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  • Member You - Affiliate Profit: Are You Losing Money?

    Small Business Loans? - Opt For Better Options!
    Irrespective of their size and nature most businesses face financial crunch sometime or the other in its lifecycle. These crisis situations become all the more important for small businesses because the banks and financial organizations are often ready to lend money to big business houses but not to the smaller ones. Besides, small businesses with their limited capabilities often find it overburdening to repay a bank loan.Small business owners have been trying various options and various types of loans to see which suits their needs better, however, a point that is often missed out by them is that they can probably manage these situations often without any outside help. Sounds surprising? But its true, and here are some of the ways you can do it.Try to Base Your Business at Home: This is not possible for all but if you can have a home-based business you can actually save a fortune. You save on expensive commercial rent, which is a recurring expense. As you are based out of your home, you don’t need to commute, so you save on transportation. In addit
    ferred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100

    The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process - From Nonprofit Communicators and Design
    I recently spoke with three nonprofit communicator colleagues and four graphic designers who outlined this three-fold path to a process that'll ensure high-impact design for your nonprofit. Before you even get to the design process itself, remember to follow these five pre-design steps to effective graphic design, from finding the right designers to crafting a creative brief.Here's what your colleagues advise:Be clear, comprehensive and realistic Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Director of Communications Kitty McCullough swears by this maxim. She advises nonprofit communicators to "sketch out as much as you can at the beginning (back to the creative brief) and ask for preliminary sketches so your designer doesn't spend time working up something far from what you want."Mark Dessauer, communications officer at Active Living By Design, solicits three to five design concepts from his graphic designers. "And I ask for completely distinct takes on the project, not variations on a single theme," says Mark. "This lets me expand the disc
    Dear Affiliate,

    I have bad news for you: You are probably losing money and you didn't pay attention to it! Let me explain...

    When you joined affiliate programs you probably considered the following factors:

    - The commission
    - The conversion rate

    The profit formula looks like a child play: Commission x Conversion Rate = Your Profit

    In fact there are three big pitfalls here and if you don't manage them properly, your profit is at risk. Let consider them:

    - Price: A high price means a higher affiliate commission for every sale but it may result also in a lower conversion rate… If the product is too expensive, nobody will buy. You shouldn't be blinded by the promise of a very high commission. You should keep in mind that the best price is not the one that gives you the highest commission but the one that makes the highest profit. An optimized pricing that makes satisfied customers and satisfied affiliates is what you should look for.

    - Refund Rate: Refunds can kill your marketing efforts! What are worth the sales you see in your account if customers request their money back? A lot of sales mean nothing unless you keep the money! This is the whole responsibility of the merchant to keep refunds as low as possible. A site that sells well is good. A site that also keeps refunds very low is much better! There is only one way to keep refunds very low: To deliver very high quality services meeting customers' expectations or going beyond what they could expect!

    - Product Quality: Quality is king! Quality makes superior conversion rates! Quality enables higher prices and better commissions! Quality keeps refunds as low as possible! In a word: Quality should be your compass. Don't associate your business with low quality products or services. On the top of your list, promote only the very best. It will also keep your profit on top.

    How much money are you losing today?

    The money you earn and lose is significantly determined by the quality of the affiliate program you have selected as your top pick.

    The question is: How do you measure what is more qualitative and what is less?

    There is an objective criterion to use for answering this question and for optimizing your profit: The refund rate of your top affiliate program!

    A high refund rate express clearly that lots of customers are not satisfied with what they get and that affiliates lose money on their sales. On the contrary, a low refund rates indicates a high level of satisfaction among customers and safe earning for affiliates.

    If you get many refunds with your top affiliate program, you should understand that the quality of this program isn't sufficient for keeping these customers satisfied and it doesn't do the necessary job for securing your profit… You are losing money!

    What are good, medium and poor refund rates?

    Refunds can't be totally avoided. There will always be customers that are not satisfied even for the most qualitative product or service. So, expecting a zero refund rate on the long run is not realistic. You should wish a refund rate as low as possible in your industry. It's important to consider that there can be significant variations from one industry to another but as a rule of thumb you can use the following scale:

    2% or less: Excellent
    3% - 5%: Good
    6% - 10%: Medium
    11% - 15%: Poor
    16% - 20%: Very Poor
    21% or higher: Run away!

