How to set up a really good affiliate program

[brettsimpson]

I have got to agree with you on everything, except for one thing.

What I meant by affiliates not selling, I meant that they are signing up for the program, but not promoting.

The ones who are promoting are converting the sales 1-500, which isn't bad.

But as far as everything else goes, I guess you'd have to be right.

I've been an affiliate for other sites for the past 2 1/2 years, and have been self employed doing this since then....so working the "regular" job days for me has been long gone. I'm the typical webmaster now work those 15 hour days..lol

Originally Posted by zero-x

brett, be prepare for some tough lessons, maybe your ride will be smooth and easy, but alot of the issues you have, i went through myself.

first, that site needs to get updated, you tried, got it online, thats a start, but update the look, it reminds me of old school type sites that i would have seen when i first started poking around. i am in no way a graphic artist or designer, but if you fool around with photoshop you might come up with a couple things you like, or with so many designers you could probably get something done reasonably priced.

as for finding affiliates, i'd agree with the advice given, forums is good to start, getting listed places will at least get your site out there and someone will at least have a chance to see it and might give it a try since no one else is. that said, make sure you get visa, like you said only 2 out of 50 people had any luck with selling your site. when i first got my site online, i had about the same number of people sign up as affiliates, but i had no visa, so basically that was a big opportunity lost.

third piece of advice, be careful about giving out passes, i found some sh!theads put some of my content on illegal tube sites, i believe scammers and thieves wouldn't pay anyways, but it pisses me off regardless that they can enjoy my work for free.

by no means am i an expert, but like useless said, the webmaster page is basic, mine looked like that as well for awhile (i was worried more about f'ing something up, then looks) but its not too hard to change it. pm me and i can help you out with that one.

lastly, keep coming here, i found a couple good places to read and here was one of them. when i was starting out, i found that reading forums and trial and error is better then "paralysis by analysis" (shemp 09), remember also that you can buy ad's and partner passes for submits if you end up not finding any affiliates and that it's always going to be a struggle, being free from a "job" , a boss or shackles doesn't instantly mean your on easy street.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by brettsimpson

What I meant by affiliates not selling, I meant that they are signing up for the program, but not promoting.

I do that pretty often myself. It's often a matter of signing up because I plan on promoting a site at a later date, or I signed up and discovered that their affiliate tools aren't what I need them to be.

http://www.babyruthie.com/affiliatesignup.html
Even after all of the advice and friendly criticism you've received in this thread, I don't see as you've acted on any of it.