Starting my own program -- need advice: Pay Per Sign up or Partnership?
 

Which program would you choose PPS or Partnership? If partnership -- payout is 60% if PPS, my budget is $20 per join.

Any advice, suggestion, or research would be greatly appreciated.

why not offer both?

I'd rather focus on one model and fine tune it than switch between two.

At the same time. ;)

The drawback with partnership is it only makes sense to affiliates if the content is very exclusive and fresh. "Reality" sites are good examples of this.

What I had in mind is offering the surfer a HUGE selection of content with daily updates and rotations. Not exclusive material.

Has the site been running for a while? How long does it recur for on average?

Figure out which one is more financially sound for you.

Hmmm so basically run a test period using my own traffic? How long should this period be?

A test period makes sense: tweak the tour to increase conversions, test retention, do test buys of differing types of traffic.

Anyone care to share experiences re starting out on their own program?

retention... that's the word i've been looking for all day!
anyways, yes, you need to test all that stuff.

obviously, if your site has shit retention, people aren't going to be interested in pushing a partnership program.

but if your site has total shit retention, then you can't afford to offer a high payout on a PPS program if you still want to make some cash.

Okay, let's talk retention. I've been affiliate webmaster for close to three years and I've checked out several big network sites' membership areas.

The key element that always strikes me is that retention can be achieved by offering a wide choice of content to users. Ease of navigation is not really a major concern....unconsciously or consciously. It seems the focus is more on numbing the user by the sheer volume of content that they have to keep coming back to sample the differing sections.

Another approach that I see is, although the content mix is the same, the presentation of the content is always changed--doing featured sets, user voting, etc This gives a well rotated, "active" feel to the site. I wonder how effective this is in keeping the surfer around.

There are other methods, but the fact that they are not uniformly implemented by many sites make me think that they are "hit or miss" propositions or approaches that were narrowly tailored for the particular membership base of a site.

Another consideration is PRICING. Many sites charge around $35 a month. Is this a premium for volume....at the expense of retention? Can it be the other way.... lower costs to retain the user?... Make it so "painless" that the user can afford to let it rebill?

What effect does pricing, if any, have on retention?

If you can do $20 per signup, go that route.

Brad

Yeah, I can do $20 per sign up but how many webmasters would sign up? Its definitely lower than $35 that seems to be the standard.

However, there's no shave and webmasters are given a lot of tools to send traffic.

Ok for a start lets see what your site is about, is it another anal gangbang? Is it another lesbian bullshit? Is it just another Teen site?

Or is it something different something that will convert?

Who cares if its $20 a signup or $50 a signup if it cant convert who gives a shit

Now dont get your period here and take this personal but please before anything post the URL or say what type of site it is etc

Prob. more then would sign up for a partnership program...

Have you sent sales yourself? Have you seen that 20 $ is the most you can pay for joins?

If so you should try and tweak it a bit more before you release it to the public, try to be able to pay at least 25$ per sale...

Remember that per-signup will open you up to cheaters, and also require you to pay out a lot of money if you get a lot of one-time-only signups that don't recurr. There is a hell of a lot more risk involved in per-signup. I wouldn't recommend that route to anyone who doesn't have a lot of money in the bank.

What I gather from this is if conversions are really good [lets say better than 1:300 averaged from all sorts of traffic] then people wouldn't mind joining a $20 program ?

What impact would it have if I offer a 25% webmaster referral program?

Don't worry about it. Experienced webmasters value their sponsors by money made per single click. Higher payout per signup doesnt mean more money per click.

I have my own $ and a backer for any shortfalls.

Regarding cheating: doesn't the processor scrub take care of most of this problem?

If they don't what other precautions can prog owners take in preventing cheating? Selective research of high volume webmasters? Closing the program to non US and non Canada webmasters? Restricted webmaster enrollment--ie, each webmaster application has to be approved individually?

bump

pls share your experiences.

You need a test period with partnership and then make a decision. I would never ever advise anyone to go per signup unless it's an already well established site... my :2 cents: anyway

PAPICHULO!

Always getting the insight and doing the research eh?

Love it.

dude. dont pay per signup til you've been running a program for a while.. that is unless you have a LOT of cash in the bank.

it's VERY expensive to start a PPS program.. and quite easy to spend a mil in the first month.

Is there a way to manage the volume? maybe open up to a few webmasters at first and get a recurring base?

Would people still sign up to promote a non-exclusive content site on a partnership basis? This is not exactly Bang Bus or Nasty Dollars

Yeah, I tend to learn better when I ask questions and listen.

what criteria should I consider re whether to transition to a PPS model?

Whichever path you choose make sure you play it safe, there are so many webmasters out there always trying to cheat you. Per sign up is riskier of course. but it is more popular. If you're just starting out with no experience, i'd recommend you hire or find someone who has solid experience to ask for advice from. someone who you'll have instant access to whenever you need help.

Retention...

You can get that by leasing a huge members area thats already filled with content, and at the same time... avoid the BS of updating & the expense of purchasing content.

Got links? I'm interested.

Any tips/techniques re cheaters?

Does this include hosting costs?

Interesting thread.

PAPI, not sure how you got these guys to spill honest answers, but keep it up!

i do it by unique impression. easier for me to track than clicks.