    With a 5% or less refund rate you can be happy. Your affiliate program is reliable and your profit is secured. With a 6%-10% refund rate, you should monitor closely your merchant performance to ensure it doesn't get worst. It would be advised to scan the market for a better alternative if you can find one. With an 11%-20% (or higher) refund rate you should be very concerned with your profit. Whatever your industry is, you are bleeding and there is probably a better affiliate program to promote.

    What is the refund rate of your top affiliate program?

    There are two ways to find the refund rate of an affiliate program:

    1) Look at the stats supplied by your affiliate program

    Do your math as following: Refunds / Sales = Refund Rate

    Let say you make 1000 sales per month, you get a $23.50 commission per sale and about 160 customers request their money back every month. Your refund rate is 160 / 1000 = 16%. In that case it means that you should have earned $23,500 for your sales but you will get only $19,740 because of the refunds. You lost here 16% of your profit or $3,760!

    You can ask yourself: Is it only I or all affiliates for this program get similar numbers? If you use Clickbank to promote affiliate programs, you can get the big picture about the whole community of affiliates that promote an affiliate program.

    2) Using Clickbank payout stats to calculate the average refund rate of an affiliate program

    In its marketplace, Clickbank publishes payout stats for affiliate programs. The $Earned/Sale factor gives us exactly what we need to calculate the average refund rate of a program.

    The $Earned/Sale is the average net amount earned per affiliate per referred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100 r

    Black Sleuth
    Afro American private investigators are not very visible in the sleuthing business, but there are a few who have established themselves and their agencies in the industry providing quality and needed services to their clients. Their viability in the industry is real and persuasive capitalizing on the shifting paradigm of business and poised to excel in the global economy. How viable? It depends on the solicitor’s perspective. However, at the end of the day a professional private investigator is judged by the way he conducts himself, his client’s case and his business. The internet and its far reaching technology have created markets and access to vendors unlike any other entity. It has truly leveled the playing field in unprecedented ways and allowed investigative practitioners to create their identities utilizing the internet as one of their very powerful marketing tools, tapping into markets and augmenting highly specialized services to high caliber clients in need of assistance and explicit confidentiality.The private investigation industry is immense and compa
    ood. A site that also keeps refunds very low is much better! There is only one way to keep refunds very low: To deliver very high quality services meeting customers' expectations or going beyond what they could expect!

    - Product Quality: Quality is king! Quality makes superior conversion rates! Quality enables higher prices and better commissions! Quality keeps refunds as low as possible! In a word: Quality should be your compass. Don't associate your business with low quality products or services. On the top of your list, promote only the very best. It will also keep your profit on top.

    How much money are you losing today?

    The money you earn and lose is significantly determined by the quality of the affiliate program you have selected as your top pick.

    The question is: How do you measure what is more qualitative and what is less?

    There is an objective criterion to use for answering this question and for optimizing your profit: The refund rate of your top affiliate program!

    A high refund rate express clearly that lots of customers are not satisfied with what they get and that affiliates lose money on their sales. On the contrary, a low refund rates indicates a high level of satisfaction among customers and safe earning for affiliates.

    If you get many refunds with your top affiliate program, you should understand that the quality of this program isn't sufficient for keeping these customers satisfied and it doesn't do the necessary job for securing your profit… You are losing money!

    What are good, medium and poor refund rates?

    Refunds can't be totally avoided. There will always be customers that are not satisfied even for the most qualitative product or service. So, expecting a zero refund rate on the long run is not realistic. You should wish a refund rate as low as possible in your industry. It's important to consider that there can be significant variations from one industry to another but as a rule of thumb you can use the following scale:

    2% or less: Excellent
    3% - 5%: Good
    6% - 10%: Medium
    11% - 15%: Poor
    16% - 20%: Very Poor
    21% or higher: Run away!

    With a 5% or less refund rate you can be happy. Your affiliate program is reliable and your profit is secured. With a 6%-10% refund rate, you should monitor closely your merchant performance to ensure it doesn't get worst. It would be advised to scan the market for a better alternative if you can find one. With an 11%-20% (or higher) refund rate you should be very concerned with your profit. Whatever your industry is, you are bleeding and there is probably a better affiliate program to promote.

    What is the refund rate of your top affiliate program?

    There are two ways to find the refund rate of an affiliate program:

    1) Look at the stats supplied by your affiliate program

    Do your math as following: Refunds / Sales = Refund Rate

    Let say you make 1000 sales per month, you get a $23.50 commission per sale and about 160 customers request their money back every month. Your refund rate is 160 / 1000 = 16%. In that case it means that you should have earned $23,500 for your sales but you will get only $19,740 because of the refunds. You lost here 16% of your profit or $3,760!

