Affiliate Showcase (AS) is a replicating site company that allows someone to have their very own affiliate program directory to offer to other people. Why would anyone want to offer an affiliate directory to others? Because many affiliate programs-mine included-offer two-tier commissions. What that means is I am not only paid on sales I make in the program, I am also paid for sales from anyone I recruit into the affiliate program. This two-tier structure makes AS a viable program.
In addition, AS rewards its affiliates for signing up new paying affiliates by paying them a 25% recurring commission for as long as they have a paid site.
There are three levels of sites. You can get a description of the details here: http://www.all-in-one-business.com/affiliate
The Free Site
The free site features a search engine where your visitors can search and sign up for affiliate programs. You can customize any or all of the links for these programs so that you receive 2nd tier commissions on any sales they make.
This site also allows you to earn commissions when you recruit other people to purchase a Pro or Executive site.
The Pro Site
In the Pro site, you not only get all of the features of the free site, but you also get some improved features:
- Search Engine ranking control to allow your best programs to be listed first when you visitors search for programs to join.
- You can also feature your best programs in the Spotlight and Featured sections of the page.
- A unique, hands-off email marketing system will bring back your visitors again and again to your site.
- As a Pro you also earn higher commissions for those who get an Affiliate Showcase paid site.
The Executive Site
This is the type of site I have. You can see it here: http://www.all-in-one-business.com/programs
This site has all of the features found in the Free and Pro sites, but it also has the following features:
- Co-Branding allows you to place your own logo at the top of the site.
- Customization allows you to put your own content into the center portion of the site.
- Access to forums and chats just for Executive members.
- Mini-site plug in allows you to create mini-sites for your best affiliate programs.
- Higher commissions than either the Free or Pro members for those who sign up beneath you in Affiliate Showcase.
So, is Affiliate Showcase a good way to make money?
I believe to some extent there is a general “blindness” in the minds of many Affiliate Showcase members. Many seem to think the best way to make money with Affiliate Showcase is to recruit a bunch of people to get their own Affiliate Showcase site.
I think this is a mistake for a couple reasons:
- 1. In order to recruit enough people to get a good deal of commissions directly from recruiting others into Affiliate Showcase, a person will have to put in a great deal of effort in advertising. To get a check for $1,000, for instance, a person would have to have 40-50 affiliates immediately beneath him. That is not a simple task.
In addition, to maintain that level of income, another 5-10 new paid affiliates would need to be recruited every month. Again, based on my experience, that is a difficult task.
2. The real income potential for Affiliate Showcase is in getting hard-hitting affiliates to visit your site and sign up for programs. I want to have top affiliates visit my Affiliate Showcase site and then sign up for more of my programs. That is where the money is made long-term.
I have earned thousands of dollars in affiliate commissions in the last year. At the same time, I have also generated thousands of dollars in 2nd tier commissions for the people who recruited me into the various programs.
Without any influence on their part-most of the time I don’t even know who they are-I will continue to generate those commissions for years to come. This is what you are looking for-someone who will pay you every month for years to come.
The more people who have an Affiliate Showcase site, the more competition you have for recruiting those “super affiliates”.
So, who should get a site?
I think getting a site-at least right now-is a great way to go. But don’t give up your primary business. Your primary business is where the real “bread and butter” will be. Here are my recommendations:
If your primary business is related to Online Business or Opportunity Seekers…
If the market for your primary business is the “Opp Seeker” crowd, then I would go ahead and get an Executive site. As you relate to your customers and subscribers, you will be able to use this as a way to recruit those super affiliates.
If your primary business is online and successful, but is not related to the Opp Seeker crowd…
This is a judgment call. I would probably get a free site and see how it appeals to my customers, visitors and subscribers before I upgraded. If you can see good ways to have this make money for you, it is not really that expensive to get an Executive site and make it your own.
If you are just starting out and want to get into online business…
Don’t get a paid site–this isn’t going to make you that much money. Instead, get a free site, set up your links, then go about getting a unique business started. You will not make much money with this as your only site.
Please listen to this-it applies to everyone who wants to earn real money online: The real money is paid to those people who take time to identify a unique market group and provide them with a unique product or service. Affiliate Showcase is an example of a program that is a great add on to an existing business, but will not produce the results you want for the beginner. It just isn’t unique enough.
Will Affiliate Showcase make you a millionaire? No, but it will make some people some good money. I have been very happy with the payments I have received from Affiliate Showcase and some of the people that have gotten a paid site beneath me have also gotten good results. As a supplement to your current and future online income, it can be a great asset.
Kevin Bidwell is owner of
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/cg-bin/at.cgi?a=274293
Kevin just finished a complete report on building a passive
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