Researching Affiliate Software
This is another post about the technical side of running a web-based business. In this case, I spent some time researching current options for affiliate software.
For those who don't know what affiliate software is for, here's the key idea. The word "affiliate" means "working partner". While that COULD mean just about anything, on the Internet, it means someone who promotes a product for a commission. In other words, a commissioned sales rep.
Most affiliates have their own website from which they do their business. Some affiliates post reviews of various products, helping folks make purchasing decisions. Other affiliates publish content intended to help their readers improve their lives, and offer suggestions for products to help in that goal. In all cases, affiliates link to the products they promote using tools available through the specific affiliate software used by the merchant.
I've used several affiliate software packages over the years. AllAffiliatePro ($450 Perl-based script), iDevAffiliate, JV Manager, and now Post Affiliate Pro (PAP). As a JV Manager customer, I had a unique opportunity to receive Fantasos when it first came out last year. Fantasos is software that will allow me to offer hosted accounts for others similar to 1ShoppingCart.com. This was the main reason I took a close look at the hosted accounts features in the mailing list management software I researched earlier.
Getting back to my current story, I recently received an email from a friend recommending the JROX.com JAM affiliate software.
Being under the impression that development on PAP had stalled, and knowing that support had virtually disappeared for a long time, I felt ready to move on to another solution. This prompted me to start researching the various options available, starting with the JROX software, for which I had heard many good things.
The reason for all this is because I value my affiliates and want to do whatever it takes to ensure they are well taken care of.
The bottom line is that while the JROX software has some really cool options, like autoresponders to affiliates, subdomain linking, ad tracking, and so forth, it also has some hard limitations I am unwilling to accept, especially in the area of performance bonuses.
In the meantime, I also received an email from the developers of PAP (QualityUnit) informing me that they are nearly finished with the next version, which offers many new features, including ad tracking, API integration with other software (such as my shopping cart and autoresponders), and an option to offer hosted services to other merchants.
My curiosity led me to check into the 2006 award that QualityUnit proudly displays on their site. My thinking was "yeah, they won the award in 2006, but who has the current award?" Answer: no-one has taken the award away. There hasn't been another one given since 2006.
The award mentioned was given by www.affiliate-software-review.com, which maintains a database of various affiliate program solutions, including software and hosted accounts. Currently, they list 78 different programs. (If you value your time at something more than $15/hr, invest in the membership. The time you save will be worth it.)
Doing some comparisons between the various listings, and keeping an eye on flexibility, PAP only has 2 'real' competitors - JROX and a $50 program called "Affiliate Pro" by Soft Service. (Obviously, if you need a specific set of features, other options may come to the top.)
Mentally adding in the promised features of PAP4, there's nothing currently that can even come close, especially when you consider the ability to set up hosted accounts for others to manage THEIR affiliate programs via "Post Affiliate Network Pro 4".
As far as I can tell, there are really only 2 other choices when you want to sell hosted affiliate service. AlstraSoft Affiliate Network Pro ($390), and Fantasos ($2997). Fantasos includes a shopping cart and many unique features specific for JV partnerships (revenue splits separate from affiliate commissions, for example), making it truly unique.
However, depending on how the release of PAP4 comes about (how long we have to wait, any upgrade costs involved, how clean the code is released, etc.), I may still decide to switch over. The critical factors will be how QualityUnit handles upgrade costs, and how clean the code is released (i.e.- how many bugs sneak in). I also expect to see something released within the next couple of weeks, especially since an email announcement was made about it being nearly ready.