Favourite Network Website

[Marc Gear]

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Guys,

I just wanted to know what network site you guys like the best (from an affiliate user PoV)

So which bits do you like/dont like on all the sites - what site shows you all the information you need? etc

EDIT:

Which networkks dont show you something you need? and what are they.

What is the most common action you do when you log in? what other common actions do you do, what action would you do if it was easier or was availiable?

[Lea]

I voted for CJ - I like the way I can add words for tracking - and then they come up when I look at comissions earned. I also like the way I can search by relationship and select links - I like the way the banners/ linls are listed.

I find the 2 most difficult to use is Affiliate Future and DMOZ. I get frustrated on reporting - I would like to see an easier reporting tool - when i log in.

I like all of them - cause they make me money

[Wardy]

Originally posted by Lea
I find the 2 most difficult to use is Affiliate Future and DMOZ.

DMOZ?!

Cheers
Wardy

[Jeff]

Originally posted by Lea
I voted for CJ - I like the way I can add words for tracking

You can do that with all the networks. Some of them don't make it so easy, or don't report as well, but you can still do it.

I voted for Tradedoubler because their reporting functionality is better than the rest. CJ is not far behind, and would probably get my vote if they hadn't removed some important bits earlier in the year.

At the other end of the scale, I don't like AF for a number of reasons, and AW is also well down my list.

[Mark Norville]

I voted for AF as thats the only one I seem to actually get paid from.

Only bad thing about AW is that you let merchants take the piss out of affiliates and allow them to build up big debts. You never try collecting and you make us beg for the money. One person had 1,000 leads turned down after a two month wait and you still allow the merchant on your network. Apart from that I do like AW.

Trade Doubler has a wide of top quality brand names but tracking seems dodgyish, and having to wait two months for payment.

CJ well I cant swear too much about these bunch of anchors. Still haven`t made a penny from them.

As for the rest haven`t really promoted much but will in 2004 so shall see how things go.

[Fraser]

Marc's question is about the interface when checking stats and obtaining links etc It's a discussion worth having so lets keep it on track.

[drivetowin]

My favourite is TD - not necessarily because they show anything the others don't - just that the whole site is easy to use and logical.

Pet gripes with the others:

CJ: Why are the figures for today / yesterday always unavailable around 8am in the morning which is always when I want to check what we've done overnight.

AW: Definitely no2 in the poll for me after TD - everything nice and logical but impossible to find details of actual commission payments made / due

AF: Favourite network but least favourite interface - why oh why oh why can't we have the merchant list sorted alphabetically - Pete - I asked you about this at the affilate get2gether back in the summer and you said it was something you were sorting soon

Buy At: Nice clean interface.

DGM: - preferred the my merchants screen as it was, with all merchants in one screen rather than broken down into individual sections as it is now.

Also wish the balance due carried forward rather than having to check back month by month to see which transactions are still pending.

Don't check any of the other networks often enough to make any comments - though I wish all networks had daily reporting.

[Keith]

Voted for TD for general usability,

however one nice touch AF has is 'Todays Earnings' on the home page.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by kbudden
CJ: Why are the figures for today / yesterday always unavailable around 8am in the morning which is always when I want to check what we've done overnight.

Because their database updates at midnight, and the stats are unavailable while this takes place.

Unfortunately for you, midnight CJ time is 8AM UK time.

[Marc Gear]

Jeff,
Though I can think of a million reasons for our site being well down on the list myself (and thats the reason for this thread ), Could you let me know any reasons you might have for it being at the bottom?

[bburgess1]

Hi Marc
I think reason for you being at the lower end of the poll is that the poll itself only allows the participator to have one vote; and most of the affiliates that have taken part are Tradedoubler supporters. I think it would be more useful to send a questionaire to all your affilates, where hopefully you would find a truer picture; and then possibly act on it.
I have in fact voted for Affiliate Window, although I agree that some of your merchants need to be watched! I have nothing against any of the others in the vote I would imagine that they all have something to gripe about. It would be great if everyone was 100% perfect!
I have to say that I have been paid by all of them, although I would prefer CJ's commision to be fully GBP and not converted.
What won my vote? The Christmas card that dropped through my letter box this morning! At least I know that there is a human being lurking behind this screen. A Happy Christmas to you all at Affiliate Window and of course all the others too!
Many thanks for the help received throughout 2004.
Barbara and Joanne

[bburgess1]

Sorry 2003! A year in front! Time for bed!
Barbara

[Jeff]

Originally posted by Marc Gear
Jeff,
Though I can think of a million reasons for our site being well down on the list myself (and thats the reason for this thread ), Could you let me know any reasons you might have for it being at the bottom?

Firstly, I don't like the Javascript menu system, (not as bad as AF's though), and the menus don't seem to be intuitive (although obviously things get better once you get used to it)
For example if I want to run a report similar to CJ's performance report, or TD's Overview report, you might think the right menu to look would be 'Commission Statistics', but actually it's the 'search current merchants' under the 'merchants' menu. What has searching merchants got to do with click and sales stats?

The reporting is not as flexible as some of the others. If I want to run the equivalent of the previously mentioned performance report, I can only run it for a specific month (or year), but not for today, yesterday, or a specific period, which CJ and TD will let me do. If I'm trying to measure traffic increase since adding a new link for example, it's ery difficult to do with AW's system.

I have no way of knowing what I'm earning (if anything) from the 30+ second tier affiliates i have under me. Assuming any of them are earning money, how can I tell what they're earning? I can't remember seeing any transactions flagged as being second tier.

There's no payment report (I know this is on your list of things to do)

There's no way of viewing all merchants I haven't joined yet.

There's no way of downloading all CSVs for my merchants in one file - it's time consuming downloading each file individually.

I think that's it for now - sorry if it sounds like a lot of moaning, I'm sure other people prefer your system, but to me it doesn't 'feel' as easy to work with as most of the others.

[Robber]

Something that would improve AW for me is the dhtml menus - eg when some menus drop down from the horizontal nav bar at the top of the page, if there is a form element such as a drop down box behind the menu the form element displays in the foreground so i cant read the menu.

Im running IE 6.0.2600.0000 if thats any help.

[999gi]

Whats good about the TD system is that its very easy to run report which lists ON ONE PAGE over ANY PERIOD and with clear TOTALS
- total clicks and commissions by merchant
- transactions

As Jeff says the AW menu system is confusing, and there is a genral lack of totals and flexibility. The TD "Overview" (not Monthly Overview) and "Event Breakdown" reports are what I use all the time and are really really good.

Having said all that, Im actually about to move some links away from TD to AW as while stats are important, stuff like payment promptness is much more important once the stats info reaches a certain level, which AW are well beyond.