Hey guys, looking to hear from anyone who is doing good with the built-in affiliate program. The reason I'm asking is that CGI Central has got Post Affiliate Pro listed on their partners page: http://www.amember.com/p/main/Partners/ While I do understand that compared to the built-in affiliate program, PAP is loaded with additional functionalities, I'm really looking to hear from people who are a little bit experienced managing their affiliates. Would you say the built-in affiliate program offers enough functionality to manage affiliates, or would you say that anyone serious about their business needs all the extra functionality and should look into using PAP or any other affiliate software like iDevAffiliate? I'm also interested in Alexander's views on this... Thanks a lot.
Actually, I've found that built-in affiliate program in aMember is more flexible than iDevAffiliate. I mean, iDevAffiliate has its uses (like easy integration with certain shopping carts), but it's functionality is limited to the very basic affiliate tracking software and that's about it... Haven't used PAP yet myself, but it's just a matter of personal preference - if you find aMember's built-in affiliate program lacking (after using it yourself, obviously, and getting a first hand feedback), you can easily make a switch over...
Hey Miso, thanks for your views on this, really appreciated! I do believe that the built-in affiliate program offers very solid and decent functionality. It was when I saw Post Affiliate Pro listed as a partner that I have started re-thinking what functionalities I will be needing to successfully launch an affiliate program. I have played around with iDevAffiliate a few years ago, so I wouldn't know how good or bad their software has become. I have no experience with PAP, other than playing around with their demo. It seems to offer everything you can imagine, but I do see some (major!) cons as well. Many websites I know use affiliate networks to promote their products, such as ClickBank, ShareASale, LinkShare - there are millions of them out there. So far, I believe that they offer nothing more than what's achievable with amember's affiliate program. You're definitely right about going for it, and switching along the way if needed.
One more thing... Really wondering why CGI Central is using Share A Sale as their affiliate program network, while they OWN the code for their built-in affiliate program... Why is this? Better tracking? Better statistics? Network's reputation?
answer to that is probably just network exposure - shareasale.com probably has more potential affiliates than they could get themselves... but then again, good question - they could easily enable their own affiliate system and run with that too. might be a problem with payouts/processors as well, but... it's a speculation at this point. p.s. - idevaffiliate hasn't really changed much in the last few years... other than increasing the version #s every once in a while.