Running your own affiliate program...

[Darren06]

I am opening an affiliate program for an online company I am opening soon. What should I know about running an affiliate program? I have implemented real time stats and easy account management, what else should I know? I am going to be paying 50 cents per user and 50% per purchase... what should I be aware of?

[FuseFX]

You will need to work your *** off to recruit the affiliates and then build a good relationship with them so that they promote you -- be prepared.

[HarveyJ]

I think you're going to struggle to see it be a really major source of sales.
You've got the two huge camps on either side of the group of people you actually want.

One one side are the idiots from DP and Warrior who think the only way to make money is to article market or to sell ebooks on how to get rich to each other after buying PLR.
The other side you've got cynical douches (that I love to hang out with) that are simply in this for the money and drive the products that haven't reached a saturation point within their niche.

You haven't given any details on what it is, but I'm getting the feeling it's already going to have major competition from somewhere unless it's for a business that deals specifically in a certain type of product (i.e. the affiliate program for ThinkGeek).
If you're lucky enough and actually fits that description, then your still going to struggle to convince people that genuinely should be using your affiliate program to actually use it.

[hittjw]

What should I know about running an affiliate program?

BEFORE you open your program make sure all your landing pages are converting. This means pay to drive multi-channel traffic to make sure you get consistent conversation rates.

In any program I've managed, it's been seen that affiliate traffic isn't as targeted as your own. It's true, a handful of affiliates will drive better than average quality, but the majority will send anyone they can get to click a link.

Use heavy testing, track results, and put up only those pages that make money so you can quickly recover the costs of managing an affiliate program. Word will get out quickly if you are making affiliates money.

Second point is to capture as many leads as possible and have a clear selling process (the first qualifies then converts visitors.) The reason most start affiliate programs is to lower their cost of sale, building a list lets you sell on alternative channels before cookies expire (and after.)

Best,

Justin