This is a great question asked by a business owner recently on a Facebook group related to joint ventures.
Here’s our answer (and it’s not exactly what you’d expect!)
Over the last nearly 20 years, I’ve worked with MANY different platforms including: InfusionSoft, Premium Web Cart, Cydec, 1ShoppingCart (and the many white labels of it), Clickbank, JV Zoo, Warrior Plus, Deal Guardian, iDev Affiliate, and MANY others! This includes software that is just a stand alone affiliate program (like iDev Affiliate), platforms that are integrated solutions that contain shopping carts, affiliate programs, autoresponders, and more, and Affiliate Networks (some with instant split payments and some without).
Since I am the co-founder of a new Affiliate Network called DUvisio you would think that it would be my only recommendation. But in reality, the better answer is: “It Depends.”
There is no one size fits all solution that is the one affiliate platform that we recommend. Rather, at a minimum, you want to ask yourself the following questions:
- What outcome do you want to achieve?
- Is it important to your affiliates that they get paid instantly?
- Do you already have affiliates or do you need to also attract affiliates?
- What is your budget for the software? Can you afford to pay up front or do you need to pay out as transactions come in?
If you already have affiliates and you have a budget, then I strongly recommend using either Premium Web Cart or Cydec. Both of these are integrated solutions, though, so you’ll also be getting a shopping cart, autoresponder, and more.
If you don’t have affiliates then you’ll want to use an Affiliate Network. But, I encourage my clients to use BOTH an Affiliate Network to attract new affiliates AND Premium Web Cart or Cydec for the traffic that they generate themselves. The reason I suggest this is that the cost of using an Affiliate Network is going to be MUCH higher than the cost of an integrated solution. But, you pay the fees out of each transaction so you don’t need to have a budget for the software up front.
If you can afford pretty much any solution, then setup 2 copies of your sales pages and 2 separate platforms — one that is an affiliate network (if you’re in the IM niche, meaning your audience is IMers and you sell IM products and/or services, use JVZoo and if you’re in any other niche or you have a non-profit, use //duvisioforjvs.com/) AND setup a true shopping cart with an affiliate program such as Cydec or Premium Web Cart to use with your existing affiliates and your own traffic. This will get you the greatest amount of leverage possible.