7 Deadly Sins When Choosing A Free Online Affiliate Program

You have just come across an outstanding product, and you can’t wait to use it! At the bottom of the screen there is a link for ‘online affiliates’ and you’re curious. The link takes you to a page that offers YOU the opportunity to sell this one of a kind widget. What luck! Promises of huge commissions right off the bat and you’ll be in fat city! Only you find out after becoming an affiliate there is no additional training, their marketing materials are questionable and you have no idea what to do to make this work… Sound familiar?

There are a lot of online affiliate programs out there, most of them can get you conversions, but only if you already have a background in affiliate marketing. I’ve outlined the 7 deadly sins to avoid below, along with my suggestions of 3 of the best candidates to help you get started.

7 Deadly Sins of affiliate marketing companies

1. Excessive Hype. It’s understandable that a new product or service is going to be hyped. Advertising and marketing must be promoted to spread the word. However hype can backfire when the product simply doesn’t live up to the mythical aura created to promote it.

2. Outrageous Claims. Can you make a million dollars without lifting a finger? Unless your name is Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, don’t count on it. Free online affiliate programs often will claim that what they have to offer is going to get you rich within hours of signing up. I’ll tell you what, you find that program then email me at and I’ll be joining you shortly! The truth is, you can be looking at between 30 to 90 days to get a good steady income flowing through you. Be realistic, if you only put 20 minutes a week into this, you will most likely not find your pot ‘o’ gold.

3. Poor products. Sometimes the product just doesn’t deliver. Unless you’re testing out every product that you happen to promote (a good idea, but sometimes impractical to accomplish), you’re going to run across products that simply don’t perform the way either you or the customer expects. If you can’t try the product yourself, locate unbiased reviews before you begin a campaign that could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in wasted advertising fees.

4. No demand. Everything looks right: the PPC campaign has the right keywords, the product is fantastic, and the sales letter is smokin’. But there’s a problem: no one actually wants to buy! Make sure you fully understand the market before you get in too deep with a free online affiliate program. Just because it says “free” doesn’t mean you won’t lose any money if things go unexpectedly wrong.

5. Marginal profits. Free online affiliate programs usually don’t have the problem of offering low commissions. However, you’ll occasionally encounter a product that seems great, but the cost of promoting it nearly outweighs the profit potential. Doing a thorough cost/benefit analysis in your initial planning stages can save you a lot of time and money.

6. Shoddy copywriting. Nothing kills a good product like bad salesmanship. The free online affiliate program you select should have a sales letter that sings. If it doesn’t, no matter how well you promote it, the product may not sell. If you think there are problems with the sales page, ask an affiliate manager directly if it can be updated – or if your campaign can link directly to the checkout page.

7. Vague wording. Sometimes free online affiliate programs make promises to consumers and affiliates alike about various aspects of their product or affiliate program. Make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting into before you start promoting something. Nothing will sting worse than sales you lose because you failed to understand an unclear passage in the terms and conditions.

The ray of light is you are signing up for free affiliate sites and have the opportunity to look over most of the 7 deadly sins before you get started. When you follow these tips, you’ll find yourself involved with the best free online affiliate programs out there. As I said at the top of the page, here are my top 3 picks for any new (or experienced) online affiliate marketing programs (you will make money here). Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

By: Michael Kearn

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Michael is a writer and affiliate for FreeSiteSignup, a site that allows you to have your own affiliate website – free! Get your own free entrepreneur money making website (valued at $2,079) where you make money promoting the best entrepreneur related products, and earn 75% commissions following our proven marketing plan. To find out more about how to make money as an free online affiliate program for music products, visit FreeSiteSignup today