How to Choose Good Affiliate Programs for Your Site :D

Kia ora all!

I see that there have been quite a few posts in the last few months from people looking for ideas on affiliate programs, so here I will give you my 10% worth on good affiliate programs. By good I mean ones that have worked for me personally, but if you are new to the game, it may give you a place to start with so many different ones out there

General Affiliate Programs
Here are my top list of general affiliate programs that would suit a website regardless of content.

Google Adsense
This is my top earner. You put a bit of code onto your pages and each time someone clicks on an add you will get paid.

Pros
Payment is made straight into NZ bank accounts
There are a variety of add sizes and types to choose from
The adds can be customised to fit into your site look and feel

Cons
Minimum threshold payment is USD$100 – aroha mai – I am not too sure of the payment threshold in NZD and can not find it! But I think it will be between $NZD150 – 200
In order to meet the minimum threshold per month and get a monthly payment you need quite a bit of traffic which means a well promoted site
You may not want to have google adds all over your site

Books
Books are really good to have on your site and as there is such a wide range of books available, finding ones that will suit your site should not be hard. Books are my #3 earner.

If you are looking for a good Book place to use, I suggest using fishpond.co.nz and not Amazon for the following reasons:
* they pay straight into NZ bank account (Amazon will not pay into a non US bank account)
* They pay 10% commission on books regardless of how many products are shipped (Amazon will pay about 4%)
* payment threshold is $20NZD (Amazon is $100USD – it used to be lower!)

However, having said all of that, if your target audience is global you may want to stick with Amazon, although alot of my customers through fishpond.co.nz are not in NZ and each month there are international shipments.

T Shirts, homeware etc
T Shirts for me used to be a low earner, but I now create my own that are very niche and this has taken over as my #2 best earner.

CafePress is a large site that has millions of T Shirts, homeware and apparel and you may find products there that will fit your site. The Cafepress affiliate program is through Commission Junction and pays into NZ bank accounts.

You can also create your own shop and products there too and then others can offer your designs as an affiliate also!

Pros of CafePress
They have an affiliate program which means that people can promote your products on their sites
Cons of CafePress
They have high base prices whcih means in order to make a good profit, your products will be expensive

If however, having an affiliate program to offer on your site is not all that important to you, you can open a shop at http://www.artamatik.com/ – although a US domain the owner is in Christchurch and is really helpful with things you may want to know. http://www.maoricreations.com/designastore/ is also where I have put up a “How to Design a Store” site to also help.

Pros of Artimatik
The base price is lower, so you can have more of a profit markup and make a larger profit at a reasonable price
It is NZ based
Cons of Artimatik
No affiliate program

Specific Affiliate Programs
Specific affiliate programs depend on your site content so a good place to start is the New Zealand Affiliate Program list at this site or over at the
The Affiliate Directory which has programs sorted by categories

Good luck!