Successful affiliate marketing starts with successful affiliate marketing programs. See how to choose one and the best affiliate marketing programs around. http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/best-affiliate-marketing-programs/

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Best Affiliate Marketing Programs that Pay
Whoever said that af f iliate marketing was an easy way to make
money online must’ve had an af f iliate marketing course they
wanted to sell to you.
If it was that easy, there would be many more successf ul online
entrepreneurs happily making f ull-time income f rom the comf ort of
their homes.
However, it’s not rocket science either.
T he cornerstone of any ef f ective af f iliate marketing promotion is
picking the right affiliate programs and products to promote.
Af f iliate Marketing Pitf alls
T he problem with learning af f iliate marketing f rom “gurus” and top af f iliate marketers is that what works f or
them won’t necessarily work f or you and me.
Chances are we don’t have a huge list of 100K+ subscribers and an unlimited budget to of f er great bonuses
f or any given product launch.
So how are we supposed to compete with them?
We can’t and we shouldn’t.
Truth is we need to work smarter and look f or the best affiliate programs that:
pay the most,
of f er quality MULT IPLE products,
lif etime commissions f or ANY purchase your ref erral makes,
and are not too mainstream.
You think I am looking f or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
T hen read on.
Af f iliate Marketing Programs Overview
How do you pick which af f iliate marketing of f ers you are going to promote?
What really matters?
Price point?
But why would you want to promote a $2K af f iliate program that doesn’t convert?
Conversion rate?

2. But can you rely on the vendor to provide accurate numbers?
Here are some of the factors I look for when researching the best affiliate programs:
1. Long-t erm Income Pot ent ial
T his is a very obvious f actor.
Wouldn’t we all rather “sell” once and keep collecting the af f iliate paycheck on a monthly basis?
However, just because you become an af f iliate f or a vendor with a recurring f ee structure, doesn’t mean that
you’ll be getting recurring commissions f or it.
Good example: Hostgator.com.
Even though it’s a monthly service, their af f iliate commission structure is based upon the number of sign-
ups you drive to them and you’ll be paid a f lat f ee f or each sign-up.
On the other hand, Aweber.com does of f er 30% of the monthly f ee your ref erral pays f or their services.
2. Cookie durat ion
How long does the af f iliate cookie last?
Follow-up products make additional commissions, IF the cookie is being tracked.
Take Amazon.com, f or instance. T hey’ll pay you commission f or ANY product your ref erral buys f rom them;
HOWEVER, your cookie will last f or 24 hours only!
3. Follow-up/Backend product s
How good is the backend promotion?
Is it going to increase your bottom line?
4. Ref und Rat e
Bef ore you promote any of f er, ask them what the ref und rate is.
5. One Product vs ANY Product s
If your ref erral doesn’t buy the product you are promoting, but buys a dif f erent product f rom the same
vendor, do you still get commission?
6. Conversion Rat e
How well does the traf f ic you send to the af f iliate program sales page convert into buyers? If the
conversion rate is too low, is the sales copy not so great? Is the price too high?
7. Immediat e Payment
How long does it take f or you to get paid?
T he best af f iliate marketing programs of f er immediate payments f or each sale.
8. Second Tier Commissions

3. Not easy to f ind, but def initely pays to look f or af f iliate programs that of f er to pay you 2nd tier
commissions f or each of your ref erred customers.
It’s almost like creating an af f iliate network of your own and getting paid f or the work your “af f iliates” do.
Best Af f iliate Marketing Programs that Pay
T his seems to be a good place to distinguish between affiliate marketing programs and affiliate products that
you actually promote on your site.
You can pick the best possible af f iliate platf orm there is, BUT if it doesn’t of f er any products that are
relevant to your niche, it’s useless.
On the other hand, if you f ound an excellent product to promote on your site, but the product owner uses
an of f -the-beaten-path af f iliate marketing program you’ve never heard of , should you not promote that
product?
Absolutely not.
T he quality and relevancy of the product itself def initely trumps what af f iliate program powers the sales
process.
So keep that in mind when looking into signing up f or dif f erent programs.
Note: I am currently researching more affiliate marketing opportunities and will be adding them as I find and
test them.
The ones below got my stamp of approval.
The Big Three
Clickbank.com
Sooner or later, you’ll run into a product that’s powered by Clickbank.
It’s one of the largest players on the market and f or a reason: it makes it f airly easy f or both sellers and
af f iliate marketers to make money.
Several products I recommend to Traf f ic Generation Caf é readers are hosted by Clickbank, and so f ar I’ve
had nothing but:
timely payments;
great customer service through emails;
good experience all around f rom an af f iliate marketer’s point of view.
Commission Junction (cj.com)
Yet another big player used by various retailers and online businesses in a variety of dif f erent niches.
ShareASale.com
Yet another “behemoth” af f iliate marketing platf orm I’ve been using f or a long time.
With over 2,500 merchants to choose f rom, real-time stats, and on-time payments, I have no complaints.

