by Azam Corry
Affiliate programs that pay two tier commissions are those that pay you a small percentage on every sale made by any new affiliate you refer, in addition to the usual commission on your own sales.
The vast majority of affiliate programs at present choose to ignore the fact that many of those that join their program do so via links from existing affiliates. In my opinion this is unfair. The original referring member is the primary generator of any additional sales made by the new affiliate, albeit indirectly.
The sales volume of most merchants would be a fraction of what it is today without these sales. That is, sales generated by all those that signed up after following a (purchasing) link from another affiliate.
Even companies like Amazon.com, for whom it could be argued that low product price prohibits two tier commissions, could at least offer a one off "head hunter" payment.
In fact, Amazon are on a very good number - for Amazon! They pay a single level, one time commission of 5 or 15% on a book purchase (15% is only for a link to a specific title). For this they get a lifetime customer that will, in all probability, buy from them many, many more times! They might make thousands from a customer they paid you $5 for ...
What a con!
Considering the number of purchases initiated by affiliates for which they will never receive a single cent because of the fallibility of current linking methods, I feel that two tier commissions also offer a way to help redress the balance.
Sign-up, but...
Nevertheless you should join any single tier programs that you feel can provide a good income and are compatible with your site. You can put up a few banners, links and add text as well for better results. However, whenever possible I would recommend that you don't look to them as your primary source of income, prioritize...
... save your real marketing energies for those that acknowledge your contribution to the growth of their program by paying you in cold, hard cash!
It's common sense really ...
Would you put all your effort into a program for which you'll only get paid if your prospect buys, or put it into one in which there still a possibility of earning something should the person decide not to make a purchase, but thanks to your link, joins the program instead?...
... no brainer! :-)
My favorite programs are almost all two tier programs and you can probably expect the numbers of such programs to increase as merchants begin to compete for affiliates.
Compete for affiliates?
Yes, sooner that you think, vendors will be bending over backwards to try and get you to join their program!
The simple reason? Just about everyone and his mum seem to be starting an affiliate program!
Be warned however ... if everyone makes the mistake of joining these programs with the intention of simply signing up others to sell for them, neither they nor anyone else will do very well in the long run.
You should view the 2nd tier commissions as they were intended - a valuable addition to your main source of income.
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