The Glory Of Tiered Affiliate Program
Tiered affiliate programs. Everyone loves them, but we don’t seem to have enough of them around. It’s one thing to make 10% for every sale that you deliver. It’s another thing to make 10% per each sale that your sub-affiliates generate. If you play your cards right and get enough affiliates to sign up under you, you are going to make money without having to do much work. In reality, it’s more complicated than that. Many affiliates are not willing to do you a favor and give you a percentage of their commission just because you have introduced them to an affiliate program. Even though they are not losing any money, affiliates are very sensitive about taking advice from (and rewarding) someone who’s banking to make money off of them.
Master-affiliates realized this issue a long time ago. That’s why they invested in reporting and infrastructure to provide more value to their sub-affiliates. These folks also used economies of scale to get better deals not only for themselves but also for their sub-affiliates. Companies such as NCSReporting went behind reporting features and provided their sub-affiliates with creative, banners, content, and a dedicated affiliate manager. It’s easy to be ignored and wait for days to hear from your affiliate manager if you are working with a large affiliate network. But master affiliates provide you with better access and coaching as well.
Master-affiliates are smart entrepreneurs who understand they can make money from their sub-affiliates’ work in return for providing value to them. It’d be nice if you could make easy money from tiered affiliate programs. In fact, some super-affiliates do. But those folks have worked hard to get where they are, and not everyone can do what they do. Master-affiliates are super-affiliates who are not after quick cash but rather want to foster relationships and build a long-term business. With the value that they provide to their sub-affiliates, they can get more sub-affiliates to sign up for them and make more money in the process as well. The more value you provide, the more industry recognition you get, and the more money you make in the process.
Your take: have you had success promoting tiered affiliate programs online?
