How to Identify Affiliate Programs With High Profit Margins – Part 1

This is part one in a series on how to identify Affiliate Programs that offer High Profit Margins. One of the simplest ways to make money online is to sell other people’s products. This is commonly referred to as affiliate marketing. I’d like to show you how I do it, specifically, how to identify quality products, determine their profit margins, and ensure that you get the best return for your efforts.

This series will walk you through the process of choosing an affiliate product that suits your site, offers higher than average returns and allows you to grow your business using this product line.

Overview – How to Identify Affiliate Programs With High Profit Margins

Where to start? One of the hardest things to do when you start your own web business is deciding which products to sell. In some respects, the problem is that there is too much choice. With so many products to choose from, how do you start? I recommend that you sell 3-5 products. Focus your marketing plan on selling these items. Go narrow, not wide. Become an expert and the go-to person in a single area.

Look at it like this.

‘I want to be the person people go to for advice on…’

Fill in the blank. That’s how you position your web business in your prospect’s mind.

Part 2 — Mistakes To Avoid When Choosing Affiliate Programs

In this module, we will look at:

1. How to avoid Low Profit Margins. Something I learnt from Yaro Startak,
2. How to avoid Crowded Markets
3. Does the Product Conflicts With Your Core Products Suite?
4. Is There Demand In Your Target Market?
5. Are There Opportunities To Upsell Similar Products?
6. Does the Partner Offer Technical and Business Support?
7. Does the Product Align with Your Marketing Strategy?
8. Have you tested the product? Either buy it or get a trial version.
9. Have You Researched The Target Market In Depth?
10. How To Avoid Promoting Too Many Products
11. How To Avoid Low Returns on Advertising (watch the video here)
12. How To Search Engine Optimization your Site
13. How To Develop Your Brand

Part 3 — How to Select An Affiliate Product

Once we’ve looked at the mistakes to avoid, the next module will examine how to select an affiliate product that compliments your business strategy. I’ll show you how to:

1. Focus on 3-5 products (and why this makes the most business sense)
2. Define a high profit margin, at least 30%.
3. Identify a niche market that has customers ready to buy.
4. Ensure that the product aligns with your marketing plan (aka suite of products).
5. Appeals to your target market

Next, we will examine if there is:

1. Sufficient demand (so you don’t waste your time launching a product that no-one wants badly enough)
2. Opportunities to upsell multiple products
3. Adequate support from the partner/affiliate and that the
4. Affiliate product solves a problem. It lets me segment my newsletter list and connect my newsletter and blog together. Something FeedBurner can’t do.

Part 4 — How to Assess Value of Affiliate Products

The next module, we check that:

1. Products align with your core message.
2. Affiliate partner’s website and technical support is ready, offers banners ads, and web marketing kits.
3. Quality of Goods is worth endorsing
4. Reputation of the affiliate partner
5. Commission scheme of the affiliate program is attractive
6. Tracking software shows you that you’re getting paid
7. Terms and conditions for payment are fair

Part 5 — How The Payment Structure Works

This module will look at the payment structure and the pitfalls you need to avoid. This means looking at the:

1. Payment frequency (e.g. monthly)
2. Payout rate (e.g. 30%)
3. Payment for future sales
4. Minimum Amount before payment
5. Rollovers
6. Chargebacks

Part 6 — Where To Find Quality Affiliate Products

This module will show you where to find products that generates high returns. Examples include:

1. Commission Junction – I use this for GoDaddy. I sell expensive (not cheap!) web hosting and it pays very well. Nice setup, banner ads are easy to download and payment is prompt.
2. PayPal — the marketplace is ideal is want to sell digital goods with automated payments or membership sites.
3. Clickbank— for those who want to sell information products and instant downloads. EJunkie is an alternative site for buying and selling digital downloads.
4. Google – how to use Google to research affiliate products.
5. Directories — affiliate products directories

Part 7 — Comparison of 3 different Affiliate Programs

In this module, I’ll give you three case studies and examine different affiliate programs. We’ll examine their strengths, weaknesses, risks and issues. This involves looking at their:

• Pricing Structure
• Target market
• Profit Margin
• Support
• Quality
• Marketing Kit
• Risks
• Issues
• Competition

Conclusion

Identify Affiliate Programs (with high profit margins) becomes easier when you know what to look for. I’ll do my best to flag the pitfalls most new web marketers make and highlight the key areas you need to focus on.

Choose affiliate programs, that suit your customers needs, means considering its

1. Choice
2. Features
3. Payments
4. Quality
5. Relevance
6. Strategy
7. Variety

That’s it for now. At the end of the series, I’ll send out a PDF of the entire course, about 40 pages.

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Tagged as: Affiliate, Commission, eJunkie, Features, Payout, Paypal, rate, Strategy, Upsell, Yaro