PREFACE:  An affiliate program is typically an arrangement between an advertiser and web site publishers where the publishers put ads on their sites or newsletters, ezines, blogs or other online media with a link to the advertiser's web site and earn referral fees or commissions when a sale is made to a prospect who clicks on that link.  That way, the publishers can usually keep their sites free for visitors to use.  It's a win-win-win situation:  for the sites' visitors, the advertisers and the affiliates.  Our.online program is similar to that, with us being the advertiser.

But we also wanted to make something similar available to people who DON'T have any kind of online presence (or even any "sales" experience), so we set up this offline version, as well.  It's simple to DO, but a bit complicated to EXPLAIN.

If you can print a page of eight or ten business-sized cards from our web site, write a number on each of them, cut them apart, carry some with you and get one into the hands of the manager or owner at any restaurant where you might dine OR at any tourist-related businesses you might happen to visit, anywhere you might travel (ask your tax advisor if that could give you some tax benefits) or even in your hometown, that's enough for you to qualify.  (The cards are not the ONLY option, as you'll see in a moment.)

• Free application and registration
• $5 signup bonus ($10 if you have a Referral Code) credited to your account on approval of your application
• 5% base commission (10% for Official Members: those who've rated at least 25 previously unrated restaurants; and for OFFLINE Affiliates who are Official Members, the base commission jumps to 15% after their first five sales)
• 5% bonus on monthly sales of $5,000 and above, 10% on sales of $10,000 and above, 15% on sales of $20,000 and above (on all sales that month)
• 1% top-tier bonus (2% with a Referral Code, 3% for Official Members, 4% for Official Members with a Referral Code) on all sales made by your top- level referrals (Optional; you may also choose to ONLY participate in this part.  Limited to 25 referrals; unlimited for Official Members.  More)
• $25 minimum payout (PayPal or check; $5.00 check fee - PayPal ONLY outside the USA - What is PayPal?); monthly rollover until the minimum is reached
• Payments are issued monthly, on or before the 20th of the following month
• All payments are in US dollars
• No tax identification information is required until you have a payment due, and then it's done in an encrypted mode
• Affiliates may also participate in our OPTIONAL Charitable Program, which has NO impact on their earnings.  (There's a link at the end of this page to the details on that.)

Click.HERE.(opens in a new window) for an abbreviated sample page for the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean; the links (in the RED text) all work.  The restaurant links on the left and the linked ads on the right are what we're selling, at discounted prices ranging from $67 to $204. 

(The graphic HELP logo explains the grading system used on the site, for those of you who aren't yet familiar with it.)

Any restaurant, bed and breakfast, scuba shop, ski resort, museum, art gallery - in fact, ANY tourist-related business that would be interesting and beneficial to our visitors (midscale to upscale diners and travelers), including online tourist or dining guides, local, worldwide or anything in between - would be a prospect, as long as they have a web site.

So if you go out to dinner, even if only occasionally, or patronize any tourist-related businesses, ANYWHERE in the world, this might well be for you.

Once your application has been approved, you'll get a unique Affiliate Number, which is used to track all sales and commissions; it's used as an Authorization Code for prospects, entitling them to a 15% discount.  Once you've got that number, you can get it into prospects' hands in any reasonable and legal way you can think of, depending on how creative you are, and/or you can just print and distribute the cards we've made up (plain paper is fine; card stock isn't necessary).

Here are a couple versions of the cards (we have several others, and we're open to your suggestions, as well):

Get New Customers Into YOUR Restaurant Global Advertising, Local Cost 15% Discount with this Authorization Code: XXXXXX-XXX Expires ___________

COLLABORATIVE ADVERTISING THAT PAYS FOR ITSELF Global Reach, Local Cost 15% Discount with this Authorization Code: XXXXXX-XXX Expires ___________

One VERY simple thing ANYONE could do when they're out to dinner would be to ask the server if the place has a web site, and if the answer is yes, ask him or her to pass a card on to the manager or owner ... or, if you're really shy, just leave a card with your check.  But if you can actually chat with the owner or manager for a minute or two, that'd probably be better.

Links and ads are offered in one-, two-, three- or four-year packages.  Here's the pricing (we give a 15% discount for clients who come from the affiliate programs, as shown in the bottom line of the tables; those are the amounts on which affiliate commissions are based).  We also give new clients the remaining months of their final year free, so that all contracts renew on December 31st.
 

And here's the pricing for the right-side ads.  All ads are subject to approval.
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Suggestion:  Click on the Restaurant Owners link and the Advertising Information link on the home page to see how those read.  If you want to do that now, click HERE (opens in a new window).

If you've never done anything liike this before, we expect you'll have some questions, and you're welcome to ask those as part of your application.

If you already have an Official Member Number, that will also be your Affiliate Number, and you'll be entitled to the 10% commission instead of 5%.  You can upgrade to that level at any time, but your Affiliate Number will change, so any sales made under the old number will only earn you a 5% commission, no matter when they're completed.

(Optional)  If you want to be eligible for the 1-4% top-tier referral bonus, fill out the appropriate section on the application form and if your application is approved, we'll tell you how to use your Official Member Number for that purpose.

(Optional) You may also participate in our Charitable Program, if you want, which has NO effect of your earnings at all, but may benefit a nonprofit organization of your choice.  What is this?.(Opens in a new window)

We'd recommend that you subscribe to our Affiliates Newsletter to keep up to date on everything that's going on with the program; you'll be able to do that once we've approved your application.