Zero/Low Setup Fees

[fieldandtrek]

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Hello there,

I posted in another thread on the forums about a friend of mine that is interested in joining a network to get some more customers coming though the website.

He has a low budget and is sceptical on how well Affiliates work (even with me telling him how much it can help).

Does anyone know of a network that has a very low cost setup fee (and zero to none monthly fee) that he could sign up with? Alternativly, one that will offer a "trial" of sorts to prove to him how it can increase sales and visits to his site?

Thanks
James

[SillyJokes]

You might be able to negotiate a good deal with some of the smaller networks.

Alternatively your friend could try their own independent affiliate program with something like Groundbreak.com which we use.

This takes a while to get going but it's a one off payment for the software and this is pretty cheap. It has been working well for us for years and brings in lots of sales.

It takes a while to get affiliates on board and this will also depend upon the perceived earning ablility of your friend's offering. However the cost of entry is very low - it is then down to how much effort you are prepared to put in afterwards.

In my experience if you go with a network you end up with many, many affiliates most of whom are totally useless and never even put up a link, let alone make a sale. You pay the network but you still can't avoid having to put in the effort to recruit good affiliates.

No one is going to give your friend a free trial because frankly it takes months and months to see a return when you start a programme.

[Paul Bond]

My impression is that in order to attract the best performing affiliates you have to be part of a network. This sends out the message that yuou are serious about it and gives the affiliate the reassurance of having a network to police the commissions.
Has he tried something like a simple Adwords campaign to begin with ?

[jess1]

sos I maybe a bit late...

First of all what is your mates product? Could be having a program is not an option.

What if the program takes off

He has a low budget and is sceptical on how well Affiliates work

and goes through that low budget.

is sceptical

He needs to look at Ebay and Amazon

Jess