As an affiliate, which system do you prefer most?

You seem to be trying to compare retailers, credit-card processors and site software, all at once here, Michael. Please excuse the observation that it may not be easy for people to vote, on this basis.

I suggest that what matters, if you want to be able to attract the 10% of potential affiliates who can make 90+% of the sales, as well as the other 90% of potential affiliates who between them typically bring in only 10% or fewer of the sales, is to use an affiliate network in which the affiliates are not reliant on the vendor for payment, but are paid out promptly and efficiently by the network on an automated basis. Think ClickBank, RAP, DigiResults. Serious, professional affiliates may not be willing to (or need to) look at any other arrangements at all: they raise problems we don't need.

I agree with Alexa's point. There are other things you should consider except listing all the most popular affiliate systems here but I still want to let you know what I only use -Clickbank and RAP.

Ryuchi

It's not that easy to just pick one system and stick to it... you should try more systems and find the best one for yourself... also, it all depends on your niches and what selling the best... one of my best money makers, when it comes to systems and affiliate programs, is not on that list but I'm using it more than any other system because it makes me more money... so it's not only about the system, there is many more factors included...

If you're worried about the affiliate network's reputation, then DAP certainly lets you have your cake and eat it too, because you don't have to necessarily use DAP for your affiliate program in that case.

You can use DAP just for the content delivery, drip feeding, etc - basically for automating all "content" related aspects of your site... and you can hook up DAP with ClickBank, DigiResults, JVZoo, WSO Pro, or any other "affiliate network" that you trust (or feel that your affiliates will trust), so you can still end up with the best of both worlds: An affiliate network of your choice, and a power-house membership platform in DAP.

And just as a sidebar, it's not necessarily all about the reputation of the network either. DAP is used by many big-name marketers, who make their own payments to their affiliates. We ourselves use DAP to sell DAP, and we make our own affiliate payments. Never had a single complaint or problem ever.

In fact, even when using a system like Infusionsoft or Premium Web Cart or 1ShoppingCart (all of which DAP integrates with, btw), you would still have to make manual affiliate payments. Does that mean those using Infusionsoft, 1Shoppingcart or PWC can NEVER attract big affiliates? Not necessarily true.

You are not going to see a "Frank Kern" or a "Jeff Walker" suddenly start selling Mass Control or PLF via ClickBank just to gain credibility for their affiliate payments. Just sayin'.

Actually, personally speaking, even ClickBank doesn't have much credibility in my eyes as an affiliate, because it's dead-simple to steal commissions from the original affiliate, by figuring out the hoplink and using your own CB affiliate link to get a nice discount for yourself. Plus CB's working against you too, by making it all too easy to do just that, because no vendor approval is required for an affiliate to start promoting the product. Which is why we almost never promote CB products either. So doesn't say much for picking CB either :-)

In fact, we're so protective of our affiliates, that we don't even allow random visitors to sign up for our own affiliate program at DigitalAccessPass.com, by making our affiliate sign up form private and hidden - it's not even linked to from our web site. Couldn't do that if we were selling through CB.

So, if your product is in a non-IM niche, where the average buyer probably can't tell the difference between a browser cookie and a fortune cookie, selling through CB is fine.

But for an IM-related product, where the buyers are generally CB-savvy, promoting products on ClickBank is like a Kamikaze suicide mission for most serious affiliates - your efforts are going to bomb and burn big time.

Anyway, will get off my soapbox now :-)

Bottom-line: No matter what affiliate or payment network you choose, ultimately you still need a fully automated content delivery system - and that's where DAP can be an invaluable part of your toolbox ;-)

Cheers!

- Ravi Jayagopal

Thank you all for your responses. The niche for this project is the IM niche.
I was asking the question because as an affiliate, some of the systems are not friendly - at least in my experience.
For example, most installations of iDev Affiliate I have encountered as an affiliate are difficult to use and just doesn't make for an enjoyable experience.

I haven't used DAP yet but RAP, as an affiliate, I don't like it at all.
But for my affiliates, I want the system I use to be something they want to use, that they're comfortable with and actually like.

I must admit though, I'm very partial to DAP as it has all the backend stuff I need, membership, drip, affiliate system. I also like that DAP allows you to use other affiliate networks too... seems like the best of both worlds for me.

Ravi, I sent you a PM/Email as I have a question about DAP.

Again, I sincerely appreciate all your responses.