Becoming an affiliate with an established company is an excellent way for a new Internet entrepreneur to learn about online business and build an income for his own business. But do not join just any company.
Perform what is termed “due diligence” first. Investigate each company thoroughly by asking the following 9 questions:
1. How long has the company been established? A brand new company, no matter how good it sounds, has not had time to prove itself. Many new companies do not last a year on the Internet. You want one that has been around for three to six years or more.
2. Is the company a one-person operation or a real company with real employees, and real products? Some one-person companies are highly successful, but rarely do they have successful affiliate programs. You will be better off going with a large fully established company.
3. What kind of products does the company offer for affiliates to sell? Products should be easy to sell, known, high quality, and reasonably priced. A diversity of products helps, too. The company might have one terrific product, but once you sell this product to someone, what will you use as a follow-up to that same customer?
4. What amount of commission does the company offer? If the commission is less than 30%, it’s not worth your time and effort.
5. Does the company have a scheduled time when they pay commissions or do they insist you must accumulate a certain amount before they will pay? Watch out for this. Sometimes with an accumulation policy you might not reach the required total for quite a while. If you don’t keep in touch with the company, they will assume you have dropped out and keep your hard earned commission money.
6. Does the company charge a fee of some sort to become an affiliate? Some companies charge you to sell their products. In all cases where a company asks for a fee to join them, forget it. There are too many legitimate “no fee to join” companies on the Internet to bother with one that charges. And beware of those who tell you they don’t charge you to join, but require you to buy a ”sample kit” of their products before you can sell anything.
7. What kind of training does the company offer? No training program – drop them. A good training program should include all the necessary information to guide you and instruct you how to sell the available products. And the training should cost you nothing. When a large company hires a salesman, do they charge him to train him to sell their products?
8. Does the company provide a means for advancement? There are lots of companies on the Internet with affiliate offers who pay a decent commission, but that is as far as they go. What you really should look for is a company with an affiliate program that allows you to advance in the company and rewards you for good work with bonuses or other forms of recognition.
9. Does the company provide its contact information onsite? Reliable, successful companies have no qualms about showing all their contact information, including email address, company address, phone number, and the name of a person to contact.
You might think of a few other questions you want to ask a company you are interested in joining, but the above are the most important basic questions that should always be answered before you decide to go with a particular company and affiliate program.
About the author: Nancy Casseur is a Team Leader with Strong Future International Marketing Group. SFI is considered to have the largest and most successful affiliate company in the world. You can contact Nancy at nceur@msn.com for more information about SFI Marketing Group. She is also the Webmaster of New Business Site Info at www.newsiteinfo.net, a site that teaches new Internet businessmen or women how to get started.
