Is Owning Affiliate Network Software Worth The Hassle?

An affiliate marketing network is an intermediary between affiliates and merchants. It allows affiliates to find affiliate programs which are appropriate for their websites and it helps websites that offer affiliate programs reach their audience.

Affiliate networks are typically free to join for affiliates. The merchant on the other hand has to pay a service fee. Traditional affiliate networks might charge an initial setup fees and/or a recurring service fees. This varies from network to network. It is common for affiliate networks to bill merchants a percentage of the commission paid to the publishers as a fee for their service.

Classic affiliate networks allow the merchant to offer its publishers revenue share or cost per action (CPA) as compensation method. Most of merchant programs favor revenue share over cost per action.


You can launch your own affiliate network really inexpensively and you have a choice whether to host your affiliate network on your own server or buy a hosted solution. If you choose to host your own program you will probably have to have a Vps or a dedicated server, it’s too much for shared hosting. The benefit though is that you pay only a one-time fee for the network software, no repeated costs. If you choose a hosted solution (that would mean no need to have your own server and update your network software) you will need to pay an annual fee. Whatever you decide on most likely you will recoup the cost within a very short period of time.


Why affiliate marketing network is a win-win strategy for the affiliate network owner, merchants and publishers?


Most often the affiliate network is not the primary business of the affiliate network owner. Have a look at
RegNow Affiliate Network for instance. Their main business is processing orders but they realize that having an affiliate network will increase their sales which means additional loyal clients and even more sales.


Merchants get yet another opportunity to market their affiliate program and receive immediate access to qualified affiliate marketers. Building your own in-house affiliate program costs quite a lot of money, human resources and time - it will take a few months to find affiliates and see the initial sales.


Affiliate marketers have one program to join and they get access to thousands of offers - they will definitely discover a couple of those that will be good for their website. They do not need to be concerned about monitoring their sales, making sure the payouts are received in a timely manner, adjusting to a new affiliate tracking software - they are working with one program and with one team they trust. They know the network owner will receive the money from all the advertisers they promoted and will pay out the affiliate commissions as scheduled.


And affiliate network is a good option to advertise your own products. For instance, with this affiliate network software you can run your own campaigns as a special kind of merchant. In this manner you can attract more affiliates into your program as they have more offers to market and you will also make extra money as service fees from your colleagues.