Starting an Affiliate Network

If this thread is seen as spam, you can delete it. It's not my intention... I wont provide any links, I'm just asking for advice.

I recently started my own affiliate network selling SEO services, affiliate services, etc... I'm not asking anyone to sign up for it yet because I don't have any products listed. I do however want some feedback from people who have started their own networks in the past, and maybe some best practices or advice.

Here's how I have it set up right now:

Wordpress site w/ Affiliate Platform
Magic Members
Shopping Cart

I plan on adding a bunch of digital products and services and giving my affiliates 50% commissions on everything, with a 2-tier setup where the second tier affiliate gets 10% of the referral members leads and sales.

My question is this: Do you think I have the incentives set too high? Once I start with my PPC campaigns, do you think that I'm cutting my margins too low? The average product will range between $15-30. I'll be paying members through paypal, and I heard that paypal is known to ban accounts that are used for affiliate payments, is that true?

If you want to give me some feedback, PM me and I'll give you the link to my site. I didn't want to post the link for fear of getting banned.

Paypal won't ban you for paying affiliates.

You can never have the incentives to high unless you aren't making anything or you aren't making enough to compensate for your time. The higher the incentives, the more affiliates that you will attract to promote your offers.

With ppc, try it and if it profits then keep doing it.

I honestly think you are thinking about it to much. On another note, it takes a bit of intelligence to start up your own network which leads me to believe that you are just starting this thread to attract PMs about becoming an affiliate. Why I think that is because the level of intelligence that you put into your questions, which you're asking impossible to accurately answer questions, is that of a 5 year old. I also see you covered good points of a "Join my network" thread; how much they get paid, how they get paid, ect... All in all, I could be making a bad assumption and you are truly not intelligent at all.

i dont think your thread is a spam

I don't think your in the position to be running a network.

not gonna work

Hey Man,
Im not an owner of an affiliate network, but I do manage for a decent size affiliate. The best advice I can give you from experience is that in order fight against these big networks, it is best to become really good at a specific product and create your program. For smaller affiliates make sure your customer service is number 1 if you want to grow.

hit me up if you have any questions.

best,
MINI

Affiliate-Bot said:

Hey Man,
Im not an owner of an affiliate network, but I do manage for a decent size affiliate. The best advice I can give you from experience is that in order fight against these big networks, it is best to become really good at a specific product and create your program. For smaller affiliates make sure your customer service is number 1 if you want to grow.

hit me up if you have any questions.

best,
MINI

Click to expand...

This sounds about right.

I think anything less than 50% commission for your affiliates is too low. 55% - 65% is very nice to attract new affiliates. You should maybe concentrate on getting about 10 serious affiliates aboard, work closely with them all, then those 10 affiliates might go out and find some more affiliates after getting paid and gaining trust with you. just a thought...