What are the top affiliate pay-for-performance networks?

There are a few more world wide that cater to their region and some to their local merchants. There are other networks that cater to email campaigns and lead type programs both in US and world wide. These are just the few that cater to merchants looking to sell products or services within US only markets and that we mostly work with both as affiliates and outsource program management.

 AvantLink.com, cj.com, Linkshare.com, Performics.com, and ShareAsale.com 

We are often asked a few question similar to these below relating to networks so we list a few FAQ here to help in your search.

How many affiliates does each network have?

We have no way of really knowing many affiliates a network really has. All networks like to keep that private, but from previous public posted information and rumors a while back from a network representative, was that one of them had well over 1,000,000 (one million) affiliates, also called publishers. By looking at the affiliate incremental numbers of some networks we estimate roughly (as of this writing 2007) well over 200,000. If you were to look at a top merchant program such as Walmart.com, Target.com or Zappos.com, some rumored or have claimed over 50k joined affiliates partners.

Should I go with the network that has the most affiliates?

This is the question that gets asked the most and most non-important aspect of joining a network and this is because not all affiliates join and or promote all programs at the same time and on all networks. Over the years we have explained and shown clients proof of why it does not really matter how many affiliates a network has. The simple way to explain it is: if you were an affiliate wouldn’t you join all 5 networks to see their merchant offers and network tools? That would mean duplicate numbers of the same affiliate so it really would not matter.

What are the differences in networks and their prices?

There are no major differences as far as working with affiliates as we mentioned above, but start-up fees can range from as low as a few hundred dollars to sign up as a merchant to thousands per month. Their network access fees can also range from 0.2-30% of the gross sales volume depending on your contract length, managed services and so on.

What fees do they charge merchants?

To be fair to networks we cannot list actual network service fees from each one here as fees may change over time and you may be quoted different otherwise. We suggested always contacting each one direct for quotes specific to your program.

Do affiliates care what network a merchant is on?

This is in reality what happens today. An affiliate will join all the top five networks in-search for merchants that meet their site demographics and customer needs. When you as a merchant join a network for any reason, whether it’s because the network offered you better merchant tools or you negotiated lower access or monthly fees, it does not matter to the affiliate, they will eventually find you, join your program and if promoted properly with the right products or service, they get active. The most important part and one of the keys to a successful affiliate program is: How fast affiliates found you while you were promoting your program and offers to affiliates!

Can we have a program running on two separate networks at the same time?

Most often yes, but depending on how well managed your program is ( see next question below) and policed on both networks that you should have two programs running at same time. Also there are a few networks that do not allow dual running programs on other competing networks and usually require exclusive contracts.

Is it true that there could be duplicate sales when running multiple networks?

This is often very true and most tricky part when running dual programs on two networks. Often when they are an in-house run program with own customized tracking software against a network software tracked program we have seen less problems with duplicate sales but they do still happen. It is usually a tracking pixel issue or a last cookie in, so if you understand cookies, tracking and shopping carts or have a good programmer then you may be safe.