Online trading industry is growing daily and so does the amount of forex affiliate programs. Once you made a decision to join this dynamic business, you have to figure out which brokers to promote, hence which affiliate programs to sign up with. How can you find out which programs are reliable, successful and professional?
There is no simple answer to that question; however there are few tips that can help you decide which program is trust-worthy:
What do traders prefer?
Before promoting any product, you have to find out whether there is a demand for it. The first thing forex trader look for is a broker to trade with. Your job as an affiliate is to find out which brokers are preferred and which are avoided. You can do your research by browsing trading forums and social networking groups.
Keep in mind that relying barely on forum posts and group discussions isn’t advisable. There is fierce competition between brokers; therefore there are lots of self-promoting posts made by broker representatives, disguised as traders. To keep story short, just because some forum user trashed a certain broker, doesn’t necessary mean that it’s bad.
While doing the research, be open-minded. Concentrate on the certain features that traders look for in a good broker. Find out if the broker you chose to promote possesses the desired qualities.
What is your payment plan?
In order to understand your commissions, you have to know “payer value”, in our case “trader value”. Every broker has different deposit requirements, leverage options, trading conditions; therefore the value of a trader with one broker might vary from the value of a trader with another.
How do you know whether to ask for revenue share or CPA? How much CPA should you request?
First of all, compare different affiliate programs and their commission options. Once you have the values, you can not only see which program has better offer, but also negotiate with programs that offer lower commissions.
For example, if you know that the average CPA paid for each active trader is $300, you will no longer agree to $150 per trader!
Another tip is to use different commission plans: Sign up for revenue share with one program and register for CPA deal with another. Choose hybrid with the third! Now you have it all covered and you can see which commissions do best on your site.
Become a trader yourself
The best way to understand the product is to try it out yourself. Once you have selected the best forex affiliate programs, it is a good idea to test their brokers out.
- First, sign up with the program and get the affiliate tracking code. You either receive it by mail from the affiliate manager or by logging into the program back office. It might look something like this:
www.affiliateprogramname.com/aff=734
- Now you can click on your own link and open an account as a trader with the selected broker. Check whether the affiliate program tracking system works properly. You should be able to see your own click, registration and deposit in your stats once you are done “snooping around”.
- Next, call or chat with the broker online to find out all the details and trading conditions. This is important to see/hear how customer support is taking care of the clients, how quickly they respond, how professional are their answers, how well-spoken they are.
You can ask about trading conditions, the platform and its features, promotions and competitions offered, deposit and withdrawal requirements and payment methods. You can also enquire about the physical address of the broker and regulation.
- After talking to broker representative, you can make a deposit. This will show you how smooth the payment process is and how fast you get the welcome bonus (if offered).
- While educating yourself about forex basics, you can test drive the demo account offered by all brokers. Once done with demo trading, you can try out the money deposited on the real-time trading platform. Note the differences between live and demo accounts. Write down your experience with the broker.
Talk to your affiliate manager
The communication between you and an affiliate manager is very important. Whether there is a technical problem, payment issues or the need for marketing creative, your affiliate manager needs to be available. If you cannot get an answer from the forex affiliate program within couple of working days – that’s a bad sign (unless it is during holiday season!)
Trust but always check!
Even if you program looks reliable, it is important to double check everything starting from tracking stats to payments. You might be surprised how many mistakes are made!