Working directly with the advertiser? Got a few questions..

[BradGrant]

Got some questions for the more experienced guys:

Let's say you are running x,xxx leads a day to an offer on a random CPA network:

1. How do you go about contacting that advertiser directly, especially if there is no contact information, or "Affiliates" link on their offer page?

2. How do you determine payment terms with the advertiser? Net 30 or Net 60 is pretty gay especially if you are doing huge volume.

3. To ask bluntly: Which tracking platform is the best that would allow you to use S2S pixels to track things?

 

[wacek]

You've just pointed out reasons why affiliates should stick to networks.

Also, your x,xxx daily number maybe really good for you, but for advertiser dealing with several or tens of networks you'll be just a headache and your number like a drop in the ocean.

One more reason why advertiser may not be interested in direct dealing with affiliate may be his agreement with the networks, which is often the case.

 

[AffInsider]

Look the company up on Linkedin and search for someone in interactive marketing or even better their affiliate manager. I do it all the time and it is well worth it.

A good example this week, we were working with a large affiliate network running a loyalty program sign up for a large national retail brand and doing between 40-50K sign ups a month.

I asked my rep at the network what type of payout increase they can offer since we were running the campaign for over 60 days and like a typical 25 year old kid they told me "we have the exclusive on this and you are getting the highest payout". Poor little mushroom is just kept in the dark and fed shit.

I looked up the company on linked in and after contacting 4-5 people I finally got in touch with the right person. I sent him a quick intro and connected via email. Explained the situation that I am sending a decent amount of traffic to them and the affiliate network I am getting it from offers zero transparency on the traffic, zero feedback from the client etc. I send him some of the source URLs we were generating the traffic from and told him I am not running it anymore unless I work direct with them.

They "tested" us out at a payout that was 100% more than the affiliate network was giving me. If you are in the space long enough and generate legit, large volumes of traffic then you need to try to get advertisers direct. You are giving affiliate networks 40%+ of your revenue just for placing a pixel.

 

[AffInsider]

great story Jannett

 

[blogspotter]

Look the company up on Linkedin and search for someone in interactive marketing or even better their affiliate manager. I do it all the time and it is well worth it.

A good example this week, we were working with a large affiliate network running a loyalty program sign up for a large national retail brand and doing between 40-50K sign ups a month.

I asked my rep at the network what type of payout increase they can offer since we were running the campaign for over 60 days and like a typical 25 year old kid they told me "we have the exclusive on this and you are getting the highest payout". Poor little mushroom is just kept in the dark and fed shit.

I looked up the company on linked in and after contacting 4-5 people I finally got in touch with the right person. I sent him a quick intro and connected via email. Explained the situation that I am sending a decent amount of traffic to them and the affiliate network I am getting it from offers zero transparency on the traffic, zero feedback from the client etc. I send him some of the source URLs we were generating the traffic from and told him I am not running it anymore unless I work direct with them.

They "tested" us out at a payout that was 100% more than the affiliate network was giving me. If you are in the space long enough and generate legit, large volumes of traffic then you need to try to get advertisers direct. You are giving affiliate networks 40%+ of your revenue just for placing a pixel.

What are you using for tracking?
hasoffers?

 

[AffInsider]

We use direct track - hasoffers is decent to start out with for basic tracking.

 

[HConvert]

You should also keep in mind that going direct can be risky!

A lot of networks have an advertiser T&C which prohibits them from forming direct relationships with pubs (within a prescribed amount of time) whose traffic has been sent through said network.

If the advertiser is willing to contravene the terms of that contract, you may be next.

Look the company up on Linkedin and search for someone in interactive marketing or even better their affiliate manager. I do it all the time and it is well worth it.

A good example this week, we were working with a large affiliate network running a loyalty program sign up for a large national retail brand and doing between 40-50K sign ups a month.

I asked my rep at the network what type of payout increase they can offer since we were running the campaign for over 60 days and like a typical 25 year old kid they told me "we have the exclusive on this and you are getting the highest payout". Poor little mushroom is just kept in the dark and fed shit.

I looked up the company on linked in and after contacting 4-5 people I finally got in touch with the right person. I sent him a quick intro and connected via email. Explained the situation that I am sending a decent amount of traffic to them and the affiliate network I am getting it from offers zero transparency on the traffic, zero feedback from the client etc. I send him some of the source URLs we were generating the traffic from and told him I am not running it anymore unless I work direct with them.

