What motivates you to be an affiliate

It depends on one of two things.

If I am looking for a product match for one of my websites or if I have used a product and feel that I can honestly recommend it.

Hmm ok so the product is what you look at .
thanks a lot for your input
-WD

Quality product, great sales page, good commissions, and honesty in marketing.

Ok so we are getting
Great sales page
Great product
Great commissions-whatever that is
and honesty.

so in order to know they are honest you first need to know them.

Ok some great points
thanks for the input
-WD

Hmm Taylor that doesn't make any sense you can't know the product is accurately represented without either trying it yourself or knowing the person selling it.

Review copies for a product should be allowable if the hope of success is there. makes sense for the affiliate to know exactly how to write about it instead of using cookie cutter emails everyone else is sending good points
-WD

In order...

1) The product - something unique and in-demand
2) The commissions - has to be worth it
3) The salespage - not too worried about this because if the product is worth it, I can shoot a video w/ a review of the product and this will easily overcome a weak or even over-hyped salespage.

Really it comes down to the product and, as in the case of software, the support from the vendor for the product, the vendor has to provide good customer service or potential buyers will find hundreds of complaints by doing a simple search.

ITs cause I'm rather too lazy right now to build and produce my own product.

Hey, I won't lie, I'm lazy as all get out. But I can promote like No ones business. We'll get this going right.



-Sean

WD,
(Standing up on a soap box for a minute here)

I think the vast majority of affiliates have never bought the product or service they're trying to promote or even have that great of an idea of what it's all about.

The serious affiliates - the ones making thousands of dollars a month promoting - surely know their clients' products but not the ones just trying to break into the business.

That's just the way this business goes.

But, if everyone were playing ethically, I'd have to say that you could sum-up the requirements for promoting a product or service by asking yourself one, simple question ...

"Would you recommend this product or service to your grandmother?"

That's what I always ask myself when I'm thinking about promoting to my list.

You'd be surprised how many 'Can't-Fail" products hit the trash can!

Regards,
--JR Rich

Wow.

Some awesome responses here. Thanks. Good point JR I agree with that If I can't promote it to my mom I don't do it.

Here is what I think personally as a person who "hires" affiliates by hires I mean pays them to do promotion for me.

1) the person has to be able to prove they are not going to use black hat methods promoting my product and must sign an affiliate agreement before receiving affiliate link.

2) Affiliate must have reviewed said product and or service and confidentally be able to recommend the product or service to anyone submiting a review to myself before hand.

3) I expect my affiliates to give me feedback on what they are finding converting best i.e. are the campaigns they are running costing too much because of the product type etc . is thre a simpler way to achieve results they find or whatever they feel may be good to incorporate for all affiliates to help lighten the burden because let's face it it can be a burden.

4) and finally They must have a good understanding of online business and be able to ethically promote and do what they say . burn me once but never again is my motto I expect affiliates to do their part and I will do my part and then some.

So how can you accomplish this online? Well the first key is not just to allow any ol person to grab your product or service and promote it that is your name they are running with. using some steps like an interview you can weed people out pretty well but there are always exceptions if an affiliate is found to be in violation they forfeit any and all commission and are banned from any future promotion.

I like to see the above consistency in the responses Alexa made some awesome points I was impressed with the time she put into responding that shows me Alexa would be a hell of an affiliate.

Anyhow thanks a lot for the responses folks good to see a lot of you think ethics is more important then profit that was my purpose of this thread to see if people actually cared about what methods they use or what a product is as long as it paid well.

Great job and thanks for participating.
-WD

Hmm.
Well I disagree Taylor I would not ever promote anyone or thing without knowing for a fact the product or service was reliable after all it is my name being associated with it

Good products, Good Pay Structure, The product cost, sales page, Creditability, affiliate mangers with there swipe emails and such are are awesome :-)

I think another consideration is if you are in a niche that already has some hot selling products and it would be difficult for you to compete with the heavy hitters in that niche.

Some niches are just crying out for a new product or service while others are captivated by certain product creators already there.

