It pays to be generous.
March 7, 2007
When you setup an affiliate program to sell your products, it pays to be generous. Affiliates will promote your products more readily, and continue to push them harder when they see they are earning well with them.
Let me tell you why I'm posting this. There are two reasons. The first reason is that not so long ago I did a big promotion for a product from one of the big dogs of internet marketing, only to find that the product had a one-time-offer that I wasn't earning a dime from. That really made me angry, and I wrote to the product owner to let them know what I thought about it. The response was less than thrilling. Basically, "thanks for the feedback, I'll think about it" kind of a thing.
Now, I respect this marketer very much, but I have to admit that was a real blow to me as an affiliate. I haven't promoted his products since then, and I'm not sure I ever will unless he decides to start sharing some of the back-end money with his affiliates.
After all, who sent the traffic? Me. Who made the sale? Me. Who would have zero if it wasn't for me? The vendor.
In my mind, you are disrespecting your affiliates if you're not sharing at least some of the back-end money with them–at least splitting the one-time-offer with them 50/50.
I see a lot of people setting up their affiliate programs to give the affiliate a little bit up front and zero on the back-end. That's a big mistake. Your product will not go super-viral if you're treating your affiliates that way. Chances are they won't make enough money to think it's worth their efforts.
The more you can offer to your affiliates, the more viral your product will become. Your profits from the added traffic will usually far outweigh the extra that you are paying out to your affiliates.
An example is my $7 Secrets report. I offer 50% of the $47 one-time-offer on the back end. Thanks to that, the number of affiliates I have is tremendous, and even though the product launched more than a month ago, I'm still making dozens of sales every single day.
If you're an affiliate, always check up-front with the vendor that you'll get a share in the back-end sales. If they say no (or don't bother to answer), that's not the kind of product you want to promote. Save your precious contact with your email list for products that respect their affiliates.
Yes, be generous. It pays!
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. 
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