Why Start An Affiliate Program?

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Author: Cody Frazier

Article source: http://www.kabish.com/. Used with author's permission.

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 of dollars just to get a few people to visit your site but there is no guarantee that they will buy anything. So wouldn't it be nice if you could forgo all the hype and pay for only what works.

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

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

The first thing many ask is where do I find people interested in being my affiliate. The first place to look is your build in audience. Your normal 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.