“Affiliate Programs That Sucks…..”

Have you ever had this experience….. you pick an affiliate program to promote, you send some traffic. Before you know it, you are getting some sales! Yes, you are profitable! Then you update your business ROI spreadsheet and everything looks really positive. You look at your bank account or PayPal account and you notice something not right!

Your commissions are not paid to you yet! What happened? This is the problem with private affiliate programs which are not on any affiliate network. Since they are not on any networks, they can take very long to pay you and still get away with it!

Sometimes, these products have a 60 day money back guarantee and your commissions will only be approved after 60 days. If you are using paid traffic to promote such programs, make sure you have enough money because this is bad for your cash flow.

Go back and read the affiliate sign up page, read the fine print and you would find that some of them have a very high payment threshold. If you only got 2 – 3 sales then your sales stopped, then you might not get paid at all!

There was once I promoted such an affiliate program, I missed the threshold by just under $10 and I had to wait for a very long time to be paid. Then I tried to request for my commission but the merchant just told me to promote again!

On 1 hand why should I promote again since the conversions are not good enough and it takes so long for commissions to be approved. On the other hand, if I do not promote, I will miss my threshold and I may never get paid! Either way, I am on the losing end…..

Affiliate Networks And Private Affiliate Programs

Affiliate networks are more reliable when it comes to payments, especially the more established ones. You also have a wider range of offers to choose from. Your payment is consolidated nicely for you. The only disadvantage is that you would have more direct competition.

Private affiliate programs may or may not be reliable when it comes to payments. Your commissions might take a longer time to be approved and your threshold might be high. Your payments are not consolidated for you. The main advantage is that you would have much lesser direct competition.

What To Look Out For

Sub ID Tracking

Almost all the major affiliate networks, including CPA (Cost Per Action) networks have subid tracking. This is important if you are doing paid search such as Google AdWords because it helps you identify the keywords which are making you money and the ones which are not.

Payment Mode

Are you getting paid by check, direct deposit or PayPal? If you are not a USA citizen, clearing checks would take awhile. Mine takes about 30 days to clear plus I have to wait 2 weeks for the check to arrive in my mail. This is why my top choice is always direct deposit and my second choice is PayPal.

Cash Flow

When you use paid traffic, you usually have to pay within 30 days. If you get your affiliate commission after 60 days, you will have to use money out of your savings. On the other hand, if you get paid after 15 days and your traffic bill comes after 30 days, you pay for it using your commission.

Conclusion

This was my story….. When I first started out, I promoted so many different affiliate programs that I had difficulty keeping track of who have paid me and who have not. Now my approach is to always make it a priority to promote offers from affiliate networks first.

If you still want to promote offers from private affiliate programs, you can play it safe by not promoting it actively. You can promote on your resource page or your autoresponder emails. In this way, even if they pay you late, cash flow is no big issue for you.

Look at it this way, if you are getting sales while promoting in a passive manner, it only shows that the offer is converting. When you can see that the offer converts plus the merchant pays you on time, that is where you can choose to promote more actively.

Enjoy…..

FREE Google AdWords CheatSheet (Value: $49)
Advanced Ninja-Style AdWords Marketing
No Need For Expensive AdWords Software
Start-To-Finish AdWords Walk Through

Claim Your Instant Access!
Click Here Right NOW >>

“Internet Marketing Reviews…..”

How many times have you joined an email list only to unsubscribe a week later? This happens when your expectations were not met, you expected high quality content yet you ended up with endless amount of sales pitch asking you to buy a bunch of crap. I will tell you straight up…..

What Can You Expect Here

In every market that you enter, you should always start with ppc. (I do that all the time.) The reason why you do that is because you need to get enough traffic in the shortest possible time to test if your idea will sell.

Remember: no traffic = no sales = no money

PPC And Affiliate Marketing

By looking at this domain name, you can expect lots of ppc tips. Tips would also include….. entering markets, picking affiliate offers, researching keywords, setting up campaigns, ad writing, landing pages, email copy and more.

Social Media And Direct Marketing

Sometimes I do cover SEO, blogging and social media. As much as I am a hardcore direct marketing nut, there is no way we can ignore social media. The key here is to use SEO, blogging and social media as a tool for direct marketing.

