Archives for December 2011

In the 2011 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report, where over fourteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed, we asked, “How do you most often find out about an affiliate program and then join?”, and 5% responded with “Affiliate network.”

Affiliate networks are companies that provide affiliate tracking and reporting for affiliate programs. When affiliates join an affiliate network, they are typically able to search the network by names of merchants, keywords, or categories of affiliate program.

An example of an affiliate network is ShareASale.

Other affiliate networks I currently use are Affiliate Window, Commission Junction, and LinkShare. There are many others out there, but these are the networks I am currently active in, as their merchants are most relevant to my affiliate sites.

In the case of ShareASale, there is an option to search with a keyword for either merchants or products; advanced search, which has a variety of parameters to choose; and dozens of categories, many of which have a number of sub-categories.

There are also options to view only those merchants with datafeeds, as well as viewing which merchants have current coupons/deals.

So, if I am looking for merchants and/or products for an affiliate site focused on gifts, I would search for gifts and see what was available to me.

When I find an affiliate program that fits my needs, I would click “Join Program”.

I prefer to promote affiliate programs within affiliate networks, so I can consolidate my logins, reporting, and payments, so this is one of the ways I like to search for affiliate programs.

In the 2011 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report, where over fourteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed, we asked, “How do you most often find out about an affiliate program and then join?”, and 25% responded with “Affiliate Directory.”

The affiliate directory played a big role in my affiliate marketing history, as I worked for the first affiliate program directory, Refer-it, back in 1999-2000.

Back then, affiliate directories were a needed resource, because there were fewer ways to find affiliate programs at the time.

But now it surprises me that many affiliates still rely on the directories. I started up an affiliate directory called Affiliate Thing years ago, but killed it in 2009, because I found it to be unnecessary.

Additionally, I didn't like where they were heading with a great many of them featuring affiliate programs, because they were two-tiers (they were getting a piece of the affiliates joining under them) or the spaces on lists of the top affiliate programs were being sold.

However, affiliates are clearly still using what I consider to be the equivalent of Yellow Pages for affiliate programs.

So which is the best affiliate directory?

Well, I took a look at those ranking best in Google, and there isn't one I'd recommend for affiliates to use.

But for merchants, I'd suggest submitting your details to the affiliate directories that are ranking well, but don't pay for placement.

In the 2011 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report, where over fourteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed, we asked, “How do you most often find out about an affiliate program and then join?”, and 7% responded with “Advertising in print publications.”

It may seem backwards to look offline for affiliate programs, since they are based online, but it's a great way to discover new affiliate programs and networks.

Affiliates can find affiliate programs in a couple of ways with print publications – affiliate marketing industry magazines, like FeedFront, or titles specific to their niche or vertical.

Here is a magazine ad for the SeaWorld affiliate program.

And here is another magazine ad from cpa network Commission Empire.

For any merchants reading, you should have a unique call to action or url, so you can track the performance.