All posts in Affiliate Networks

Hey guys and girls. I just want to write a little message, and I want other affiliates to comment on this issue as well. This is kind of aimed towards affiliate networks.

This post is coming because of something that has happened to me many times. If it’s once or twice at one or two networks, okay maybe those are legit. But when it’s happened at almost every network I’ve been at, some have to be true. This actual post is because I’m planning on running smorgasbord of offers with 1 network. They gave me the heads up that 1 of the offers I requested was no good to run. So my response was basically what the rest of this post says, and a ‘thank you’ to that network.

How many times have you asked “So what are your top converting offers to run for Vertical X?” and got a list back, ran those offers, only to find out that it’s converting worse than what you’re running now?

This has happened to me quite a few times. I’ll get a list of the top offers, and then I’ll ask my AM what the offer is converting at for most affiliates. They usually say very nice things, like “It’s converting at 13% for affiliates with a $5-6 EPC”. Now I’ll be getting like a $3.50-4 EPC now so this sounds amazing, almost double my revenue. So I run the offer and guess what, it’s a $2 EPC and I’m now almost losing money. It’s just happened too many times for them all to be my fault (I know my traffic is good because I’ve run it fine on other offers that look exactly the same).

For an affiliate like me, who doesn’t even want to talk to networks anymore unless they’re going to be honest, I propose this :

Instead of telling me what offers “your affiliates are running great right now”, give me some REAL numbers I can look at. If you have 1 affiliate running at a $6 EPC and 10 affiliates running it at a $2 EPC…tell me the offer has a $2.50 EPC. If that doesn’t beat what I’m running now, that’s just the way it works and I won’t run the offer. But if you’re honest about it and you get an offer in a month that has a $3.50 EPC overall, when you come to me I’ll actually run the offer. It’s annoying to run the offer, not see the $6 EPC, and lose money half the time just to find out that it’s a bad offer.

There was 1 vertical where I literally ran at least 20 different offers where every time I was told were the best offers at the time with great EPCs, only to find out that they all sucked. Lost at least $10,000 just to learn that anything an AM tells me about this offer is going to be a lie, and I should just call it quits.

Anyone with me?

Popularity: 9% [?]

Join ma boi’s network Opes Media. I’ve been pretty excited myself a while for their launch, and now the time is here.

I actually went to Miami to visit the Opes HQ before ASE this summer, and it was pretty sweet. They have an awesome office and everything is setup really nicely. I got to sneak a peak at the back end of the system, see their offers, landing pages, etc. Basically by the time I had left, I was excited for their launch not so I can tell everyone here, but so I could run some of their offers myself ;). They have some offers converting pretty well actually that I’m going to give a shot (if you do any rebill stuff now, definitely check these guys out).

Opes is tops with its professional layout, and seamless interface. Signing up is easy and doesn’t require a lot of time. And once you get going, you know you are getting the real deal. They have their own proprietary network that utilizes server-side tracking, and everything is totally customizable. They have some pretty rad looking offers that are worth checking out. Plus they have exclusive advertisers too, so offers should convert pretty well.

One nice thing was the account managers which can be iffy for many other networks. Their account managers knew their stuff and were always available, which is nice because when problems come up it’s good to have help waiting. Also, they got flexible payment options that help with cash flow needs. Basically, it is a network that knows what you need to do well, but whether or not you do well is up to you.

Check them out, it’s worth a signup at least. I’m not getting paid for this post nor does Opes even have a referral program, so there’s no incentives for me. Just something you should check out.

Advertiser update: many long days and 6am nights aside, everything is starting to come together. Hopefully a couple more weeks and all the heavy work will be finished.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Some of you guys may know who the Tatto boys are, they hopped into the game HARD in the mobile space and absolutely crushed it. The numbers they ran (and still run) would make your head spin, trust me. They had a private network for a while where if you had a referral or knew them personally, you could run their offers. At ad:tech they became the main sponsor to publicly launch the Tatto Affiliate Network.

Make sure to read the whole post to find out how you can win $500 cash and have a private chat with me about your campaigns.

