Google Profit Lesson 2

W

e learned all about affiliate programs in the Lesson 1.

We now need a way to find the best affiliate products to market.

There are thousands of affiliate programs out there to choose from.
Any product you can think of has an affiliate program.

There are affiliate programs for things like books, cars, computer
games, computer programs, porn sites, prescription drugs and
ebooks. You name it and there is an affiliate program for it.

You can even join an affiliate program for selling property on the
moon!! So how do you go about choosing the right programs? Well,
there are many factors to looks at.

Here are six characteristics to look at when choosing an affiliate
program:

1. High payouts - Would you rather be paid $1 or $20 every time you make a sale? $20 of course!! I like to work with affiliate programs that payout anywhere from $15 - $60 for each customer conversion. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for $1 payoutprograms and as entrepreneurs you should always keep your eyes open for opportunities, but from personal experience, the higher payouts seem to work best for people just starting out.
2. Effective product sales page - Your success as an affiliate depends highly on how effective the sales website is for the affiliate program you belong to. I'm not talking about yourpersonal website; I'm talking about the owners of the affiliate program themselves, the site you are sending people to. If you are sending people to a website that is constructed very poorly and has a low sales conversion rate, you are not going to make any profits. But if you send people from your website to a website that captures the customers attention and effectively conveniences them to buy the product, you will make much more profits per customer.
3. The amount of competition - If there is too much competition in the affiliate program that you join, it will be harder for you to make money. When there are too many affiliates vying for the same customers, the profits that can be made by one individual become less and less. I would say that it's a good idea for beginners to stir away from the really competitive products. You will have a much better time with programs that have relatively lowcompetition. Don't get me wrong, you can compete in any affiliate program but you need to learn certain skills, to turn a profit.
4. Payout Dates - Be sure to check how often the affiliate program will be sending you pay checks. You don't want to be stuck waiting 3-6 months to be paid. I usually like to stick with affiliate programs that pay every 1-2 weeks. Sometimes I will join affiliate programs that pay every month, but anything over one month is just too long to wait for. You have to think about your advertising budget. If you only have enough money to advertise for two weeks, and you get paid every three months, you are going to run out of money to advertise with. The quicker you get paid, the quicker you can take that money and reinvest it to increase your profits.
5. Payout Minimums - Almost every affiliate program has a minimum payout amount. Most of the time affiliates programs will require that you earn $25 - $100 before they will ever send you a check. This is fine, because you should be able to hit this amount easily. If it's more than $300 then I would stir away from that program. Sometimes you will join an affiliate program and make some money, but you may decide for some reason that that particular program is not working out. If you did not hit the minimum payout then you will never be paid. Another reason to pick a low minimum payout is that it may take you awhile to hit the minimum, so the lower the payout level the quicker you will get your money.
6. In Demand Products - This is a very important thing to look for in affiliate programs. Choose something that people really want and find a way to give it to them. For example: millions of people in the U.S. feel they are overweight, and want to lose that weight. It's your job to find an affiliate program that fits these peoples needs. Sell them diet pills or workout tapes, even workout equipment. Here's another example: Many people want to find someone to date. Well you've seen all the online dating services. Guess what, most of those have affiliate programs that you can join. Direct a person who wants a date to that dating service website and you will make a nice commission.
   

You now know what to look for in an affiliate product, so now we need to go find an affiliate product to market.