As a network manager of an affiliate network, there is one misconception that I continue to dispel time and time again in this industry. That is that CPA and affiliate networks are one and the same.

If you represent an online business and want to market your products and services the right way, then it’s important to distinguish between these two types of networks before proceeding with a partnership. It will not only save you time and money, but it will help you establish the best online marketing platform that is right for you as a merchant.

Comparing Apples to Oranges
A CPA is known as a cost per action. Therefore, a CPA network is interested in driving traffic to campaigns that involve form submission details like names and email addresses, and downloads. As such, CPA networks steer away from revenue share models. Things like lead generation and trial-offer campaigns that come with a flat payout are often preferred.

Affiliate networks are brokers between merchants and affiliates. A merchant’s offer will be integrated into an affiliate network and, in turn, that network will have its database of affiliates with relevant traffic promote the product or service. Affiliate networks will support multiple offers and payouts. This means lead generation, revenue share and email marketing can function all under one umbrella.

We Want Volume
It’s important for merchants to be aware that affiliate networks are not affiliates. They are not interested in signing up to an affiliate program as an affiliate. Affiliate networks see the function of their affiliate database as the means to drive traffic. That being said, when CPA and affiliate networks launch a campaign, voluminous traffic isn’t destined to be generated, at least not right away. CPA networks are capable of generating high volume and fast. They can turn a campaign on and off in as little as 48 hours. Affiliate networks by comparison should be seen as more of a long-term solution for potential merchants that want to build quality traffic over an extended period of time.

No, Our Stats are Final
Real-time tracking is important to merchants. CPA networks will often insist in their insertion order that their real-time tracking is the final say on how many lead transactions have been generated. An affiliate network, just like a CPA network, relies on a pixel to track all action; however, it’s up to the merchants’ affiliate manager to approve only those transactions that are valid based on the real-time reports.

We’ve really just scraped the surface of a comparison between CPA and affiliate networks; it’s much more comprehensive than people actually think.

While there are great benefits to partnering with both types of networks, it’s important to establish your objectives as a merchant before beginning the hunting process. In the long run, your business will thank you.

Le Michelle Nguyen is the network manager for Share Results.

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FeedFront issue 13 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/12a>

In these lean times, retailers need to explore every possibility to grow sales in the most economical way possible. Expansion of a retailer’s affiliate program through the addition of a second traditional affiliate network can be an attractive option for retailers.

When reviewing this strategy for your company, keep in mind the positives and negatives of additional networks.

A second network can add a significant revenue boost to your affiliate channel through the addition of new affiliates, competitive recruiting benefits, and contrasting features and promotional opportunities.

While it may be true that most affiliates are active in nearly every network, there are a solid number of partners who will only join programs located at Commission Junction, ShareASale, or any other traditional network. Adding a second network to your affiliate program will give you access to an entirely new group of affiliates who may not have worked with you otherwise.

There are many recruiting advantages with operating multiple networks including flexibility and promotional opportunities. Offering the flexibility of networks and the various benefits each provide allows your partners to select the best fit for their needs.

Features like coupon feeds, RSS, and different ways to use product feeds at each network allow your affiliates to mix and match the easiest way to promote your products to their visitors.

Taking advantage of various ways to promote your program in each network is another recruiting advantage. Newsletters, “featured program” spots, and other placements will increase your visibility to network exclusive affiliates along with the majority who use more than one network.

The benefit of running two traditional networks is countered by many different problems that can occur during setup and along the way. Merchants should be aware of new technology needs, additional workload, and double the problems.

For some merchants, technology challenges could be an obstacle to adding a network. Duplication of orders across networks needs to be addressed through suppression of code or through the ability to identify orders and crediting the affiliate who sent the last click.

Double the workload is another problem that will arise including multiple newsletters and other affiliate communication. Creating separate feeds with different requirements and the maintenance that goes with that can be an issue.

Merchants may also find some networks will require more work than another and will need to decide if the additional labor can be covered by increased revenue.

