Hello All!

We have been selling computer accessories, electronic gadgets, techie T-Shirts, and computer themed gifts and home and office decor to the geek market since 2001. Formerly a brick-and-mortar retailer, we have focused our attention on our rapidly expanding catalog and online store at http://www.KlearGear.com.

Recently, we decided to offer an affiliate program with a commission structure of up to 20% for new affiliates during our introductory period.

We are considering joining an affiliate network(s) such as Commission Junction and would like to hear about other online retailer's experience with smaller networks. We welcome recommendations!

Best wishes,

Will
KlearGear.com

Definitely not CJ, go with SaS instead.

sas=shareasale?

how about linkshare or adify?

i checked out performics but we don't meet their requirements.

$6-10k access/setup fee is WAY more than we are looking to spend.

i am in contact with ShareAsale and Adify. anyone have history with them?

what is the lowest anyone has known to pay for joining linkshare? is their access fee negotiable?

CJ is one of the best for the $$ (Being a former CJ exec. I kind of like CJ and would recommend them even though they are not what they used to be) but you better know what you are doing and ready to roll your sleeves and do some serious recruitment and management yourself.

There's also Perfomics and Linkshare but they are costly. However, do you really need and affiliate Network? People hear about affiliate networks and get into it because it's the buzz of the industry, and it's a better ROI than Google Adwords (that's for sure). However these alone are not good enough reasons to get into this aspect of Interet Marketing.

I suggest that you also look at alternate solutions like Azoogle, affiliatefuel, or to a lesser degree Metrics Direct, and other lead generation companies.

Maybe worth your time to look at these as well if you want good returns and do not have the bandwith to invest in human resources. Overwise, hire an affiliate manager (who knows something about running a program) and let him or her decide on the best solution (even Kawa Bunga if you have the nerves).

Good luck

JT

Definitely go with a well known network lie CJ or SaS. Azoogle etc are not wide known and do not have the affiliate base as much as the others do. You could also visit abestweb.com, the affiliate marketing forum and ask other affiliates opinions.

There was recently a total uproar about CJ, which they've backed down on to some degree because of a complete commotion in the affiliate community

http://www.jangro.com/cj-petition.php

Many left, and they've now got a long way to go before they'll regain the trust of many top affiliates. Also, they're in disfavor amongst those who don't like parasites over-writing cookies.

I would definitely consider Shareasale, which is parasite free, has excellent tools for affiliates including free datafeeds retrieval if the merchant provides them, and has a sterling reputation for honesty and ethics.

Agreed, CJ screwed up in major way with their Java thing. The thing makes it impossible to preview pages and forces the change over of hundreds if not thousands of creative for no real benefit. For an affiliate this is very tedious and cumbersome and was hill conceived.

However for an advertiser who needs to tap a vast network from the get go, they are the best money can buy. I am not familiar with Shareasale but would certainly benchmark the or any solution out there against CJ to make sure you get what you need and pay for.

Regardless, be ready to learn or hire someone how to run an affiliate program who knows what they are doing. By the way, Affiliate Summit in Vegas in Jan is also a good place to shop for a solution and learn.

Good luck

JT

JavaScript technology is now the default for Commission Junction links. In order to take advantage of future enhancements, we encourage you to incorporate JavaScript links. For a limited time, you may access legacy code for this link by selecting the 'Access Legacy Code' button below. They were supposed to have backed down but that is STILL what's there when you go to get links.

The thing makes it impossible to preview pages and forces the change over of hundreds if not thousands of creative for no real benefit. For an affiliate this is very tedious and cumbersome and was hill conceived.Not only tedious and cumbersome, but for many impossible - aside from messing up pages, shutting out those who disable JS in their browsers and being an awful thing for search engine rankings. There's also word that the extra two clicks and inconvenience are deliberate on CJ's part in order to force using JS links because it's quicker to fetch the code.

Also, as far as benefit goes, it's not only detrimental to affiliates, but there are some who believe that the whole thing is motivated by the ValueClick, the parent company, wanting to use scripting for data mining purposes for their other endeavors - at affiliates' expense.

It's true that CJ has wide reach, but an enormous percentage don't activate, and some believe that it's better to have a solid core of high producers than it is to have sheer volume.

hi
i think you dont bother by the 20%of the sales, i advise you for to take the google adsence and publish your ads on all the website that take the google adsence [edit] becasue today it is more beneficial then the external affiliate marketing, in this you find your ads on the google search pages with your predefine kewords and on those pages that are theme related with you, so once take this one and enjoy the benefits of affiliate marketing.. :)

Affiliate networks can bring you much greater earnings then Adsense. This is why so many people don't even display Adsense on their product pages.

hi jakson its not true that lot of people not give the adsence on the pages of there products, may be they miss this .[edit] see this site they give the google adsence on there index page,

Are Kleargear just focussing on the US market or do you cover Europe?
if you do then maybe look at Tradedoubler.