How to Join an Affiliate Network Successfully

One of the best ways to gain success in digital marketing is joining an affiliate network. These networks act as intermediaries, connecting affiliates with advertisers, providing a platform for collaboration and tracking of affiliate marketing activities. If you want to join an affiliate network, this article will walk you through the process.

But first, let’s get started with the definition of an affiliate network as it’s a crucial point in understanding affiliate marketing in general.

What is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network is an intermediary platform that connects affiliate marketers with advertisers who provide them with offers to promote. It acts as a facilitator and furnishes a centralized hub for affiliate marketing activities. Often, such platforms are called CPA networks. CPA means Cost Per Action, which is an affiliate marketing pricing model. Instead CPA, CPL, CPI, CPE and other models can be used.

The primary purpose of an affiliate network is to enable affiliates to find relevant offers to promote and earn money (commissions) for any sales or actions generated through their promotional efforts. And advertisers, in turn, get conversions: installs, registrations, and more. It simplifies the process by handling tracking, reporting, and payment aspects of the affiliate marketing relationship.

When affiliates join a network, they gain access to unique affiliate links or tracking codes that they can incorporate into their promotional channels such as websites, blogs, social media, email campaigns, push notifications, CPC, etc. These links enable the network to track the traffic and sales generated by the affiliate marketer, ensuring they receive proper credit for their efforts.

Benefits of Joining an Affiliate Network

Joining an affiliate network offers several benefits for affiliate marketers. Here are some key advantages:

• Access to a Wide Range of Advertisers and Offers: Affiliate networks typically cooperate with many advertisers and have offers across various verticals. This fact gives affiliate marketers an access to a wide range of choices as well as allows marketers to select high-quality products with good conversion potential;
  
  
• Streamlined Tracking and Reporting: The best affiliate marketing networks handle the tracking and reporting of affiliate marketing activities. They provide robust analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into click-through rates, conversions, earnings, and other performance metrics. This data allows marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and optimize their strategies accordingly;
  
  
• Reliable Payment Processing: Affiliate networks handle the financial aspect of affiliate marketing by ensuring timely and accurate affiliate commission payments. They have established systems and processes in place to track and calculate the commissions earned by marketers. This eliminates the need for marketers to individually negotiate payment terms with each merchant and simplifies the payment process;
  
  
• Support and Resources: Affiliate networks often provide support and resources to assist marketers in their affiliate marketing journey. It’s crucial especially if you are a beginner. These resources may include educational materials, training programs, webinars, and forums where marketers can learn from industry experts and exchange knowledge with peers. Additionally, the network’s support team can address any queries or issues that marketers may encounter, offering guidance and troubleshooting assistance.

These benefits contribute to the growth and success of affiliate marketers in the competitive world of CPA marketing.

How to Choose an Affiliate Network?

The journey in affiliate marketing starts with finding an appropriate CPA network. Choosing the right affiliate platform is crucial for the success of marketers. There are some points that you should consider no matter if you are a beginner or an experienced specialist:

Rule 1. Reputation and Trustworthiness

Look for affiliate networks with a solid reputation and a track record of reliability such as diverse awards in the field of affiliate marketing. Choosing the right network, we recommend doing research to find more info about the history of an affiliate platform. Also, it will be useful to read reviews from other affiliates, and ensure that it has a positive reputation within the industry.

Rule 2. Policies and Terms

Every network has its own rules that affiliate marketers have to follow joining the network. That is why you should carefully examine terms and policies in order to understand the guidelines or restrictions on promotional methods. Review of these rules will help you to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts with offer owners as well as the affiliate network as well.

Rule 3. Niche Relevance

You can find affiliate platforms that specialize in one vertical as well as in several verticals at the same time. Among such affiliate networks, we can highlight TerraLeads and Dr.cash that specialize in Nutra vertical, Royal Partners with focus on Gambling vertical or Kingfin that operates only in Finance vertical. But also you can find platforms that have offers almost in all verticals of affiliate marketing: MaxBounty, Adsterra, ClickDealer, etc. Consider whether the chosen affiliate network works with verticals that suit your expectations. In the article on the 8 Best Verticals for CPA Marketing, we detailed what’s popular in affiliate marketing right now.

Rule 4. Commission Rates and Payment Terms

Evaluate the commission rates offered by affiliate networks and compare them. Look for platforms that provide competitive commission rates and fair payment terms. Consider such factors as minimum payout, payment frequency (daily, weekly, twice a week, monthly, etc.), available payment methods (PayPal, Wire transfer, Webmoney, Check, and so on) to ensure that these factors align with your preferences and financial goals.

Rule 5. Useful Features

Working with a CPA network is a pleasure when an affiliate can take advantage of convenient and useful tools. For example, tracking and reporting capabilities allow you to monitor your performance, track conversions, analyze the effectiveness of the offers promoted. Real-time statistics is crucial for optimizing your strategies.

Also, we recommend taking into account such points as total number of offers, accepted traffic, availability of support and additional resources. All these factors highly influence the process of choosing an affiliate network.

You can join an affiliate network or create your own platform. Read the article with 10 steps on how to build an affiliate network.

How to Join an Affiliate Network?

And now we are coming to the most significant part of the article: how to join an affiliate platform. Gaining access to an affiliate network is not easy. Therefore, we will tell you what to do to pass the registration successfully.

First of all, it’s necessary to mention that the process of joining a network is different. Some platforms are fairly straightforward when it comes to signing up new users. It means that you can easily register and start promoting offers. Other platforms, on the contrary, are stricter with their affiliate partners, requiring interviews or attaching an ID during registration.

Option A

There are networks that are free to join or that provide free trials. If the network does not require you to go through complicated registration steps, providing IDs or screenshots from other networks, you are simply required to fill out the registration form and wait for the message that your account has been successfully registered.

