How many affiliate programs to you belong to?

How many is too much?

[digicamhelp]

I'm satisfied with the combined results I'm getting with Google, Amazon and Chitika (I also advertise and sell an ebook I wrote at my site). Earlier today I was accepted by Yahoo Publisher. But I'm wondering if it's worth the hassle or, more importantly, if using four affiliate programs would be an overkill as far as site visitors go.

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Zygoot]

No, I don't believe its an overkill. Unless you plan on placing all four (or more) on one page.

I'm in lots of different programs and networks, but I must admit only two of them are making serious money (AdSense and Chitika). The rest is mostly limited to less than $200/month.

Although it all adds up to the bottom line. For instance, a few days ago I've set up a new PPC campaign which earns me about 5EUR/day. It's not much but if this continues it's about 1800EUR a year.

[digicamhelp]

Thanks for the input.

I'm getting very worried about Chitika with the huge percentage of revenue 30-4-70% and more, that they are deducting from publishers. If they do that to me, I'll be removing their code. I don't make anywhere near the money per day some publishers claim they do.

I dont know that much about Yahoo Publisher, so I'll get looking into that. Are most pubishers pleased with Yahoo?

[Zygoot]

I don't know how YPN performs as they solely allow U.S. publishers for the moment.

But I heard from a couple of people that on average the earnings per click are higher, but CTR is lower because the ads are less targeted than AdSense.

More about YPN over here [webmasterworld.com ]

[Ssmaster]

Yes, you are right. As for me, Yahoo ads no targeted at all :). Google more nice on this point.

[digicamhelp]

Hmmm, wonder if it's going to be worth my effort to use Yahoo, too, if the ads are not targeted well. That's what I really like about Google. AdSense and Amazon are working fine for me. As for Chitika, the jury is not back yet and it seems I'm going to have to wait a month to discover the verdict. If Chitika doesn't deliver, maybe I'll just replace it with Yahoo.

[skibum]

How many affiliate programs to you belong to?

hundreds and many of them do extremely well during the holidays in the US.

[digicamhelp]

Hundreds?! All individually? What the heck type of site do you have?

Do you have time for anything else other than checking your income stats? ;-)

[ska_demon]

I belong to about 300 affiliate programs. Some are bunched in networks but a good proportion are indie programs. They may not be active all at the same time but they make their money when they can.

Ska

[SusaninMontreal]

Ska, sounds like you've got a good thing going. Do you find certain verticals convert better for you, year round? And are you getting better payouts from the Indie programs versus the networks?

Just curious,

Susan

[skibum]

There's about 5 indie programs & small networks, close to 500 in CJ I think (don't actively promote them all, but lots of them) plus a bunch in LinkShare.

I do lots of PPC and tinker a little bit with sites in various industries but PPC is the bulk of it.

[ska_demon]

On the one hand I run a niche directory which contains probably 250 affiliate submissions and on the other I run 2 or 3 small sites that, depending on the time of year, run different promotions. Things are very quiet at the moment in terms of SE traffic due to a combination of Google/Hackers/Downright Laziness so I will have to start a new PPC campaign in the new year when everyone has maxed out their credit cards over xmas ;oP

<edit>In the main, the indie progs do convert better but that is due to seamless forms, the white label indie site converts badly but that is in a very competetive market and I forgot about it the minute I uploaded it.</edit>

Ska

[Localizer]

Sorry for my ignorance, but would someone explain what the term "indie" programs stands for?

[ska_demon]

indie=independent

Normally in-house affiliate programs rather than thru a network such as CJ, Linkshare etc. The tracking scripts are normally off the shelf but occasionally are custom written specifically for the job.

Ska