Commission Junction

[Mia]

Is anyone using Commission Junction? I signed on as part of the eBay affiliate program recently. Anyone having luck with this? Are there particular advertisers that are better than others? Any suggestions.

Thanx.

[anthonycea]

They are alright, I have been having problems with LinkShare though.

CJ and Be Free are the same company now and merging the two accounts is hard to figure out.

I question all these outfits any more, LinkShare seems to be the worst of all of them.

[iShopHQ]

I'm interested to know what problems people are having with Linkshare. I find Linkshare to be my most profitable partner, mainly because of Overstock (and their free in-house datafeed), which generates 90%+ of my income. I am irritated that they still charge for their datafeeds though, as there are other merchants I'd like to get feeds for, but haven't yet ponied up the dough to get You woul dthink Linkshare would realize free access to datafeeds would make them more money than the setup fee they charge.

I also do very well with BeFree, though with that partner, my success is more widespread and not limited to just 1 or 2 main affiliates like Linkshare. I do well with BestBuy, SmartBargains, HSN, and a few others.

Commission Junction has me confused and suspicious. Over the last year, I have been sending more and more traffic and generating less and less sales and less and less income. This time last year, I was averaging a sale a day through their network. Now I'm sending double the traffic and am averaging a sale every 5 days. I think there's something going on with parasites or spyware blockers or something wiping out CJ cookies. Who knows. Anyway, something seems to be going on and no one there can explain it.

Performics has always been in a distant fourth place, though it's been improving lately. They have some good, powerful brands there.

I signed up with ShareASale, but they don't really have any first-tier, brand recognizable merchants, so I've yet to do anything with them.

I've yet to figure out the whole CJ/BeFree merger thing. They seem to be keeping them as seperate programs. I hope they don't do away with the BeFree system. I imagine all my BeFree sales would evaporate the way my CJ sales have done if they pull BeFree into the CJ system.

Universally, I find support to be horrible across all the affiliate management companies. Hard to get contact information, hard to find a phone number, hnext to impossible to speak to a real, live person. CJ is the best, in that they will get back to you, though it takes them 2-3 days. If you are having a problem though, and want immediate help, you are going to be out of luck with ANY of them.

[melfan]

Ive been using CJ over six months now and the return is so far good. Theyre support is ok to me. 20% of my overall income come from CJ.

[iShopHQ]

My income roughly breaks down to about:

20% AdSense
40% Linkshare (90% of that being Overstock)
10% CJ
10% Performics
20% BeFree

[digitalpoint]

My Affiliate (I'll include AdSense in there) income is broken down like so:

CJ: 78% (95% coming from 3 programs)
LinkShare: 10% (95% coming from 1 program)
AdSense: 10%
WordTracker: 2%

[5starAffiliates]

Very interesting to see everyone's income broken out by network. Although to some degree you will make more on the networks you focus on the most. Most of the programs we manage are on CJ and several are Indies.

Wow Shawn I know you are making LOTS with the one Linkshare program but you are making even more with CJ programs. Congrats!!!

FYI I made LOTS of the changes you suggested to my site and just got rid of all the stars and cut down on some copy. Is it looking better than it did before?

[digitalpoint]

Yeah.... of course it's totally based on the program, not the network. But between CJ and LinkShare, I like CJ better... the reporting is more realtime and just a better backend IMO.

[Mia]

I agree, I like the backend.. It is just hard to figure out what programs are going to work on a McCoy Pottery specific information site :-)

[Richmond, Virginia SEO]

We are helping a jewelry site out and CJ declined to help as they had enough jewelry sites. So we are going with Linkshare. Refreshing to see a company be responsible enough to turn down money.

[ferret77]

I think cj sucks , or least the affilates I tried

[Mia]

I've actually been very happy with them. The reporting seems a bit off at times, but for the most part it has worked out quite well.

[Cygnus]

Bigoak...I think the real answer might have more to do with the current state of online jewelry sales -- do they have too many programs? Maybe. Is CJ making enough off of the advertisers to warrant another advertiser? Maybe not.

Another solution to look into, if Linkshare doesn't work out, is to create a custom solution to track everything. A client of mine ended up doing this and keeps much more of the pie...great for long-term.

Cygnus

[anthonycea]

IQshop is right about the cookies being deleted, many PC users delete their cookies daily with freeware software like "Cookie Monster", so you lose a lot of money that way I would bet.

Plus CJ canceled my account without notification a while back yet their ads were still on our pages for months, yet no credit was coming our way.

