Golden Goose Marketing

The methods for choosing an affiliate marketing program to promote will vary from network to network.  CJ has performance bars, Clickbank has gravity, and others are a bit more nebulous.  Sure, you could look at the EPC or CPC (depending on the network), but that doesn’t always tell you much.  There’s a HUGE different in EPC when you have a few capable affiliates promoting something with PPC and using a landing page vs. when you have a couple of newbies submitting direct links to their favorite “get paid to click” networks.

With Shareasale, there are a few things you want to look at with any program.  First, even though it’s not always useful, take a look at the EPC.  If it’s zero, that’s a good sign that no one is promoting the program.  Depending on how the site looks, that could be either a fantastic opportunity or a good warning sign.  You’ll have to use your judgment on that one.  If the average commission is high and the EPC is low, it could be a sign that either it doesn’t convert well, or that a lot of bad marketers are sending way too much untargeted traffic.  It’s tough to make a judgment here, so just make a mental note and consider it  in light of the other things you’ll uncover later.

Next, take a look at the reversal rate – both 7 day and 30 day.  Some merchants batch process merchandise returns once monthly, so if you see an extremely high 7 day reversal rate and a normal 30 day reversal rate (5% or lower), it’s a good sign that their program isn’t as bad as the 7 day reversal rate would seem.  If the 30 day reversal rate is high, though, steer clear of the program.

You should also look at the merchant page itself.  Is the page attractive and well-organized?  Does it look amateurish?  Does it have a phone number at the top encouraging users to call in their orders instead of placing them online (thereby cutting out your commissions).

Finally, take a look at the average commission.  If the average commission is $1.00, you’re probably not going to have much luck promoting the program with PPC or PPV marketing.  It might work, but it’s highly doubtful.  On the other hand, if the average commission is $80, you have a lot of room for advertising expenditure.  Again, look at both the 30 day and 7 day figures to get a clearer picture of things.

As you get more experience in affiliate marketing, you’ll eventually develop your own techniques for evaluating merchant programs.  For now, though, this list should help you get started in evaluating affiliate marketing programs on Shareasale.