SFI(strong future international) Affiliate Program claims to be able to teach you everything you need to know about making money online from affiliate programs for free. They even go so far as to claim that their system is so successful that 8000 new affiliates sign up each week. Those are pretty massive claims but will they prove to be true under close inspection?
The background
SFI were launched in 1998 and have a solid reputation. There is no question of them being an Internet scam. They have 10s of 1000s of affiliates and are one of (if not the) largest affiliate networks in the world.
SFI Basics
1. Send traffic to your free SFI site, which has the product(s) you are selling. This is similar to the Amazon e-store, only commission rates are far higher.
2. Refer new affiliates.
Alternatively if you have your own site you can use it to do both.
Payment Details
# SFI is open to 200 different countries and all payments are in USD.
# Affiliate payments are usually paid by check and sent out monthly
# The minimum payout is $8.
SFI step-by-step Guides
SFI begin to fulfil their tuition promise from the very start. They have you fill in a short form informing SFI of your level of experience (SFI caters for all levels). SFI use this info later to create your success strategy.
If you like using simple step-by-step guides you will get on well with SFI, if not, you can always skip them! I did a bit of both judging whether some of the stages were necessary from their title (nothing terrible happens if you miss anything!).
The first guide
At first there is a step-by-step guide. If you have joined up to any affiliate programs before you would probably go through these stages without anyone even asking you to. Skimming down the stages basic terminology is explained.
This stage presents you with a few taster articles teaching beginner, Intermediate and Advanced promotion methods for getting affiliates. When you reach the main section a huge amount of resources becomes available to you.
If their articles were posted on a blog, it would defiantly be one I would read. They give general advice as well as more specific advice, which can be applied to any online endeavour. E.g. “Write Powerful, Eye-Catching Headlines For Your Products” was the subheading for a paragraph.
The Action List
SFI creates an list for you, which you can compete in your own time.
It includes things like:
# Add your business signature to your outgoing e-mail (worth doing for all affiliate programs)
# Read over SFI General Rules & Policies page.
# Add your photo to the Affiliate Centre.
# Enter a special welcome message to greet your new affiliates (with advice on how to create a great welcome message).
At the bottom of the action list there are 11 training articles available to read. It was about this stage that I started to think they really do provide full training.
Personalised help
After those articles there is a ’success strategy’ and a review’ using the info from the questionnaire you filled out at the beginning. There is also a ‘my resources section’, which lists 10 more pages to read and learn from. These pages are not filled with junk, all of the articles (which are very similar in style to a blog post) contain useful advice.
In addition to all these main sections, in the sidebar are things like ‘question of the week, tip of the week, suggestion box and testimonials from members.
Into the Belly of the Beast
Once you reach the main site there is a training area of 52 courses (new courses added each week). There are seemingly endless ‘must-read expert reports’. I found the amount of training information is both daunting and very impressive. It is all grouped in the correct category which helps make it more manageable.
What is the Catch?
With most affiliate programs similar to SFI there is normally some sort of option, which involves you paying out for some extras, which will only benefit you if you are extremely committed to the program.
Thankfully this is not the case with SFI. I am pleased to say that becoming an ‘Executive Affiliate’ can be free of a monetary cost.
What Executives get:
# Retail sale commissions double from 30% to 60%!
# Free access to SFI’s VIP business-builder tools like Co-op Manager, Hit Tracking, Eagle Co-op, Key Codes, and lots more
# Other bonuses (they throw a load of big percentages at you)
# Free group messaging. Send messages, newsletters or training articles to your downline of referred affiliates.
What you give to executive
You need to generate 10SVP (sales volume points) at any time during a month. You can get SVP in any combination of these 3 ways:
1. Personal Purchases (buying SFI products which you could resell)
2. Retail Sales (normal sales, to people who are not SFI affiliates or yourself)
3. NOC Coupons (personal usage).
SFI division NiceOffers.com (NOC) features hundreds of money-saving coupons. Each coupon has an SVP value assigned to it. To earn EA status, simply use one or more coupons worth at least 10 SVP during the month. By using coupons on products and services you’re already buying, you can attain EA status without any additional expense to your budget (while actually SAVING money!).
This basically means if you buy products with using the NOC money off coupons and you will earn SVP, so there is a monetary cost there, however you only have to make a few retail sales to make the 10SVP
Commission Tiers
# Affiliates earn 30% of the product’s CV for each retail sale.
# EAs earn double that percentage, or 60% of the product’s CV.
# TLs earn 80% of the product’s CV.
What about the Products!?
There are a good spread of products to sell, not a huge spread like Amazon, but enough. Selling products combined with being able to refer new affiliates gives you plenty to do.
Products:
- Business Tools
- Magazines
- Tech Services
- Pet Care
- Music
- Books
- Natural Cleaning
- Wellness and Weight Loss
Affiliate Income Streams
There are exiting income streams all of which you can into. They involve different referral options, where the numbers of affiliates you think you will refer will affects which compensation plan you chose. This section is important and lengthy enough to warrant an entirely separate review, which I will post in the near future.
Marketing Aids
SFI provide you with Banners, flyers, and other advertising tools you can use to promote the SFI products and/or‚affiliate program. Not to mention the information in the articles!
Other features
# There is an input section were you can submit suggestions testimonials or bug reports.
# The SFI leaders page has a presidents club (who knows what they do in there!)
# The help centre does exactly what you would expect it to do.
# Affiliate Tracking wise there are detailed business reports of sales and affiliate signups.
WHAT IS Affiliate marketing??????
Affiliate Marketing is a way to earn commission on sales that you help generate.
source:http://www.myaffiliatetips.com
The process is very simple.
Amazon.com will be our example merchant to help explain affiliate marketing. Anyone can go to Amazon.com and signup to become an Affiliate for free.
When you become an affiliate, Amazon will provide you with links to specific products on the Amazon.com website.
You will take these links and add them to some text in your blog or website.
When the readers of your blog click the link and make a purchase at Amazon.com, you get paid a commission on the sale! Simple! There are thousands of merchants like Amazon.com that are begging you to help them make sales, AND they are willing to pay you to do so!
Gigantic companies like Amazon.com, eBay, Apple iTunes and Walmart offer affiliate programs that you can join for free!
source:http://www.myaffiliatetips.com
What is PTC (Pay To Click) ????
In Pay To Click advertising you get paid to click on ads and visit websites. The process is easy! You simply click a link and view a website for short time to earn money.
- But I dont really recommend any of these pay to click (PTC) advertising web sites.Lots of them are scams. Don't waste money for any of those web sites.
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