I like to start threads like this, everyone learns from them and you see the wide variety of opinions different webmasters have - So here we go ......

#1) When you are taking part in a webmaster program is it plain and simple the bottom line how much money you are making per click ? Or is there mroe to it such as your relationship with the company and/or their support/sales reps. I know alot of this business is about who you know, but how much of an impact does that make on where you send your traffic ?

#2) If you saw a program that had no trial signups would you even give them a shot and see how they converted or would you immediately dismiss them. Say this program pays normal rates but adds a twist to their payout scheme so you don't just get the regular per signup fee but you aren't getting the amount per active member up fron either.

#3) What are your thoughts on programs that payout per active member - I personally never was too impressed with them or the concept for one simple reason. If they are paying you out $XX for an active member and $XX for a trial member it will work out to where you make the same amoutn of money in the long run or else the program operator wouldn't even offer it. It's basically a way for the program operator to claim they pay more per signup and make their offerings look better.

#4) What are your thoughts about sites who offer you the ability to cross sell their sites and pay you $15.00 for every sale you send them through cross sells (I think $15 is the norm last I looked)

#5) How important are reward programs, I see them as pointless to be honet and don't pay attention to them at all... Am I the only one with that mentality or is that pretty much the general concensues (sp?)

#6) What are your thoughts about the programs that pay out $20 for $9.95 - $12.95 one month signups with no trials, and if you have used them what has been your experience with them

#7) Is free hosting becoming the next necessity ?

#8) What is it you expect the most out of a support/sales rep for the program you are sending traffic to?

I know that's alot of questions, but I honestly have a lsit of 20 others I could post.. Maybe some people will just attack a couple of the questions... even just one or two, but it would be nice to see some chat about people's thoughts on these things nowadays.

I look for two things in an affiliate program..

1) Niches i promote.

2) That people actually get paid.

Other than that i really dont care much for anything else in a program, PPS, revshare, dollar trials, free trials, cookie cutter sites, you name it, it can be sold by me as long as a program has a niche (or more) that i promote and actually pays out.

Everything else programs offer are of no use to me, if a tour doesnt sell, it gets swapped back to one that does irrespective of whether im making 10,000 points per sale, given free hosting (which id never use), given free content (which id never use), given hosted galleries (which id never use) etc etc..

I'd be interestd in hearing any program operators chime in on whether they truly consider it worthwhile to offer free non stop hsoted galleries and free hosting with profit margins as low as they are.. And you are bound to only have the lowest on the totem pole webmaster wise using those services woud be my guess.

So... Do you aquire enough of the smaller webmasters to make it worthwhile? I always had the philosophy that I would of rather had 100 smaller webmsters than 5 large ones... for multiple reasons. Some mroe obvious than others... But now that so much is ecpected by the smaller webmasters and a huge amount of time consumed by employees is it still the way you look at the situation ?

We have alot of everything. With over 17,000 folks in PMB we run the gammut. Granted no all 17K send traffic anymore, but we do ok. :)

We have large TGP guys and gals that religiously send an assload of traffic to our hosted galleries daily to AVS webmasters that use us as upsells in their content areas to folks that just popunder things I've cooked up off search engine traffic.

I'm totally old school, so I don't buy into the whole reward point, upsell, fluff fluff, blah blah blah but that's just me. If you want an IPod fucking buy one.

When I personally go fishing for a new income source to use I do a 10K unique out test and if they don't convert to my liking, they go on the spreadsheet in red. If they convert they stay in the rotation till they don't, then I get a new fishing pole.

It ain't rocket science.

Well, as a progrm owner, yes its definately worth providing those types of marketing tools whenever possible so long as they work :)

Affiliates want program owners to do as much work for them as possible, especially TGP webmasters i have found.

1) Yup. People want, or shoudl want, the most money per click they can get. of course you need to spread it around so as to not have all your eggs in one basket but making every click count asmuch as possible should be the goal.

2) Non-trial sites often do quite well. Wouldn't bother me in the leats if I think ti can convert.

3)Nothing wrong with doing it as a program owner but there is no way I'll use a per active member option unless it makes sense. IE- the payout for that active member is in line with their PPS rate and the conversion to trial rate. An that's tough to test on a lot of programs.

4) Nice to get an extra $15 but it can also as a program really fuck your CB rate if you aren't careful.

5) Nice, but certainly not necessary.

6) See #1

7) Actually I see free hosting being less necessary and programs dropping them.

8) To be able to quickly and professionaly help me with any questions/problems I may have about/with the program.

My decision is based pretty solely on whether I think I can sell the site or not. I know my surfers, I know my traffic. I know what they'll buy.

