ckboddic

I've read a lot of posts w/ people talking about signing up for a lot of networks all at once. I have two questions.


1) I've read it's better to sign up for just a few of the best networks and promote those campaigns. So why am I reading about people signing up for 50 back to back? Is it more optimal to sign up for more networks or less?

2) Do networks require to promote their offers at least some amount after they accept you or they'll drop you? If there is no penalty for no marketing, I can see how it would make sense to sign up for as many as possible so you'd have more to choose from.

Kenster

Hope to help...

The reasoning for joining many networks is so you have access to more offers, but more importantly, so you can keep split testing offers to find the optimal one. Some networks have better offers in a given niche than others, and some have the same exact offers but they happen to convert differently for one reason or another.

So the more networks you belong to, the more offers you have to choose from to test and split test...thats a good thing.

However, the fewer networks you belong to, the better of a relationship you can build with that network and that affiliate manager. This can help you reap huge rewards, because having a good relationship will often lead to you being able to promote "unlisted" offers or your affiliate manager will tell you straight up which offers are gold and which ones crap.

So, in this case, the fewer networks the better because you can build a stronger relationship if you are only working with a few. And with only a few, that means there is heavier traffic to those few networks which helps you negotiate payouts etc.


My advice and what I do is belong to a bunch of networks but only focus on a few to promote heavily. I have built good relaitonships wth my affiliate managers in my top few networks, but by belonging to other networks I can still split test with them and test out their offers. Occasionally you will find that a network you rarely work with has the same offer that you are promoting but it converts better, so belonging to several networks keeps your options open.


Long winded response, i apologize

Jenni Mac

Call me paranoid, but I personally don't like to have all my eggs in one basket and that's why I belong to several.

I don't belong to 50 though, but the few that I do belong to I'm promoting from all of them - obviously I have my favs.

trafficguru

Be careful who you signup with as well. There are a lot of small networks that just buy the Directtrack system and start promoting almost overnight. There is any Indian outfit doing just that and they burned me pretty bad. Took all the money I earned and refused to pay. When you call their 800 number its some broken english recording that is really faint. When you email them the people that respond have completely broken English. Not professional. Make sure you are working with a good companies like neverblue, Hydra, and Pepperjam.

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Robyn8243

When you are first starting out, you are probably better offer sticking with a handful of reputable networks.

Most networks have a minimum payout, and when you are new and just trying to figure things out, making money and actually getting paid is more important than getting the best ROI on a single offer. You don't want to end up with $50 in one account and $25 in another....with nothing in your personal bank account.


Robyn

trafficguru

Very good point Robyn. Can totally relate to having small sums of money in lots of network accounts and little of it in my own bank account. And unless you are good at keep documentation about your earnings you can forget about which networks you have money in.

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Geekery

if you have a campaign that really would want to scale up and wanted to know payouts to your offer, you can just visit offervault and see what other networks are paying for the campaign you are running... then just sign up there.. No need to sign up with gazillions of networks.

Kenster

Very good point. What I do is create an excel spreadsheet with all my accounts on it and then update it with commission amounts every other night. This way you know exactly how much the networks owe you and you have a running total. I also list my minimum payment amounts for each network so I know when to check whether a check was issued.

As with your actual campaigns, tracking your commissions is extremely crucial for cash management control and just so you protect yourself from getting stiffed.

Good luck!

young-Money

I belong to several networks because some network pays more for an offer compared to another

Catalyst eMarketing

I'm with Geekery and was just coming to post about OfferVault.

I bet some of those affiliates that sign up on tons of networks are doing it to shop and compare offers and get the best deal. You can do that on OfferVault.

Then like trafficguru said, don't just pick the best payouts, pick a couple of the best payouts that are on reputable and trusted networks and join those.

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Thumoney

One of the top reason for me to stick to few of the best networks is to get to weekly payouts as fast as possible. This helps with cash flow. This is especially important if you pay for traffic. If you focus on too much networks, this is a long shot.

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Greg Jacobs

being a successful CPA'er I can tell you that I only belong to 4 networks (i think) and only actively send traffic to 2 of them.

If you focus in and build relationships it is more profitable in the long run.

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RedSynergy

Some networks specialize in certain offers: incents, email submits, rebills etc. I also find there can be a wide discrepancy in payout for the exact same offer. Also some non-directtrack networks actually track (and therefore pay) better.

The disadvantage of course is the tracking. Logging into more than 5 networks a day is a pain.

chinois

I did wonder about how many network to join. Decided to stick to 4 mainly for quick payout and easy management.

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