I've got a number of people who want to promote my website on their sites - In return, they collect a commission from any sales generated from the traffic they sent. Pretty basic stuff. So now I need some software to make this happen. I looked at MyAP, but the $2K/mo fee is just insane. Looked at ShareaSale, but with the low volume we'd be doing, we'd get hit with the $25/mo minimum charges every month. Are there any cheap/simple solutions I should be looking at, for someone that doesn't necessarily need to be tied in to an affiliate network or anything? Also, I want the affiliates to be able to check their referral/payment stats at any time. Any thoughts on iDevAffiliate? Thanks!
I'm not too experienced from the merchant side of it, but you might be better off finishing your custom system with an affiliate module. With Shareasale or any of the larger networks, you're paying for exposure to affiliates as well as the tracking. There are some smaller networks you might check out like www.avantlink.com -- I know their startup cost is lower but I don't know the monthly fees.
idev is VERY basic, but it works OK and is cheap. You get what you pay for. Important thing is to use a program affiliates know and trust. Using a network like SAS or ShareResults will help you be MUCH more successful and attract more good affiliates though.
I was wondering the same actually. If you look at Affiliate Future's back-end, it's dead simple. Nothing to it really. Linking up a referral with a sale is simple. So I was also wondering what software was out there that does just that and some reporting. I know it's easier to get affiliates via the bigger network, but if you have your contacts already, then what's left in it for the big ones?
Thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to talk with ShareResults tomorrow to get more details on their services, but it looks promising so far. Much more $$ than I was looking to initially spend, but if they can recruit some affiliates in the process, it'll more than pay for itself.