You can always expect to hear about selling, selling and more selling. After all, if you do not sell anything, you do not get paid, right? Even if you are doing CPA offers, getting someone to take an action is considered selling as well.

ClickBank And Niche Marketing

There are no end of opportunities with ClickBank for both affiliates and product owners, therefore, you will always hear me talking about ClickBank.

There was a point of time I avoided ClickBank because I hate waiting for checks to be cleared. I live in Singapore and it takes about 2 weeks for the check to arrive and another 4 – 6 weeks for them be cleared. Not that I am impatient but it was bad for cash flow since I pay for most of my traffic.

Since ClickBank started to pay through direct deposit, I focused my attention back on it again. In fact, I even moved 1 of my niche membership site to ClickBank. It is not the perfect affiliate network, however, learning to work with it has paid off very well.

Conversions And Tracking

List building is really important, at least for most information-based niches. Conversion rates must be tracked properly so that you can know if you are profitable. Be prepared to discover some elements that can really improve your conversion rates. Your cost per lead and cost per sale can be cut down as well.

Product Reviews

Most of my affiliate presell sites are usually a bunch of comprehensive product reviews. They convert really well for me and over time, I have grown to enjoy writing product reviews. Unlike most people who review products just for a commission, I do it to educate and inform you so you can make a better decision.

My reviews are usually more unbiased and accurate because….. I read the ebook, watch the video or use the software before reading the salesletter so that I will not be distracted by the sizzle of the sales message.

Product Types

First of all, I will NEVER promote anything that I personally do not believe in! No unethical products, no spamming products, no network marketing related stuff.

You will never see me promote stuff like those ready-made sites or content where all everyone gets the same thing. Imagine many people having the exact same site or content, where is the USP? (Unique Selling Preposition)

Many times, you will see people trying to sell you stuff like those business-in-a-box….. none of it works. What you need is to develop your own USP even if you are an affiliate.

Think about what makes you unique compared to your competitors and turn that into an advantage or a benefit that people can see. Once you do that, not only more people will want to buy from you, your competitors will have a hard time trying to knock you off.

Personally, I like the finer things in life and I always find myself leaning towards more refined things rather than just anything thrown together just to make a quick buck. Do you also feel the same way?

I definitely appreciate well-researched and well-produced products or services where we as the customers really experience that spirit of excellence. Every time I see such a product, I will recommend it.

Opinions And Decisions

I am blessed that I always get a review copy of new products before they are officially launched, sometimes months in advance. Remember that reviews are merely my personal opinion, the decision to buy or not to buy is ultimately yours.

Many times, I get to test the methods in new ebooks so that I know how well they work. At times, when I highly recommend a particular product, I would sweeten the pot by offering my own bonus. They are usually short and straight to the point reports which you cannot find anywhere else.

Your Take Away

Even when you choose not to buy what I recommend, the reviews will be written in such a way that when you read it, you can at least take away some good ideas which you can implement in your business.

When that happens, email me and share your good results with me. With such a negative world, I actually love hearing good news! If you do much better than me, I will be really proud of you, no jealously here. I may even want to do a case study with you as the main character.

What NOT To Expect And Why

Other than blog posts, you will rarely get additional free advice from me. This is only to be fair to customers and clients who are already paying me.

However, if you post a comment on any blog posts, you will get replies. When you email me with simple or specific questions, those that takes me a short paragraph to answer, I will surely reply you.

On the other hand if you ask very general or very personal questions, I might not be able to help.

Want More?

Maybe you really need very specific help, you can request a quote for a session of consultation. Fees can vary depending on topic and duration. Of course, fees can vary depending on the demand for my time.

Sometimes, if the help you need is really beyond me, I cannot take your money because I may not be able to help. I promise to be straight forward and upfront with you, no hidden fees for sure.

Important note: This post was not meant to sell you consultation! I really prefer to be behind the scenes, working on my business. Usually, working on the traffic conversion and sales optimization.

Hope you will enjoy being on this email list. Not just for the first few weeks but for a long long time…..

Enjoy…..

FREE Google AdWords CheatSheet (Value: $49)
Advanced Ninja-Style AdWords Marketing
No Need For Expensive AdWords Software
Start-To-Finish AdWords Walk Through

Claim Your Instant Access!
Click Here Right NOW >>