Lori Seaborg

My Affiliate Programs Wish List

In a self-publishing group that I'm in, someone asked what affiliate programs we'd recommend.  Here is my reply to the group:

Thought I'd chime in as a blogger.  Since I have a big, busy blog, I work with affiliate programs quite often.  Here is my wish list for affiliate programs:

• I like an immediate approval, or at least within 48 hours at the longest.  Usually, when I apply to a program, I've already written up a post on the product and just then thought of checking to see if there is an affiliate program.  I've delayed - and then forgotten about - many drafted posts that took weeks (or never, in a few cases) to approve my application.
• Updated banners and links.  It's quite frustrating when I want to promote a Christmas sale that I can see on a company's website, but can find only Thanksgiving banners a month old. This also gives me caution:  if they don't keep up with banners, will they keep up with payments?  I usually pass on the program if the material is old.
  
• A low, or no, threshold.  I promote the affiliate programs that pay no matter how much I made, or those that have a low threshold, such as $25.  I don't like the programs that make me reach $100 before they'll pay out. 
  
• Pay often.  If you can pay monthly, that would be perfect.  It keeps you in the publisher's mind.  When I receive a payment from an affiliate -- even a small $12.99 payment -- I'm reminded of that program, I'm reminded that it worked for me, and I'm prompted to run it through again.
  
• Be as generous as you can.  I love a program that pays out at least 25%
• Be generous with your "cookie."  Amazon only pays when a sale was made within 24 hours of the clickthrough.  They can get away with that. You can't.  We all know that customers like to think for a while.  Give us the sale credit, and we'll use your program often.  I like 30 day cookies at the minimum, and forever cookies the most! 
  
• I will not work with a program that takes away my money if I don't reach their threshold within a timeframe, or one that requires too many hoops to jump through.  I won't work with one big program because although I've earned over $100 in affiliate money, they won't pay me because my account hasn't met this:

Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers; and,
Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, PayPal or European Direct Debit(ELV)). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

Perhaps my sales were all from the same customer or they were all PayPal purchases; I don't know.  But I do know that all other programs I've used haven't required that of me, so I'll use those programs instead of this one.  (This program also takes money out of your account if you don't keep generating sales, so my $100 is down to $38 now.)

Two of my favorite private affiliate programs: 

• BigBrainz.com's affiliate program for TimezAttack. They pay monthly, no matter how little I make, via PayPal.  I don't get fancy reports, and I don't get any banners, but I'm okay without those.   Theirs is an example of a program that could be run from your site for minimal expense. The commission is 30% for purchases made within 30 days of the clickthrough. Since they pay often, I remember them often, and since the program is independently run, I remember it often.  That is, it is not just one of dozens of Commission Junction programs to me.  It's the "TimezAttack program" to me. Here is their program:  http://www.bigbrainz.com/affiliate1.php
  
• All About Spelling has been a favorite for a couple of years now.  They are also independently run, I think.  Banners look professional and are frequently updated; email response is quick; stat reports are great. They pay quarterly.  The commission is 15%.  The #1 reason why I promote AAS is because they'll count sales that are made any time through my clicks.   I really appreciate that, and have made sales from posts that are months old!   Here's their program:  http://all-about-spelling.com/affiliates.html
  

Remember, publishers don't have the advantage of knowing that you're being honest about the sales, so the more simple & generous your program, the more it will be promoted. 

p.s. I didn't use any affiliate links in this post, of course.  ;)

Worrying About Tomorrow

A friend wrote a "help!" note to an email group that I'm in with three other high school buddies. Her husband recently found out that he will be laid off on January 1st. Jobless. Like thousands of others, including my husband, who was laid off in November. Below is my response to my friend's call for help...

I'm so sorry, Neiser. That is such tough news. The unknown is always the scariest.

Things are so crazy right now, aren't they? It's insane the number of people who are losing jobs, companies closing, you name it! Good gravy.

You might find some comfort in the verses I cling to in these times -- the ones about how much more important are we than the flowers God clothes and the birds He feeds. There are so many marked up in my Bible! But sometimes I get doubtful and wonder where that leaves the people who are starving in the world or aren't clothed, and then I remind myself to let go of those doubts and just believe it because God said it. Jesus said it. (Matthew 6:25-34)

The last verse is the one that says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own." And that's where you are. You're in today. Mike hasn't lost his job today; there is income today; you're all clothed and fed today. I remind myself of that often, too. It's so easy to worry instead of remembering that we're find today.

This time, even though it seems I should be worried, I'm not very often worried. That's because we've been through the really really ugly --- thousands in credit, the house on the brink of foreclosure, and our little garden center went belly-up. I cried so hard through all that, that I ran out of tears! I thought I'd go in the loo-loo bin, I'm not kidding. To make everything "worse," I got unexpectedly pregnant (#3) and he was a footling breech, so I had to have a c-section, with no insurance!

Now, of course, I can see the sunshine above those clouds. We learned to keep out of credit and got it all paid off, we saved the house from foreclosure, we focused our garden center on internet sales, the hospital let us write it all off except for $2000, and of course the baby turned out to be the very thing I needed...He was absolutely a gift straight from God for a time when I needed that baby.

I just want to say that it really is true -- it has been absolutely true in my experience -- that God will clothe us and feed us. He'll take care of us. I use to worry myself sick but when I look back on it, not a lot that I worried about ever happened. Or, if it did happen, like losing our brick-and-mortar storefront, it wasn't the horrible experience that I imagined it would be. I lost a lot of sleep over that! He may not take care of things how we think He should -- we may lose a house or a car -- but in the end, we'll see that that is okay, we're okay, we are able to make it without that anyway. He'll make sure we're okay.

Please let us know if we can help you in any way. Feel free to call or email to vent! I'm so right there with you, Sister!

Love you tons! ~ Lori

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Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com