How to Create a Profitable Affiliate Program

Your affiliates are in the Internet marketing business just like you are. And like you, they can only stay in business if they are generating cash. So be generous. The more money you help your affiliates earn, the more profit you'll see on your own bottom line.

You can help your affiliates earn more money with you than with your competition by doing four different things.

First, increase your selling price. Granted, the usual way to beat your competition in price is to lower your own, but think about it. If potential affiliates have the opportunity to make a 50% commission on a $19 ebook your competitor is selling or a 50% commission on $39 ebook you are selling, which one are they more likely to choose? You, of course!

You can't just inadvertently increase your price, though. You'll need to increase the value of your product to justify the higher cost. Ways to do that include adding bonuses or extra content.

The main idea here is to give your affiliates a greater profit per transaction, so do whatever it takes to make your price increase worth it.

Second, increase your commission percentage. Since the standard rate is 50%, increase your rate to 75%. That's what the top-ranked affiliates in Clickbank offer. One of the main reasons they are at the top is because a HIGH commission percentage gets attention.

Before you start to panic at the thought of making a mere 25% from every sale, consider three things:

One, if you followed step one, your price is higher. That means you'd be making about the same amount of money if you kept your price lower and only offered a 50% commission. Two, with a 50% offer, you make 50% of a few sales from a few affiliates. And three, with a 75% offer, you make 25% of a LOT of sales from a LOT of affiliates.

Also, you only have to offer a 75% commission on your front-end products. You have the flexibility to lower the commission rate on your backend products to maintain your profit margin. The main purpose of that high front-end percentage is to attract the maximum number of affiliates into your program to promote your products.

Third, increase your visitor value. The way to increase your visitor value is to constantly test, refine and improve your sales process. This enables you to convert more visitors into paying customers.

When the traffic your affiliates bring to your site converts into sales, they receive an email notification. Every email they receive motivates them to bring more and more traffic your way.

Finally, increase the chances of making a sale. By establishing a strong customer path that gives your customers many opportunities to buy from you, you give your affiliates more opportunities to earn a commission:

--Up-sells: Offer a more valuable product to your customer on the order page. Give them the chance to spend $97 with you instead of the original $39. If they choose the higher-ticket item, your affiliate earns an extra commission.

--Down-sells: For visitors who opt not to purchase your $39 item, offer a less valuable product to entice them to buy something. A commission from a lower-priced item is better than no commission at all.

--One-Time Offers: After your customer completes the initial purchase, immediately entice them to buy from you again by taking them to a sales page with a one-time offer for a premium product. Your affiliate then earns a commission on that sale, too.

--Backend Offers: Stay in touch with your customers and lead them through your sales "funnel." Then every time they buy something else from you, the affiliate who initially referred them receives a percentage of the sale.

When you make your program profitable for your affiliates, they'll be motivated to drive more and more traffic to your site.

About The Author-- Glen Hopkins specializes in teaching struggling entrepreneurs how to turn their small Online businesses into thriving money machines all while working less and earning more. To get more information, including Free Reports, Videos and CDs, visit: http://www.GlenHopkins.name

Article Source: Articles island - Free article submission and free reprint articles