Why Start An Affiliate Program?

As any business owner knows advertising can be a very expensive aspect of starting and maintaining a business.Advertising on the Internet can take many forms form Pay Per Click search engines to ezines. You could literally spend hundreds ofdollars just to get a few people to visit your site but there is noguarantee that they will buy anything. So wouldn't it be nice if youcould forgo all the hype and pay for only what works.

With pay per performance advertising you only spend money when you makemoney. Here's how it works. When someone signs up for your affiliateprogram they will do the advertising for you and you pay nothing. Ifthey refer someone to your site who makes a purchase thenyou pay the affiliate a commission for the sale. You only pay when youget payed. Commissions vary from program to program usually rangingfrom 10% to 75%.

Name recognition is benefit of affiliate programs. If someone knows about your business andwhat you offer they will be most likely to buy from you then a competitorthey've never heard of. With multiple affiliates advertising yourproducts even if they don't sell your products you still receive publicityat no cost to you.

The first thing many ask is where do I find people interested in beingmy affiliate. The first place to look is your build in audience. Yournormal visitors and customers is an excellent place to start. If you run a subscription based business you could offer your customers a discount on there next statement for ever customer they refer. There are also many affiliate networks available that will advertise your program for you and many will also over see your program, keeping track of affiliates and commissions so you won't have to.

Living in a post dot com bust world the cost and quality of advertising as depreciated exponentially. What used to work years ago no longer will. Many businesses that start affiliate programs see a noticeable increase in sales. No only that but it is a win win situation where both you and the affiliate profit from the sale. The only thing you have to ask yourself is who will start taking on affiliates first, you or your competitors.

Affiliate Programs Directory