Affiliate Software
You can save yourself some money when you start an affiliate program by purchasing affiliate program software to track your affiliates. You can run your affiliate network in-house. You have total control over tracking your affiliates and how your program is run. Webmasters can apply online, and either be approved automatically or you can approve each one manually. Your affiliate software then provides each new affiliate with their own tracking ID and codes to link to your site. You should provide them with a mix of graphic and text-based links to maximize their potential. You software then tracks visitors from your affiliate sites and will register the affiliates' commissions, based on whether you have chosen pay per click, pay per lead or pay commissions per sale programs. Some of the companies below offer both software and administration services.
Affiliate Tracking Network offers a software solution to your affiliate needs, with the benefits of third party tracking. They offer comprehensive services starting at $54.95 per month & $179 setup for 10,000 affiliate clicks. Their services can be scaled to major enterprise levels with your own dedicated server to handle heavy sales traffic. You can also manage affiliate programs for multiple web sites within one account. You can track affiliate referrals without the use of cookies.
Interneka's Affiliate packages are very reasonably priced, at $35/month and $149 setup for up to 100,000 clicks, with an easy upgrade path for higher traffic. The software will run on any server, as the main tracking program is remotely hosted on Interneka's computer - you just cut and paste some tracking code into your web pages, without any need for CGI. There is a 14-day money back trial period. This software allows very flexible tracking of your affiliates and multiple types of commissions, including two-tier. Start your own affiliate program for as low as $149.00!
Groundbreak.com provides an affordable Ultimate Affiliate software package, at $200, that runs on Unix systems with MySQL. It provides a very flexible tracking system that lets you administer everything yourself. Groundbreak's software also includes a website replicator function! You can even run a multi-tier affiliate program up to 12 layers deep. The software is Perl based and runs on Unix systems with MySQL.
Affiliate Guerrilla offers an affordable affiliate tracking solution integrated into their $169.95 shopping cart software package. Up to 5 levels of affiliates and subaffiliates. The program is already configured to accept PayPal and can be set up for many other payment gateways as well. Easily set up your program through any web browser. Requires ASP functions on your web hosting account and uses Microsoft Access for its database. One time purchase fee, with no recurring charges makes this an affordable and attractive option. Install its yourself or they will for $30. Click here for more information
YOURcom provides several flexible solutions for managing a partner program to boost traffic or sales to your site. YOURcom software manages a commission based affiliate network - $59 purchase to install yourself or $10/month for the remotely hosted option. YOURcom integrates easily with PayPal and 2Checkout payment systems, too! Unix based systems with CGI permissions and Perl are needed for your own installations. YOURAd software allows you to run a click-through based affiliate program - you can pruchase it to install on your own server for $29, or have it hosted on their servers for only $6/month. Or, combine both types of affiliate programs with YOURaff, a MySQL-based program.
Further Information
Affiliate program information for merchants - how to promote your site and increase sales with partner programs.
Join an Affiliate management network - many merchant find it easier to join an established network program where a thrid party hosts and manages the affiliate porgrams of hundreds of other merchants. One advantage is these networks provide a ready pool of web masters ready to promote your products or services.