    You can ask yourself: Is it only I or all affiliates for this program get similar numbers? If you use Clickbank to promote affiliate programs, you can get the big picture about the whole community of affiliates that promote an affiliate program.

    2) Using Clickbank payout stats to calculate the average refund rate of an affiliate program

    In its marketplace, Clickbank publishes payout stats for affiliate programs. The $Earned/Sale factor gives us exactly what we need to calculate the average refund rate of a program.

    The $Earned/Sale is the average net amount earned per affiliate per referred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100

    Effective Internet Marketer - How To Balance Work With Home Life
    So you have finally made the plunge to work from home and build your own Internet business empire. There will be a major shift in your daily routines and initially, it might seem daunting to have so much free time on hand. Here are some tips to help you transition smoothly and become an effective Internet marketer. Set aside a space in your home to be your exclusive workspace. Technically, this area becomes your home office. This is paramount if you have children at home and it sets good work and play boundaries. You do not want constant unnecessary interruptions while you’re working. Plan a work schedule for yourself. It is after all a business and you should still work on your business even while at home. The greatest thing is you can plan your schedule around the things that are really important to you. You can for instance plan your work around your children’s schedule. For you fathers out there, it is pretty cool to be the only dad who attends all of your children’s mid-day school practices. Do your research and
    get many refunds with your top affiliate program, you should understand that the quality of this program isn't sufficient for keeping these customers satisfied and it doesn't do the necessary job for securing your profit… You are losing money!

    What are good, medium and poor refund rates?

    Refunds can't be totally avoided. There will always be customers that are not satisfied even for the most qualitative product or service. So, expecting a zero refund rate on the long run is not realistic. You should wish a refund rate as low as possible in your industry. It's important to consider that there can be significant variations from one industry to another but as a rule of thumb you can use the following scale:

    2% or less: Excellent
    3% - 5%: Good
    6% - 10%: Medium
    11% - 15%: Poor
    16% - 20%: Very Poor
    21% or higher: Run away!

    With a 5% or less refund rate you can be happy. Your affiliate program is reliable and your profit is secured. With a 6%-10% refund rate, you should monitor closely your merchant performance to ensure it doesn't get worst. It would be advised to scan the market for a better alternative if you can find one. With an 11%-20% (or higher) refund rate you should be very concerned with your profit. Whatever your industry is, you are bleeding and there is probably a better affiliate program to promote.

    What is the refund rate of your top affiliate program?

    There are two ways to find the refund rate of an affiliate program:

    1) Look at the stats supplied by your affiliate program

    Do your math as following: Refunds / Sales = Refund Rate

    Let say you make 1000 sales per month, you get a $23.50 commission per sale and about 160 customers request their money back every month. Your refund rate is 160 / 1000 = 16%. In that case it means that you should have earned $23,500 for your sales but you will get only $19,740 because of the refunds. You lost here 16% of your profit or $3,760!

    You can ask yourself: Is it only I or all affiliates for this program get similar numbers? If you use Clickbank to promote affiliate programs, you can get the big picture about the whole community of affiliates that promote an affiliate program.

    2) Using Clickbank payout stats to calculate the average refund rate of an affiliate program

    In its marketplace, Clickbank publishes payout stats for affiliate programs. The $Earned/Sale factor gives us exactly what we need to calculate the average refund rate of a program.

    The $Earned/Sale is the average net amount earned per affiliate per referred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100

    Take Off Your Rose Colored Glasses
    Taking Off Your Rose Colored Glasses can be profitableHow our filters cause us to miss out on good opportunitiesHere is Florida where I live it is a necessity to wear sunglasses outside much of the time. The sun here is very bright and without good sunglasses two things happen and neither is good: You cannot see due to the bright light and you can develop cataracts.In our businesses and lives we also have colored glasses on. These are our filters that we have developed to keep out the things we are not interested in and things that could harm us.How did we get these filters? They were formed by our routines as we grew up. We found things in life that we liked and that were were either comfortable or uncomfortable to us. As these things occurred we automatically set up filters to say good or bad. This is how we seem to ignore some of the clutter of advertising going on around us everywhere.If you are looking for a new car, suddenly you would start paying more attention to the car ads on T.V., radio and print. Normally y
    are bleeding and there is probably a better affiliate program to promote.

    What is the refund rate of your top affiliate program?

