Sage Blogger » Affiliate Networks

Have You Tried CJ Pay Per Call Yet?

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:59:35 +0000

It has been some time now since Commission Junction introduced a platform called “CJ Pay Per Call” – you probably see it every time you login into your publisher account.

I have signed up for the pay per call deals but have done much with it until last night. One of my big disappointments is how few merchants are participating or take advantage of this new product.

So how does pay per call works? In a few words, a merchant offers you creative to use with an 800 number assigned to them (just like the one you see for eFax to the right). When a potential client calls that specific 800 number you are credited ones required time elapsed. This creative can be clicked on and the clicks are tracked (as far as I know) via your regular CJ publisher account.

As I mentioned above the limited number of participating merchants is not encouraging so I don’t plan to sepnd much time or money promoting these offers. What about you? Have you been successful with CJ’s pay per call?Similar Posts:

Pepperjam Store Builder- Quick And Easy Way To Feature Thousands Of Products On Your Website

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:12:04 +0000

PepperJam Affiliate Network just introduced new feature called PepperJam Store Builder. It allows affiliates to create quickly (literally under one minute) a store front page that can feature thousands of products:

Similar widget was introduced by LinkConnector back in April. As with LinkConnector’s widget PapperJam Store Builder’s widget is a javascript code, so you have to make sure there is additional content on your page/website if you want to rank for any keywords.

I find PepperJam’s solution to be extremely quick “snappy”. You can see it in action on one of my websites. Great Job PepperJam!Similar Posts:

Googe Affiliate Network: Improved Datafeeds Delivery.

Vlad Zablotskyy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:13:53 +0000

In the past, if you needed datafeeds form Google Affiliate Network (former Performics) you had to e-mail such a request to the support. And in some cases, you would have to wait indefinite amount of time before your request was processed. My first request was processed about 6 months to the date I requested it and only after I commented on a prominent affiliate’s blog about the issue.

I believe there are few things that each affiliate should have easy and free access too. Some affiliate networks have done it (PepperJam Network, LinkConnector, Share A Sale and now Google Affiliate Network), some still have ways to go (CJ and LinkShare).

On October 11, Google Affiliate network has upgraded the user interface by adding and option to subscribe to datafeeds straight from the interface:

You can specify which advertiser’s datafeeds you would like to receive:

Configure the “delivery method”:

Currently you only can configure one FTP account where all your datafeeds will be delivered to. So I highly recommend to choose file names carefully. At the time of configuring the delivery method, I have chosen to name my files after the advertiser’s ID. It is probably want cause you any problems if you have one or two merchants datafeesds. But it will save you a lot of time if you subscribe to large number of datafeeds.

I have got hoocked on datafeeds about two years ago. They give you an opportunity to develop websites with thousands of products. I yet to code my own website. Until now I have been using products like Affilistore and WordPress Datafeed Import.Similar Posts:

Google Affiliate Network To Change Data Feeds Distribution

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:02:10 +0000

I doubt that any one from Google Affiliate Network ever read my recent rant. However todays e-mail from Larry Adams, the network’s product manager, caught me off guard. Just as I made a decision to concentrate on other affiliate networks that provide easy access to product data feeds, Larry shares that Google Affiliate Network, is introducing few changes:

On October 11, we plan to release a new feature in our user interface that will enable you to sign up for and configure data feeds.

If you have missed his e-mail make sure to dig it up as you may need to act and update some of the settings in your account.

I personally welcome this change, as it will definitely make things much easier for many publishers.

Starting on October 11, you will be able to subscribe to merchants data feeds via FTP. While you will have to point all your data feeds to one location. It looks that this option will be available to every publisher and will be configurable from within your account.

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No I Am Not Interested In Your “Inhouse” Affiliate Program

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:48:10 +0000

After receiving few dozen of e-mails via the contact page on this blog, from affiliate managers to join their “in house” programs, I added an entire paragraph on that page. Trying to explain that any one who in the future attempts to use the contact form for the similar purpose, maybe in fact wasting their time. This post should serve as a further explanation why I am not interested in any “in house” affiliate programs, as I plan to link from the contact form back to this article.

So here are just few reasons why many affiliate marketers may not be interested in your program. But all of my reasons can be summed up in the following statement: “Give us a brake, and join one of the networks!”

I am not sure what keeps you from joining one affiliate network. Many of us, affiliates, have accounts at least with major affiliate networks. I personally have publisher accounts with six affiliate networks: PepperJam Affiliate Network, Commision Junction, LinkShare, LinkConnector, ShareASale and Google Affiliate Network (formerly Performics). Surely one of these can satisfy your needs.

I want to know I will get paid. Yes I know you have a wonderful program with “unmatched” commissions and perks. But at the end of the day all of it means nothing to me if do not get paid. I am not saying that you will not pay me. The above listed networks have been working with merchants and affiliates for decades and have established their reputation. Why not to build your own reputation on it?
It is quiet a task to learn how to navigate the interfaces of each network. Do you really expect me to learn every interface in the universe?
Let the networks do the recruiting. They have it down. They also can do much better job than you can. It will free your time for developing relationships with your affiliates instead.
Lastly, it is has to be said that a few hundred dollars script you have which allows you to implement your in house program is probably good. But is it good enough to match the linking and reporting capabilities of the affiliate networks?

