Best way to build a quality Affiliate Network?

post your thoughts on how to attract and retain quality affiliates... lots

[magnetar]

What is the best way for a consumer products company (let's say that they sell magnetic toys and games) to build a big, stable, quality affiliate network?

Is it better to sign an exclusive deal with the likes of CJ or LinkShare, or do those deliver quantity over quality?

Have you had any success with recruiting bloggers? Do company like PayPerPost (an advertiser here I noticed while typing this) actually work?

Please share your success stories here.

Thanks!

[ItsAllBallBearings]

I am admittedly a complete newbie when it comes to affiliate programs, so i'm interested in learning more about this.

But, i do have a question that is related to this thread: When you say "build an affiliate network" do you mean you putting other sites links on your site? Or, would it be getting your site on other ones? Or both?

I've just always struggled with filling my consumer products site with links that take my visitors to other sites. Just seems counterproductive.

[haggul]

It's probably better to use a Network such as CJ as a lot of affiliates won't trust an in house scheme - they rely on the third party to work out the commissions etc fairly.

They will delivery quantity and quality - the biggest and best affiliate type sites will already be on there and hopefully will pick your site up (depending on terms), plus you'll get all the minnows as well - does that matter - 1000 x 1 sale is as good as 1 x 1000 sales - you won't even notice where the sales come from to be honest.

[jimbeetle]

deliver quantity over quality

I'll address this one point from an affiliate's point of view because this kind of falls into one of my pet peeves with affilate sponsors and program managers.

One of the things you hear quite often is that a sponsor or manager will complain that though they get a lot of signups, those signups result in very few active affiliates. What they don't realize is that much of this is because they lock much of the information needed to evaluate a program behind a "Sign Up for More Information" link.

Want to see what products or services are offered? Sign up.
Want to see the commission rates? Sign up.
Want to see the affiliate agreement? Sign up.
Want to see the integration possibilities? Sign up.

Now, since most of these sign-up forms ask for what I consider to be sensitive information I don't partake in this nonsense, so they've just lost a long-time affiliate marketer. But many folks do sign up to see the details just to find that the program and they, for whatever reason, don't make a good fit.

So, to make a long story longer, I think it's always best for a program sponsor or manager to have as much information upfront as possible. This somewhat prequalifies the sign ups you do get and saves a lot of time for all involved.

Since I'm not on the sponsor/manger side I can only report one other point based on hearsay. I've been told that there are quite a few program managers hired by program sponsors that really like using the "Sign Up for More Information" scheme because they are compensated, at least in part, by the number of sign ups. So, if you hire an outside manager be sure that you're getting what you pay for.