Got questions for a NATS program? Ask here.

[The Ghost]

Disclaimer: TMM didn't put me up to this thread, or even knows about it until I hit the submit button.


I've read though some of the NATS theads and they've been interesting reads for sure. One thing we are keen on is our company image, and that can been linked to satellite influences. Things such as software, billing and business associates often come into play.


About us:
We officially launched the program June 20th, 2006 and have only been a NATS based program from day one.

Our software: NATS, CARMA, Sparta... all from TooMuchMedia.


I will answer any question I have the answer to, and if I don't know, i'll tell you I don't know. Then will try to figure/find out the answer. It's all about sharing information and making business better. The only thing off limits would be our traffic or sales. But things like cascading billing or why we chose NATS is just fine to inquire about. And i'm also available on icq, but that wouldn't help the masses.


Ask away.

Marty
Islanddollars.com
icq: 176176

[Useless]

Originally Posted by The Ghost

Ask away.

Why haven't you answered my question in your other spam thread?

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

Why haven't you answered my question in your other spam thread?

Asked and answered.

[Greenguy]

No offense to you, but you don't work for NATS, you just use the software.

Any question we have really should be answered by the owners of the software & not by someone who would probably be guessing at most of the questions.

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by Greenie

No offense to you, but you don't work for NATS, you just use the software.

Any question we have really should be answered by the owners of the software & not by someone who would probably be guessing at most of the questions.

I'm offering as a program actively using Nats. My interest is neither to defend or defame the software, just have a good discussion about functionality and issues from a sponsors standpoint. No more, no less.

If something is faulty with the software, I would like to know just as much as anyone else.

[Greenguy]

I think most of our questions are:
1 - about the software itself (scrubbing, odd link codes, etc)
2 - about why some programs choose to use some options (the image verification thing, the separate stats/clicks/money thing, etc)

I sorta understand what you want to do, I just don't think you'd be much help.

If you want, poke thru that other NATS thread, read the questions that we asked & answer them if you can.

[Preacher]

To me, it's a good idea in concept but the problem is, you're probably the wrong guy to do it because you still have an interest in NATS. I know I wouldn't want to piss off the guys that do my tech suppport.

I'd love to hear from an ex-NATS program owner or a programmer who has worked with a NATS set-up and has an intimate understanding of the product yet no longer has any ties to it. But that's probably asking for far to much.

[Greenguy]

It just danwed on me that I might have got the concept of this thread wrong. So let me ask:

Why do you use NATS? What do you get for the monthly fee that you can't do on your own or thru a different affiliate software program?

[nibbler]

Originally Posted by The Ghost

Disclaimer: I've read though some of the NATS theads and they've been interesting reads for sure. One thing we are keen on is our company image, and that can been linked to satellite influences. Things such as software, billing and business associates often come into play.

I'm somewhat dense. Can someone explain to me what satellite influences means? I swear I've never heard that term before.

[Preacher]

Originally Posted by nibbler

I'm somewhat dense. Can someone explain to me what satellite influences means? I swear I've never heard that term before.

I imagine he means his association with a product that may be looked down upon by affiliates.

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by Preacher

To me, it's a good idea in concept but the problem is, you're probably the wrong guy to do it because you still have an interest in NATS. I know I wouldn't want to piss off the guys that do my tech suppport.

I'd love to hear from an ex-NATS program owner or a programmer who has worked with a NATS set-up and has an intimate understanding of the product yet no longer has any ties to it. But that's probably asking for far to much.

I can understand that thought for sure. Most responses are hard to keep totally impartial. In fact pretty much downright impossible. I will try my best, because my thought is if we have a slanted view and are not open to other ideas or suggestions, or business will never grow.

It's been mentioned before the couple programs that had started with Nats and switched to something else. If memory servers the switch wasn't an issue with Nats, but rather on the program end. We're small, and I can see any program with just 1 or 2 sites have a problem just affording to lease the software. Then compound that with the learning curve of the program and added tasks of payroll, the business becomes more than a few would like to manage. It grows, but maybe not monetarily. There are times when alot of extra work is added and no measureable results are accomplished, just added work. Many smaller program owners think Nats is a magic solution to increase business and that those 'cascading sales' will pay for the lease program plus more.

Cascading sales is a whole other issue, but generally the effect of cascade is based off of where the sale cascades from and who it goes too. Unless you have a truly great understanding of what biller is the absolutely perfect for each region, you are just working off of trial and error.

