If you haven’t gone, it’s a great time.  I’ve been there twice.  My best experience was probably networking, and getting the chance to hear some of the seminars done by guys like Jeremy Palmer and Shoe Money (or some other guy that I have confused with Shoe Money…).  Anyway, I came home with a lot of book marked websites, and notes scribbled on a piece of paper. 

The networking is pretty cool. My biggest regret is that I didn’t ACT on at least one of the clients that I met when I attended as a publisher. (My first year, I was an advertiser… I made lots of phone calls, most of which no one returned..lol)  Being at CJU is a great time to work a better commission, get out there, and become a name in the industry.

The answer is not always as clear cut as it may seem. In the world of stocks the advice is “go with the best of breed”. That is to say that the company that performs best will continue to offer the best performance. Logically, this seems to hold true with affiliate marketing. The companies that offer perceived best value and perceived best brand will tend to out perform a no name brand almost all of the time, even if the no-name store pays 2-3 times the commission.

However, when playing with products that can be purchased at many stores, one always has to be aware that people will price compare and look for the best deal. The bottom line is test / restest and don’t hold on to a single advertiser because it’s your favorite place to shop.

• Your full name and business name. If this is going to be a serious business venture, treat it seriously. At first glance, a company name looks a bit more like something that’s going to earn some revenue than “wallysmith” 
• A valid email address, preferably one that would look good at the top of a resume.
• The urls you use or own. If you don’t own a website yet, buy one for your new company, and think of it as real estate. Even if you’re just interested in running PPC campaigns, create a small website that says that you’re a PPC business. (see other articles for more info on creating websites)
• Any offer or incentive that you are passing on to the consumer. This only applies to loyalty or coupon sites. Are you donating a portion of the purchase commissions to charity? Are you giving the consumer cash back? Does your frequent buyer get a free ipod with $10,000 worth of purchases. You get the idea. Otherwise, don’t put silly things in the box. Incentive offers get double flags for advertisers, so when reviewing, I have to click ok twice. An affiliate manager on his 25th new publisher might get annoyed and click cancel or decline by accident. 
• Use correct grammar and punctuation. Remember that people reviewing these are from the 9-5 business world. They’re looking for some level of professionalism. 
• How you are going to promote the product. Depending on the affiliate network or program, this is either in a drop down form, or in a paragraph style form.  If you don’t have any ideas of how to promote your new advertiser, don’t apply yet – you’ll risk getting kicked out for being inactive. For those of you who are a bit confused, here’s the breakdown of promotion methods
  • Content / Website – You own a website, you’re going to put banner ads or articles about products on it. 
  • Email Marketing – You’re going to create a list of people and send them emails about products
  • Paid Search (Search Marketing) – You’re going to advertise on Google / Yahoo / MSN and then link back to their site or a landing page that then links to their site. 
  • Incentive – You’re going to give them something to buy products.

Insider TIP: Ever wonder why you were declined from an advertiser? Don’t hesitate to ask. You might be a perfect fit, but were missed because the advertiser didn’t understand how you were going to promote their product. Maybe your DVD site didn’t make sense for a women’s clothing store on the application, or your country of origin is outside of their shipping range. A quick email may be all it takes to get back on board. 

•  Commission Junction -  www.cj.com  Perhaps best known for it’s CJU Santa Barbara seminar / networking bash, Commission Junction (aka CJ) is one of the larger affiliate networks. Their interface is easy to use, and their CJ performer status gives you an account manager and some other perks. Pays monthly but does have a minimum payout requirement. CJ’s advertiser side has a full assortment of managed and unmanaged programs that attract top and mid tier businesses and brands. 
• Linkshare -  www.linkshare.com Competing with CJ for the big fish spot is Link Share, who has it’s own yearly networking summit. They pay out every two weeks, and do not have a minimum requirement. Their interface is not as slick as CJ’s, and link tracking can get complicated. However, once again, this is a larger affiliate network with managed solutions for businesses, so it attracts larger and mid sized programs and brands. 
• Performics -  www.Performics.com In case you haven’t read the Google / DoubleClick merger notes closely enough, Performics is a property of DoubleClick. Their interface makes linkshare’s look like a walk in the park, and, while it also attracts larger businesses, just isn’t quite as polished as the two other guys. Payouts are monthly, though, so if it works for you, they’re still a reputable company. 
• Azoogle -  www.Azoogleads.com  Here’s the deal. Azoogle gives you your own affiliate manager to use as a sounding board, and you can choose from a list of programs. The interface is pretty easy, maybe as easy as CJ. A lot of the ads are promo based, and I noticed that some of the same advertisers  are running on either CJ or linkshare, so you may want to compare commissions and creatives.  
  
• ClickBank -  www.clickbank.com I’m not quite sure how to describe click bank, other than I love to hate them. In order to activate your account, you must have sales on 5 different credit cards with 5 different names and addresses, or they won’t pay your commissions. They’re mostly a small business software / online book network, but many affiliates swear by them. I’ll post more about the ins and outs of ClickBank.
• Share-a-Sale  www.Shareasale.com Until recently, I wouldn’t have listed this site at all, but I found one really cool product on there that changed my mind. You’ll find small to middle sized advertisers, so it’s great if you’re looking for unique products to promote. 

There are a lot of other Affiliate networks out there. Kowabunga! Technologies and NeverBlue ads are just two that I have bookmarked for future reference. TIP: Not all businesses go through affiliate networks, because these programs can charge flat fees or an additional percentage per action for management and recruitment fees.  Check your favorite websites to see if they run their own affiliate program.

I open up my inbox occasionally and read the emails from CJ.com that say something like so-and-so advertiser is no longer in the program or has deleted you from their program and I immediately hit the delete button. After all, I didn’t really want to promote that guy anyway, never really managed to make that program work, or don’t remember why I signed up in the first place.

But what happens when the advertiser on that “no longer with CJ” list is your bread and butter? Or, what if your favorite advertiser changes his terms.  Sorry Charlie, those terms that are converting well for you are suddenly off-limits. Now what?

So, my new years resolution is to consider my affiliate business to be more like my stock portfolio. I would never pour all of my money into one single stock.  But yet, I found it all too easy to grow my favorite advertiser until it was a nice chunk of income, forgetting that I needed to look for new leads.

This is my recommended strategy for growth. Start with at least 2 solid advertisers on one affiliate network.  Then, try a new network, and see if you can grow a third and forth. Then, try a new network, or move back to affiliate network #1.  TIP: Remember that affiliate managers often make decisions about accepting new affiliates based on things like earnings, so if you’re only earning a few dollars with one affiliate network, it may make sense for you to work on getting more earnings per network before branching out too far.