Tuesday: Determine Whether You Need a Two-Tier Program Remember our discussion in Chapter 1, "Understand Affiliate Marketing," about sub- affiliates? Now the time has come to decide whether you want them, and consequently, whether you need a single- or a two-tier affiliate program. I've already mentioned that merchants should avoid multitier commission struc- tures. My advice is the same for two-tier programs. Unless you are starting your affili- ate program to recruit affiliate program directories to find affiliates for you, do not even start thinking about that second tier. Put yourself in the affiliate's shoes. What would you rather do: recruit competitors (other affiliates) to earn the first-tier money while you get your second-tier cuts, or get a larger (and only) first-tier commission from the start? Speaking with affiliates over the years, I have found that although some do join two-tier affiliate programs, the vast majority would much rather get a higher commis- sion on the first (and only) tier, because most affiliates promote merchants by them- selves and have no use for the second tier at all. If you do decide to have a two-tier affiliate program, you can compensate affili- ates for bringing new affiliates into your affiliate program in two ways: · A flat fee per every sign-up they refer · A percentage tied either to the commission received by the first-tier affiliate or to the monetary value of sales they refer 94 N D C O O K I E L I F E