referral programs???

[sbrathwright]

Newbie web developer here...and I have a question!

I've seen heaps of ads about referral/reseller programs...

Are they worth it?

I know it's a general question but I wanted to see if the established pro's still go for that stuff [gimmicks] and/or they have found them to profitable.

So, in general...should I evaluate different referral programs or should I not waste my time??

Apologies for the general n00b question, but you've got to start somewhere, eh?

Thanks!

[oh and please no referral links...it's not an open invitation to advertise your referral program. thanks]

[benthai98]

I guess it can be worth it. As long as it's not taking up a lot of your own time, then it's kinda money for nothing.

Nothing wrong with that

It's when it starts becoming expected of you, or starts taking you away from other things that it becomes a hassle.

Benno

[MikeOS]

I did one with Amazon, beyond, and NextCard once for about 18 months. Although my site was very busy, I didn't make much money. Fortunately I wasn't paying to host the site so it didn't cost me, I mention this just in case you pay for your own bandwidth because if you exceed it, it could end up costing you. I also felt that they were getting free advertising from me, and I wasn't really getting anything from them, so I dropped it. I haven't done one since. However, that was just my experience I do know of those who have profitted quite well from it. I suppose you could just try it out and see how it goes, you can always stop if you don't feel you're getting anything out of it.

[benthai98]

That's right Mike, you can always stop. But you may also find you are chased down via email for the rest of your life.

We, as a host, prefer to work through 'reseller' set ups. It's much easier to control. Much cleaner for all involved. We sell to you, you then sell it on to others. Whatever profit you want you tack on as mark up. You can make a lot of money this way.

Referrals are a good easy way but, as you said, you wouldn't wanna be paying for all the extra bandwidth.

Benno

[MicheleZ]

Hi sbrathwright,

If you are interested in referal programs, you may want to check out this thread on this forum.

Its a Wells Fargo referral program for credit card processing services aimed at web developers. I am actually looking for feedback on this program, so please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Michele

[sbrathwright]

Thanks for the sound advice, Benno and Mike. I guess I'll try a few out to see how it works and if it's worth any extra work I might have to do.

Michele - Thanks for the link, I haven't had time to check out the referral offer quite yet. I'll be sure to look it over and give you any feedback. I am new to this whole thing, so my basis for comparision is quite limited.

Thanks again for all the feed back!

Cheers,

Scott

[MarkR1248]

Howdy Scott

Yeah, I agree with everyone else. Trying it doesnt hurt. And, hey, any extra cash is free cash. : )

I have done some in the past with some mixed results.

This Wells Fargo thing sounds interesting though, I think I met have some questions to ask Michele...

Mark