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This is a great thread, and a subject where I can give my 2 cents and have them worth more perhaps:-)
Going with the original question, when starting an affiliate program your focus should first be on the sites in the program, if you have sites that convert then affiliates will promote you regardless of the back end you use.
I think it’s extremely important for programs to use a third party back end and here’s my reasoning (I cannot say one company nats/mpa/riverstyx/X3 is better then the other as I’ve only used nats and can only comment on their back end)
As a program owner I think having a third party software can only help you in building your business and you should budget it in to your start up costs. Sure there are the features that benefit affiliates, stats, access to content and link codes etc. But as an owner of an affiliate program you should want to have as detailed stats as possible. I find it extremely useful to see from where my affiliates are making their sale, it helps me support them better. When an affiliate signs up to you’re program you want to know as much information as possible to better help them with the promotion of your sites.
I find it much easier to add hosted promotional material to our program using the nats back end, and when promoting other sponsors I love the options to dump link codes in the format I chose.
I’m aware that many of the features offered by these affiliate back end software companies can be done with some scripting and coding. I sure as hell am not able to code it so having the option of a turn key solution really has helped me grow my business.
I like the fact I have access to my affiliates addresses, it made it possible for me to send them X-mas cards last year.
Btw Emma, You can set the min payout to whatever you like, that isn’t an issue.
If anyone is worried about a sponsor shaving, you shouldn’t promote them no matter what they use for billing, stats or hosting, use common sense here.
In conclusion :-) you do not need any third party affiliate back end to make a success of you sites and affiliate program but in my eyes it makes managing the whole program much easier and has helped us in being more productive.
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