Fraud problems will also be doubled with more enforcement needed for PPC and terms of service violations. A strong PPC Policy and terms should be implemented including spelling out how affiliates are credited in a multiple network environment and if your terms are different for each network.

Adding multiple networks may not be the best solution to increase affiliate sales for every merchant, but the value is certainly there once all the obstacles have been addressed.

Robert Drumm is affiliate manager for AC Lens, Baseball Rampage, and operates RobertDrumm.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 11 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/29057000/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-11
FeedFront issue 11 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/07

With the multitude of options out there, the question of how to choose an affiliate network frequently becomes the first one for a merchant to answer.

 First of all, let’s clarify what we are really selecting. When looking for an affiliate network, you are looking for a vendor who will handle all of your affiliate program’s tracking, reporting, and affiliate payments.

 At the very outset, every merchant must understand that while selecting an affiliate network they are not selecting an agency that will run the affiliate program by recruiting affiliates, and driving in sales/leads. While some affiliate networks do offer management as add-on service, none do this by default.

 It appears that some merchants are merely extending the definition of advertising networks to include affiliate networks. While just as ad networks, affiliate networks do connect advertisers with publishers; they do not ensure that the advertiser actually gets advertised.

 In most scenarios, it is the advertiser’s own responsibility to manage the affiliate program and recruit affiliates. Unlike ad networks, affiliate networks do not get paid on a CPM basis.

 Affiliate networks make their money on transaction fees, which are normally calculated as a percentage of each affiliate payment subtracted from your account. You can think of it as of a credit card processing fee.

 Just as credit card processing companies charge 2-4% of the transaction amount to process it, so do affiliate networks charge you a fee on every transaction, with the only difference being that the fee is not tied to the order, but to the transaction amount that happens between you and the referring affiliate.

 So, whichever affiliate network you decide to go with, make sure you are clear on the expectations, and do have someone to manage the program.

 Speaking of the decisive factors for choosing an affiliate network, let’s look at five:

1. Ethics – There is nothing more important that partnering with an ethical affiliate network which takes a clear stand against adware, spyware, and rogue affiliate techniques.
2. Financial – There will be setup/integration fees, minimum monthly fees, and other charges. Get this data from different networks, analyze, and you will see the difference.
3. Technical – It is extremely important to find out what additional capabilities, tools and technologies are made available. To name but a few, it’s worth mentioning phone order tracking, video creatives, data feed import tools, dynamic product and/or coupon feeds, etc.
4. Popularity – You want to partner with a network that is loved and respected by affiliates.
5. Support – It is no secret that many affiliate networks provide poor merchant and affiliate support. Do your due diligence to pick a network that cares.

 Lastly, a word of warning about free-to-join affiliate networks: do your homework in researching the network prior to joining it. There could be good ones among them, but as the famous Italian couturier Aldo Gucci used to say, “The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory.”

 Geno Prussakov is the Founder of AM Navigator, and author of “A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing” and “Online Shopping Through Consumers’ Eyes.”

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As of August 2009, exactly nine years after launching and powering a peak of over 600 affiliate programs at one time, the FusionQuest affiliate network is closing its doors and the domain will be absorbed by ShareASale.

Yes, it is a sad day. I had a lot of great plans that may be delayed a bit.

However, in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, is there anything that has been learned from all of this?

Well, yes. Quite a lot actually. And I would like to share what I have learned with others in the hope that it may help them to avoid similar mistakes.

Stay Focused
If you start out with a plan, stick to that plan. Stay focused on your core project and don’t let short term enticements distract you from concentrated development on your long-term plan.

If you are not starting out with a long-term plan, get a plan.

This issue is most pronounced when starting up. Someone offers you involvement in a project that pays a fair amount of money. You may be tempted to do it to get the fast cash. Don’t.

Stay True to Yourself
You have the vision. You have the idea. You know how you want to reach your goal. You want to share your idea with others.

Unfortunately, this is the usual response: “Hey, great idea! But, you know, what you really need to do is blah, blah, blah.”

