Essential Selection Criteria For Choosing an Affiliate Network

Choosing The Right Affiliate Network Is The First Step To Success With Network Marketing

The concept of network marketing is good and it offers an unmatched opportunity for people to profit from implementing a marketing model which is within the reach of a broad sector of society and not merely the domain of a select few marketing specialists. The perceived problems with network marketing are not so much related to the network marketing model, but to the unfortunate existence of unscrupulous and dubious network marketing companies.

Network Marketing’s Bad Reputation

Network marketing is frowned upon by many Internet marketers and even avoided by some of the top Internet article directories. It is because of this that I initially shied away from network marketing opportunities altogether. “They are pyramid schemes”, I thought. I thought multi-level or network marketing was a typical example of a scam scheme, an Internet rip-off. I avoided familiarizing myself with some affiliate network marketing opportunities because I was under the impression it is about enrolling people into the scheme without a real product/service or a dubious product or service.  I thought it was all about building layers of people joining and earning commissions from their enrollments rather than from earning revenue from the sales of the company’s product and/or service. To me this was like contributing towards blowing up a bubble and because the network had nothing to sustain it, the bubble was bound to burst or, at least, deflate, sooner or later.

These would indeed be pyramid schemes and it is because of illegal pyramid schemes and dodgy network marketing companies with dodgy products or services that network marketing got its bad name.

Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water!

It was only later that I discovered (out of curiosity about people’s testimonies about the leveraged income possibilities with network marketing) that network marketing opportunities offered by reputable companies with real, substantive and marketable products and services offer the enhanced income generating opportunities for an affiliate Internet marketer.

The reason network marketing offers increased income earning potential over regular affiliate marketing opportunities is because of the network or down-line of people enrolling under you through whose sales you will also earn commission. In other words, your income is derived not only from your efforts, but from the efforts of many people in your down line.

The implication of this multilevel income generating model is that once your down line is firmly established and successful, your business goes onto auto-pilot and your income becomes passive income, like the passive income from an investment. Hence, a carefully selected network marketing membership offers an income opportunity into retirement.

Essential Selection Criteria for Choosing an Affiliate Network

1. The company whose affiliate network you consider to join must have credibility and reputability. Don’t
rely solely on their sales pitches and other promotional material, Google the company and search for them in forums and blogs on network marketing.

2. Don’t join before you have established exactly what the products and/or services are. If there is
vagueness about what they expect you to market, be skeptical. To me total openness and transparency about the products and services is an essential prerequisite for affiliating myself. If you cannot establish this beforehand, chances are good the network marketing is more about building the network than centring on the marketing of the product. When the incentives for recruitment are greater than for product sales, again, be very skeptical.

3. Establish the appetite in the market for the products and services offered. How has the product been
selling? Are their clear signs of growth? Is there a demand, preferably internationally, for what they are offering?

4. Can you identify with the products/services for sale? If not, how would you succeed in marketing these
offerings enthusiastically and honestly?

5. Determine the level of support, the availability of promotional tools and process guidance you could
expect from the company and your up-line.

6. Transparency about your marketing efforts. For example, would you be able to track visits and conversions to your unique affiliate website/s?

A Last Word About Choosing: Assessing Affiliate Networks Calls for Greater Scrutiny than would be in the case of linear affiliate marketing products due to the potential pit-falls of multi-level marketing as I have alluded to earlier on in this article. The negativity with which network marketing is viewed by some in the Internet marketing community and broader society are compelling enough reasons not to compromise any of the criteria I have listed and to go for only the established and reputable companies, like a Top 50 Inc500 Listed Company, or/and a company offering a unique and powerful product and service with clear signs of exceptional growth potential

If you make the right choice, combining Internet marketing with network marketing presents you with a very powerful affiliate marketing opportunity indeed!

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!

My Recommended Network Marketing Businesses

Global Domains International

An established Inc500 company offering you your own unique Internet domain with hosting of your .ws domain plus a website builder plus excellent promotional support and tools. Here’s a list of companies that have joined GDI. Why should YOU not want to be associated with a company of this stature and endorsement?

To conclude: The right network marketing business offers exceptional and passive residual income opportunities. In my humble opinion, an Internet marketing portfolio without a network marketing program is a poorer portfolio.