Beware of the Affiliate Program of the Day

One of the most important decisions you will make as an Internet marketer who hopes to earn substantial sums of money from promoting affiliate programs is deciding upon the best affiliate programs for you to promote.

This may seem like an obvious statement but the typical affiliate in fact chooses the "program of the day" to promote without giving the decision much thought. The typical novice affiliate is surfing on the net, comes across a free to join affiliate program that features a hyped up clever promotional website, and joins right away. After all, it is free to join, right? What's the problem?

Well, it may be free to join but you must consider the time and resources that it will take to make a good go of any affiliate program. Without traffic to your website or directly to your affiliate site, you will not make sales. The best way to get substantial traffic right away is by using Google Adwords ads, Yahoo ads, or other PPC advertising, but this will cost you money. The expense of conducting an effective PPC ad campaign can add up fast, as you will soon see once you start your promotion.

You should look at every aspect of the affiliate program with a critical eye prior to making a promotion decision. For example, how well does the affiliate program landing page make a presentation? Sending traffic to a page that does not convert well will only cost you money.

You must also consider how the affiliate program pays. Does it use a reliable service like Clickbank or Commission Junction that will insure that you get paid and paid on time?

Then you really should check out the product or service that you will be promoting by using it yourself. Does it provide the benefits as promised? Is there a high level of customer service? Are you truly comfortable based upon your own experience with the affiliate company and product? If you aren't satisfied with every aspect of the affiliate program it is unlikely that you will be very successful in promoting it.

An additional item that you must look out for is how long a cookie or other tracking device will lock in your commission once you have referred a visitor to your affiliate website. Some companies only set cookies for one day. This is quite unfair to the affiliate as few folks purchase anything on their first visit to a website.

Under such a policy if the person that you send to your affiliate site visits today and then returns next week to make a purchase you would not be paid. Companies that offer 45 day to 120 day cookies are much better to work with as an affiliate. Even better are companies that offer life time cookies and life time sales commissions.

That means once you refer someone to your affiliate program website you will be paid a commission on RECURRING sales, not just the original one, for as long as your referral remains a customer. This can mean a tremendous difference to you in income as the years past by.

An example of a company that has such an excellent life time commission payment plan is Ken Envoy's SiteSell program.

In summary, keep in mind that all affiliate programs are not created equal. In fact, the range of quality is extreme. Take your time in choosing the programs that are right for you. You will stand a much better chance of making money by focusing upon a few top quality programs.