4. The “Up and Comers”
T he f ollowing two platf orms are mostly used by inf ormation product creators.
You can def initely f ind a f ew great products there, but you might have to kiss a f ew f rogs to f ind your prince.
JVZoo.com
My f avorite af f iliate f eature of JVZ oo.com is instant payments. As in, “I sell it today, I get paid today“.
You still have to be approved by every individual seller, but once you are approved by them, you can market
any product they of f er.
Read my f ull review of JVZ oo or just sign up as an af f iliate here.
DigiResults.com
Very similar to JVZ oo.com
The Conglomerat es
I call “conglomerates” af f iliate marketing platf orms that bring multiple af f iliate programs under one roof .
So instead of keeping track of several af f iliate programs, making sure the tracking is accurate, you get paid
on time, etc, you can choose to use a “conglomerate” af f iliate platf orm to do that f or you.
A platf orm like that will automatically convert your non-af f iliate links into af f iliate links or even convert
certain keyword phrases within your content into af f iliate links.
Could be pretty handy.
Of course, there’s a price to pay f or convenience: these platf orms will take a small chunk out of your
commission f or being your “middle man”.
Skimlinks.com - a great alternative to Amazon.com.
Includes thousands of merchants – including the ones that you and I would never otherwise
qualif y f or like Nordstrom, Macy’s, Canon, HP, Sketchers, Target, Bebe; you name it.
Includes Amazon.com - if you live in one of those states where Amazon af f iliate program is not
available, you can still use it through Skimlinks.
Streamlines all your commissions.
Easy to use – just link to merchants in your posts and Skimlinks will do the rest. Or they’ll even do it
f or you – like I am sure they’ll do in this post; those are called “Skimwords”.
Read my f ull review of Skimlinks.
VigLink.com – another conglomerate similar to Skimlinks.com.
Stay in the Know: Af f iliate Product Launches
Knowing about upcoming af f iliate launches is a must when building an af f iliate marketing driven business.
Here are a f ew suggestions:
JVNotifyPro.com - a great resource to look through upcoming launches.

5. jvlaunchcalendar.com – various launches, including WarriorForum, JVZ oo, Clickbank, and others.
WarriorPlus.com - WarriorForum launches
Each af f iliate marketing platf orm has its own marketplace as well.
“Boutique” Af f iliate Marketing Programs
For those of you who don’t f eel like sif ting through a bunch of af f iliate marketing programs looking f or solid
products to promote, I have a f ew suggestions.
T hese are internet marketing specif ic programs that of f er quality, quantity, and great payouts.
Digit al Market er
Digital Marketer is Ryan Deiss‘ af f iliate program.
Import ant t hings t o know:
Great introductory low-cost upf ront products ($7 – $20 price range).
Like these:
How To Syphon Of f Massive FREE Traf f ic With Pictures on Pinterest
Rank Almost ANY YouTube Video #1 on GOOGLE in 3 Days Flat!
How to Make Google Your Biggest Af f iliate
FreshKey: T he Ultimate Amazon Spy Tool
Continuity membership program (recurring commissions – always great to have):
Digital Marketer’s Lab
Constantly tested upsell sales f unnel.
Fairly f requent new product launches.
T he newest one AuthorityROI launches in a f ew days.
Generally very high conversion rates.
Strong f ollow-up autoresponder series.
T he Marketing Tools give you ad copy, buttons, banners and other promotional materials, so you don’t have
to do any thinking (although I do strongly recommend you use your own brain to tailor all affiliate campaigns to
your specific niche and readership.
Commissions vary f rom 33 to 75% f rom product to product.
Commissions are paid on or around the 15th of each month f or the previous month.
Each month, 20% of your earned commission are withheld f or ref unds.
Payment threshold: $100.00 USD or greater f or the applicable payment period.
Accounts with balances less than $100.00 USD AND that have had 60 days of inactivity will be paid out on

6. the f ollowing payment period af ter the 60 days.
You have to submit an appropriate W9/W8 f orm to get paid.
Digit al Market er Cons:
Ryan Deiss happens to be very well-connected and well-promoted by many super af f iliates.
In short, you’ll be competing with people who have 100+K email lists and high-end bonus products to of f er.
Nevertheless, I’ve seen a steady stream of income f rom promoting Ryan’s products and think this is a great
place to start.
What’s Next?
If you want to know more about af f iliate marketing and how to make a great passive income by becoming a
supre af f iliate, I strongly recommend you check out Af f iloBlueprint.
Not only you’ll get to look over the shoulder of someone who HAS built multiple prof itable af f iliate websites
(Mark Ling), but also:
learn how to build gorgeous looking af f ilate sites without any technical knowledge;
optimize those sites f or f irst-page rankings;
how to “Google-prove” them;
how to drive targeted traf f ic;
the exact f ollow-up email sequence you can use;
and more.
Click Here to get all the tools you need to become a successf ul af f iliate marketer
I also suggest you join:
Affilorama – web’s largest af f iliate marketing community.
Marketing Takeaway
Af f iliate marketing is not about working harder; it’s about working smarter.
Find the best af f iliate marketing programs that pay and you are about a quarter of the way there.
T he rest will come down to how smart you are about choosing quality products relevant to your specif ic
niche.
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