Shortly after recovering from my first bad RCAP (Recurring Commission Affiliate Program) experience and learning the previous lesson the hard way I decided to give it a second try...

(In case you don't recall the lesson: Recurring product/service self use regardless of the business opportunity is an essential factor for promoting at your best and thus for earning from a RCAP)

...so I started to look for

* a loyalty type RCAP,

* with products or services I could really use regardless of the business opportunity,

* properly priced

Hmmm, that started to sound familiar... Doh!

The funny thing is, and it came to me as a shock, that I was already a member of such a program, already paying gladly for their services. Of course next thing I thought was "You big idiot! How didn't you realize that BEFORE signing up for the other program and throwing time and cash down the toilet?!"

"Sorry, sorry, so what? That was then and this is now" I replied back. Luckily I forgive myself quickly. :)

Anyway, first thing you must do when selecting a RCAP to promote is to check whether you're already using recurring payment products or services, and pick those that have affiliate programs attached.

Back to my story, with the difference that now I was focused on a RCAP whose services I was using and whose benefits I was experiencing everyday, I started promoting it:

* I acquired a domain name related to the program for promoting it properly,

* gathered my affiliate urls,

* looked for the ready-made ads,

* and decided to discard them all and make my own! :D

I may be wrong, but I think honesty and enthusiasm sells better than pre-written sales copy. Anyway I was at that point in my career when I wanted to test how good I was at crafting my own copy.

You know, a big part of marketing success comes from writing good copy, so sooner or later you'll have to stop relying on others' words and start crafting your own. I felt that was a good time for me to get on with it.

So I crafted an article-type piece, sent it steadily to a few free safelists and waited for results...

In a matter of days I got a first person interested in the program, and in a few more days of follow-up, again telling him my own story with my own words, I was able to turn that first prospect into a customer!

"Wow!" I said. After the first wave of enthusiasm I thought about it again and "Wow!" I said again! :)

Ok, ok, after a few more "wows" and celebrations I cooled myself a bit and started to prepare myself for the worst, that is, for the possibility of him canceling his membership after his first month was over.

But next month came and he was still paying his membership and I was getting a commission for it, and another month and... well, as I write this (Apr 2005) he's been a paying member for six months, getting good value for his money all this time and getting me recurring commissions. So it has become a win-win-win situation, because the program manager is happy too.

That's because of the loyalty factor. As I write this I've been a member for 16 months and I don't have a reason to cancel anytime soon, so the loyalty factor applies to me too.

You see now why I love the concept of RCAP? "Sell once, get paid monthly" at its best!

And my steady monthly payment grows with every new happy member! :)

Sorry for the excess of smileys in this article, but it deserves it. I trust you can get that feeling too sometime soon with this or any other program. It feels really good!

Pity I didn't realize the program's potential in my first 10 months when I was only using the services but not promoting them (sigh).

Anyway, the program I've been talking about is a 'services for the Internet Marketer' package, you know, url trackers, rotators, autoresponders, web hosting, ebook collection, etc. I'm pretty sure you've realized it by now, but I AM an Internet Marketer, and I guess you are too or will be one soon if you've been reading this far.

(Oct 2006 update) - Unfortunately, after a relationship that has produced many years' worth of recurring commissions, the program manager announced recently that he is suspending his site's services. Pity, and a bit of an annoyance too, as I was promoting it actively and I've had to undo a lot of promotional efforts. Which is yet another factor that leads me to focusing most of my online income building efforts into developing my own assets, as opposed to focusing too much on affiliate programs for third parties... that may eventually disappear.

Take care,

P.S. Next week I'll tell you more about one of the tools included in the program, the tool I signed up for in the first place, and about how it can improve your Internet Marketing success.