If you have a website selling a niche product and you are thinking about expanding and starting an affiliate program you have two choice; create your own in-house affiliate program or join a network. It’s a tough decision to choose between. I recommend to do both if possible.

Benefits of Joining a Network

There are lots of reasons to join a network and the biggest reason is exposure. You will instantly be exposed to thousands of affiliates looking to promote offers. If your product is popular or has a good conversion ratio then more affiliates will run your offer. If your offer is mediocre or doesn’t convert well then you will have a harder time finding affiliates to run your offer.

Another advantage of working with a network is that you hopefully can have a “Super Affiliate” run your offer. A super affiliate is what every network dreams of, an affiliate that has a high level of traffic and brings in a lot of conversions. Most super affiliates stick with one or so networks because the networks take good care of them. Having a super affiliate run your offer means you will see a lot of traffic.

Most importantly, a large benefit of joining a network is having someone else manage it for you. This leaves you more time to manage your site and focus on sales.

Disadvantages of Joining a Network

Joining a network means fees, it will cost you more money to join an affiliate network. Besides paying your setup fee which can sometimes be upwards of $5,000 you could be paying 25% more CPA. For example, the networks service fee is 25% and based on the commission amount paid to the Affiliate. So if the Affiliate is paid $10 commission, the network will receive $2.50. The total cost to you is $12.50.

Another disadvantage of joining a network is that some, not all, CPA networks push lots of spam. CPA networks gets their money through the performance of their affiliates so I know quite a few are pushing affiliates to make a sale/lead/etc without much ethical concern. This could come back to hurt your product and your reputation.

Depending on your product you might be better suited to join one of the larger networks or stick with CPM or Adsense style advertising. It would be better not to judge CPA networks as a whole, but research some individual networks, and see who comes out clean.

Benefits of an In-House Affiliate Program

Using your own in-house affiliate program allows you to customize it to suite your website. Having your affiliate program branded with your website logo and having the design and layout match your website will make it look more professional.

You will also be able to offer your affiliates more ways of promoting your product, like off line advertising, special discount codes tailored to certain affiliates.

One of the biggest reason to have an in-house affiliate program is search engine ranking. By having an in-house affiliate program every affiliate link generated is with your websites url. When your affiliate links to your website this creates a back link which will help your Google page rank and search engine ranking.

Example:

Network Link: http://www.network.com/afclick.php?o=9199&b=gmzmrt0y&p=0009&l=1

In-House Affiliate Program: http://www.yoursite.com/?Ref=398

Also, with in-house affiliate programs you have the option of link structure for affiliate links. Here is an example of the top three link structures you might be able to use. This varies depending on which affiliate software you use or if you create your own.

Example:

http://www.yoursite.com/?Ref=398

http://www.yoursite.com/398.html

http://www.yoursite.com/?398

With in-house affiliate programs you have 100% control over your affiliate program. You can review each affiliates contact information and check it for fraud or contact them individually and offer them special incentives for promoting your product.

Disadvantages of an In-House Affiliate Program

The biggest disadvantage is time spent on managing your in-house affiliate program. It takes a long time to setup your affiliate program. You will need to have a powerful server to handle all the traffic as well as create your own banners and advertisements.

Another big downfall of in-house affiliate programs is that you are limited in exposure to affiliates. If your affiliate has never heard of your product then they are not going to find the sign-up page to promote it.

What To Do

If you are going to go with a network to promote your products I suggest you visit our list of affiliate networks to find an affiliate network that is suitable for your needs.

Affiliate Network Software

JROX Affiliate Software

DirectTrack (Most Expensive)

If you are looking to buy software we encourage you to contact us we would be happy to help you select the affiliate software suitable for your needs.