Jagged

I'm looking to set-up an affiliate program on a clients site.
He want's it to be as simple as possible.....one that will generate affiliate codes, track those codes, sets up banners, & manage payments...

I'm asking for recommendations for this....either free or pay.
Are there any decent free programs out there?
Easy to set-up?

Thanks,
~Ken

AndrewStark

What are selling?

Buying a script that integrates with clickbank may the best solution, this would take care of paying the affiliates in a timely fashion.

nipit007

Check out "hasoffers" it may be what you need.

Hope this helps

the rider

To get a good affiliate first you need to know about the affiliate programs which are currently available in the market and then you can proceed in getting a good affiliate programs.

unitminer

if you want free hosted account of affiliate software, try to register at affplanet dot com

GowebMkt

Unitminer,

Thanks for the tip on your service...just signed up for the free option...its amazing!
Live chat support and plenty of video tutorials...just what I needed to sign up and manage affiliates!

Tygrupe

I have been researching the same thing and ended up getting Mike Filsaime's butterfly marketing script. It has EVERYTHING you need to do one time offers, upsells, downsells, run your affiliate program, have purchasers automatically signed up to your affiliate program, pay affiliates automatically, etc etc. It does take some time to get up to speed but it is the most powerful solution I have found.

I got open source rights to it so I am going to spend some money on creating added functionality (forum script built in) and try to sell it as a stand alone solution.

Anyone else use it and have any feedback?

unitminer

Just small note to Mike Filsaime's butterfly marketing script.
This script has not so accurate affiliate tracking - e.g. it doesn't support cross-browser tracking (no flash cookie tracking).
The problem with affiliate software is, that all affiliates expect 100% tracking quality - if you will fail to track correctly one sale, your affiliates will stop promote you.

So in case you plan to extend this script, try to focus on quality of tracking first and than on implementation of next functionality

Tygrupe

Cool, thanks for the input on the tracking function I appreciate it!

unitminer

you are welcome.
After you will implement Flash cookie tracking, as next tracking method you should implement also DOM5 storage ... more methods you will implement, more accurate will be tracking.
e.g. in Post Affiliate Pro we implemented multiple methods and we have fall-back algorithm for cases, when one method fails.
Maybe I should warn you, that it is a lot of work behind it, but it is worth it - your customers will love it

HorseStall

You could use an affiliate system like ShareASale probably the least expensive option.

contactscape

If your client is based in the US, 1shoppingcart.com is a great choice. You can read about their Affiliate Software at Affiliate Software - Manage Your Affiliate Program - 1ShoppingCart.com (That is not an affiliate link)

RoyChan

Try Infusionsoft.com, a bit pricey, but it's becoming the industry standard.

Many famous marketers rely on it.

Try it.

dblgdee

It depends on what's being marketed
Clickbank is solely for digital products
An all-in-one solution recommended JROX.COM - JROX.COM eCommerce Manager - Sell Online Easy

OrganicSeoGuru

I still use 1shopping cart from more basic type of needs, its cheap and it works...