Maybe even compare it to taking tons of time in creating the most amazing and graphically beautiful gallery ever, submitting it and nothing. Then taking 5 mintues with a basic template and bam, it works. There are definately times (probably most) when simplicity is the best route.

Many programs looking to switch software or make a big change are doing so for a reason. Maybe sale content or slipping sales due to a more competitve market place. They sense, a better word perceive a problem when none might exist.

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by Greenie

It just danwed on me that I might have got the concept of this thread wrong. So let me ask:

Why do you use NATS? What do you get for the monthly fee that you can't do on your own or thru a different affiliate software program?

The reason for going with Nats was the experience with being involved with a ccbill based program previously. I love CCbill and they have been fantastic. It's why we have them primary in the cascade most of the time. If they had more in depth stats, I might have gone with them for our affiliate management.

But without any reservations I can tell you that the program I was with (they will stay nameless out of respect for their business) had no idea where it's traffic came from or why. Not a clue. They had a program that had grown for a few years and had a frankenstein backend that half work to manage promo materials. All from not having a solid singular programming team working on it thoughout time. Just a few rogue programmers coming through patching it up. They were on the fence for too long trying to make a decision for themselves, and I did not have the time or energy to hang around for the decision.

CCbill was not looking for a solution to improve their stats at the time, so I decided an outside 3rd part solution was the route to go. I wanted my partners (affiliates) access to all of the statistics I could. I am a huge fan of stats. I can look at the MLB page in the sports section and get wood. The object would hopefully be to bringing selling the sites down to a science and understand quickly what works and what doesn't. There is a setting in the Nats admin that program owners can choose what stats are shown to affilaites, uniques, raws, qualified, etc. We have all shown, since as it should make for better sales, or at least know what's not working.

The decision was down to two solutions, Mansion (MPA3) and Nats (TooMuchMedia). A custom solution just was not in our budget, and I did not want to end up with a half baked (frankenstein) custom solution. Mansion was still reeling from the shave module they had installed in MPA2, and that was enough to avoid them at the time. It is much better to do everything possible to avoid added mistrust or issues with a program, especially a new one. The next show where I could meet the principles of the companies was Internext 06 Las Vegas. Regardless a decision has to be made.

I went to the keynote speakers and listened to Oystein (Mansion) and quite a few other industry persons speak about varius issues. He sounded like a very knowledgable guy, but with the shaving aspect still there I went over to the show floor. TMM was running presentations for Nats every hour or so, so I sat in on one. After seeing what the program was advertised to do, I was sold. Visions of cascading billing and stats were dancing in my head. It was in my budget and seemingly more powerful than I could expect for the price. Coming from the experience with CCbill stats, it was exactly what I was looking for in a program. I did also met John and Fabian there, only breifly. Fabian answered what questions I had about the program, but what I liked was he seemed genuinely interested in improving the software.

There is a alot software can do, but I was/am also still amazed that some of the things that seemed obvious that are not in there, such as a scheduler for promo content. But with many things I have come to understand that Rome can't be built in a day. A month later I had the install done, went through the training and started putting together the program together.

So if Mansion didn't have the bad rap, who knows what would of happened. But I feel the monthly fee is worth it for the ease of use for the stats alone.

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by nibbler

I'm somewhat dense. Can someone explain to me what satellite influences means? I swear I've never heard that term before.

I guess I could of said outside influences. I do have 'Space Cowboys' playing on tv, so maybe that inflenced my choice of words

[Greenguy]

Originally Posted by The Ghost

...So if Mansion didn't have the bad rap, who knows what would of happened. But I feel the monthly fee is worth it for the ease of use for the stats alone.

Did you do any research about how affiliates felt about NATS?

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by Greenie

Did you do any research about how affiliates felt about NATS?

I did, and three main ways to research the product. Ask affiliates, research (message boards) and shop the competition.

In general, the consensus of what I found was positive. The typical answer used by 'vocal' affilaites is "If it makes me money, I don't care what type of program it is." But there is a huge amount of affilaites that are quiet about their needs or are unfamilar with the different message boards. They just prefer to remain anonymous. For those partners, check the sites (tgps, link lists), see what sponsors they use, and look at what back end those sponsors are using. The quite a bit of the time if it's not a CCbill only program, it is Nats being utilized.