Tracking software is used by affiliate merchant to track individual affiliate sales. An affiliate merchant can make use of in-house tracking software, join an affiliate network or use services of an ASP in order to track leads.

In case affiliate merchant makes use of independent tracking software or ASP services, make sure to find out if software is reliable and has ability to track all kinds of sales. If software uses cookie tracking, find out duration of cookie. Although using cookies to track affiliates does not always work fine as cookies can be deleted by buyer.

Most affiliate merchants today make use of affiliate network services. Affiliate network services are safest when it comes to making payments on time, conflict resolution and accurate tracking. Affiliate Networks are also great sources to find good affiliate programs and can help you get payments from different merchants through a single cheque. So make sure to register at some good networks. Some reputed affiliate network services are commission junction, LinkShare, Clickxgalore, and ClickTrade.

7.) Terms and conditions for payment

You do all hard work as an affiliate and hence you should make sure that you get paid for it. There are chances that affiliate merchant might have some unwanted rules and regulations in his affiliate agreement; so in-case you don’t like to get a bitter shock in aftermath, be sure to check out terms and conditions with utmost care. Some things that you got to look out for in terms and conditions are as follows,

a.) Payment frequency/Payout rate

Make sure that affiliate merchant makes payments at end of every month or with- in a few days afterward. Anything above 2 months for making payments is not advisable. Also find out mode of making payments. Payment gateways are safer and faster as compared to cheques.

b.) Payment for future sales

Many visitors won’t buy products on their first visit. They might come back though after some time to make purchase. Make sure that affiliate merchant pays you for future sales made by a customer referred by you. Although chances that you get credit for future sales is low due to cookie deletion possibilities, but it is better to have options open.

c.) Minimum Balance Amount for payout

Most affiliate merchants and affiliate networks have a minimum amount for payout. An affiliate would require reaching that amount to get a payment. Find out minimum balance and estimate if target is easily achievable for given product/service.

d.) Roll over/carry over terms

Roll-overs or carry-overs are related to minimum balance. If affiliate fails to achieve minimum balance within a month (or set payment date), payment keeps rolling on. Although this is not a problem, some merchant’s may have a fixed rollover period after which payments will not be issued. Joining such programs is not recommended.

e.) Conditions for Charge-backs on product return

Some merchants have a product return policy which allows buyer to get full refund in-case he is dissatisfied with product. The period within which buyer should return product to get a refund is called chargeback period. Make sure to take note of chargeback period of merchant and also find out how much of your commission will be debited if this happens. Although products having a return policy will have a better conversion rate they can also lead to affiliate’s cash getting debited or completely taken back.

In addition to payment terms some other conditions that you got to check out are ‘condition of exclusivity’ (which could mean affiliate cannot promote any other product except affiliate product/service or that he should not promote competitor products/services) and conflict resolution method of merchant.

8.) Additional facilities offered

In addition to simply offering banner ads most good affiliate merchants offer other facilities like, real time sales statistics and tracking information, free training on how to promote products/services, newsletters, affiliate help lines and even website improvement programs. Some affiliate merchants even offer their affiliates a say in their decision making process.

Many good affiliate merchants also have a policy of rewarding better performing affiliates with incentives, over and above commissions. Joining such programs can really be a rewarding experience.

To succeed in affiliate marketing game requires knowledge of promoting goods/services not only through your website but also using other online promotion means like email marketing, online advertisements etc. So, make it a point to do lots of reading and information gathering before plunging into arena. There are many websites that offer quality resources and information on affiliate programs. Some good ones to refer are http://www.bizbrim.com, affiliate-programs-guide.com and affiliatesdirectory.com.

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