For merchant, affiliate marketing is the best way to deliver increased revenue and brand awareness. Through affiliate marketing merchants get free exposure and only pay out commission to affiliates when a sale is made or an action is taken. Although any merchant can introduce their affiliate programs to gain maximum exposure and drive more sales, not all affiliate programs will get good responses from affiliates. So, what makes up a successful affiliate marketing program?

In order to success in affiliate marketing, the affiliate program should benefit both merchant and affiliate. A successful affiliate program offered by merchant should have component that potential affiliates should look for. The most important component in an affiliate program is commission payments. You must decide whether you will pay affiliates a commission on sales only, or pay them by some other incentive. As a merchant, here are your choices of commission payment:

* Pay-per-sale - You will your affiliate a percentage or flat rate for each sale it generates from visitors it directs to you.

* Pay-per-click - You need to pay out the commission to your affiliates on every visitor they send to your website through their affiliate links on their websites. For example 1 cent per visitor, regardless on whether the customers perform any purchase of your product or service.

* Pay-per-lead - An affiliate is paid a percentage or flat rate if a visitor it refers submits a certain information request by you, for example a form being filled for requesting further information.

Affiliates also love your affiliate program if you combine residual commissions with a per-lead or per-sale commission structure. Under this structure, an affiliate will also receive his commission for subsequent purchases made by his referred customers.

The next thing to consider in your affiliate program is credibility. Does your affiliate site communicate a sense of confidence and security to your affiliates? You must also offer online, real-time states for affiliate and sub-affiliate commissions, including traffic stats. A good affiliate program will have positive reviews in the affiliate directories
and many affiliates will choose to enroll into affiliate programs that have positive reviews.

Another important component is marketing resources. Your affiliate programs should provides compelling, contextual content about your products and services in the forms of text links, banners and sales letters. Other than that, you must keep in touch with your affiliates on a regular basis, giving instruction and encouragement through newsletters and tutorials.

Finally, a successful affiliate program should have customer service and support not just for your customers but also your affiliates. Be prepared to response to questions and enquiries in various forms such as emails, faxes, phone calls or instant messages from your affiliate promptly and professionally so that you build good relationship with your affiliate. A good relationship between merchant and affiliates are essential to ensure the success of an affiliate marketing program.