Forum Moderators: skibum
I've been an affiliate with the FriendFinder network of sites and have been sending them plenty of targetted traffic for about two weeks now. But my stats show 0 sign-ups. Considering that affilates are suppose to get paid even for FREE signups, I find it hard to believe I did not manage to get a single signup from the thousands of clicks I registered from their sites' banner in my sites.
Or am I missing something here?
Any of you have experience with them?
Make sure you have the right URLs and everything in place.
There are also tons of personals sites out there, (what differentiates one from another?), who knows, but if you have that kind of traffic you can always swap in other sites and see if they convert better.
They refused to retroactively pay me for sign-ups because I didn't meet the threshold before they converted me to % of sales. So they reset my commissions to 0. I called and complained and they just said too bad.
Finally, when I did make enough to meet their minimum payout they took FOREVER to send my check. I actually had to call and request it be sent.
Another thing to consider is that they payout each FriendFinder site seperately. You have to meet a minimum threshold for each site you promote. Good luck hitting the payout threshold on ItalianFriendFinder and other niche sites!
FriendFinder is one of the companies that made me distrust in-house affiliate programs. After they sent me my first check I dumped them.
growingdigital, that is so bad. I know about the "affiliate-type conversion for low performing affiliates" you are talking about before I signed-up. But I read in their FAQ/TOS (I can't remember which) that you are not suppose to lose your commission when you get converted. Your case illustrates that they are lying then (or are they?). I think I'll be giving them a couple of more weeks. If the situation does not improve, I'll dump them.
Any online personals programs(preferably with in-house programs because Iam not with CJ/LS yet) you can recommend then.
There are many possible explanations to account for your lackluster conversion performance -- type of traffic, promotional method, etc. Without having more specific details about exactly what you're doing, I can't offer specific recommendations (on this thread) for improvement. However, I'd like to invite any and all of you to take advantage of our expertise. Ours is a very service-oriented program, with a commitment not only to help all affiliates achieve the best performance possible for their traffic, but also to make sure that our Terms of Use and procedures are well understood.
1.
To help affiliates with their marketing strategies, we have a special email address (trafficdoc@friendfinderinc.com) that will give you a direct line to our best practices and braintrust. FriendFinder Affiliate Managers are former webmasters, SEO experts, savvy online marketers who deserve your complete attention. I'd be very surprised if they couldn't fix whatever might be broken with your methods/strategy, and get you on the money-making track. Needless to say, this is not the sort of service any 3rd party affiliate network/self-interested intermediary could provide -- even if they wanted to.
2.
Our PPC program comes with a (very well disclosed) caveat -- the traffic MUST achieve minimum conversion requirements. When you have the appropriate traffic, you can do very well with it, dramatically accelerating your returns, versus revenue share. I offer affiliates a great deal of latitude and patience before converting them from PPC to revenue share (again, as is our plainly-stated right if you read the Affiliate Agreement, or even in the not-so-fine print on the affiliate registration page). If you'd like to be on the PPC program, but your conversion performance was not up to requirements, we'll work with you until it is. However, if your traffic makes $0 in sales, we could hardly continue to operate as a company or sustain the reputation of Perfect Payment we've had since 1996, if we paid every sender of worthless traffic.
I, my team, and the collective marketing intelligence of this company are at all your disposal. I urge all of you to take advantage, and allow us the chance to show you why we are the highest paying dating program and offer the industry's best affiliate service.
Regards, gratitude and respect,
Jack Mardack, General Manager
The FriendFinder Network
jack@friendfinderinc.com
ICQ: 222141571
YIM: TwoHousePlague
Anyway, as I said, Iam a new affiliate just wondering about my stats. Being the coding guy that I am, I personally went to great lengths to build my own tracking system to ensure that Iam always kept aware of what is going on in my sites. I don't think I have been with you long enough to pass any type of judgement and as I said I'll give it more time. Maybe my traffic is really that poor :-( Hey, it can happen. Although Iam of the opinion that this is just not possible, who am I to say this - Iam just your old ordinary affiliate webmaster whose opinion is slanted towards what I think is good for me. ;-)
Thanks for giving out that email address. I'll contact you soon with the details.
One more thing, I re-read your FAQ (it is the FAQ then, not the TOS), and I found out that I was wrong. It states there that when you convert the status of an affiliate deemed "non-performing" conversion-wise, all his outstanding commission earned prior to conversion will be re-calculated to reflect the new applicable commission (and lower-paying) structure. That is how it reads.
The friend finder network is affiliate friendly. Payments are always made. If you want to get paid on a per click basis than sign up with adsense, if you want true revenue potential, sign up for friend finder revenue share.
My only wish is that a person could promote all the friend finder properties using one id and 1 sign up.
they use bots to entice people to stay on their network by sending automated "i'm interested in you" personals.
they don't delist people profiles so they have a "huge" network of people who either don't exist or are no longer members.
there are other things
I would never recommend them
sign up for their program, try it out and draw your own conclusions though
