PublisherSpot

Updated - 08/11/2008

Go to www.hydranetwork.com

The term “hydra” can take on several different meanings, but perhaps one of the best known refers to a Henry Kuttner deity. The supernatural being consists of a multitude of living heads, some human and some alien. While this ghastly image may strike fear in some people, it is perhaps a great metaphor for the business of affiliate networks. That’s partly how Hydra Network came to be.

Collecting the affiliate programs from several different advertisers around the Internet, Hydra Network provides a proverbial one-stop-shop for publishers who want to promote a variety of affiliate products. Hydra offers CPA-based campaigns from a number of sectors, including financial, health, education, insurance, entertainment, and retail. It also guarantees the best payouts in the industry.

With so many CPA-based advertising networks on the Internet, it can be difficult for one network to stand out from the bunch. Looking to the features that are offered by Hydra Network, the promises sound very similar to other similar networks. Hydra promises to provide exceptional service via a personal affiliate manager, new and unique CPA campaigns, higher conversions, a user-friendly interface, guaranteed higher payouts, volume-based rewards, and a reliable payment and tracking system.

In order to best compete against other CPA networks, Hydra Network guarantees that it will issue the highest payouts for the same campaigns found elsewhere. With several unique and exclusive campaigns, Hydra may also be particularly attractive to publishers who are looking to promote unique products and services. Also, unlike most of its competitors who pay on a net-30 schedule, Hydra Network operates on a net-15 payment schedule so publishers are paid sooner.

Among the exclusive campaigns currently offered by Hydra Network are Make Money with Craigslist ($30 CPA), Internet Brand Survey ($1.25 CPA), VistaPrint – 4 Products for $3 ($13 CPA), Prime Cash Loan ($12.50 CPA), and GiftDepotDirect.com – Free $1000 Target Gift Card ($2 CPA).

The Hydra Network publisher control panel has a very heavy orange and gray color scheme. Navigation is reasonably straightforward, as the control panel has been broken down into seven key sections. Each of these can be accessed through the navigation links near the top of the page, and most of these have an automatic drop-down menu for further navigation.

• 1. Home: The main homepage for Hydra Network publishers. From this main page, publishers are provided “at a glance” information for news and updates, new campaigns, recommended campaigns, featured campaigns, and basic performance statistics. The stats are displayed along the left sidebar and they summarize the amount of money earned this month and this year, as well as basic graphs for revenue and clicks/actions. Near the top-left corner are links for three common tasks: new campaigns, MTD revenue, and YTD revenue.
• 2. Campaigns: Hovering the mouse pointer over this section shows additional links for all campaigns, new campaigns, exclusive campaigns, may be incentivized campaigns, may be pre-populated campaigns, and advanced campaign search. Following any of these will lead to a table with information regarding a number of ad campaigns, including the name, category, start date, number of creatives, and CPA rate or revenue share. A series of tabs further organizes the campaign based on category and other criteria. Publishers can also search based on campaign ID, name, and description.
• 3. Reports: Statistics reports can be generated for any date period and will display information for each campaign run during that period. Data includes the sub ID, number of clicks, CPC, actions, CPA, sales, revenue share, conversion rate, total money earned, and eCPC. Reports can be generated with or without sub IDs, and they can be generated to show actions only. Furthermore, these reports can be exported in CSV format.
• 4. Referrals: Publishers can go here to attain the HTML referral code using any number of promotional banners. It is also here that publishers can review information regarding users who have already been referred to Hydra Network. More on the referral program can be found later in this review.
• 5. Rewards: In order to further motivate publishers to earn as much as possible, Hydra Network has a rewards program in place that provides a monthly reward based on earnings accrued during that month. This reward can be taken as cash, a Best Buy gift card, or an American Express gift card. Publishers must earn a minimum of $5,000 in monthly revenue to quality and rewards range from 1% to 1.5% of monthly earnings. There are 12 tiers, ranging from $5,000 a month to $1 million a month.
• 6. Profile: Publishers can edit profile information, payment details, and their password in this section.
• 7. Support: Access to the FAQ, contact form, and feedback form are found in this section. More on publisher support is described in a section below.

It is also notable that publishers can choose to be associated with primarily American or British traffic by selecting the corresponding flag near the top right section of the control panel. There does not appear to be any direct effect on available features.

