Evaluating a Network/Affiliate Marketing Opportunity

In the forums I frequent I find that the most common question that is asked by beginners in internet marketing is "What business should I start?" That question is so simple, yet so complex to answer. In reality, no one can tell a person which is the best business to start. However, I have come up with a step-by-step plan outlining what a newbie should look for when entertaining the idea of starting an online business. Enjoy!

We get tons of the offers in our e-mail everyday, we may even poke around a website or two, with piqued interest. A few of us have even tried a couple. Yes, there are many opportunities to make money online; unfortunately, there are just as many scams waiting to take what little hard-earned money you have.

How do you determine the legitimate opportunities from the “get-rich quick” scams? Through trial and error, I have devised a sort of “litmus test” to hold all opportunities against to see if it’s real or a dream. Just follow this checklist, and you will be better informed of making a decision on whether you should join an opportunity or not.

First Focus: The Product/Service

This is an absolute must have in affiliate marketing. The organization should have product(s) or service(s) to sell, and it should recruit affiliates to help them in running that business. It is best to avoid organizations that have the recruitment of affiliates as their main business. Their affiliate structure is like a house of cards, waiting to crumble at the slightest negative impact, taking your money along with it.

Would you use the product/service yourself? This question is important for a number of reasons. It’s hard to get excited about a product/service if you know nothing about it. People prefer to purchase from knowledgeable sources. Finally, if you don’t see a need fro the product, it will be hard for you to connect with people that could, limiting your personal market.

Is there a market for the product/service? Who exactly would buy it? Is there a demand? Where does the demand fall on the Bell curve? The bell curve, a symmetrical curve for illustrating where a product/service lands in the sales process, slowly rises for new products, reaches a curved plateau, then spirals down, sometimes fast, sometimes at the same grade of its rise, depending on the product/service and economic market conditions. How long has the product/service been in the marketplace? Is it new, old, or overexposed?

The last thing to consider about a product/service is its pricing. Can the buying market afford the price? Where does your price stand with competitors? If your price is higher, is there value there to justify the difference? Value in the eyes of the buyer, not yours/ what is different, unique, and important enough for the buyer to purchase from you that you can’t get somewhere else for less?

Second Focus: Company Stability

Now that you have evaluated the product/service for marketability, its time to take a good look at the company the product represents. The more information you can find on a company from various resources, the more likely you have a legitimate opportunity.

The first bit of information needed is how long has the company been in business. The organization should have a proven track record of operating their programs for several years successfully. If the company doesn’t have at least a three year track record of success, they should, at least have been started by a person who is well-known in their field with good creditability. Otherwise the company has no foundation to build on. It is still in a learning phase, and you will be a guinea pig in their experimentation.

Another way to check out a company’s stability is what organizations the company is endorsed by. The first place to check is the Better Business Bureau. Although many legitimate opportunities are not listed with the BBB, if the opportunity you are researching is, it a step in the right direction. Other affiliations may be listed on the organization’s website. Click on their links and see what exactly they say about the company they are endorsing.

Most opportunities I’ve seen have testimonials from people who say they’ve tried this opportunity, and it works. The true question here is, are these testimonials verifiable? Are you given contact information (e-mail, phone number, Instant Messenger information, etc.) where you can quickly get in touch with the person who wrote the testimonial? Don’t hesitate to contact any information source in the organization you are evaluating. It is in the company’s best interest to answer all your questions quickly and thoroughly. Caution though, the original person you contacted should be the one to contact you with an answer to your question, or at least an acknowledgment before sending you to the proper source. If not, that truly gives you your answer. No response whatsoever? Drop the opportunity and move on to another.

Finally, get some feedback from independent resources. Search Engines are one of the sources which can be uses for this purpose. Simply type in the name of the organization + forums. You will be presented with several websites, forums, and blogs dedicated to objectively reviewing network/affiliate marketing opportunities.

Final Focus: Payment & Affiliate Structure

You should have a good feeling about the company, and have all your questions sufficiently answered to this point. If not, find a different opportunity and start over. The one you have probably is a scam, or just isn’t for you. But if you have, now is the time to see if you and the company are a good fit. Do you see yourself doing what it takes to succeed with this opportunity?

First, you should find out what is required of you to succeed in this opportunity. How much are the start-up fees? What tools and services are included with sign-up? What kind, and how much effort is required to perform a commissionable action? These questions give you a clear picture of what you will be required to do in order to succeed with this company. If you can’t picture yourself doing what it takes, move on to another opportunity.

Next, find out how you get paid. How much is each commissionable action worth? How long does it take to process a commissionable action? What forms of payment are available? How often are payments sent out? Is each commissionable action a one-time sale, or are there residual opportunities? Is the effort individual, or leveraged? (Leveraged meaning you get a part of your down line's sales as well) If it’s leveraged, how big a percent are you entitled to?

Once you make sure you understand the payment structure, you should determine if it is feasible to you. The website will always portray the best case scenario when listing potential earnings. Find out what you can expect to earn realistically by using this simple formula:

How many sales (S) will it take to equal your desired income (I), and how long (T) will it take to generate that number of sales

S * T= I

Make sure this is a reasonable number and time frame for you. You should also calculate how many sales it will take for you to break even on your investment. If any of these numbers look unrealistic, keep moving.

Next, you should research what types of support are available. It is in the interest of the organization to help their affiliate to succeed. The organization has been in business for a considerably longer time than the affiliate, are more knowledgeable about their market, and about the ways of promoting their product. It is marketing suicide not to have a good support system, because it leads to a high attrition rate if new sign-ups are not guided in the right direction to making money.

See what types of support is given by your opportunity of interest. Many companies offer support in the forms of live trainings, tutorials, articles, books, marketing plans, marketing tools, forums, websites, and personal, one-on-one guidance from your recruiter. The more avenues of training an organization has, the better.

If you find a company that stands up great against this checklist, then you may have a great opportunity in your hands. The only thing left to remember is persistence. Even if you have a great opportunity, you have to give it a chance to grow. You have to give your best effort of marketing the program over a specified period of time. Usually, with Network/Affiliate marketing, 90 days is a reasonable amount of time to give effort to an opportunity. If you don’t see results by then, then the program may be a dud, or not for you.

I hope this helps everyone get a good start in earning money online!!!

Stay tuned for the next post, where I will finally reveal the opportunity that have driven me to help others in their online money making journey, an opportunity that meets all the requirements listed here, the Free Online Cash System!!!