Merchant Account Affiliate Programs

Merchant account affiliate programs offer a chance for earning a sales commission from merchant account providers when affiliates refer new customers to the merchant account provider. Like any business arrangement, anyone interested in becoming an affiliate should understand the program before they sign up.

Merchant account affiliate programs work like many other affiliate programs:

• The affiliate sets up an account with the provider and gets a unique ID
• The affiliate places a link to the provider on their web site
• If a customer clicks through to the provider’s web site from the affiliate’s link and becomes a customer of the provider, then the affiliate gets credited with the sale
• The affiliate gets a commission on their sales, either a straight dollar amount or a percentage of the sale; at pre-set times, such as once a month or when the commission reaches a certain amount, the provider pays out whatever commissions the affiliate has earned

In some merchant account affiliate programs, affiliates can sign up other affiliates and get a smaller percentage of those affiliates’ commissions as well.

There are both pros and cons to becoming an affiliate for a merchant account provider. Though the details of the arrangement vary depending on the affiliate program, it is important to think about the pros and cons of each program before signing up.

Some of the pros of joining a merchant account affiliate program make it very appealing for online businesses:

• It usually doesn’t require much investment or experience to get started as a merchant account affiliate
• Though some work is necessary to be successful as an merchant account affiliate, the input of time and energy is usually relatively small
• Many merchant account providers offer tools and support to help their affiliates be more successful; since the merchant account affiliates are providing them with more business, they are motivated to help their affiliates succeed
• The commissions from being a merchant account affiliate can provide a fairly significant amount of extra income
• If the merchant account affiliate is paired with a good merchant account provider, they can provide their own customers with a valuable service and enhance their relationships with their customers

The cons of joining an affiliate program with a merchant account provider are also important to consider:

• If the merchant account provider turns out to have bad business practices, it can hurt the merchant account affiliate’s own reputation and decrease their chances to profit
• There may be a lot of competition with other merchant account affiliates for customers, which requires time and creativity to get customers’ attention
• Profits depend on the customers’ decision to do business with the merchant account provider, so even if the affiliate gets a lot of traffic, they may not make much money if customers don’t complete their transactions with the provider
• Profits also depend on how customer referrals are tracked, so it’s possible to direct a customer to the merchant account provider and not get credit, such as if the referral is made by word of mouth, but the provider only counts customers that click through from a merchant account affiliate’s web site
• Pay outs can be slow

Web site owners who join affiliate programs should keep a few tips in mind to increase their chances for success:

• For those who are interested in being a merchant account affiliate, the most important step may be to make sure the merchant account provider has a good reputation and provides good services to its customers. This increases the chances of customers signing up with the provider and of the affiliate getting their commission.
• It is also good to look for a provider that helps its merchant account affiliates succeed by providing the tools and support they need to run a good affiliate program.
• Another important part of being a merchant account affiliate is finding creative and reputable ways to draw customers in and convince them to click through to the merchant account provider. Some businesses, like eCommerce web site designers, consultants, or web hosts may find it easy to direct their customers to a merchant account provider as part of their services, as long as the merchant account provider is a reputable company. Some web sites use e-zine articles, reviews, and other information to attract potential customers, but it’s important in these cases to present honest information to customers to avoid problems later.
• Having a web site that is search engine and user friendly also helps merchant account affiliates because it makes the affiliate web site easy to find and read.
• It is unethical, and often unsuccessful, for affiliates to try to trick customers into clicking on links or signing up for a program, or to bombard them with spam.

For web site owners that want to profit from their web sites but aren’t sure if an affiliate program is right for them, there are other ways to make money from web sites. Hosting ads, either by renting web site space to individual companies or through pay-per-click programs like Google AdSense is another popular way to earn money from a web site, though these methods also have their pros and cons. Web site owners have to decide what their strengths and goals are to find the money making opportunity that best fits their situation.