The application form for Hydra Network consists of a single page and it is largely straightforward. This signup page asks for an email address, basic contact information, details about the applicant’s website (URL, description, monthly unique visitors, and publishing channels), payment information, and acceptance of the terms and conditions. There is also a CAPTCHA code to prevent automated form submissions.

It should be noted that Hydra Network, at the time this review was written, appears to be running into some problems with the registration process. Upon clicking on the submit button, many applicants are directed to an error page instead of a confirmation page. Going back to the application form and resubmitting either returns the publisher to the error page or directs them to a page saying that the applicant’s email address has already been used with a different registration. Sure enough, the application seems to go through the first time, but this can cause major confusion on the part of the applicant.

Typically within 24-48 hours of applying, the applicant can expect to receive an email message from Hydra Network requesting a time for a brief telephone interview. Publishers can call the phone number provided at their leisure. Alternatively, a follow-up message via email can sometimes bypass the telephone verification process. This is unofficial and on a case-to-case basis.

Publishers can get support from Hydra Network in four different ways. All of these can be accessed from the main control panel.

First, publishers are encouraged to check the FAQ section to see if any of their questions have already been answered. The FAQ section is constantly evolving to provide more information regarding affiliate marketing, payment, and other details.

Second, there is a main contact form that can be accessed whether a publisher is logged into the system or not. Publishers can expect to receive a reply either via email or telephone. Most queries can expect a response within one or two business days.

Third, there is a feedback section where publishers can report any bugs in the system or provide suggestions for improvement. This feedback form works in a similar fashion to the support form, but no replies will be sent to queries received through the feedback form.

Fourth, publishers can attempt to reach Hydra Network directly via email (support@hydranetwork.com) or telephone. The “Contact Us” section on the website also provides the physical location of the Hydra Network office in Beverly Hills, California.

Hydra Network operates on a net-15 payment schedule. This means that all revenue generated during the month of October, for example, would be paid out on or around November 15th. There is a minimum payout level of $50, so if the total amount owing in the publisher’s account does not reach this threshold, then the earnings roll over to the next month until the balance exceeds this amount.

For publishers based in the United States, Hydra Network offers four payment options. The standard payment method is via a check in the mail, but publishers can also opt for a bank wire, PayPal, or Automatic Clearing House (ACH), the last of which is effectively identical to a direct deposit to either a checking or savings account. There is no fee involved for ACH or a check in the mail, but there are fees involved for a bank wire transfer ($10) and standard PayPal fees apply for that method of payment as well. American publishers will need to submit a W9 tax form before payment can be issued.

For publishers based outside of the United States, many of the payment options remain the same. A bank wire transfer to a country other than the United States comes with a $20 fee. A check via standard letter mail is available, though deliveries to Canada can take a week or more to be received by the publisher. ACH is not available, but PayPal is available. Non-American publishers will need to submit a W8 tax form before payment can be issued.

The referral program with Hydra Network, on the surface, appears to be quite lucrative. Publishers earn 5% of Hydra’s gross margin on all of the campaigns that referrals run with the network. Note that this is five percent of Hydra’s gross margin and not of the total payout to the referred publisher. It is not immediately obvious how large is this gross margin, so it is difficult to determine how much money can be made with each publisher referred to Hydra Network. Thankfully, this referral bonus stays intact for as long as the referred publisher remains active with Hydra.

Hydra Network provides several ad banners of various sizes for promoting referrals to its network. All of these, with the obvious exception of the text link, are animated banners with an orange-and-white color scheme. These banners may change in the future as Hydra adjusts its marketing campaigns.

Hydra Network appears to be a viable option for any publisher looking to make money through affiliate marketing. This applies not only to website owners, but also people who specialize in email newsletter, search engine marketing, and other techniques. The variety of campaigns available is stunning, including several that specialize in the UK market.

The net-15 payment schedule gets money to publishers sooner than many other networks and the lower $50 payment threshold (many networks have a $100 minimum) means that even smaller publishers can get their payments sooner. Access to support appears to be good and payment options (bank wire, direct deposit, PayPal, or check) are plentiful as well. The control panel isn’t visually appealing and the cluttered table of campaigns can be difficult to read, but all of the key information is there.

Publishers of all sizes should consider including Hydra Network as part of their monetization portfolio, but at the same time, there isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking from Hydra that truly sets it apart from competing networks.

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