"Find Profitable Niches with Niche Navigator"

It has come to my attention that many of you are still asking some of the same questions. These include:-

• How do  find an affiliate program that is worth promoting?
• How can I be sure that my affiliate program will pay me?
• What is the difference between an “affiliate” and a “sub-affiliate”?

Okay then, let’s address these issues right now.

Firstly, unless you use Clickbank, Rapbank, ClixGalore or another reputable company, you will stand a chance of being screwed. With the reputable companies you can do a “mock” sale and ensure that your affiliate id shows up at some time during the process. I will go into this in more detail in a future post, but simply put, many of these affiliate programs that say they will pay directly into your Paypal account will stiff you for your commissions. It pays to go through a reputable company such as Clickbank or Rapbank.

Here is a list of some of the affiliate programs I am a part of, you may join up under me in any of these and feel free to contact me if you have any issues or questions. All the links on this page are my affiliate links so I will not cloak or hide them from you at all. You will not end up as “sub-affiliates”, I don’t work like that. Go ahead and check these out:-

• Ray Johnson – Some outstanding promotions from someone who has been doing this for a long time. Many creatives to choose from and over a dozen separate affiliate opportunities. Note: I recommend always using a redirect script for these programs. If there is 1 thing I am critical of, it is the extremely long affiliate links that Ray supplies. Cloak them, redirect them, do something with them and never put them directly into a promotional email because long links like this will always break in an email.
• Leon Klepfish – I have joined several of Leon’s affiliate programs in the past but this one ( header ads ) really converts well. It plays on the online marketers primary need – Traffic!
• Raamakant S. – OTO Goldmine is a great converter and all the work is done for you. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the easiest way to make money. You make money using the system, and if you are not using it already then GET ON IT, you also make a good commission by promoting it. I kid you not, this is about as easy as it gets. The products are chosen, the copy is well written, the products are rotated for maximum conversions, the products are removed if they go “stale” and the procedure is dead simple to incorporate into your site.
• Richard Wing’s “Best Damn Network” – Many good quality programs to promote. My only criticism with the “Best Damn Network” is that several promotions are a little short on creatives. So, if you are just starting out in affiliate marketing, this may get a little “deep” for you. On the other hand, if you know how to write promo emails and create banners, these are some exceptionally high converting programs.
• More to come shortly. Get started with some of these and remember – Pick 1 and promote it to death before moving on to the next. If you do a half-assed job, you will get a half-assed pay!

How can you be sure that your affiliate program will pay you?

Use the outline I gave you earlier whenever you sign up for any affiliate program. Do a dummy run, click on the affiliate link that you are given by the admin of the chosen affiliate program. They can not give you a black eye for testing your link, just do not continue to click on it or it will be tagged as “click-fraud” and your account may be squashed before you have had a chance to make a sale at all. When you do the dummy run you will be taken to the payment processor – STOP – do not actually purchase the item, simply check the page to ensure you are getting your due credit for the sale. Does your affiliate link appear in the sales doc, the address bar, or anywhere at all while that page is displaying? If not, there is a chance you will get stiffed on the commission payment so move on to somewhere else, and make sure to do a dummy run there as well.

What is the difference between “affiliate” and “sub-affiliate”?

An “affiliate” has joined an affiliate program on the top level, whether they were referred or not, where a “sub-affiliate” has been referred and sits on a lower end of the scale. The “sub-affiliate” will always get a lower commission because their “referrer” is getting a piece of any sale they make. While sub-affiliates can make a good dollar, especially if the product is high-end, it is always better to sign up as an affiliate and receive your total worth, wherever possible.