I'm a resident lurker but finally need some answers / advice that the search function won't cut it for.
The skinny:
I work for an insanely ambitious real estate investor / developer. He developed an information product that will soon be offered online via subscription. The site is in the final stages of development. We are currently looking for a self-hosted affiliate program script so we can test market the site ourselves before signing up with some networks as an advertiser.
Questions:
1. Which self-hosted script would you guys recommend? Like many sites, our in-house affiliate program will remain up in addition to the lead offers we put out on the networks. We would like something that can handle both recurring % of subscriptions and simple lead generation payment schemes.
2. After testing the offer with traffic from all the usual suspects (PPC, Social Networking ad buys, etc) and tweaking the site design / text, marketing material, and affiliate commission / lead payment schemes according, we are thinking about seeking out solid affiliates to test things further so we can tweak things even more before moving over to the networks. Is this plan feasible or will serious affiliates simply wait until it's on a network they send traffic through?
3. Moving things over to networks is loosely planned as a graduated process starting with one network and adding more as we become more comfortable.
a) Ballpark figure: What can we expect to be paying networks on top of the amount being paid to affiliates per lead. Is there a typical percent?
b) Is the 5-20k deposit figure I've seen thrown around legit? Can we expect setup fees or will the entire deposit be used towards affiliate payouts?
4. Any links to posts or articles with a "Becoming an Advertiser on Affiliate Networks for Retards" theme would be appreciated. Any other advice would also be cool.
If number two is deemed non-retarded by you guys we will obviously hit up the WF team about a post to recruit testers from here. Otherwise we will just polish things up based on traffic from the first network we get things rolling with.
The skinny:
I work for an insanely ambitious real estate investor / developer. He developed an information product that will soon be offered online via subscription. The site is in the final stages of development. We are currently looking for a self-hosted affiliate program script so we can test market the site ourselves before signing up with some networks as an advertiser.
Questions:
1. Which self-hosted script would you guys recommend? Like many sites, our in-house affiliate program will remain up in addition to the lead offers we put out on the networks. We would like something that can handle both recurring % of subscriptions and simple lead generation payment schemes.
2. After testing the offer with traffic from all the usual suspects (PPC, Social Networking ad buys, etc) and tweaking the site design / text, marketing material, and affiliate commission / lead payment schemes according, we are thinking about seeking out solid affiliates to test things further so we can tweak things even more before moving over to the networks. Is this plan feasible or will serious affiliates simply wait until it's on a network they send traffic through?
3. Moving things over to networks is loosely planned as a graduated process starting with one network and adding more as we become more comfortable.
a) Ballpark figure: What can we expect to be paying networks on top of the amount being paid to affiliates per lead. Is there a typical percent?
b) Is the 5-20k deposit figure I've seen thrown around legit? Can we expect setup fees or will the entire deposit be used towards affiliate payouts?
4. Any links to posts or articles with a "Becoming an Advertiser on Affiliate Networks for Retards" theme would be appreciated. Any other advice would also be cool.
If number two is deemed non-retarded by you guys we will obviously hit up the WF team about a post to recruit testers from here. Otherwise we will just polish things up based on traffic from the first network we get things rolling with.