Like the others, a good converting sales page and I like vendors that supply bonuses that you don't know about until you email them and ask

Matt

Aha Matt hit it on the head.

Aha good job matt. see that is what I mean when I say and then some. bonuses sometimes 500 sometimes a grand whatever depends on the quality of the affiliate.

Some get zippity. I was going to have affiliates with my site but decided I would allow members to receive cash instead so I opted not to in this one but I will be needing some feb or so the issue for me is having people who are consistent and integral in their methods because in reality Bh tactics could get Me in trouble.

hidden bonuses I learned that from Jeff Dedrick he runs the hidden sales page thing But I use it on my affiliate stuff.

Awesome Matt thanks for the input. it is 12;08 here folks so a very happy new year to you all This year is something special and may it bring you all great success.
-WD

I use CB and I keep it pretty simple. Gravity between 50-200, strong sales page, good niche, high commissions, high demand and low competition. If I can find all that it's golden. I also try to only promote products that I know are legitimate. I don't fancy promoting scams, I have to sleep at night.

A good fit for my niche .

A review product .

A great sales page Plus a direct link I can bypass the original sales page with for certain promotions and use for a capture page .

Permission to copy parts of the original sales page to make my capture page more relevant .

A back rub .

Lobster sent to me still live at certain sales points :-)

Wonder why I don't do a lot of affiliate marketing ?

Good point Joe.Thanks for the input.

What do you folks think of recurring income as an affiliate deal maker or doesn't really matter?

-WD

HAHAHAHAHA Troy your great. That is some funny stuff right there. Want a live lobster make me 10 grand and I will take you to dinner

boy that sounds like the deal of the year right there
-WD

As a site owner who creates products, but also does affiliate selling, I would have to agree with many of the things said here -- specifically, I'm not telling the people on my list to buy ANYTHING that I don't feel is a good product and a good buy. Nothing black hat, nothing for a quick one-time buck for me or my list-members. I protect my list and feel like I have an obligation to only recommend excellent products.

In a bit of an aside -- I've been reading quite a few different threads tonight, and wish some of the folks involved in a couple of the other threads would read this one. The posts here feel like they come from professionals who are discussing business rather than people looking for the fast, quick buck. Thanks for posting OP.

Hi Ally,
Great post. That is it exactly I do not promote to my list for others at all aside from my own stuff with the exception of one time for a fellow warrior whom I trust.

I am quite impressed with the posts on here and the leading factor is integrity which is just an awesome discovery for me because I know of a lot who use BH methods to get the quick buck etc .

Fantastic input here absolutely fantastic
-WD

I knew that Troy but the last 2 were pretty funny

Thanks for the input yesa so commissions could be a swayer if there was a reasonable chance of conversion. Interesting we seem to be getting all the bases covered here. this is awesome.

Thanks for your input
-WD

Here's my preferences of affiliate programs that I promote.

1. Must have recurring commission - Very important! Promote once & paid for life!
2. Must have backend offers
3. Must not display any links leading to affiliate signup on the sales page.
4. Free frontend offer is ok provided that the cookie life span is 60 days or more.
5. If the product owner is using inhouse affiliate tracking system, they should have a dedicated affiliate manager.
6. Products with free trials or low cost trials

That's all you need guys! Just promote 2 to 3 products with recurring commission at $20/sale and set a very realistic goal of 1 to 3 sales a month then you're all set.

Happy New Year!

Gama

Thanks Gama Happy New year To You As Well!

Thanks Paul good one and another different perspective very cool.
thanks a lot for the input
-WD

Thanks Dave some great points there thanks for your response
-WD

Hmmm Hi Cecille.

Wow that is something I have not seen mentioned thanks for the great input that is awesome. yes absolutely what are others saying about the person.

Good advice
-WD

HI Knowing,

Well it is easier in the sense you have a ready made product but affiliate marketing is not so easy you have to promote the right kind of product in the right niches you have to do research develop a strategy and execute that plan you have to figure out how you will promote it etc there is a lot more to it then just grab and go but you have the right idea.
-WD

for newbies on IM, like me, it´s the easiest system to understand