Review of AdValiant
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Updated - 27/11/2008
Go to www.advaliant.com
AdValiant boasts that it “puts the performance in performance marketing.” A great deal of confidence is placed in its affiliate managers and its technology, so when combined with a publisher’s own inventory and motivation, publishers can expect “high performance campaigns.”
Winner of a Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign award from ad:tech 2007, AdValiant says that its system is set up so that everyone wins. The affiliate managers are trained to maximize the commissions of publishers, because when a publisher makes money, so does AdValiant (and the advertiser as well).
In order to achieve these goals, AdValiant offers a range of unique, exclusive campaigns that are said to offer greater return-on-investment (ROI) and higher payouts. The stat tracking tool operates in real time, so publishers have access to real-time data to better promote the various affiliate campaigns. Depending on the level of performance, AdValiant may also create custom-tailored campaigns for optimal performance and payouts.
Among the advertisers currently working with AdValiant are such notable names as MySpace, NutraBrite, George Foreman Life Shake, Real Arcade, Date.ca, and the American Basketball Association. Payout levels range considerably, of course, with some of the most lucrative campaigns offering payouts of $70 or more. Ad campaigns cover a wide range of industries as well, including education, finance, healthcare, automotive, and business opportunities.
Upon logging into the AdValiant control panel, a publisher is presented with a page highlighting recent network news. This typically describes campaigns that are expiring and new campaigns that have recently been uploaded.
Compared to the control panels of many other affiliate networks, the AdValiant control panel is remarkably minimalist in its approach. Aside form the AdValiant logo in the top-left corner, the layout is completely devoid of any graphics or images. The color scheme is largely white, black, gray, and green.
Navigation around the control panel is done through a series of drop-down links found near the top of the page. The main links, aside from the Logout link, are not actually clickable. The user must hover his or her mouse pointer over the link to reveal each drop-down menu of links.
The Admin area consists only of an area to change the password. The Ad Manager area displays either all the ads or only the new ads, but neither provides any identifiable icons in the list. Instead, it shows the name of the offer, the payout, and the ad category. Logos would have helped with campaign recognition. The Affiliates section provides network news, profile editing, and the referral link. The Reports section can generate reports for any custom date period, showing the ad name, clicks, leads, and commission.
The application process with AdValiant is relatively straightforward, involving a single form that asks for personal information, company information, and the preferred ad categories that may be the applicant’s best performers. There are no fields in the application form that ask about a potential publisher’s website or monetization techniques.
The turnaround time for registration appears to be a problem. While most other affiliate networks respond to applications within one or two business days, a response was not received from AdValiant for over two weeks. Without an official confirmation, some publishers may grow concerned that their application had been lost, neglected, or ignored.
After about two weeks, the applicant may receive an email from an AdValiant representative, asking about a preferred communication method and time. This contact can be made over instant messenger, email, or telephone. Through this conversation, the AdValiant representative will ask a series of questions about current usage with other affiliate networks, chosen promotional techniques, industries of interest, level of experience with affiliate marketing, preferred geographical targets, and estimated monthly earnings.
Shortly after this brief interview, an applicant will typically receive approval into the AdValiant network, including an email that verifies the username and password.
With many other affiliate networks, publishers are offered access to a specific affiliate manager. This provides a personal point of contact with the network, not only for finding the best-performing campaigns, but also any other issues that the publisher may experience with that network.
For most intents and purposes, AdValiant does not assign specific affiliate managers to specific publishers. However, the point of contact made during the registration process can be utilized for other aspects relating to the AdValiant network. During the initial introduction process, the AdValiant representative provides not only an email address, but also contact information via telephone and instant messenger. One representative said that she could be found online “at all kinds of crazy hours” via AIM or MSN.
If the representative is not online at the time, queries can be directed via email and responses are typically sent within one or two business days. This relatively quick turnaround time is a little surprising, considering that the registration process took so much longer.
For publishers who appreciate prompt payment from their chosen advertising networks, AdValiant has both good news and bad news. On the brighter side of things, the turnaround time for payment is quite a bit faster than many other affiliate networks on the Internet. AdValiant pays on a net-10 payment schedule, meaning that commissions earned during the month of July will be paid out some time around August 10th.
For smaller publishers, the minimum payment threshold of $100 could be a bit of a challenge, just as it is with Google AdSense. Also, the default payment method is via a check in the mail, so while payment is issued on or around the 10th of the month, publishers still have to wait a few days for the check to arrive.
Alternatively, publishers can opt for a bank wire transfer instead and this allows for much faster receipt of commissions. Unfortunately, wire transfers come with $15 in fees. Receiving a check in the mail is complementary.
AdValiant has a referral program that rewards publishers for referring new publishers to the network. The details of this referral program do not appear to be explicitly explained in any of the main documentation, but access to one’s referral link is easily found through the main AdValiant control panel.
The referral program pays a 3% commission based on the earnings of the new publisher referred to the network. This appears to be a lifetime arrangement, although AdValiant, as mentioned, does not appear to have a FAQ section on its site to explain the referral program further.
The registration process is fairly standard for the industry, but the amount of time it took for AdValiant to make initial contact (over two weeks) is much longer than other networks. Furthermore, the control panel is remarkably minimalist in its approach and some publishers may appreciate a more robust dashboard. The general lack of information on the site (especially regarding payment details and the referral program) is also a challenge.
That said, the fast net-10 payment schedule and the number of exclusive campaigns could make AdValiant a suitable affiliate network for publishers from a wide range of backgrounds, experience levels, and industries.
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