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Multi-Tier Affiliate Systems -
Other people making you money

 

An affiliate program has two sides, the merchant side (the party with something to sell) and the affiliate side (the party who has gathered a trusting community such as a hobby website, ezine or discussion group. In essence, affiliate marketing is recommendation selling. The affiliate recommends the merchant’s product and provides a link to it from his/her popular website. In return, the merchant gives the affiliate a commission for the sale – a win/win situation.

 

What is a Multi-Tier System?

While having two sides, an affiliate program may also have multiple levels (usually 2, but some as many as 5). A second level occurs when the affiliate recruits a sub-affiliate. In this case, the top affiliate is rewarded for signing up a sub-affiliate by receiving a commission on everything sold by his recruit.

 

Setting Up a Multi-Tier System

Obviously, through the principle of progressive multiplication, if affiliates are selling, plus recruiting sub-affiliates to sell, sales will multiply exponentially. This is good, but it can be somewhat like a brick & mortar store suddenly having too small a parking lot or too few registers to handle the traffic. Remember, an army of affiliates want, and deserve, their cut of the pie. For the merchant, this can spell a management nightmare.

 

Amazon.com developed the most famous affiliate program. To run their program, they developed automated traffic-tracking tools, which they patented. However, most companies stick to what they do best (their product) and outsource the management of their affiliate programs. Online affiliate tracking experts host the software needed to keep track of affiliates and required payments. 

 

Here are some management and software options to get you started:

·                                 AffiliateShop

·                                 Interneka

·                                 Commission Junction

·                                 QuickPayPro 

·                                 Leadhound

·                                 My Affiliate Program

·                                 AssocTRACK

·                                 Your Own Affiliate Program

·                                 Synergyx

·                                 Be Free

·                                 LinkShare Corporation

·                                 AffiliateZone.com

·                                 AffiliateTrends

·                                 AffiliateGuerrilla

·                                 CyberAffiliates (Australian)

Of course, these are just a few of the many available. Note: If you choose a “do it yourself” software solution, you may need to hire a programmer to install it for you.

How to Promote your Affiliate Program 

1. Finding affiliates to invite into your program:

a.  Look for sites with content complimentary to your product or service

b.  Look for sites that rank well for the most logical keywords related to the site

c.  Look for sites that already link to you. In altavista.com enter, site:your-domain-name.com, to find the sites that link to you.

2. Treat your affiliates well:

a.  What will you pay for? A click through to your site? A purchase? A download?

b.  Will you pay a set amount or a percentage?  

c.  Will you reward the affiliate if the shopper buys any item on your site or only the advertised item?

d.  Will you reward the affiliate one time only or every time that buyer returns and buys again?

These considerations are important because they are directly tied to the morale of your affiliates. I the offer isn’t good enough, they simply won’t represent you or, if they do, they won’t work very hard at marketing your product. Good affiliates are in demand in today’s Internet marketing arena. Merchants are competing for the best. You can use http://www.refer-it.com/ to compare your offers to the offers of similar companies.

3.  Multiply your efforts by offering a multi-level program:
Affiliates recruit more affiliates. They do the work for you.

Some Affiliate Programs that Offer Multi-Tier Options: 

One of the best ways to familiarize yourself with multi-tier affiliate marketing is to participate as an affiliate for a while. After learning the affiliate side, try a level down and recruit a sub-affiliate. Next, examine the online and software solutions. Also, try asking the Webmaster of a site with a successful affiliate program what management system they are using. After doing your homework, launch your multi-tier affiliate program and discover the real power of the Internet.