Building an Affiliate Network that Produces

Affiliate programs may be considered the newest or hottest craze on the Internet right now. But can you really make money with them, and how do you build an affiliate network that produces?Infomercials and tons of websites are promoting easy profits by using an affiliate network to distribute your product or service or to make money by promoting other people's products and services. However, the reality is not always that simple. Randomly joining or creating an affiliate network does not necessarily mean free money on a daily basis or getting rich overnight. However, affiliates do present some incredible opportunities for both sides if done sensibly. In fact, the huge popularity of the idea is partly responsible for making building a profitable affiliate network more difficult. It's a sweet set-up for most affiliates. Literally anyone can sign up as an affiliate for most programs out there. But these affiliates often have unrealistic visions and don't make easy money; they put in little effort and when results don't come quickly, they soon give up. The result is often wasted time and resources by the company offering the affiliate program. And eventually, these costs and lack of follow-through can result in a weakening of your brand or your product's value.

However, this potential problem can be greatly minimized with the proper software and a good system. Unfortunately, the popularity of the affiliate network has spawned a massive number of junk websites that act as directories and offer equally bad affiliate programs, which makes it difficult for businesses and their affiliate partners with legitimately good programs to prosper and receive credibility. As with any other business craze or hot idea, use a little common sense and stick to good business practices to build an affiliate network that produces. The two ways to build an effective and functional affiliate network are to: A. Be fully automated and low cost. This criteria enables affiliates to sign up and either produce or not, but it takes none of your time or energy. So even if you had ten thousand affiliates, it is it's own machine, and some will produce and some won't. This model normally works better for lower cost products and services like books. For example, Amazon has a very effective program, its associate network. Promoting this type of affiliate network can be done through your own site and through other websites likewww.clickbank.com. B. Be more particular about who your affiliates are. Beginning this type of affiliate network is more akin to a referral network, such as in the real estate industry. You may go after particular websites or companies that you want to become your affiliates through online advertising as well as through business development reps. In this type of model, you would focus more on working with companies in related fields that complement your service. A good example would be a direct marketing company. A company that sells business leads would be a great fit for a company selling toll free numbers because its service would complement the business and add value for clients. By focusing on working with companies that complement your services, you usually will have fewer members in an affiliate network, but affiliates that produce greater volume.