud – not replying to your calls. Still, $175 x 6 = $US1050. And then there are the sales of other AIS products, too, and sales of my sub-associates . . .)
[UPDATE: The AIS Media program has closed.]===========
8. Snippets
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AIS
When you sign up for one AIS product or service, you automatically are signed up to promote and earn commissions on them all. I’ve been mainly promoting the merchant facilities because of the $US175 commission, but I’ve had 10 sales of other AIS services and products, according to my online statistics. All the AIS products and services have two-tier commissions.
[UPDATE: AIS Media program closed.]
Yes but . . .
Todd Ebersviller of HyperBanner has given me a gentle reminder that we should be looking at the quality of the goods and services sold – not just how much money we can earn. Quite right. Please, anyone who has bought AIS goods and services, let me know your verdict – good or bad. So far, I haven’t received any complaints.
OfficeMax.com
Responding to complaints, OfficeMax.com has removed the six-month stipulation from its exclusivity clause. Under the old agreement, associates were not allowed to associate with another office supply store for six months after ending the agreement with OfficeMax.com.
officemax.com/affiliate/affAgree.html
Branching out
Amazon.com has launched in Britain and Germany.
Classified ads policy
How carefully should I investigate companies which advertise in the Associate Programs Newsletter? The newspaper I work for part-time accepts all classified ads as long as they’re legal. Should I do that – or do you assume that because an ad appears I recommend the company? If you feel strongly about it, please let me know.
Amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com?
Barnesandnoble.com – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/affiliate – has revamped its Affiliate.Net. I’ve reviewed it on the main page at AssociatePrograms.com. If most of your book sales are made via a direct link to one book, you’re better off with Amazon.com’s 15%. If you have a site with heavy traffic and most sales aren’t made that way . . . you’ll have to do the sums. Anyway, your bookshop is probably more a service to your visitors than a major revenue-earner.
Two-tierMarketing.com
I recently suggested that Two-tierMarketing.com would be a nice domain to have. Still thinking about it? Sorry – Jude LaCour has snapped it up. Did I just give away a million-dollar idea? Oh well, plenty more where that one came from – I hope.
Two-tier programs I’ve started a new page listing two-tier associate programs: (you get paid when your sub-associates make sales) There are no links on the site to it yet.
Best two tier affiliate programs
If you know of any I’ve overlooked, please let me know.
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9. CLASSIFIED ADS
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Please take the time to review the Singles On-Line Affiliate
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Please email any questions to: affiliates AT singlesonline.com
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[UPDATE: This affiliate program has closed.]
************************************************************
All the best
Allan Gardyne