Depends on the niche. Some niches do not need and should not have a trial at all.

And in all cases I evaluate the price point and the hook more than I do whether they have a trial or not.

Although I dont inherently object to the concept, I've never done worth a shit in any program that pays on active members.

It is my opinion that no program starts out with that model because it is unattractive. And most that end up there do so because they cant make the numbers work in any other more traditional affiliate payout model. In other words, active member models is the Gillette Mach3 of payout models.

Like most other things in this industry, those who pushed it beyond the reasonable limits have pretty much killed it for everyone at this point. An unchecked cross sell option to a similar site for a discount price is a darned good marketing idea. However, there are asses out there who just had to pre-check sales for insanely high prices to multiple sites that had 10 galleries each in them plus the same set of leased feeds that is in the other sites they cross checked.

No factor at all to me, I ignore 'em.

I assume the shave is in play. But I'll try it, low price points can work. 20 signups at $20 each with a 50% shave pays $200. That's still better than 5 signups at $30 with no shave but a much higher priced site.

I dont dwell on the payout formulas. I look to see if I can sell the site, if I can, I try it. Then I measure the size of the check against what I made the month/week before sending the same traffic to another source. Know your traffic, know what it likes, know what it's worth.

Fuck free hosting.

Paid hosting is so cheap now that if you cant afford to at least pay your damned hosting bill, you need to put an application in at Mickey D's.

I rarely call on 'em, so all I ask is that when I do email 'em, answer me back promptly. I'm really impatient on that one. If I'm working on something, I want to finish it right now and move to the next project. I'm not known to wait patiently on someone to get back to me.

The vendors and sponsors I've used for years and years pretty much all share one characteristic: they respond very quickly 24/7/365.

#1) It's all about the money, I don't want to build a relationship - I want to earn.

#2) As has been said it's all about the niche. I prefer trials though.

#3) I don't touch it.

#4) If I can get an extra $15 for a cross sale then excellent, I don't make this a must though.

#5) Pay me money, I can win prizes at the fair ground!

#6) Never tried a program offering this, don't know if I would either.

#7) I'll keep my sites on my servers thank you very much.

#8) To be left alone. I'll start sending traffic at my discretion and I'll stop at my discretion as well. Don't hit me up anytime asking me anything.

#1) When you are taking part in a webmaster program is it plain and simple the bottom line how much money you are making per click ? Or is there mroe to it such as your relationship with the company and/or their support/sales reps. I know alot of this business is about who you know, but how much of an impact does that make on where you send your traffic ?

i rarely if ever send traffic to people * ILIKE * for that sole reason as its a waste of my hard earned traffic .. best sales per click is where i send it

#2) If you saw a program that had no trial signups would you even give them a shot and see how they converted or would you immediately dismiss them. Say this program pays normal rates but adds a twist to their payout scheme so you don't just get the regular per signup fee but you aren't getting the amount per active member up fron either.

Trials work well for some niches and others convert direct - its all about the niche

#3) What are your thoughts on programs that payout per active member - I personally never was too impressed with them or the concept for one simple reason. If they are paying you out $XX for an active member and $XX for a trial member it will work out to where you make the same amoutn of money in the long run or else the program operator wouldn't even offer it. It's basically a way for the program operator to claim they pay more per signup and make their offerings look better.

PayPer Signup or RevShare with some initial payout

#4) What are your thoughts about sites who offer you the ability to cross sell their sites and pay you $15.00 for every sale you send them through cross sells (I think $15 is the norm last I looked)

i could cross sell anysite i want too from within a members area so i dont think id settle for a $15 one .. id got with sites that were my sites niche and promote as normal unless i was extremely pally with the person

#5) How important are reward programs, I see them as pointless to be honet and don't pay attention to them at all... Am I the only one with that mentality or is that pretty much the general concensues (sp?)

pointless

#6) What are your thoughts about the programs that pay out $20 for $9.95 - $12.95 one month signups with no trials, and if you have used them what has been your experience with them

havent used them yet

#7) Is free hosting becoming the next necessity ?

it would be nice but inabon wouldnt like me :(

#8) What is it you expect the most out of a support/sales rep for the program you are sending traffic to?

What i need to make sales - content - banners - potds - access for more content - instant returns on questions - not being ignored is always good aswell

Great info, thanks guys... Anyone has anythign else to add feel to post it !

Don't ask questions :ph34r:





:biglaugh:

Don't ask questions :ph34r:





:biglaugh: [/b][/quote]
You're right it just gives me more work to do LOL - :headwall:

You're right it just gives me more work to do LOL - :headwall: [/b][/quote]
Always listen to the lazy boy :D