The Perfect Affiliate Network
Posted by RohailR | Posted in Affiliate Marketing | Posted on 21-06-2010
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When we join an affiliate network what are we all looking for? We know the basics, but what about things that we haven’t yet seen networks do. I asked myself this and here are some of the things that I think networks need to do in order to succeed as this industry grows:
1. Transparency of quality – We’ve heard this one over and over, but it doesn’t seem like many networks have made network-wide transparency much thought. One of the most common things affiliates complain about (rightly or wrongly) is about getting scrubbed on an offer. One way to combat this might be to let affiliates know what the pre-determined scrub rates are based on the quality of leads being generated. That or an incentive based system where better quality leads get higher payouts than average.
2. A non-compete promise – Now that affiliate networks and ad networks are competing against affiliates and running offers independently, there’s an even greater need for trust between affiliates and networks. It’s obvious that the affiliate has to create value here somehow, but there’s something networks can get out of this predicament as well. All ethical arguments aside, money is money and there are some networks who are going to steal what affiliates are running. I can’t think of a definite way to stop this other than making sure affiliates provide more value. Perhaps, however, networks can require affiliates to produce a certain quantity of leads through a certain traffic source in order to maintain the non-compete. This keeps click costs lower among affiliates and still guarantees networks a piece of the pie without the elbow grease. Further, it motivates and makes it easier for affiliates to scale.
3. Availability – Let’s lower the number of affiliates to affiliate manager ratios. These days it seems as though even the smaller networks are having a hard time assisting all their affiliates. Either that or hire more affiliate managers. It makes no sense to have a thousand affiliates and five managers when a majority of those affiliates aren’t experiencing any growth. I would much rather have 20-30 affiliates in my network all well-managed and growing than hundreds who are just floating clueless in the water. Seriously, networks are waayyy losing their potential to grow in revenue and quality by trying to grow too fast without the proper support. Sure those tweets with tips are helpful sometimes, but if you’re brand new it does take a little more than that. I’m not saying networks should be holding affiliates hands all the time. But they might want to at least initially if they want to see them learn and grow into independent affiliates.
What are some things you would like to see in your version of the “perfect affiliate network”?
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) I haven’t had that much trying trying to gets ads approved, but more so it’s the fact that even with CTRs of 0.20% and above click costs don’t come down enough to even be profitable enough with 60-70 cent epcs. I keep asking myself if I’m doing something wrong, but I’m running my highest ctr ads with the highest converting ads. Of course there’s still money to be made on Facebook, but for the amount of time I’ve been putting into it lately and for the lack of longevity, it really hasn’t been worth it. I’ve never figured out how to make Facebook profitable on broad demos, but I’m trying that now – we’ll see if it’s possible. I’m tired of running short term small scale campaigns – it’s too much of a headache for too little of a profit. I need change. I’ve been here way too long to not be hitting big league campaigns now.