They are stealing millions of dollars in many different ways, you can count on that.

[ferret77]

I had a loan site that get maybe 5 to 10 leads a day

I use a seamless integrated style affilate

but me being the greedy crack head I am, saw that some crooks over at cj paid like twice as much as the affialte I work with

So I was like 'hell yeah' sign me up, think of all the malt liquer I culd buy with the extra money. I figured since the seamless thing seems to work

So I did a quick redesign of my site, and made it look just like landing the page

Well I quickly went from 5-10 loans a day to 1 loan a day, but HEY I get paid twice as much for that one loan. So maybe it wasn't that bad.

Its probably the advertiser, but I tried a second affilate in there and pretty much the same thing happend.

[Mia]

I think the key to sucess with CJ is having lots of affiliates and lots of sites that convert at a high ratio to the impressions the site gets. My CTR is extremely high and I convert quite well. I employ about 35 affiliates/advertisers across multiple sites. My two best sites see about 2 in 5 click throughs converting to a sale/lead which almost always equals a commission. One site in particular sees around 5 signups/sales per day.

I only go for the high pay outs, and very rarely mess with the percentage of a sale based payouts. I go for purely subscription based payouts, or sales that convert at a flat rate per sale, vs. a percentage.

Your mileage may vary I guess.

[anton-io!]

CJ has been good to me in the past ...

only comment I can make is that a few of their advertisers all of a sudden decide to jump ship and you need to figure out where they went and then have to hunt down their code within your pages.

I have been surprised though with income from selling posters .... go figure

[Will.Spencer]

I do best with CJ for vendors in my niche': CheaperThanDirt and GunBroker.

I threw eBay ads into most of my google_alternate_ad_url fields. That seemed to work for one month, and then it sort of petered out.

I'll probably write a script soon to randomize my google_alternate_ad_url values to a set of CJ banners.

Or possibly I shouldn't worry about CJ too much, as AdSense provides 82% of my revenue.

[melaniejk]

I get next to nothing from CJ.
But, I do get a few dollars from BeFree a month.
Pretty sad, huh?

[maverick]

Hi Mia, I started using CJ couple of months back. Being straightforward to tell, I have a blog (http://aboos.blogspot.com) where I write anything I feel, and on that blog, I hosted all those CJ ads. Now I know its all cluttered there, (but it was for testing which is beneficial and now I would keep only selected there) ...

ok so point to tell you is, CJ is working gr8 for me. Many of the visitors actually click those ads. I had started this thread long back to share my first considerable sale from CJ ads. Its here...
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=10255

I made around $20 that time. :)

[eves]

Is anyone using Commission Junction? I signed on as part of the eBay affiliate program recently. Anyone having luck with this? Are there particular advertisers that are better than others? Any suggestions.

Thanx.
green line shows that advertiser's earnings, so that would give you an idea if the advertiser converts well

[styleanddesign]

I'm new to Commission Junction. Do you know how to request Payments?

[digitalpoint]

They automatically go out on the 20th.

[roadies]

We are helping a jewelry site out and CJ declined to help as they had enough jewelry sites. So we are going with Linkshare. Refreshing to see a company be responsible enough to turn down money.

I don't know if I'd call it responsible. Perhaps "watered-down" would be a better term and they are finally realizing it. This could be for any industry. CJ has thousands of advertisers and with that many companies competing for solid vertical publishers, it can be hard to stay aggressive.

I'd consider them responsible when they start firing their clients.

[UPDATE: Sorry, didn't realize how old this thread was. I'll keep a better eye out for post dates...]

[mopacfan]

rodies, I'm glad you bumped this thread. I just signed up w/ CJ for one particular affiliate that works very well for my website. I have yet to add the products to the site. I'm working on that currently. I'm interested to see how this pans out.

[pythontech]

Sorry for the intrusion here since you are all clearly affiliates and I am a merchant.

I have an online store that sells ink cartridges and cell accessories and need to generate alot more traffic by recruiting affiliates. I joined shareasale almost a year ago and have acquired 85 affiliates who's output has been very low. I am now considering moving to a different affiliate system in hopes that I will get much better results. I originally chose shareasale because it cost a lot less to become a merchant. I am now considering someone else because we can afford to pay more, I am considering linkshare or commission junction.

My questions to you, affiliates are:

1. Of all the ink cartridge and cell phone stores out there, what is your criteria for choosing which one to be an affiliate with?

