Think Affiliate » Affiliate Networks

Affiliate Window Payment Status

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:04:55 +0000

Payment Status Traffic Light System

This week saw the introduction of Affiliate Window’s new payment system. Each merchant now has a payment status displayed in three places; the merchant directory, the merchant information page and on transaction reports.

The traffic light colours have the following meaning:

Green:

Merchant has an up to date payment record and no payment restrictions.
Affiliates will be paid for all approved commissions regardless of when the merchant pays Affiliate Window.

Note: This is the equivalent to the old payment system and the majority of merchants on the network carry this status.

Amber:

Merchant has longer than standard payment terms, is overdue on some invoices or has little or no credit insurance limit.
Affiliates will be paid for approved commissions only when payment for corresponding invoices has been received by Affiliate Window.
It may take longer for affiliates to receive money from amber rated merchants.

Note: This is the equivalent to the payment system operated by the majority of Affiliate Window’s competitors.

Red:

Merchant has no credit insurance limit, a series of overdue invoices and may be in financial difficulty.
Approved commissions will only be paid when Affiliate Window have been paid in full for all outstanding invoices.

Note: We would advise against promoting these merchants.

The introduction of this traffic light system sooner rather than later will hopefully allow merchants to make the necessary changes that can see their ranking adjust from Amber to Green. Therefore please note that this initial ranking is likely to change over the coming months and it would be worthwhile monitoring those proactive merchants who want to enhance their programme to affiliates.

DGM Affiliates

admin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:24:04 +0000

DGM Affiliates have 164 campaigns at the time of writing. These are mainly big names like 888.com, O2, Vodafone and other names which are big in their respected sectors. There are also smaller less well known merchants whom you may be aware of, but have not thought of advertising before. I don’t use DGM Pro frequently as I’ve never really had a desire to advertise any of the merchants they have enough to warrant moving away from my preferred networks. However, when I created Avoid Virgin Media recently, I thought I’d have a look into signing up to a few of their broadband merchants. Be There broadband has great reviews, so I thought I’d promote them. Overall my experiences using the DGM Pro interface are not very good. It might just be because it’s not what I’m used to, but it felt ‘clunky’ and hard to use. Just getting the banner ads was a pain and the reporting didn’t feel easy to use. I do like the stats given about merchants though:

DGM Pro Merchant Stats

I’d say it was worth signing up if there were particular merchants you wanted to promote, but I much prefer the interface with Affiliate Window.

Affiliate Window Review

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:58:16 +0000

Affiliate Window is the largest independent affiliate network in the UK with over 750 merchants including massive names like Play.com, PC World, Woolworths and Boots. To see a comprehensive list of all of the merchants on the network, view the merchant directory. To find more information about each merchants programme, you will need to apply to Affiliate Window as an affiliate. Signing up requires them processing a £5 admin charge which is refunded to your account and paid in the first commission payment. However, on the website it does state “Affiliate Window reserve the right not to return the £5 fee to affiliates who are judged to be intent on malicious or fraudulent activity”.
After signing in, a wealth of information is available to you when picking which merchants to sign up to. You can get conversion rates, earnings per click, approval percentages, validation times, AWIN index, commission amounts and cookies lengths for every merchant. The AWIN index is a number between 0 and 100 which gives an idea how well the merchant is performing compared to other merchants in the same sector and elsewhere on the network. This takes earnings per click (EPC), validation period, click to sale percentages and approval rates into account, giving an idea of which merchants would be good to promote and just a glance.
Payments are made every two weeks and the minimum payout amount is just £25. Affiliate Window run regular promotions giving away great prizes such as all inclusive holidays, televisions and commission bonuses.

Affiliate Networks

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:39:53 +0000

Affiliate Networks act as intermediaries between affiliates and merchants. Networks provide merchants with a wide variety of tools which help them create effective campaigns and monitor the successes of these campaigns. Most networks can also offer merchants a large number of affiliates who are currently actively promoting similar sites/brands.
Networks provide a much simpler way for affiliates to sign up to CPA campaigns. Affiliates can browse through a directory of merchants viewing information such as commission levels, average earnings per click, how long the merchant has been with the network etc… It is then possible to sign up to these networks and start promoting them straight away. One of the main advantages is the simplification of having to bill merchants. If you are working with 10 merchants on a single network you will only have to worry about receiving money from one company instead of having to invoice 10 different companies separately.
In the UK, the main affiliate networks include Affiliate Future, Affiliate Window and TradeDoubler. Most networks are free to join for affiliates, but merchants have to pay fees which can stretch well into the thousands of pounds. Affiliate Window requires £5 to open an affiliate account, but this is credited to your account and is paid back as soon as you have earned £20 in commission.