Published Articles by Melanie O'Kane
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Making Money While You Sleep:  Part I

Affiliate marketing has been around for a very long time.  Companies like Avon and Tupperware^® discovered a long time ago that by allowing non-employees to sell their products, millions more in revenue could be made versus hiring a traditional sales force to accomplish the same, nearly insurmountable task. 

With the advent of the Internet, affiliate marketing has taken on a whole new form.  Now, almost anyone who has a product or service can create an affiliate program and allow people from around the world to sell their ware.

According to Wikipedia[1]:  “Affiliate marketing is a web-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts. … Affiliate marketing overlaps with other internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods.  Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, email marketing, and in some sense display advertising.  On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques like publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner. …”

People who sell goods and services for others in this manner are referred to as affiliates or joint venture (JV) partners.  Each affiliate earns a commission, typically based on leads and sales generated for the product/service provider (PSP).  Every affiliate program is a little different, but the fact remains that the PSP will reward affiliates for their marketing efforts, as long as it results in a lead or sale or both.

Let’s say you have a virtual assistance practice and use a bookkeeping program called Plus-Minus.  You absolutely LOVE this software and frequently recommend it to colleagues and friends.  In turn, many of these folks visit Plus-Minus’ Website and buy the software, because you’ve confirmed that it is a great product and worth the cost.  As a user and fan of the software, your recommendation is worth its volume in crude oil versus someone who has never used the product.

Yet, wouldn’t it be nice if you could have earned a little money from each sale made via your efforts?  Each lead and sale you created for Plus-Minus would have generated a commission for you – had you signed up for Plus-Minus’ affiliate program prior to making those recommendations

But before you go out and start signing up for all the affiliate programs you can find, there are a couple of crucial concepts to grasp.

1. Do you believe in the product/service?  Do you have personal experience with what you’re trying to sell to others?
   
    
2. Will your target audience be interested in the affiliate product/service you’re offering?  If the people who visit your Website are interested in typing services, why on Earth would they want to purchase from an affiliate program that offers lawn fertilizer?
   
    
3. Is your target audience open to the idea of purchasing from affiliate programs through your Website?  Are you a trusted resource on the Web?

Being a successful affiliate partner involves more than just incorporating a banner farm on your Website.  If I visited your Website and saw a banner touting a special from OfficeMax, why would I click on that banner versus just going directly to OfficeMax online?  Is this special only available through your site?  Are you trying to scam me or steal my identity?  If I don’t know you, why should I trust you?  This distinction is very important and probably the leading reason why so many fail using this form of passive income generation.

Elements of a Good Affiliate Program

So now that you’ve become more acquainted with affiliate programs, you’ll need to know what to look for in a good affiliate program versus a waste of your time, disc space, and possibly your reputation.

·         Perhaps the most important step in the process of finding good affiliate programs to join is to thoroughly check out each company you wish to align yourself with.  Call each company (or e-mail them) and evaluate the level of customer service you receive.  Check scam alert sites and visit the Better Business Bureau to see if any claims have been made against the company.

Your reputation and the reputation of your company are at stake.  To align with a shady company will do nothing but hurt you in the long run, even if they offer killer commissions.

·         What is the pricing structure of the PSP?  Do they offer high-end products with a hefty price tag to match?  Or, do they sell with the bargain shopper in mind?  Think about your target audience.  Into what range do they fall?  If your Website visitors are bargain shoppers, affiliating with a high-end product will do little to beef up your bank account.  Put yourself into the shoes of your audience.  If you were them, what would you want to buy?

·         How are the commissions structured?  Will your time and efforts be compensated for accordingly?  Look for commissions paid out as a percentage versus flat fee.  After all, once your people get to the PSP, they may decide to purchase more than one item or become frequent shoppers.  Earning a flat-fee deprives you of this potential extra income from the added sales you’ve generated.

·         Typically, when you sign up for an affiliate program, the product/service provider will give you a logo, banner or text link, which you then place on your own Website.  Special code called a cookie is usually embedded in the logos/banners/links used for affiliate marketing.  This tells the product/service provider WHO generated the sale so they can pay commissions to the appropriate affiliate partner. 

Look for affiliate programs that offer extended cookie durations.  A cookie that lasts 10 days, for instance, is not as good as a cookie duration of 6 months.  It is important to note this information when determining whether an affiliate program is worthwhile.

·         Does the PSP offer training relative to their affiliate programs?  Many people who opt for this form of passive income generation do not know the intricate ins and outs of being a successful affiliate marketer.  The PSP should offer training, or at the very least accessible customer service representatives who are standing by to take any questions their APs may have.  Your success with the affiliate program is ultimately their success.

·         Do not sign up for affiliate programs that make you purchase the products/services before you can become an AP.  Earlier I mentioned that using a product or service makes you a better AP.  But at the end of the day, it should be up to you whether or not you actually use all the products and services you are marketing as an AP.  If the choice is taken away from you, run the other way.

·         Does the PSP offer a good tracking system?  Are you able to track your sales in real time from the Web?  It is important to note that just because a PSP reports that you sold 10 widgets last month doesn’t mean you actually sold 10.  You may have sold 20 or 30 or 500.  Being able to see real-time transactions is very important.  Also, make sure the PSP regularly communicates with their APs regarding programs that have been cancelled, etc.  Many times, banners, logos and links will stay active even if the PSP has discontinued its affiliate program, which confuses the customer and takes away from your credibility.

·         What security measures are taken to keep the company and affiliate ids safe from prying eyes?  Hackers love a challenge.  And if the PSP doesn’t offer encrypted links and the like, it is quite possible for the bad guy to steal your hard-earned commissions right out from under your fingertips.  This also speaks to what I mentioned earlier.  Cloaking an affiliate link can be an important component of whether or not someone clicks on your banners or visits each PSP directly.

·         How often does the PSP pay out commissions?  What is the minimum payout amount?  For instance, do you have to earn $500 in sales before a commission is paid out?  Are commissions paid out quarterly, monthly, weekly?  Be sure the minimum payout amount is not more than you can reasonably earn.  And make sure you don’t have to wait for the next blue moon before you get paid. 

Finally, I want to mention that there are companies that offer affiliate programs on behalf of the PSP.  These companies are like the middlemen between the PSP and the AP.  They are matchmaking entities for affiliate programs, making sure the AP is a good match for the PSP and vice versa.  Some of these companies include Commission Junction and LinkShare.  In fact, many PSPs are now opting to promote their affiliate programs exclusively through these affiliate marketing companies versus handling them internally. 

Melanie O’Kane is President of MAD Typing and Consulting, a virtual assistant company based in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides administrative, creative and business writing services to clients throughout the United States.  O’Kane is an administrative veteran; successful e-book author; Host of Melanie O'Kane Radio on BlogTalkRadio; and Founder/President of The Lemonade Stand, a division of MAD Typing and Consulting dedicated to helping new and up-and-coming virtual assistants start their own businesses (from home) in the secretarial services industry.  Learn more about Melanie and what she's up to by visiting her online at http://www.mad-typing-and-consulting.com.

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