Now the question is, why sign up for Tatto? Few reasons…

• It’s a network run by very large affiliates. They don’t need to steal your data because they own the offers and trust me, they’re making enough money. You won’t find them ripping your pages and stealing your ads like I know for a fact other networks have done.
• They’re my friends and I’d personally recommend them. Super smart guys who know what they’re doing. This isn’t a paid endorsement from them, I told them I don’t want any money or anything from this post. I’d rather have all my readers sending traffic to guys that I know rather than shady networks I don’t.
• They have their own tracking software…NO DIRECT TRACK! This is a major plus on it’s own.
• They don’t have a million offers like some networks, but the offers they have are good offers to run. Every offer they have you can make good money off of.
• They own a lot of their offers. This means higher payouts than anybody else, and better tracking/less scrubbing.
• You can place your own T202 or Google pixels, no emailing them to your affiliate manager then having to wait for them to place it.

How To Win $500 Cash

Pretty simple here. Sign up for Tatto under this link. At least sign up and have a look at the offers. The affiliate who drives the most revenue from May 10-June 10 wins $500 cash and gets to talk to me about their campaign (if they wish) or about any other campaign they’re running.

You have a few days to sign up, be approved, check out the offers, talk to your AM about how you’re going to make some loot on them, and then get your campaigns up. Sometimes people are pretty quiet about these contests, so winning $500 bucks could be as much work as logging in and sending 3 leads…never know.

Either way give this network a look, it’s a private network gone public…you know they’ve done their research.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Well they certainly don’t, but it’s interesting to look at.

I’m not overly pushy about promoting referrals so I don’t really have that many compared to other guys who are hardcore about pushing them. I do have a decent amount with a few networks from over time though so I thought it’d be interesting to look at what network my affiliates are making most of their money at.

I just get 2% on total commissions with each network, so all we have to do is multiply the referral commission by 50 to get the total revenue generate. Let’s take a look then at how my referrals did in August alone.

CX Digital

Number of referrals : 56
Referral income : $783.61
Total revenue generated : $39,180.50
Top affiliate revenue : $21,901

As you can see here out of 56 referrals, my biggest one made over 50% of the revenue. Keep in mind that most of the referrals aren’t even active and didn’t make anything (they just signed up)…about 10 were making consistent money.

Azoogle

Number of referrals : 28
Referral income : $1,915.25
Total revenue generated : $95,762.50
Top affiliate revenue : $87,192.50

Alright well obviously I had a superstar here at Azoogle who made almost all the money. There were around 2 other affiliates that totaled the rest of the revenue, but this guy knew something everybody else didn’t.

Neverblue

Number of referrals : 38
Referral income : $341.20
Total revenue generated : $17,060
Top affiliate revenue : n/a

I can’t see the top affiliate on a monthly basis, but I do see reports overall of all affiliates, and Neverblue is by far the most consistent with all my affiliates generating revenue. Whereas in the previous 2 networks, I had a couple superstars, there were a lot more “medium” sized affiliates making money.

Hydra

Number of referrals : 21
Referral income : $10
Total revenue generated : $50
Top affiliate revenue : n/a

Hydras referral program is ghetto and I can’t see last months stats either. They pay 5% on the income THEY make off affiliates, not total revenue generated. So if an affiliate makes $10,000 and Hydra makes $500, I only make $25 instead of $200. Pretty dumb if you ask me, no other network is like that. Cheapos!

CPA Empire

Number of referrals : 17
Referral income : $0.00
Total revenue generated : $0.00
Top affiliate revenue : $0.00

I think something is messed up with their referral program because CPA Empire is a huge network and I’ve made like $20 total over the past 6 months off my referrals. Maybe they just didn’t do anything, always seemed odd.

Ads4Dough

Number of referrals : 17
Referral income : $20.58
Total revenue generated : $1,029
Top affiliate revenue : $1,029

A4D is smaxor’s network and I’ve said before how he’s a good guy and I recommend signing up. Haven’t really had any affiliates make money there yet except for 1 guy did a little revenue last month.

Recap

Anywho, it’s interesting I guess to take a look at what affiliates are making money where – on my end at least. Aside from the guy doing 90k/month with Azoogle, I haven’t referred any other massive affiliates which doesn’t really matter, but goes to prove again that only a very small percentage of affiliates make all the money.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’ve known Kris Jones from Pepperjam and Pepperjam Network for about a year now, and in the few times we’ve spoken you can tell he’s a great guy. I wrote a while ago about him launching his affiliate network, and it seems like things are going great.

I did a pretty lengthy interview with him that was published today, so go and check it out.

Popularity: 5% [?]