What makes one ad network better than others? They all seem to have similar advertisers from what I have seen.

Hey GermanGal, basically all networks have their advantages and disadvantages. But like you said for the most part, many networks carry a lot of the same offers. When at that point, it basically comes down to who offers the better payout and has the better converting creatives.

Also, networks use all different types of tracking systems to track leads/sales. This can make a difference in you monthly commission big time. Some tracking systems fail to track leads every now and then, but they could be big leads and could end up losing you money. So investigate how the network tracks sales/leads. We ourselves use the popular DirectTrack.

Another big factor, is basically service. How accessible, friendly and helpful are the affiliate managers with the network. It's nice to be able to get in contact with your affiliate manager whenever you have a problem or question. Many networks take up to a week to respond to an email and don't supply the correct phone number to speak directly to your account manager.

So basically, you are correct in your thinking that many networks are the same, but at the same time, you will find the benefits of other networks over others all the time. It's just a matter of you joining and checking them out. Also, work of mouth helps a lot too. So if you are interested in a certain network, ask around for opinions.

Thank you for your response.


Are payouts different because the networks are taking a larger cut for themselves or they get different rates from the merchants providing the offers?

It's a little bit of both. Some networks on certain offers will try and take the majority of the profit for themselves, and a lot of networks, such as us, will only take about a .05-.10/lead profit, with hopes of getting our affiliates to make so much money they continue to promote. In the long run we will make more that way. And then that goes hand in hand with the merchants providing the offers giving us a larger payout. If we are able to get the merchant a lot of leads/sales, they will be happy of course, and more inclined to offer us a higher payout, which we can then offer more to our affiliates. So basically, every network has their own reasoning for their payouts, whether it's to maximize their profits, or because the merchant is only paying them so much, you basically hit it right on the head in your quesiton.

That's why I feel it's a good idea to surf around the popular networks to see what type of payouts you can receive for each offer and also just as important...what type of creatives they have for the offers. That helps them convert better.

Thank you for the information. What would you estimate the number of affiliate/ad networks to be?

GermanGal, are you an affiliate of any ad networks right now?