My question: Basically, what is the best affiliate network for a marketing site? What are the pros and cons of each? Thanks.
All affiliate networks have their pros and cons, but it ultimate comes down to the advertisers you want to target. I use most of them in some capacity, but I've made the most money through LinkShare, thanks to one program that's been converting like crazy!
There are many posts here with the information your looking for. Try the search feature with your question, I'm sure you will find what your looking for. I myself like Revenue Universe. They have great support and are always on AIM.
From a publisher point of view, the pros and cons come in two segments. The offers available via the network and the quality of the network itself. As for what's available and how it meets your needs, no one can answer that for you and that seems to be what you're asking when you say "for a marketing site." You actually have to do the legwork of going and finding out who has the offers and advertisers for your situation. The only thing I can say about the two in this regard, generally speaking, is that they both tend to feature a lot of big brand advertisers that work on a percentage basis (though they have pelnty of CPA offers) as opposed to the smaller networks who often tend to focus more on CPA offers from niches like finance, education or the like. As for network quality, there are various hiccups with every network out there. I haven't worked with clients who have done much traffic through CJ in a while, but a lot of people in the industry (on both the publisher and advertiser side) have a very negative view of working with CJ. I discount a lot of scuttlebutt, but there's a critical mass of it as concerns CJ (don't take my word for it, just hit Google). Nonetheless, I haven't personally had any issues and they have a wide variety of offers if you're targeting the branded, consumer end of the market. Linkshare is the original 500 pound gorilla and has a similar market to CJ, but different advertisers. I've personally not had any issues with LS having worked with clients who have used them about as much as I have with CJ, but their interface and reporting is some of my least favorite in the entire industry. I have found their AMs/support pretty helpful though as opposed to CJ.