As an affiliate, one of your primary concerns is longevity. Is the offer that you are promoting going to be stable enough to promote for months/years and consistently generate income? Even if an offer remains a steady revenue generator, are you confident that your CPA network will pay you by your scheduled payment date? Can you be sure that you will be paid at all?
To protect your income, it’s important to constantly watch for indicators of the health of your CPA network. Failing CPA networks have common flaws, which you can avoid by looking deeper into your network’s policies, philosophies, and revenue generation strategies. Answering the questions below about your CPA network can help you determine whether your network will last, or whether it will last for only a few more months.
Does your CPA network pay on time, every time?
What is your CPA network’s track record of paying on time? Have there been periods of delayed payments longer than 48-72 hours? It is absolutely essential to work with CPA networks that will pay you on time when there are no specific issues with your account (e.g. fraudulent leads). The second that your CPA network stops paying on time, it’s time to dump them. And if there are many affiliates claiming that they aren’t being paid on time (even though you are), it’s still a good idea to “jump ship.” Additionally, a CPA network that can’t pay its bills on time when things are going well, certainly won’t pay their bills on time when things start to fall apart. There simply are no excuses for late payments.
Does your CPA network emphasize compliance?
What is your CPA network’s stance on compliance? Is it simply “keep it clean…we’re ethical…ask your attorney” or do they go the extra mile for you? Look for a CPA network with at least one person focused on compliance. Even better, look for a CPA network that provides additional information regarding compliance (e.g. documents to help you understand how the recent FTC guidelines affect your campaigns) to make it easier for you to ensure your campaigns are “up to speed.” While you may still need to consult an attorney ultimately, a CPA network that proactively educates its publisher base about compliance is providing you with invaluable knowledge, while ensuring their affiliates are following the rules. This helps ensure the longevity of both the CPA network and your business.
What type of advertisers does your CPA network work with?
This goes “hand in hand” with compliance and payment. Ask your CPA network how they determine whether they will work with an advertiser or not. Look for more than just the usual pay terms, EPC, and conversions. Look for compliance. An advertiser that has a non-compliant landing page to increase conversions is likely to get into trouble at some point or another, leaving your CPA network (and possibly you!) with a large, unpaid bill. At that point, who can you blame anyways? No one should have promoted the offer from the start! If you promote advertisers with legitimate, profitable business models, you are much more likely to build towards a stable, long term business.
Is your CPA network professional?
Are they selling you on the dream of making millions and having enough money to buy a Bentley? If so, run away, and run away quickly. As we have seen in this industry already, many of the CPA networks with the “bling” attitude have gone under, leaving potentially millions of dollars unpaid to hard working affiliates. Enough said.
Your success is on the line, be sure that you have vetted your CPA network as much as they have vetted you!