They "tested" us out at a payout that was 100% more than the affiliate network was giving me. If you are in the space long enough and generate legit, large volumes of traffic then you need to try to get advertisers direct. You are giving affiliate networks 40%+ of your revenue just for placing a pixel.

 

[AffInsider]

100% agree - another thing is to work with a quality contract attorney.

It still amazes me how many times I speak to people regarding contracts and they say "I will read it over today". In my head I am thinking, why don't I just send you a cat scan or an MRI to review while you are at it?

 

[AffInsider]

100% agree - another thing is to work with a quality contract attorney.

It still amazes me how many times I speak to people regarding contracts and they say "I will read it over today". In my head I am thinking, why don't I just send you a cat scan or an MRI to review while you are at it?

 

[BradGrant]

You've just pointed out reasons why affiliates should stick to networks.

Also, your x,xxx daily number maybe really good for you, but for advertiser dealing with several or tens of networks you'll be just a headache and your number like a drop in the ocean.

One more reason why advertiser may not be interested in direct dealing with affiliate may be his agreement with the networks, which is often the case.

Not necessarily. Why should an affiliate stick to a network, when a competing advertiser on your traffic source is getting $5 higher because they are running direct?

Look the company up on Linkedin and search for someone in interactive marketing or even better their affiliate manager. I do it all the time and it is well worth it.

A good example this week, we were working with a large affiliate network running a loyalty program sign up for a large national retail brand and doing between 40-50K sign ups a month.

I asked my rep at the network what type of payout increase they can offer since we were running the campaign for over 60 days and like a typical 25 year old kid they told me "we have the exclusive on this and you are getting the highest payout". Poor little mushroom is just kept in the dark and fed shit.

I looked up the company on linked in and after contacting 4-5 people I finally got in touch with the right person. I sent him a quick intro and connected via email. Explained the situation that I am sending a decent amount of traffic to them and the affiliate network I am getting it from offers zero transparency on the traffic, zero feedback from the client etc. I send him some of the source URLs we were generating the traffic from and told him I am not running it anymore unless I work direct with them.

They "tested" us out at a payout that was 100% more than the affiliate network was giving me. If you are in the space long enough and generate legit, large volumes of traffic then you need to try to get advertisers direct. You are giving affiliate networks 40%+ of your revenue just for placing a pixel.

Thanks for the info dude. I can't stand hasoffers. What do you think about Linktrust?

 

[Airin]

Look the company up on Linkedin and search for someone in interactive marketing or even better their affiliate manager. I do it all the time and it is well worth it.

A good example this week, we were working with a large affiliate network running a loyalty program sign up for a large national retail brand and doing between 40-50K sign ups a month.

I asked my rep at the network what type of payout increase they can offer since we were running the campaign for over 60 days and like a typical 25 year old kid they told me "we have the exclusive on this and you are getting the highest payout". Poor little mushroom is just kept in the dark and fed shit.

I looked up the company on linked in and after contacting 4-5 people I finally got in touch with the right person. I sent him a quick intro and connected via email. Explained the situation that I am sending a decent amount of traffic to them and the affiliate network I am getting it from offers zero transparency on the traffic, zero feedback from the client etc. I send him some of the source URLs we were generating the traffic from and told him I am not running it anymore unless I work direct with them.

They "tested" us out at a payout that was 100% more than the affiliate network was giving me. If you are in the space long enough and generate legit, large volumes of traffic then you need to try to get advertisers direct. You are giving affiliate networks 40%+ of your revenue just for placing a pixel.

Wow, you are working with the wrong networks if they are taking 40%.

Working direct does have it's advantages, if...

• You are big enough to warrant it
• You have solid contracts (most important, especially with smaller, nonbranded advertisers - I have frozen assets a few times because of solid contracts)
• You can sustain cash flow with Net 15/ 30/ 60 terms
• You have the time/ staff to manage a bunch of different contacts at a bunch of different companies

If you aren't working direct, you should demand that your network...

• Gives you as much transparency as possible
• Gets you whatever custom creatives you need (and landing pages if your volume warrants it)
• Gives you higher payouts when you drive volume
• Goes to bat for you when you need something that isn't readily available

This is what us networks take our cut for, among other things. It takes a lot of work to run a network, but really without publishers a network is nothing. Some advertisers are awesome, others suck and will bug you every hour to see if they can get more traffic. Also networks often have more control over advertisers because if they screw with a network they will lose the traffic from all of their publishers, not just one. There are definitely a lot of things that networks do to insulate their publishers... if the networks are doing things right.