Networks

What Are Networks


Affiliate Networks are intermediaries or brokers acting between the affiliate and the merchant.  They offer portfolio's of products, either digital or tangible.  It is essential for the marketer to join at least three of these networks, signing up is easy and you will not need to manage multiple usernames and passwords for each product you promote as this information is stored on the network database for you. A link is provided for each product you want to promote; included in this link is your unique tracking ID and a link to the product.  This tracking ID is recognized by the affiliate network and when a sale is made the network completed the payment process and makes sure that the affiliate is paid the relevant commission.  The network will also handle refunds and technical support
When deciding on products to promote, make sure that you stick to these rules:

• Choose products relevant to your keywords and niche market.
• Check out the product; would you be happy to put your name to that product
• Check how much commission is applicable, and how you will be paid; online processes are always best

8 Top Affiliate Networks
 

There are many affiliate networks to choose from.  Some of the largest networks are included below.  However, there are other networks that you should investigate; some offer bespoke products and good commission.

CommissionJunction.com
This is the world's largest affiliate network, offering digital and tangible products; if you prefer to sell tangible products then this is the network to join. Their advertisers include companies like Ebay, Home Depot, Yahoo Search Marketing, HP, Buy.com and their product portfolio is huge.  The linking structure is difficult to master and gathering links is not straightforward, but can be done.  It just requires practice.  Merchants must approve affiliates for product promotion, therefore you will be required to sign up with every merchant. All payments are consolidated into a single cheque. 

ClickBank.com
ClickBank offers over 20,000 products to promote and pay affiliates up to 75% commission rates.  This is a free-to-join affiliate network and affiliates are paid by cheque sent out every two weeks. Setting up with ClickBank is very easy; links are easy to gather and the smaller websites tend to go with ClickBank for this reason.  It is a highly effective network; all products are digital format and delivery can be instant.  It is worth mentioning that there is low-level fraud as protection is not as comprehensive as it could be.  Refund rates are small and guarantee is provided on all products.  There is no approvals process and anyone can promote products. Open to affiliates and merchants.



Linkshare.com
This is another huge affiliate network incorporating over 600 merchants; used as much as ClickBank and CJ.com.  It offers products such as Webhosting and Voice-Over IP as well as books, fashion, computers and music.  Companies include Target, Disney, Amex, Dell and Nordstrum.  Most of the products are service-oriented.  The system is easy-to-use but advertisers manually approve applications to promote products. 

PayDotCom
PayDotCom is a free affiliate network for both affiliates and publishers to join. This network enables affiliates and merchants to communicate, therefore affiliates are able to obtain the necessary information to enable effective promotion.  PayDotCom pays commission through PayPal for ease of access. regarding products Affiliates are paid up to 80% commission rates. 

RegNow.com
Offers is a good affiliate  network, handling all payment, click tracking and analytics for many companies.  They offer digital products including e-books, video and audio editing software and virus software.

ShareSale.com
Includes over 1,000 merchants and no payment is necessary for registration.  Affiliates are able to browse according to Pay-Per-Click, Pay-Per-Lead or Pay-Per-Sale. Offers over 2,000 products to promote and a comprehensive portfolio; product genres include art, business, automotive, clothing, cosmetics and nutrition, and many others.ShareSale is valued for its anti-parasitic principles. 

Performics.com
Open to affiliates and merchants; affiliates provided with tools, tracking and analytics and reporting is provided in real-time.  Companies such as Adidas, Fossil and Target advertise on this network. 

Click2Sell
Open to merchants and affiliates, merchants can add products to their marketplace and start selling and accepts payments instantly for products. Track keywords and analytics available to enable merchants and affiliates to find out why your promoted products are selling. Tracks every aspect of your campaign with a strong buyer tracking system.
  
Pay-Per-Click Networks
 

Google Adwords is the biggest PPC network.  There are many PPC networks to choose from, the following three are the biggest;

Google Adwords
Google Adwords is the largest paid advertising network in the world; it is constantly evolving and growing.  Advertisers include AOL, ASK and New York Times. Google Adwords network should be the number one choice of PPC networks, as the quality of traffic is second-to-none.  They can drive huge amounts of traffic to your website; converting into high-rate sales.  Google Adwords uses a Quality Score algorithm and this increases user quality.  This ranking system is based on many different factors and these are used to determine an ads positioning and the cost of advertising.  The Adwords system has become difficult to use, however, it can drive more traffic through reduced competition for those who master the system.
 The Google Adwords Quality Score is based on the following;

•  Click-through Ratio
• Landing Page relevance
• Keyword group
• Relevance of the ad
• Account history

Google continually receives feedback from its advertisers; the interface is client-driven; changes will appear on login which means that this content has been requested by other advertisers.  The features offered by Adwords are;

• Monitoring performance - account statistics, reporting centre, Google Analytics, tracking conversions, cross-channel tracking
• Statistics - CPC, ad position, click-through rate and conversion ratio
• Manage accounts - Client Centre allows managing of multiple accounts within the same login
• Tools - My Change History, keyword tool, keyword traffic estimator, placement management tools
  
• Min Cost-Per-Click -$0.01 (depends on account and ad group quality)
• Daily budgeting
• Ad scheduling

Yahoo! Search Marketing

Formerly Overture.com, Yahoo! Search Marketing is one of the leading PPC networks; prior to Google Adwords, YSM was the leading system, including Yahoo!, AltaVista, InfoSpace and CNN.  Quality of traffic is excellent, like Adwords, and you will benefit from using both Adwords and YSM.  YSM interface and ad system is similar to Adwords, and your ad positioning will reflect keyword quality, your ads and relevant landing page.  Relevant campaigns will provide a higher ad position.  Relevance of keywords, ads and landing pages ie, 'high quality' will achieve a better position even than advertisers paying more to place ads.  The system is very similar to Google so it is important to run your campaigns in the same way. Features include;

• Monitoring performance - account stats, report centre, tracking conversions, cross-channel tracking
• Statistics - CPC, ad position, click-through rate, conversion ratio
• Mininim Cost-Per-Click - $0.01
• Daily budgeting

Get your FREE Yahoo Guide Here


MSN Adcentre
Created by Microsoft, MSN Adcentre was introduced in 2006.  This network was part of Overture.  Adcentre is sophisticated and is similar to Adwords, features are sometimes more elaborate that Adwords.  However, the interface only works properly when using Internet Explorer; Firefox, Mozilla will not allow some features.  Graphical charts, diagrams and research tools help to choose relevant keywords.  Features include;

•  Monitoring - account stats,report centre, conversion tracking and cross-channel tracking
• Statistics - CPC, ad position, click-through rate and conversion ratio
• Minimum CPC - $0.05
• Daily budgeting
• Ad scheduling

There are limits on industries to promote and keyword approval can be tricky.  Consider using this network if you are using Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search

10 Essential Reasons To Join A Network

• Get ahead of the worsening economic climate, beating unemployment and ensuring an income 
• Source of residual income; can be combined with other online opportunities to provide monthly income  
• Immediate earning potential; earn whilst you learn  
• Availability of tools, resources, training and advice; particularly ideal for new affiliates  
• A variety of marketing techniques and opportunities to earn money  
• Provides consistency to enable earning potential  
• Products all available in one place, saving time  
• Provides security against scams, fraud and fraudulent merchants 
• Shared risks and guaranteed payment even if merchant refuses to pay 
• Monitoring performance under one roof for multiple products