2. Because I don't have a big brand name, would a permanent offer like free shipping on all orders, be attractive enough? If not what would attract you to a no name like us.

3. Does anyone have numbers on which affiliate system has the most affiliates?

We would appreciate any help as we try to build a small business. Thanks.

[digitalpoint]

I would go with CJ rather than LinkShare... it's a much better affiliate platform all around. In fact, I generally shy away from anything outside of CJ these days (it's nice to have a central system, one check, etc. for everything).

As far as how to get affiliates to join... it all comes down to how much money they could potentially make vs. how much effort is required. Some stuff pays $200+ per transaction for commission, but typically they require lots of effort. I would check out what types of incentives (for paying affiliates) your competitors offer, and see if you can at least match them.

[AzAkers]

My income break down is as follows:
99% : Day job (8-5; 40hrs a week; yes some people still have those :rolleyes: )
0.5% : Money I get in my birthday card or stocking
0.25% : money I find laying on the ground; or in a shirt pocket I haven't worn in over 3 months
0.15% : money that mysteriously falls from heaven or is delivered by an Angel (with actual wings etc)
0.1% : Income generated online through Adsence and Commission Junction combined

Slightly less impressive than the rest of you guys, but I'm working on it :D

[palespyder]

My income break down is as follows:
99% : Day job (8-5; 40hrs a week; yes some people still have those :rolleyes: )
0.5% : Money I get in my birthday card or stocking
0.25% : money I find laying on the ground; or in a shirt pocket I haven't worn in over 3 months
0.15% : money that mysteriously falls from heaven or is delivered by an Angel (with actual wings etc)
0.1% : Income generated online through Adsence and Commission Junction combined

Slightly less impressive than the rest of you guys, but I'm working on it :D

I am in that same boat with ya man, I am just getting started so my Day Job is what pays my mortgage, but, some day, I might make 1/4 of what Shawn brings in and I will be able to buy myself an island ;)

[5starAffiliates]

AzAkers,

Your "Impressive online marketing progress" totally cracked me up! Almost spewed coffee all over my monitor! Thanks for the belly laugh.

0.15% : money that mysteriously falls from heaven or is delivered by an Angel (with actual wings etc)
0.1% : Income generated online through Adsence and Commission Junction combined

At least, it sounds like you still have a great attitude. Keep on trying!

[Such Great Heights]

Me too ...

Monthly Income
66% = day job 35hrs a week
25% = CJ (3 programs, but 90% is one program)
06% = side job (network/computer guy for small business)
03% = AdSense

Of course I'm working on getting more from affiliates, AdSense and side job, but this damn day job gets in the way. :)

Just thought I'd share.

[accountability]

I must be doing something wrong. After five months, I only get 8 clicks per month for 4000 impressions and not a single lead.

[styleanddesign]

http://styleanddesign.tripod.com/search/

Set it as your home page. It is the best search available.

Use Commission Junction as much and however you want...

[Dastar]

http://styleanddesign.tripod.com/search/

Set it as your home page. It is the best search available.

Use Commission Junction as much and however you want...

That page is rather lacking on style and design imho.

[tradefor]

I have not earned $0.01 from CJ.

My site is newish and on a deeply yawn-inspiring topic, but on my very modest 37000 impressions, I showed only 127 clicks, and not a single sale / revenue of any kind; despite effort into trying to match relevant ad programs to my site.

CJ was a complete fiasco so far as I am concerned, and I have removed almost all CJ ads as literally a waste of space.

I would like to make CJ work, or a better Affiliate program work, and am willing to give it another shot; but only if they contribute something relevant to the site or to me.

Any tips from seasoned CJ campaigners would be welcomed.

[pythontech]

How much did you have to pay CJ and is there a monthly fee?

[Mia]

How much did you have to pay CJ and is there a monthly fee?

There are no charges. They pay you.

[balakrishnan84]

I have registered cj one week before and managed to get 25$.Is it possible to receive my commission?

[Mia]

I have registered cj one week before and managed to get 25$.Is it possible to receive my commission?

I'd ask CJ... The generally pay out monthly around the 20th - 25th, assuming things are actually working. If you are on DP, (not digital point) ie., direct deposit, you will generally see it on or about the 20th, 21st, ... 25th of the month. Assuming that the minimum payout was for the entire previous month.

[Nick_Mayhem]

Got $7 this month and it is just the 14th of this month.

right now I am trying out godaddy and netfirms ads.

[ausidesi]

$350 for 6 months in google adsense ...still trying to get something out of CJ and Linkshare, but no luck