With easy CPA networks to join, affiliates should enter basic information about themselves and their experience in the field. This info includes your experience in affiliate marketing, the verticals you work with, traffic, GEOs, and personal data: first name, second name, country, address, contacts.

Option B

If the chosen network is one that takes a long time to register, you will have to provide a lot more information about yourself. Also, most of these networks include an interview with a dedicated affiliate manager to learn more about you and your activities. For example, according to MaxBounty review the registration requires providing an ID and passing an interview. By visiting the MaxBounty website and following their sign up instructions, you can create an account and start exploring the available opportunities. MaxBounty sign up is a complicated process, but if you can get through all the steps, you’ll be pleased with your future results.

Another example is MaxWeb. At first sight, the MaxWeb sign up process may seem easy. But in reality to pass it successfully affiliates have to not only fill in all the fields of the registration form, but also get through an interview with affiliate manager and provide ID.

Top 5 Tips How to Join an Affiliate Network

What do you have to do to pass all the steps of the registration process successfully? Here is our guide on how to join an affiliate platform.

1. Don’t Miss Fields in an Application

One of the frequent reasons for rejecting registration applications is that the affiliate provides incomplete, inaccurate or inconsistent information. When registering with an affiliate network, it is critical to provide complete and accurate information. Even if you feel that some information is unimportant, incomplete, or the form is filled out carelessly — all this can cause a rejection.

Double check your application for accuracy. Make sure that all required fields are filled in and the information provided complies with the rules and requirements of the platforms.

2. Provide Website and Marketing Information

Top affiliate networks often require you to provide information about your website or other marketing channels. If you have a website, you need to enter its URL at the stage of filling the registration form. In case you are a beginner and don’t have a website, you can skip this step. And provide accurate and detailed information about your marketing tools and methods to ensure compliance with the network’s guidelines.

3. Create a Plan of Work

Many affiliate networks ask you to tell them about your plans of offers’ promotion. And your answer can significantly influence the decision of the affiliate network manager. So, create a carefully thought-out plan to make sure your strategy falls in line with affiliate platform terms and conditions. Your plan should include:

• Traffic sources: social, email, display, etc.;
  
• Verticals: Finance, Gambling, Nutra, Casino, eCommerce, Software, etc.;
  
• GEOs: European countries, Latin America, Australia, etc.
  
  

4. Provide Requested Documentation

Usually CPA networks require a photo of ID or passport to verify the affiliate’s identity. Also one of the key requirements is to provide screenshots of statistics from other platforms. If you want to get an uplift, don’t neglect these factors.

The exception is for newbies. Be sure to specify this fact when filling out the registration form. But remember that not all networks work with beginner affiliates and very often reject the request. If this is the case, we recommend looking for the best CPA networks with an easier way to sign up.

5. Don’t Skip an Interview

If you meet the criteria of the CPA network, the next step is an interview with a specialist. As a rule, managers contact affiliates via the messengers they have specified.

What to do to make the interview a success? First, be prepared for the interview. Based on our analysis of popular affiliate networks, the most common questions managers ask are the following:

• How long have you been working with affiliate marketing?
  
• Which networks do you work with?
  
• What promotion methods do you use?
  
• What offers are you looking for?
  
• What are your traffic sources?
  
• What GEOs are you considering?

How to Join an Affiliate network: List of Networks and Their Requirements

Here is a list of CPA networks, divided into several groups according to the difficulty of registration. For example, we counted 15 CPA networks that are easy to join. Other CPA networks require ID, screenshots and interviews.

FAQ

1. How long does it take to receive an approval from an affiliate network?

The time it takes to receive an approval from an affiliate network can vary significantly and depends on several factors such as network policies, network size and demand, etc. There are 3 to 8 working days in between. Always check your spam folder because you never know when the reply can be there.

2. What reasons could there be for the application to be canceled?

There can be several reasons why an application to an affiliate network may be canceled or rejected. Here are some common reasons:

• Non-compliance with Network Policies: Affiliate networks have specific policies and guidelines that applicants must adhere to. If your application or website is found to violate these policies, it can lead to rejection. Examples of policy violations may include promoting prohibited content (such as illegal materials), engaging in deceptive marketing practices, or using unethical promotional methods;
  
  
• Insufficient Website or Platform Quality: Affiliate networks often assess the quality and professionalism of the applicant’s website or platform. If your website is incomplete, lacks relevant content, has poor design, or doesn’t meet the network’s standards, it may result in application cancellation;
  
  
• Misrepresentation of Information: Providing inaccurate or misleading information in your application can lead to rejection. It’s important to be honest and transparent about your website, traffic sources, promotional methods, and any relevant details required by the network;
  
  
• Previous Account Termination: If you have previously violated the policies of the affiliate network, resulting in the termination of your account, it could impact your chances of getting approved for a new application.

Remember that these reasons are not exhaustive, and different networks may have their own specific criteria for application rejection. If your application is rejected, it’s advisable to review the network’s feedback (if provided) and make any necessary improvements before reapplying.

3. What number of followers is required to sign up for an affiliate network?

Having an audience to promote offers before you join the network is a good factor. However, you don’t have to have subscribers to become a CPA network partner, just an online presence is enough.

There are affiliate marketing programs as well as CPA networks that offer to promote affiliate links. By logging into the affiliate network or affiliate program, you can obtain your affiliate links by following their easy to follow instructions.

Veranika Minina

Veranika Minina is a fan of affiliate marketing. Veranika's articles are carefully crafted to simplify complex concepts, making them accessible to beginners while also offering fresh perspectives about CPA-networks for experienced marketers. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned marketer, Veranika's writings are sure to inspire, educate, and motivate, guiding you towards a profitable affiliate marketing journey.