Yes, joining a network may not be as cheep as implementing your own affiliate program. However if you care about the future of your business, this investment is well worthed to undertake.Similar Posts:

StumbleUpon Spring Cleaning: Accounts Banned

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:43:57 +0000

Evidently StumbleUpon has been doing some heavy duty spring cleaning, banning some users from the system. I would generally pass this kind of news without paying too much attention to it. However, there is one thing puzzled me a bit. Namely their PPC advertising. I advertised using this option a little. I don’t remember spending more that $200 on their ads due to the low conversion rates.

So StumbleUpon wants their users to submit pages about dogs and cats and and then they offer you to create a PPC campaign to drive traffic to those pages. But if you submit a page that actually is made to make you money, you are braking their TOS? Are you kidding me? I don’t understand the logic. If you do please enlighten me.

Here is one more account for you to ban http://vladtheaffiliate.stumbleupon.com – I probably have broken your TOS, besides I don’t need your traffic. You can have it all.

I lately have come to realize that all the posts about StumbleUpons quality of traffic are bunch of BS. If their traffic was so good people would exit AdWords in thousands. The truth is StumbleUpon’s traffic does not convert and can actually hurt your AdSense earnings. I also have not seen a single conversion from their PPC. I don’t even know why do people even bother using their PPC. Spend that money in AdWords at least the traffic from Google converts better.

I guess you can call it a rant day???Similar Posts:

Have You Seen The LinkConnector’s Widget?

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:47:36 +0000

Yesterday I received a call from John Nardolilli of LinkConnector. I have to say that none other Affiliate Network comes even close in customer care. Seriously! I have barely made $200 with this network and yet they treat me as I was their top affiliate.

Last November I had chance to meet in person with John in Cary, NC. If you have just recently signed up with Link Connector and John is your account representative- congratulations! Your are in good hands!

Anyway, one of the reasons for John’s call was to let me know about their new widget. You can see it in action on the right.

Although you will not benefit much for SEO purposes while using this widget, it is nice little (or big- depends how you you configure it) “devil”. You ave absolute freedom as to the size of this widget.

This is something new at LinkConnector. In fact, yesterday you may have noticed a test post. There was a glitch in the code, and the script did not display properly within a blog post, should you decide to use the widget within a blog posts (WordPress).

For the short time of playing with this new widget, I can say that I like it a lot. It is fast and it is configuarable on many levels. If you have not been to you LinkConnector account, you should take a look at this new widget.

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Sam Interviews Kerri Pollard of CJ

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:22:12 +0000

If you are following “PepperJam vs CJ” situation, you might want to tune in to Sam’s podcast over at Cost Per News and listen to his interview with Kerri Pollard. The interview not to be missed. So there it is, my shortest post ever?
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PepperJam Network vs CJ

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:53:33 +0000

photo credit: pixel0908Some times you can’t help but to be a spectator. Just as Affiliate blogs began to calm down over Mr. Mahalo, a new controversy is brewing on the horizon. In fact according to Kris Jones the controversy was taking place during Affiliate Summit and maybe even during Jason’s keynote address. I find this to be very ironic. I was quiet strong critic of Calacanis’ keynote speech. However, listening to podcast I now can say that I took a lot of what Jason said out of the content.

In his speech Jason mentioned how the Internet was looked at as a “plain leveled field”; a great opportunity for anyone to succeed. Every one was equal, opportunities were wide open and the sky was the limit.

So how does it look for a perspective of a “nobody”. And by nobody I mean myself. Because when I look at both CJ and PepperJam, I feel like I am less than nobody.

I wonder how soon will the “Goliaths” begin to demand “exclusivity” of affiliates? Seriously. Imagine if one network would ask you to either work with them exclusively or get out. Would you feel like you are on a “plain leveled field”?Similar Posts:

PepperJam Network Is All About Relationships And Communication

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:55:19 +0000

That is my initial impression of PepperJam Network. The only disappointment I have is that I did not join this network sooner.

Those who read my blog regularly may remember my frustration about inability to communicate with some merchants from other networks. Thankfully I don’t see this ever to be an issue with PepperJam Network.

I wanted to put PepperJam at the very center of this post. However I can’t get out off my mind many fruitless attempts to contact affiliate managers on other networks. The ability to reach your affiliate manager can be crucial to the success of your campaigns. Especially if you have ongoing PPC campaigns. Imagine waking up one morning just find out that your money are being wasted on this one landing page. and to discover later that merchant’s affiliate manager has some serious “mystery” disorder with “nowhere to be found” symptoms. Now there is a network out there where these sort of mystery affiliate managers do not exist- the PepperJam Network.

There are really many great features at PJN and I would be wasting my time repeating things written before by other bloggers. Kris Jones has a list of many outstanding reviews of PepperJam, make sure to read at least a few of them.

I on the other hand will just point out how easy it is to communicate with your merchant partners. First of all, to locate contact information of merchants is the matter of one click. Even of those that you have not partnered with yet! As soon as you join a particular program, that merchants email is automatically added to your address book. But if that was not enough, it appears that you will be able to IM your merchants!!! Even though most managers are offline as I am writing this review, it was hard to resist not to take the screen shot of the IM window:

How cool is that?!!

To conclude I will say this. Other affiliate networks should really follow PapperJam’s example, or risk to loose their merchants and their affiliates. I have noticed a few merchants have their program listed with PepperJam while still offering the same program on other networks. I am switching to PepperJams creatives first thing tomorrow.
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