Affiliate marketing is one of the lucrative method to make
money online. I have been an affiliate with almost 130+ affiliate programs and
everyone is different in their own way.
Different in terms of affiliate policy, payout, promotion,
coupon codes and so on. Even if you offer a service, it’s always a good idea to
run an affiliate program for free promotion and yes more clients or sales for
you.
Here I’m sharing 6 things which I would love to see in any affiliate program.
PAYMENT OPTION
This is the first option I want to discus, because I know I
skipped many affiliate program due to lack of PayPal payment option.
Specially in India, where the best possible way to get money
from offshore companies is via PayPal, I would love to see PayPal as one must
have payout method.
Apart from PayPal check is another option that is good. So far CJ, clickbank, Shareasale doesn’t
offer payment via PayPal.
With current PayPal limitations for Indians, users might not
be very happy with PayPal, but agree with me or not, this is still the best
method to get money in your account instantly.
SINGLE PRODUCT AFFILIATE LINK
Imagine you sign up for an affiliate program with a
WordPress theme club and you can’t find a direct affiliate link to individual
product, how annoying this could be for you. It’s very important for every
affiliate program or product to offer individual link to their product.
If possible buyer, land on homepage instead of product sales
page, most likely he will skip and move to somewhere else. Do you wish to lose
a sale just because of one important feature?
CUSTOM LINK OPTION
Following up from my above point, obviously price page will
not be considered as an affiliate product page but to showcase the product, you
might like to link to price page.
A direct link ? Well boy, you might going to lose some sales
here. How about an option to create a custom link for any page using your
affiliate URL. This feature is something which Elegant Theme affiliate program
offers.
CUSTOM DISCOUNT COUPON CODE
Discount coupon codes are one of the best way to promote any
product. Imagine getting a $119 product for just $69 like Dreamhost. Obviously
this will encourage sales.
Most of affiliate programs offers discount coupons to their
affiliates. How about an option to create your own brandable discount coupon.
For example, I created coupon code: SHOUTMELOUD30 for Hostgator Apart from offering discount, such coupon
codes helps in branding. Sad, but very few affiliate product offers an option
to create custom discount coupon. Such option will be useful for an affiliate
marketer like us. What do you think?
EMAIL UPDATES
So now you are a part of one of the top selling product as
an affiliate promoter and they are running a great deal of offer which one
can’t refuse. But they don’t send Email updates and being an affiliate, you get
to know about this offer when 10 other blogger have already written about it or
by the time when offers is coming to an end. Every product which offers
affiliate program should consider sending Email newsletter and other
subscription options, so that one can keep up with the updates. Related
reading: Must have for an affiliate newsletter.( aweber ).
AFFILIATE STATS AND BANNERS
So you just joined an affiliate program and when you logged
into affiliate console area, you realize that there is nothing apart from your
affiliate link and edit profile option. You can’t track how much hits you are
sending to them and which page or promotional method is working for you.
More over they are not offering any promotional banners or
links, how annoying this one can get? For me, I might refuse working with such
affiliate program and will find another similar good product. Having a fully
fledge affiliate panel is important for any successful affiliate program.
That’s not all, custom tracking link, affiliate manager and
couple of more things are essential elements of any successful affiliate
program. A well optimized and crafted for affiliate-marketer programs ensure
better earning.
I would love to know your opinion and features you would
like to see in any good affiliate program?