How did you setup an affiliate program for your startup?
I am doing some research on marketing before I build my startup. Have any of you had any successful affiliate programs? Were they built in house or did you use an existing program? The biggest issue seems to be getting affiliates interested in marketing your software.
I found that there are websites like Commission Junction and Clickbank that take care of it all. Anyone used any of these or any others? Any specific ones good for tiny startups? In terms of software checkout http://www.leaddyno.com/ and http://www.hasoffers.com/ for affiliate networks (as you mention, cj and clickbank) but also https://www.shareasale.com , http://www.linkconnector.com/index.htm , https://peerfly.com Hasoffers.com is the Shizznitz! Fully-developed platform, Good UI/UX for Admin management and setup, Good affiliate tracking, Been around for years... Where Groupon and a bunch of other companies ran/run their affiliate programs... and your not paying the big affiliate programs a monthly nut... Only downside is that you're then stuck recruiting affiliates, tending the tribe- community managing... depends on application and people talent available... If you are just looking for an affiliate tracking system: http://www.hasoffers.com and http://www.offerit.com are very cheap solutions that should be able to do everything you need. If you are looking to add your "offer" to an existing affiliate network with an existing publisher base then you should look into Commission Junction, Clickbank, LinkShare, ShareASale, etc. Many networks specialize in different verticals. Be sure to do your research. Your questions are a little too vague; what sort of affiliate program are you looking for? What sort of software are you selling, to whom, in what context, for what purpose? Without those details, any solution anybody presents you is going to be very general and probably not very helpful. Clickbank is the best one and I am using it as an affiliate. It is better for your company to use it to get high number of affiliate marketers for your product...