    There are two ways to find the refund rate of an affiliate program:

    1) Look at the stats supplied by your affiliate program

    Do your math as following: Refunds / Sales = Refund Rate

    Let say you make 1000 sales per month, you get a $23.50 commission per sale and about 160 customers request their money back every month. Your refund rate is 160 / 1000 = 16%. In that case it means that you should have earned $23,500 for your sales but you will get only $19,740 because of the refunds. You lost here 16% of your profit or $3,760!

    You can ask yourself: Is it only I or all affiliates for this program get similar numbers? If you use Clickbank to promote affiliate programs, you can get the big picture about the whole community of affiliates that promote an affiliate program.

    2) Using Clickbank payout stats to calculate the average refund rate of an affiliate program

    In its marketplace, Clickbank publishes payout stats for affiliate programs. The $Earned/Sale factor gives us exactly what we need to calculate the average refund rate of a program.

    The $Earned/Sale is the average net amount earned per affiliate per referred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100

    Giving out Free Bonuses, your Pathway to Success
    Giving out Free Bonuses, your Pathway to SuccessDon’t you feel good when someone gives you something free for making a purchase? Doesn’t it make you feel great about the product when you get an additional something besides what you actually paid for? Well, most people feel that way as well. This shows what a great way it is to add to your customer satisfaction by just throwing in a free gift or bonus. Further more, some people might even purchase your product when they see the huge assortment of gifts and bonuses you are offering, some even with no intention to use your original product in the first place! This greatly increases the perceived value of your product and hence increasing sales.This approach works because of the way we think and act. Everyone in today’s world competitive wants something for “free”. It makes us feel good, like we have managed to grab a really good deal for ourselves and hence we are more likely to purchase a product which comes with free gifts, especially free gifts with a high perceived value. A great example of these will be d
    ferred sale. This number is mainly impacted by refunds and it reveals the real commission earned by affiliates. With this number, you can have an inner look at the real performance of affiliates programs.

    The average refund rate of an affiliate program is: (Commission - $Earned)/Commission = Average Refund Rate

    What is the refund rate of popular affiliate programs at Clickbank?

    As an example, we have looked at three affiliate programs selling paid surveys databases. We have found their refund rates very high! You will be surprised at discovering how much money affiliates can lose when promoting these programs:

    - SurveyScout: 16.2% refund rate!
    - Survey Platinum: 20.9% refund rate!
    - My Consumer Survey: 35.2% refund rate!

    To get into the details, on November 29th 2005 figures were as following:

    SurveyScout
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $19.69
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 19.69) / 23.50 = 16.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,969 because 16 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Survey Platinum
    Affiliate Commission: $23.50
    Average $Earned/Sale: $18.58
    Refund Rate: (23.50 - 18.58) / 23.50 = 20.9%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $2,350. In fact you will get only $1,858 because 21 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    My Consumer Survey
    Affiliate Commission: $40.84
    Average $Earned/Sale: $26.43
    Refund Rate: (40.84 - 26.43) / 40.84 = 35.2%
    Example: For 100 referred sales you should earn $4,084. In fact you will get only $2,643 because 35 customers out of 100 have requested their money back!

    Remark: My Consumer Survey has a poorly designed site and a high price for buyers. We estimate its conversion rate to be significantly lower than other paid surveys programs. Despite its high commission, affiliates will lose the most money with this program.

    We learn three lessons about these paid surveys affiliate programs:
    - A lot of customers are dissatisfied.
    - Affiliates lose big money.
    - The quality of these programs is very questionable.

    What should you do to stop the bleeding?

    You have no influence on the quality of the affiliate programs you promote. Your only real influence is on the quality of your recommendation!

    Giving your top recommendation to a very professional affiliate program that delivers the utmost quality services to customers will keep your profit as high and as safe as possible.

    How to identify quality in affiliate programs?

    Defining quality is a difficult job. In general, people can't define clearly what quality is but they recognize it when they see it. So what should you look at in affiliate programs?

    The most qualitative affiliate programs find the right balance between the value they offer to customers and the value they generate to affiliates:

    1. Value to customers – It includes:

    - Rich content
    - Good looking website
    - State-of-the-art organization
    - Friendly functionality
    - Affordable Price for most visitors
    - Detailed documentation
    - Bonuses strengthening the main offer
    - Timely Customer Support

    2. Value to affiliates – It includes:

    - High conversion rate
    - High commission
    - Low refund rate
    - Commission paid on time
    - Good affiliate support

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