PublisherSpot

Updated - 11/03/2008

Go to www.linkshare.com

There are countless affiliate programs available on the Internet, but it can be quite cumbersome and time-consuming to apply to each one individually. LinkShare is an advertising network that effectively amalgamates several affiliate programs into a single location, allowing publishers to access a variety of programs in much more simple manner.

When a publisher first applies for LinkShare, the only affiliate program afforded to them is that of the LinkShare referral program. This pays publishers for referring additional publishers to the LinkShare network. More information regarding this program is outlined in the Referral Program section of this review.

After being approved by LinkShare, publishers can then go into the control panel and apply for any number of other affiliate programs. There is no need to submit a wholly separate application, because all of the necessary information – contact information, site information, and so on – would have already been collected during the application process for LinkShare.

This is a major plus for publishers who want to try several affiliate programs, because applying for the additional online vendors is done simply by choosing the appropriate checkbox and then hitting submit. In fact, site owners can apply for multiple programs simultaneously through this interface.

The second major advantage is that publishers need not meet the minimum payout thresholds for each individual affiliate program. Instead, the payments are amalgamated by LinkShare and then they are sent to the publisher as one lump sum.

The affiliate programs available through LinkShare are numerous and varied. As such, publishers should not have too much trouble finding a program that is particularly suitable for their websites. The payout levels will naturally vary from program to program, possibly paying a flat fee for each referral or, alternatively, for a percentage of the total sale.

Here are a few examples of the affiliate programs available through LinkShare. There are many, many more.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Earn commissions for referring customers to Enterprise, a leading car rental company in North America. Payout ranges from 1% to 2.5% of the sale on all goods.

Griffin: A popular manufacturer of accessories for iPods and MP3 players, as well as hardware for Macs and PCs. Payout level is 6% of sale on all goods.

Sirius Satellite Radio: The satellite radio provider pays 10-20% on all sales, presumably including both the sale of hardware and the subscription service.

Apple iTunes: Refer customers to one of the world’s largest online sources for digital music downloads and earn 5% of all sales. Seeing how most songs sell for 99 cents, this translates to about 5 cents per song.

Wirefly: Mobile phones are a huge industry, but even more money can be made through signing people up for new contracts with a variety of providers, including AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. Commissions can be as high as $65 for referring a customer who purchases a phone and signs a new contract.

New York Times: The highly acclaimed daily newspaper also has a home delivery service. Receive a $35 flat referral fee on all new subscriptions.

Western Union: A global leader in money transfer services, Western Union will pay a flat fee of between $1.50 and $5.00 for selected goods.

iWin, Inc.: The sale of casual computer games has become a very lucrative industry with most simple games selling for around $20 each. Earn a commission of 32% or $10 flat fee on selected sales.

Match.com: Offering perhaps the highest affiliate payout of any program on LinkShare, the world’s largest online dating site pays 75% of all new subscription revenue plus a bonus opportunity to earn up to 100%.

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The LinkShare control panel is comprised of several tabs, each providing a gateway into a particular section of the member’s area.

The Home tab provides news and announcements, as well as a series of quicklinks to highly visited areas, like the member mailbox, a search box for new merchants/affiliate programs, and basic reports.

The Join Programs tab is where publishers can peruse the various affiliate programs available through LinkShare. These are broken down into 21 main categories – Auto, Family, Telecommunications, etc. – which are further broken down into sub-categories. For example, the Financial Services category is broken down into Banking/Trading, Credit Cards, and Loans. Alternatively, publishers can search for specific merchants using a basic search box.

The Create Links tab initially shows all the programs into which the publisher has already been approved, as well as a list of merchants with pending applications. By clicking on any of the former, the user is then sent to a control panel for selecting text links, creatives, and other ways to drive traffic to the advertiser’s site(s).

The Run Reports tab allows the publisher to generate reports based on three criteria: date range, report type, and merchants. There are 13 different report types in all, including the Sales and Activity Report, Link Type Report, and Product Success Report. It is possible to see reports for an individual affiliate program or for all programs.

The Your Account tab provides access to the Mail Center, as well as an area for updating profiles, setting email subscriptions, adjusting program controls, and so forth. Contact information for the affiliate program manager is also provided in this area.

The registration process for LinkShare is a five-step process. The first step determines the applicant’s type of entity (sole proprietorship, LLC, non-profit, etc.). The second step defines basic contact information, marketing channels (blog, email, search, etc.). The third step selects the LinkShare Network, including the ability to choose LinkShare UK and LinkShare Canada. The fourth step outlines the terms and conditions. The fifth step is application submission.

The approval process was quite speedy with full approval coming within 24 to 48 hours.

The LinkShare referral program pays publishers for referring other users to their network. They provide a variety of banner ads and other creatives to help increase the referral rate. The commission paid is $1.50 for every valid referral that registers as a publisher with LinkShare and generates at least one click-through within the first 30 days of registration. This second stipulation is absolutely critical, because the commission is not paid until the referral generates that first click-through.

LinkShare’s standard payment method is a check sent via standard mail. Alternatively, publishers can opt for direct deposit to their bank accounts, but this option is only available to users in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States. LinkShare issues payments four times a month, but the payment withholding period varies across the different affiliate programs. Most are net-30 or faster.

When a service ticket was submitted via email to the LinkShare customer support department, a reply was not received after a full 48 hours. This is certainly disappointing and demonstrates a clear area for improvement for LinkShare.

Properly implemented, affiliate marketing techniques can be quite a bit more lucrative than standard CPC or CPM campaigns. Advertisers are motivated to pay higher amounts for these qualified leads, because the sale – the goal of the advertising to begin with – has already been generated. The problem with affiliate marketing is that publishers typically need to apply to each vendor’s affiliate program individually.

LinkShare streamlines this process, allowing publishers to amalgamate their affiliate marketing programs into a single service, combining all the payouts into a single payment.

The combined reports are comprehensive and applying for the various programs is seamless. LinkShare, with its huge library of affiliate programs and frequent payouts, appears to be a solid competitor for similar services like Azoogle.