If someone just getting started with affiliate marketing were to ask me what networks they would go with I would suggest Shareasale, Commission Junction, and ClickBank.
I know I have ripped some of them in the past but the bottom line is they will pay.
And yes, I know there are a handfull of networks that are rock solid and not going anywhere but lets be honest – Is person brand new to affiliate marketing going to get accepted to these?
Unfortunately the ones that are “newbie” friendly will probably be out of business in a couple months and your money gone with it.
Its amazing how many networks have gone under in the last year.
Most of the networks left standing have their own products in addition to affiliates.
I gotta believe that all the FTC changes have to do with this. And the FTC has gone after and virtually shut down a couple networks in 2011 alone.
Is 2012 the last year we will see affiliate networks as we know it?
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Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2473 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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What about GAN, Linkshare and Pepperjam? Those are owned by Google, Rakuten and eBay, three of the biggest names on the Web worldwide.
The question in evaluating affiliate networks seems to be if they have their own merchants / advertisers or are they sourcing offers from other “affiliate networks”? Can you rely that they’ll have offers from a given set of merchants next month, let alone tomorrow?
Ya like I said though do you think pepperjam is going to be friendly to a person just starting out?
PepperJam doesn’t pay commissions. period. In my case the funniest thing is I’m due tens of thousands of dollars from PJ from eBay when it was part of PepperJam Network before the buyout by GSI (THANKS KRIS J. and your UGG Boots fetish) then subsequent buyout of GSI by eBay.
eBay sure knows how to strongarm it’s customers (sellers) but they also know how to shortchange affiliates. Ask any eBay affiliate who was with them when they were in Commission Junction (except Shawn Hogan of course) how bad their earnings dropped.
Shoeboy is 100% spot on with SaS and CJ. ClickBank, well, if you want to promote shady offers. Other than that, Amazon affiliate works.
Honest truth is 99% of anybody who were involved in “affiliate marketing” have given up on that ghost.
AND, stay away from anything eBay….
Hey Boards of Canada,
Could you elaborate on PepperJam not paying? I really want to know about this as I’m about to switch from CJ to PepJ
Here is why:
PJ pays up to $16 for a lead VS CJ’s $10 – this is for the same Advertiser on both networks.
Now that is 60% more… but is they will not be paying, than what is the point of switching?
I know approximately my conversion rates on this program, so I will be able to compare – but I don’t want to loose a month worth of earnings just to see if it works.
So, please explain why you say they are not paying.
PS – this is not the 1st time I “hear” this about PJ – but the one I read before dates back 2-3 years, so I don’t know how relevant it is now.
Also, what do you think about Share-a-Sale?
I sent u an important messagge via mail.. Please Reply..
I got the message, but what does resale rights have to do with this ?
I think you hit the point home with the idea of networks having their own products. There’s only so far you can go by brokering other people’s offers, but if networks have a vested interest in offers/products they’ve built from the ground up, they’ll have a better understanding of the product and how to adapt when needed – for FTC regulations, for example.
I think this stripping down of networks is good though – the networks that survive will be stronger and with any hope, offer better and more sustainable offers to their affiliates.
I agree. Trying to apply to Neverblue who require X amount of pages views/visitors I was turn down from a few others affiliate and my sites get decent traffic, but most of these networks try to set the bar high to protect them self’s. these are not good for newbies.
I was hoping you would list the networks that have fallen for the sake of fun. I know Copeac had trash thrown on their table at ASW12 and then shut down a week later. Who else has gone away?
I hope so. I love intuition and competition. It’s what drives progression and discipline. Lets see what the future holds!
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How come Linkshare wasn’t on your list? I thought they were the largest/oldest of the networks
Just give me 100% of your money, wait a few months and I’ll give half of it back. This will save you a lot of time setting up new affiliate accounts, the effort involved with preselling, and the stress involved with worrying if the Ad network will later be closed keeping your commissions – and I’ll GUARANTEE you get half back risk free. =)
RocketProfit is another aff network that went under recently.
Also, the DirectTrack system has been down since at least yesterday. That means that all the affiliate networks that use DirectTrack (and there are many) have not been accessible since then and will not be accessible until the problem is fixed.
This DirectTrack outage could hasten the demise of many marginal affiliate networks.
Correction: CJ pays IF their advertisers have funded their accounts. If not, they wash their hands of you. Bottom line is when affiliates agree to get paid AFTER services have been delivered, they are floating credit without interest. Not a business I want to be in.
But I couldn’t figure out how FTC is the reason for this. But I think affiliates need lots of support as it is becoming tough to market these days.
ClickBank is a great place to start for newbies specially MMO niche it is easy to convert as compared to other niches
love
I just got the Shoemoney system. There you recommend Azoogle ads. What don’t you recommend them here? Are they still up and running?
I signed up with CJ & Commission junction already
Still learning how to get people to the offers though. But I’ve made some nice pocket change off the first few lessons… Thanks!
No problem.
Yea we recently updated all the online content to not recommend azoogleads anymore but to walk you through other networks.