Whether you are just getting your affiliate marketing business off the ground or you are an experienced pro, you are always seeking new sources of commission income. One type of commission seems almost too good to be true: the “lifetime commission.”
The term “lifetime commission” sounds a little like hitting the lottery. And it is a pretty sweet deal – merchants who offer lifetime commissions to affiliates take the necessary steps to “attach” you permanently to the customers you bring in.
In short, this means that customers who are assigned your affiliate ID and who purchase products from the merchant’s Web site generate commissions for you. And if those customers buy regularly from the merchant, you receive the credit each and every time. The result is an ongoing revenue stream, even if it’s only a trickle, known commonly as residual earnings.
How do merchants enable these lifetime commissions? As opposed to merchants who write cookies for affiliates that last a specific, short period of time – 30 to 90 days, usually, merchants offering lifetime commissions write longer-term cookies that can last two years or even longer.
In the event that a customer’s cookie crumbles due to his or her purchase of a new computer, the merchant generally uses more sophisticated affiliate tracking tools to ensure you get the proper credit for all sales that your customers generate.
This arrangement is definitely good for you as an affiliate. The average customer will usually look at a product several times over a period of time before buying, and this arrangement ensures that you will get the credit when that customer eventually buys.
It’s also good for the merchant who relies heavily on affiliates to get the word out about his or her product. The sweeter the merchant makes the pot for affiliates, the harder those affiliates will work on the merchant’s behalf.
There aren’t that many opportunities for lifetime commissions in affiliate marketing. However, a Google search on “lifetime commissions” will give you several tremendous sources for information on lifetime commissions and the merchants who offer them.
If you’re looking for a particular niche, or a particular program within your selected niche, it’s worth a few minutes of your time to conduct such a search and see what’s possible for you in this area.
Bear two things in mind about lifetime commissions, however. One is practical – the more revenue streams you can generate through your affiliate marketing efforts, whether they are short-term or long-term revenue streams, the more successful you will be as an affiliate marketer.
The other thing to remember about lifetime commissions applies to lifetimes in general as well: The only way for something to last is to cultivate it, putting forth the time and effort required to attract customers, drive them to the merchant’s site, and generate sales for the merchant. If it isn’t successful, it won’t last – period.