Report on Affiliate Management Software -
2005 edition
Do you need to purchase affiliate management software so you can set up an affiliate plan or compensate lead generation referrals? If so, you'll begin to salivate as I describe this book.
There are a lot of software choices in the marketplace these days. I wrote the first book designed to guide online business people in selecting affiliate software in 2001. Since then we've seen a number of changes:
- Many companies have entered the market; nearly all the major shopping carts provide an affiliate module. In this book I've summarized the website descriptions of 48 affiliate program systems and 55 shopping carts that contain affiliate modules. But with the plethora of programs out there, I can see why merchants and lead generation businesses can throw up their hands in confusion.
- While most companies have maintained the status quo, a few have kept pushing forward with improvements. What was excellent software in 2001 is now only a bit above the average.
I see three generations of affiliate software:
- The first generation covers the basics only, and is adequate enough for the small merchant without many demands. Most of what is on the market today is in this first generation.
- The second generation has added much greater flexibility to the commission structure, the ability of the merchant to offer incentives to new or high-performing affiliates, and top notch customer service for its merchant clients. Some in the ASP hosted software group are in this generation.
- The third generation is found only in the network model, designed to server the larger, more active retailers only . They have focused on flexibility, security, and providing excellent, comprehensive service for their retailer clients. Since these larger merchants are most prone to fraud, third generation software includes a number of security features to keep fraudsters out of the affiliate pool, if possible, and detect them if they slip in.
My goal in this book is to help you understand how affiliate management software works, which features are important, let you know as much as possible about the programs themselves, and then make recommendations to guide you in the selection process. At the end I award four software programs the Web Marketing Today Award of Excellence in Affiliate Management Software.
I trust that you'll find this book the tool you need to decide which affiliate management software to use for your online organization.
Here are the affiliate management software programs detailed in the book:
Ad Server Solutions
Aff_Manager
Affiliate Fuel
Affiliate Network Pro
Affiliate Tracking Network
Affiliate Window
Affiliate Wiz
AffiliateClicks
AffiliateGuerrilla
AffiliateShop
AllAffiliatePro v4.5
AssocTRAC
ClickAffiliate PRO
ClickBank
clickXchange.com
clixGalore |
Commission Junction
Decentrix AffTraq
DGM Australia
DGM UK
DH-MLM v3.6.0
DirectTrack
FloppyBank
Friendly Affiliate
FusionQuest
IAHBE Toolbox
iDevAffiliate v4.0
Income Access
Interneka Affiliate v3.0
iSalesForce v2.0
Lead to Sale Tracker
Leadhound Network |
LinkShare
Little Salesman
Managed Affiliate Program
My Affiliate Program (MyAP)
MyReferer
PartnersManager.6.0
Performics
Post Affiliate Pro
ProTrack Professional
Referral Software
SalesDoubler
Sharasale
TradeDoubler
Ultimate Affiliate 2.3.0
Your Own Affiliate Program
YOURaff v1.02
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Here's the table of contents for this 135-page book:
Preface |
2 |
Table of Contents |
4 |
Chapter 1. Introduction to Affiliate Marketing Software |
7 |
|
How Affiliate Management Software Works |
7 |
Chapter 2. Types of Affiliate Management Software Programs |
9 |
|
Integrated into Shopping Cart |
11 |
|
Custom Programming |
11 |
|
Network, Commission Based |
12 |
|
ASP Hosted, Monthly Flat Fee |
13 |
|
Licensed Software on Merchant's Server, One-Time Fee |
14 |
Chapter 3. Features of Affiliate Management Software |
15 |
|
Basic Characteristics |
15 |
|
Domain to which the Affiliate Link Points |
16 |
|
Categorizing Affiliates into Various Groups |
17 |
|
Ad Tracking Capabilities |
18 |
|
Check Writing and Mass Payment |
19 |
|
Links to Multiple Product and Landing Pages |
19 |
|
Tiers of Affiliates |
20 |
|
Commission Flexibility |
20 |
|
Manual Entry of Commissions |
23 |
|
Multiple Sites from Same Software |
23 |
|
Banner Display |
24 |
|
Administrative Reporting |
24 |
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Replicated Affiliate Pages |
24 |
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Fraud Detection |
25 |
|
International and Language Flexibility |
25 |
Chapter 4. Recommendations and Awards of Merit for Excellence in Affiliate Management Software |
26 |
|
Network Model |
26 |
|
ASP Hosted Model |
27 |
|
Licensed Stand-Alone Model |
27 |
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Integrated into Shopping Cart Software |
27 |
Appendix 1. Detailed Descriptions of Dedicated Affiliate Management Software |
29 |
Appendix 2. Detailed descriptions of Affiliate Programs Integrated into Shopping Cart Software |
73 |
Appendix 3: User Feedback on Affiliate Management Software |
96 |
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Stand-Alone Affiliate Programs |
97 |
|
Affiliate Programs Integrated into Shopping Carts |
119 |
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Custom Programmed Affiliate Management Software |
127 |
About the Author |
133 |
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