If they were so smart, why didn’t they think up the idea themselves? Believe in yourself and don’t let others confuse you.

Use Money Wisely
If you have start-up capital, please, hang on to it. Repeat this mantra: “Every penny counts!” Seriously consider every single expenditure, whatever the size.

And, if your best friend or relative is working for you for pay and it isn’t really adding value to your project, let them go. Now.

Affiliates Rule
If you are a network, or run an affiliate program, your number one asset you need to protect and develop is your affiliates. They are the foundation. Affiliate marketing does not exist without affiliates.

There is always a lot of talk about how affiliates defraud merchants. However, from what I have seen, it is the affiliates that really need the protection. They get ripped off more than the merchants do.

Stay Active in the Community
Give. Freely. And lots.

Participate in the community. Contribute everywhere possible. Encourage discussion. Get involved in any and all forums and movements.

Keep At It
Above all, keep moving forward. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up. Develop the mindset that you have already achieved your success.

What the future holds…

FusionQuest as an entity may be dead. But, by no means am I. The time and money I invested into FusionQuest is time and money I invested into myself, my education, my personal development.

I intend to use it. Bring on the next!

JB McKee is a passionate veteran of affiliate marketing and web application development who is game for the next big thing and can be reached at jb@informdorm.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 8 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/20220412/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-8
FeedFront issue 8 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2009/10

The three things to look out for when making this important decision

As affiliate managers grow their programs, it is common to seek other avenues to branch out. With the influx of new networks on the scene, programs in multiple networks are on the rise. Below are three key areas affiliate managers should consider when launching a program in multiple networks:

DUPLICATE TRACKING

As one might imagine, having an affiliate program on multiple networks increases the risk of duplicate payment on a single transaction.

For example, “Affiliate 1″, participating on “Network A”, drives a consumer over to a “Merchant”, but does not complete a purchase. Later in the week, that same consumer changes her mind, does a Google search to find the “Merchant” again, clicks a link from “Affiliate 2″ on “Network B”, and completes the purchase.

That consumer will have tracking from both “Network A” and “Network B”, and the merchant ends up paying double commission.

SELECTIVE PIXELS

In order to avoid paying duplicate commissions, affiliate managers are focusing on channelization methods to selectively display network pixels. For example, instead of an inbound link like http://www.example.org, the affiliate manager will setup two links:

http://www.example.org?sourcenetwork=NetworkA

http://www.example.org?sourcenetwork=NetworkB

Any consumer that comes through the “Network A” link will have a “Network A” pixel displayed on their shopping cart, and “Network A” will receive tracking information about that sale, and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, consumer behavior cannot be perfectly predicted.

For example, “Affiliate 1″, who participates on “Network A”, drives a consumer to a “Merchant” through http://www.example.org?sourcenetwork=NetworkA , but does not complete a purchase.

The consumer is still interested and writes down the “Merchant” URL. Later in the week, they retype http://www.example.org (leaving out the network URL string) and complete the purchase.

Since the consumer came through a direct URL on the second visit, it is common for the “Merchant” to fail to send tracking information to “Network A”, resulting in an improperly attributed transaction, and failure to properly commission a sale.

DIFFERENT COMPLIANCE RULES

Network policies regarding affiliate compliance present another complication. For example, some networks have strict policies regarding adware/spyware, while others see it differently. It is imperative that the rules and regulations of a merchant program are identical across networks to avoid significant issues regarding dual tracking.

Additionally, terms such as commission rates, cookie durations, bonuses, etc., must match, as savvy affiliates will leverage the difference, resulting in long-run channel inefficiencies.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If a merchant wishes to expand their reach, my recommendation is to task the affiliate manager with recruiting affiliates. With few exceptions, it should be possible to recruit any affiliate regardless of network preference.

However, if two or more networks are being used, it is important to provide proactive solutions for the points above. Some affiliates will pass on a “dual network” affiliates program unless assured the issues are addressed.

Brian Littleton is the President/CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a retail focused affiliate network for businesses of all sizes.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.