Hello,

I am so glad I found this site! I have been selling my products on eBay and on my website for some time...but need to generate a lot more traffic and sales. (ok, who doesn't...) So I am going down the affiliate marketing road. Anyway, I think I am...if I can find one that actually does what they promise and it doesn't cost a fortune. Can I get some recommendations on what you use that works. Also, approximate cost, etc. and what to expect. Ideally, I would like to find one that works solely on a percentage of sale. I have looked into a number of them today and my head is spinning from it all.

I have done Adwords in the past...and although it does work, since I quit using it I don't think I have lost enough sales to justify going back on.

Your experience will be most appreciated!

Thanks,

John aka OBRguy

I think you need to sit back and thing of what an affiliate program is first. If you are not sure whether it will work or not or will not be committed into offering it for a long time then you will get many affiliates that will really be very annoyed of you. The reasons for this is because some affiliates will actually build sites around your products and then if you stop offering this program your affiliates would have waste months of their life building a site around a few affiliate products that they will now longer be able to product as you would have stopped the affiliate program.

Anyway, if you have thought deeply about it and think it will work then maybe trying some of the affiliate networks or you could also have a look at some of the following affiliate software, which can be used to track affiliate sales, impressions, clicks, commissions, etc.

I have given this considerable thought...but you certainly raise a good point and I take it to heart. I certainly don't see why I would ever discontinue the affiliate program if it is working anymore than I would refuse to sell to my brick and mortar retailers. My goal is to move product, and this appears to be an excellent way of doing so. I will look at the link. I appreciate your help. Is there a reason you recommend getting software and doing it on my own as opposed to going with a company that supposedly does it?


Thanks!

John aka OBRguy

It's up to you what you do. Personally I think it would be better if you go with an affiliate network like ShareASale or something as they already have an affiliate base that you can work with. In other words if you used software and did it yourself, then you have to manually promote the affiliate program whereas if your affiliate program is listed with ShareASale they will be promoting their network plus your program at the same time and they already have a following and a reputation. Alot of affiliates also prefer to join an affiliate network rather than joining an in house program and that also includes me.

ShareASale is just an example, but a very good one as there is nothing bad that I can say about them and you can even get many opinions from others here. You can also set up datafeeds with them where their affiliates can grab them freely and then promote your entire product base. Another good way to get your products out there is through the likes of Froogle and some other produce price comparisons.

I have also sent you a PM. Please read and hope you do well.

Thanks for the input! If any others have some thoughts, I'm sure all ears....

John aka OBRguy

Another thing for you all of great wisdom (I feel like Grasshopper in Kung Foo)... What percentage of sale do you feel is reasonable. Most of my products sell for less than $20. Some as little as $3.50...some as much as $31.50.

What niche are you in. I did comment in the PM thinking that you were doing electronic products, but I don't think you are now as that must have been another post I had seen, lol.

What you have to do is work out your costs for each product and then work out the percentage profits that you would receive. If you work it out at around 40% profit then you would look at what your competition pays their affiliates in the affiliate networks and in their own inhouse programs and then you will rougthly know what to offer. If they pay 40% then obviously you can't pay that. But if they pay 10% which is more likely as a majority of merchants pay around 5% - 20% these days when it comes to selling retail products, that are not ebooks, software, etc. then you will know that you should be able to also offer 10% commission to your affiliates or maybe even a little more to make it even more attractive to the affiliate.

Nope, not electronics.... a popular line of men's toiletry items.

You are a wealth of information! This site rocks!!!

Hello again.... Ok, I have signed up with Shareasale. But as luck would have it my web person is out of town so I have to cool my heals till she can take care of getting the tracking code put in, etc. Rats! I'm anxious to get going. Anyway, still poking around a few sites. Anyone have any experience with Pepperjam or Affiliate First?

clickbank is good, 75% commissions on a lot of their products, some nice payouts

yeah you wont beat clickbank...i was just talking to a client this morning and telling him what clickbank means to me....

I did s****** that their commisions are high grrrrr *grumbles* but they take care of a lot of the messy financial work i.e. pay affiliates, tax, yadda yadda

I make money using the following methods in priority order:

1. Selling products to my list (my own and as an affiliate for others)
2. Running my own Advertising Coop (steady reoccuring income)
3. Adsense (small income here but it adds a little each month)

sky.bobi, have you used any affiliate services such as shareasale? And if so, did you not get the results you expected?

Clickbank is good for selling ebooks and things. This person wants to sell more than one product. Does Clickbank offer a place where affiliates can grab datafeeds, use coupons, etc. I don't think so.

Also with clickbank it is not good for small first time affiliates because you have to get 4 sales from 4 different credit cards before you receive you payout, the tracking urls are unfriendly, etc.

OBRguy, it's up to you who you go with, but good luck anyway.

I'm definately going with saleashare...but may add others as I progress, so any and all suggestions are welcome. Also any reviews of any of the various programs are appreciated, such as clickbank being a good one for ebooks, etc...but not necessarily for products that need to be shipped, etc. All of this is very helpful info!

Thanks, again.

er....make that shareasale, instead of saleashare...

Have you tried creating a product data feed and submitting it to froogle. It is a free service that they offer and some people do get a good amount of sales from them. I have heard that some get around 5 - 30 extra sales a day using them. The success rate with froogle would really be on the niche and how competitive your prices are though.

Ok, I am convinced john294 is in the wrong business. He should be a frickin consultant! When my web person gets back in town, we'll do the product data submission. Seriously... I think you have a way to gererate some income by providing your good advice. Not that I don't appreciate the free stuff... !

does anyone do pay to click sites? any hints to make more money?

I don't do pay per click sites and never will. They are the sort of sites where advertisers will loose all their money and get 0 conversions. There's alot of scamming going on in that area.