Which affiliate to pick?

the king · 23-09-05

Dear Everyone,

Im looking for some advice!

Im a bit new to marketing but need to figure out which affiliates to use (were marketing mobile phones), i know the big ones are Advertising.com, Affiliate Future, Affiliate Window, Buy.at, Commission Junction – CJ, Deal group media – DGM2, DGM, dealgroup, UK affiliates, Online Media Group – OMG,Tradedoubler,Paid on results - POR and Smart Quotes, however there are so many of them i just dont know which ones will make the best business partners!

I would be really interested in some comments describing their

- General account management

- Technology and tracking

- Payments

And any other comments at all you might have pleease!

From what ive seen so far on this site DGM are apperently bad in every respect and are the general standard for evil in the affiliate world..anyone willing to contest or confirm this?

Cheers,

Ellie

OLBG · 23-09-05

I think it depends on your budget as some of these are much more expensive than others in terms of setup / recurring fees. This is my summary

CJ - more expensive but has great US exposure

TD - more expensive but has great European exposure

DGM - more expensive and seemingly in a mess at the mo

AW, AF, Buy - mid priced popular and good with product feeds

POR - good for smaller budgets like me

I dont know much about the others

Mogga · 23-09-05

What you've listed above are not affiliates they're networks who run affiliate programs.

An affiliate is the person putting the links up and sending traffic through.

So who are you and what do you want affiliates for? Are you a web site owner/merchant/wannabe affiliate?

the king · 23-09-05

Thats pretty good tips! Thnx guys!

We are phones merchants by the way, thinking of affiliates to obviously expand on marketing and web presence and direct people to our site and spend their hard earnd cash there!

the king · 23-09-05

Sorry, let me be a little clearer. I've just joined a new online phone retailer, which is part of one of the big high street players, and have been tasked with researching affiliate networks.

We've already spoken with a number of networks who as you can expect always promise the "best service, lowest fees, fastest payments, etc". Before we decide on anything, I was wondering whether mobile phone affiliates have a preference for 1 or 2 specific providers, and/or whether any should be avoided at all costs (and for what reasons!).

We're considering three types of program:
1. Generic advertising simply pushing our site ("great deals, free phones, etc")
2. Product feed based site with all our deals
3. Product feed based program with a limited selection of good deals/high margin phones (15-30 deals) which would allow us to pay out generous commissions...

Do you have any thoughts on what type of program would be most popular?

Thanks,
Ellie

WillD · 23-09-05

Hi Ellie

Talk to Jess (http://www.affiliateprogramadvice.com) user name Jess1.

She has been in the affiliate game for a long time both as a merchant & affiliate and knows her stuff. She is now working as a consultant, and she will be well worth hiring for a day or 2.

Will

the king · 26-09-05

Thankx for advice Wild, but were not realy that interested in hiring a consultant
as were not looking to learn how to run an affiliate prog - We’ve got good experience but experience focused only on financial services.

I just want to get some feedback on potential of snazzy phone prog from affiliates who actually sell phones...
Also want to get your views on which network phone affiliates prefer to work with or whether they have gripes with any?

Please let me know if you can think of anything!

Thanks,

Ellie