Which Affiliate Program Will Make You The Most Money?

Posted by Andy Williamson on June 05, 2007
Filed Under Affiliate Profits

OK you’re all revved up and ready to start your on-line publishing and internet marketing career, in a short while the day job will be history and you’ll finally be in control of your life. No more worrying about job lay-offs, company downsizing, outsourcing or whatever the latest trend is for corporate cost reduction. You’ve read a lot about affiliate marketing and realise that this is by far one of the best and easiest ways to get your web based business up and running, naturally you start to scout around to see which affiliate opportunities are out there, this is where it all becomes a little overwhelming - with literally millions of affiliate products now available for you to market, which product or products are going to be best for you?

During the initial rush to get under way with a new internet based business a lot of people just starting out will equate quantity as of equal importance to quality, they’ll get onto a great affiliate network such as Commission Junction and sign up for anything and everything they can, making their website look like a patchwork of affiliate links and banners. Others will look straight at the commission percentages and the payouts choosing to opt for the highest payers, poof… one more mortgage refinancing site is born!  There is actually a better way to choose your affiliate programs that will provide you with a far greater chance of generating a good long term income while providing strong possibilities for exciting JVs and business partnerships when you’re established.

Read on to discover a better way to find you own personal killer affiliate products.

One thing is for sure, affiliate products come in all shapes and sizes - quite literally from 10% on a $2.00 gift item to 3% on $1million of real estate, and the list grows bigger every day as more manufacturers discover this incredible marketing technique. The secret - if there is one - is not to get too wrapped up in all the hype straight away, the important thing to remember is that people are making good money selling a huge variety of products just as you see in the off-line world of sales - in the words of the song “ it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it”.

You see, the affiliates who often make the most for a certain product are often the very people who are experts about that product and very passionate about the benefits that it offers. This is the real key - consider building a site about a topic that you love and recommend the products and services that are related to that theme or topic and that you believe bring the greatest value and benefit to your readers.

Now some consideration for topic needs to be taken - there needs to be a depth and range of products related to the topic with recognized and proven affiliate programs behind them, but this is actually getting easier and easier as more and more companies discover the amazing power of affiliate marketing and produce their own programs.  Hobbies are often a great place to start especially if you have a degree of expertise and you’re passionate about it, but don’t pick a hobby you couldn’t give a hoot about just because someone told you that XYZ company pays $500 commission on each sale of some product related to it! Analyse your hobby to see just what products are available - you’ll probably be surprised, there could be specialist tools, equipment, clothing, training guides and courses, are there seminars that pay commission for anyone who signs up at your site, what about new products, people love to get the latest gadgets and tools for their hobby...think outside the box, many hobbies are ever more costly so could you market specialist insurances for it?

The thing to keep in mind is you’re not about to ram all of these products down your readers throats, you’re going to use your expertise to introduce them to great products for their needs. As you build up authority and reputation so people will look to you for advice, this is an area of great responsibility for the affiliate marketer, never recommend a product that you don’t really believe in - it may well be tempting because of great commission and potential profit, but you risk losing all if you start to build up a reputation as a marketer who will sell anything for a few extra bucks. 

I’ve signed up to more than a few Internet Marketers ‘How To’ affiliate marketing books and courses and many of them do the same thing - first they offer you a book that will solve all of your affiliate marketing needs making you an instant affiliate master - now you may well buy this book and then a few days later guess what? Another amazing product that does just the same appears! This just carries on until you take yourself off of the list. This is such a dumb short term strategy and the person doing this is most definitely not an expert affiliate marketer. Why would you spend a great deal of effort getting someone on your newsletter list only to lose them a few weeks later? Imagine just having 1,000 regular people on your list who read your newsletter whenever you send it out and that newsletter is packed with great articles and info and just once a year they buy a product you recommend for a good commission - many hobbies are for life, so why waste this great opportunity to keep your readers for the lifetime of their hobby all for a few extra bucks in the first few months by attempting to sell them crap that they don’t really need?

So in summary - which affiliate products are best for you?

The products that you believe in and which relate to a topic, theme or niche that you have a long term passion about - there is nearly always something that everyone has dear to them, in addition to hobbies it could be a health concern, a professional skill or a subject that you are already known to have expertise in and will be able to use the web to reach out to further people about. If you focus on providing the absolute best information that you can deliver for your chosen topic it will naturally include in most cases giving sound advice about best products, services and information sources, these are the products that you will produce the greatest affiliate profits with and what’s more, you’ll be providing a great service in the process.

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