Affiliate Network Advantages

What are affiliate networks? Why might you wish to become an associate in such a network as opposed to joining one or more separate affiliate programs? Here's some information to help you understand the benefits.

What Are Affiliate Networks?

Some affiliate programs are originated by as well as administered by the merchant. This is true of large programs like Amazon.com affiliates, as well as programs originating with smaller merchants. But some affiliate programs are administered through a network where the management of a large number of merchants and their affiliates is undertaken by a single organization.

Why Join a Network?

You might be a merchant yourself, looking to ad links that complement the product or service your sell, or you might just be someone who wants to monetize your site and thinks they can be a good affiliate for the right product(s). In either case, there's a choice between individual affiliate programs and networks. Why choose the network?

Working with a network that presents you with a variety of merchants can make it easier to choose your merchants in the first place. In addition, since affiliate marketing may have an application process during which merchants review your website, working with a network can reduce your start-up time. Networks can provide intercession if you have a problem with a merchant, and help assure business-like management for things like on-time payments, accurate tracking, and up-to-date advertisements.

Affiliates are not limited by joining one network. You can join multiple networks if you wish. One benefit of being a one-network person is that all of your tracking is likely to be unified, while with either multiple networks or multiple merchants' self-administered programs, you will have more work to keep track of the tracking.

Which Networks Should You Consider?

Popular affiliate networks include Commission Junction (CJ http://www.cj.com), and LinkShare (http://www.linkshare.com). Here is a list of some of their advertisers:

Commission Junction	LinkShare
Apple Store	1-800-flowers.com
Best Buy	AT&T
Dell	iTunes
Expedia.com	Macy's
Hewlett Packard	McAfee
Staples	Office Depot
	Orbitz.

You may gather from this that these networks are well-respected an reliable and that merchants of this caliber trust them. But there are good reasons to shop around before you make a decision. Consider Performics and ShareaSale. You should also be aware of ClickBack and PayDotCom, a PayPal-based network. Just reviewing a this article has all rights reserved and is copyright by 100 Best group of sites will give you some ideas about the features and response you can expect from each network.

Choosing the Merchants

Of course, the merchants in the program are going to be a big part of your decision of whether to join a particular network, as well as reviews. So besides reviewing the networks, you may also wish to use the explanations and questions in the article "Choose the Right Affiliate Programs for Your Site" to help you with your merchant considerations after you've settled on a network.

 

Related Article: How Do Affiliate Programs Work? >>