Affiliate program is a partnership program where a company pay partners or affiliates a percentage of the product sale price when they refer a paying customer to the business.

It's actually a win-win relationship.

The company has products and services to sell and they want more customers without spending hundreds of thousands more in advertising expenses. Affiliates, on the other hand, are looking for companies willing to pay out good money when they refer customers to them. Therefore, an affiliate program is a "help me i help you business" model.

Should you settle for single one-time payment or 2-tier payment with recurring commission?

I highly recommend you go with affiliate programs with a minimum of 2-tier payment model with recurring commission.

2-tier affiliate programs pay affiliates in 2 levels:

1. For referring paying customers and

2. For introducing their friends and other people to the partner program

This means that affiliates get paid for their own sales performance and the sales performance of other affiliates they introduced the business to.

Why is this important?

Well, not everyone is a good salesman or saleswoman. With 2 tier affiliate programs, even if you're not a good salesman, if you can get couple of people who are good sales people to join the company through you, you can still earn sizable commission from the affiliate program.

Another thing to remember is the concept of recurring commission.

Recurring commission means that if you refer a customer who buys from the company, the company will pay you the commission agreed for the current purchase and the same commission anytime in the future when the customer buys from them again.

This is certainly much better than getting paid a one time commission and NOT getting paid when the customer shops again with the company.

Bottom line.

A 2-tier affiliate program is the better choice. It helps the affiliate to build his earnings exponentially over time.

With this kind of program, the work you did last year will add up to what you will earn this year especially where the product purchased is a recurring payment product (that is, a product that elicits repeat payment e.g. web hosting is paid for monthly or yearly; software renewal is paid for yearly etc).

Are you planning to join an affiliate program?

Make sure it's at least a 2-tier affiliate program with recurring lifetime commission.

NOTE: Recurring lifetime commission means that as long as the customer you referred to the company continues to buy from the company, the company will continue to pay you, the affiliate who referred him to the company, ongoing commission. Sweet, isn't it?