Affiliate Network - Do I Need One?

Affiliate Network - Do I Need One?

The affiliate has a choice. They can either work with multiple merchants- or they can work with an affiliate network. So why should a marketer want to work with an Affiliate Network? I remember a f Contd...

The affiliate has a choice. They can either work with multiple merchants- or they can work with an affiliate network. So why should a marketer want to work with an Affiliate Network?

I remember a friend told me a story awhile back. He had built a small website and had signed up to become an affiliate at a stack of different affiliate programs related to the topic of that site. A few weeks after he had set up the site including links and banners from multiple affiliate programs- he turned his attention to other business interests and lost interest in the site.

A few months later- he noticed that a few checks had started arriving from the affiliate programs he had joined up with. Not large checks- but amounts for a few dollars here and there. That was his first problem – as he was living outside of the USA- lots of small amounts result in lots of bank charges. (Which makes me ask - Why can’t all countries allow affiliates to bank checks at NO CHARGE?)

Nevertheless- the checks continued to come in- and although some of them were posted on his wall as they were so small he couldn/' t bank them- he wasn/' t complaining as he was making money he hadn/' t expected. It turned out that his site had ranked high up on specific keywords in a major search engine- and he was receiving a fair amount of targeted traffic for free. A few months after that he decided to log into all the affiliate accounts he had registered with- and noticed that some of them had not paid him as the amounts were too small- some of them hadn/' t paid although they should have- and some even showed that they had sent him amounts that he didn/' t recall receiving checks or EFT or paypal or any other payments for!

So how does working with an affiliate network prevent this from happening- and is this the only reason to work with an affiliate network?

A good affiliate network has a number of different offers which the affiliates can promote- and nearly all the affiliate networks consolidate the amounts the affiliates earn from the various campaigns. This means that the affiliates receive a CONSOLIDATED payment rather than many smaller ones.
It also makes reconciling the payments easier- as you simply log into one affiliate network- and can see a summary of each of the campaigns you have promoted- how much you have earned from them- a summary of how much you have earned overall- and how much the affiliate network has paid you to date.

Also- once you work with one campaign in an affiliate network- the other campaigns work in a similar if not identical way – the tracking is the same method- the place you pull the creatives from is the same- the way you check your stats is the same – and nearly always- all of this can be achieved by logging into one backend site rather than many different sites.

So now you are working with one log-in- where you can really get to understand the system.
However- even with the best of affiliate networks- things go wrong – but with an affiliate network- you would be allocated an affiliate manager- who will help you sort out any issues you encounter. Not 50 different affiliate managers – one for each campaign you are running- as would be the case if each merchant was a standalone merchant with their own affiliate program – but one affiliate manager for all the campaigns. And by building up a relationship with your affiliate manager- when you do need answers- you have one person to turn to.

Of course- once you become a professional super whaling affiliate (the type that lies on the beach while the money pours in – HAS ANYONE REALLY ACHIEVED THIS? Watch this space for a future story about the affiliate beach goers!)- you/' ll need specific campaigns to promote- and that is why- even the best of affiliates belong to multiple affiliate programs and affiliate networks. But this presents even more problems.

So my advice when starting out is to choose one or 2 affiliate networks- become familiar with their system- build up a relationship with the affiliate manager- test out the different campaigns they have- and let them help you achieve the success and results you want to achieve.

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