Why use Affiliate Networks?

[jjblond]

I have been reading through linkshare, shareasale and commission junction information. I am trying to figure it all out.
If I can go directly to a store and apply to be an affiliate why would you go through the network? Especially if you still have to apply to individual stores?

So you join a network
apply to merchants

vs
Just apply to merchants?

What am I missing? Especially, since I have been reading complains about peoples accounts be closed and losing commissions unexpectedly.

If anybody could help explain the purpose of the networks. please let me know.
I know they offer some organization of data and combining of payments. But is it worth it??

 

[Linda Buquet]

HI Jaime,

Great question. 1st off some affiliates prefer to work directly with merchants, a larger percentage prefer the convenience of a network.

Let me make an analogy. How frustrating and time consuming would it be if every person that emailed you used a different Word Procession program instead of Word which you are comfortable with. Every email you sent each person had to be in their unique software so for each email you had to stop and learn a new program, each with buttons in different places and different names for common commands?

Well for a newbie in particular I think it can be overwhelming working with a bunch of inhouse programs. They each have a different interface, different reporting, different ways of getting creative. Some are pretty good and easy and some are hard to learn and each has a separate log-in.

Going into CJ or SAS is sort of like going in your online banking, you get used to the interface and can do everything you need to do all in one place - one log-in, one interface to learn, etc.

Plus for new affiliates consolidated payments are a plus. Some in-house programs have a 50 or 100 minimum before they will pay you. So you could make $25 each with 10 merchants and not see a penny. With CJ you'd get your 250.

There are lots of pros and cons to working with networks. I didn't really go into the cons. Just tried to answer your question "why go through a network."

 

[Arun Lakhera]

Dear Jaime, had it been easy to get organization data and payments, affiliate networks would have never flourished. Marketing network assists both merchants and affiliates in successfully running an affiliate program by providing affiliate marketing tools and keeping record of all the clicks, leads or sales generated through affiliate sites. In a nutshell, joining an affiliate network is just like hiring a person responsible for doing all your home work.

 

[jjblond]

Thanks to both of you. I get it now.

Now when I look through all the network postings. I will understand a little better.

Thank you!

 

[jjblond]

one more question

do people use multiple networks?

do they all offer different stores?

It seems if you had a lot of affiliate links you would end up joining a couple networks and still have direct links to merchants.

Do you think this is true?

Thanks again,
Jaime

 

[jumar112]

It seems if you had a lot of affiliate links you would end up joining a couple networks and still have direct links to merchants.

Jaime,
You are right with what you say for (I believe) most people. But it is entirely up to you and what type of products or services.

I use multiple networks. The reason I do this is because when I was in the natural remedies, then Commission Junction had a few stores I liked and then Linkshare had a few more.
I do also have companies that I am an affiliate for that I have direct links to because they are not in an affiliate network.

They all do offer different stores and if you are using more than one affiliate network you can (possibly) get a wider selection of products or services for your website or you can stick with one merchant and use only their products.
The choice is up to you.

When I signed up for Commission Junction and Linkshare, I used a note card and wrote down the companies I was using and my user name and password to get into the network.
It was easier for me to keep track of the merchants and which affiliate network they were in.

Julia

 

[Linda Buquet]

"It seems if you had a lot of affiliate links you would end up joining a couple networks and still have direct links to merchants."

Ya true, but for NEWBIES, I think the key though is to focus on
ONE niche and one merchant or network mainly.

Think about it this way. If you spend too much time joining a bunch of networks and a bunch of programs and figuring out the intricacies of each one, that takes precious time away from site building and marketing. You won't sell a thing til you start getting traffic. So pick one thing, focus your efforts, get some traffic and make some sales, then gradually expand after you figure out what you are doing.

I just fear if newbies try to learn and do everything at once, they could get frustrated and quit before they ever get off the ground.

But yes affiliates that have multiple sites or even just one mall site for instance, join lots of different networks PLUS in-house programs as well.
But not day one. Down the road after they figure things out.

 

[jjblond]

I understand what you are saying and I know you don't do personal consulting.

-But I came up with a business idea and it is rather large in structure. I have multiple specialists working with me on webpage design and analytics, but we are all new to the intricacies of the affiliate marketing field. Maybe we are trying something out of our reach, but we still want to try it.
I understand everybody needs to start somewhere, but I am really passionate on what I am trying to accomplish. I am hoping it isn't too large for our company to take on and we can learn as we build our site. It is going to be along road!

We understand the big picture of what we want to accomplish and are working our way back to figure how we are going to pull it all together. What we are trying to accomplish does include a " mall" of affiliates links, and we need to be able to track individual sales for our site to be successful.

What we want to do has been done before... so I know it is possible.. legal, etc. There are great sites that do exactly what I want to do, but they are rather large companies. The question is how do we get our business up and running.

I would love to contact the large companies and figure out how they tracking their sales and getting commissions. I wish I could just post my whole business plan, ask for input and go from there, but I know I cant.

If you have any ideas, advise, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You again for your help! This forum helps alot!