How To Get Approved At Affiliate Networks

One of the fastest routes out of the rat race is affiliate marketing.

Why ? Because you can make money without having to take the time to create a product to sell. You sell someone else’s product, and you find those products at an affiliate network.

I hear from a lot of new people that want to start, but can’t get approved at a network. They get excited, sign up and then – things fall apart.

There seem to be two main problems:

1. You submit an application but can’t get approved
2. You get approved but the affiliate manager disappears

There are a few reasons this could be happening:

• They think you’re a fraud
• They think you’re going to waste their time

Affiliate networks get 100s of signups per week and a good percentage of them are either fraudulent (real criminals who use stolen credit cards and other illegal methods to drive sales) or a waste of time (tire kickers and people that don’t know what they want to do).

So yeah, a lot of people get turned down.

To help you solve the problem, I’ve invited representatives from three top affiliate networks to give you some advice. They’ve all said they’re open to working with new affiliates and will approve you – as long as you’re legit and have some kind of plan.

If you want to get approved at a network, do this:

1. Read their responses carefully (Take Notes)
2. Use their advice and the signup link to get approved today

Thanks to Jason, Luke and Eleah for sharing their insights.

Here’s what they had to say.

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Jason Akatiff, Owner A4D Performance

Signup Link: Click here to signup with A4D (Put “MALAN” in How Did You Hear About Us to get approved.

Question 1: What’s the #1 mistake new affiliates make when signing up for A4D?

They don’t have a plan. They don’t have some kind of 1 year, 2 year goals laid out that they work backwards from. They just want to join to join. They don’t have time and budget set aside to start a new career.

Question 2: What should a brand new affiliate say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

We as a company are looking for people that are serious about the business and willing to make an investment in at least time if not time and money into traffic. A good affiliate manager can only manage 50 affiliates or less. We have 1000’s that apply. So they’re looking for the people that are serious about making this business work.

As you know there’s hurdles you run into sometimes and it’s the people with a focused vision and persistence that push thru to be successful. Bringing on affiliates is like betting on horses, you want to find the potential thoroughbreds. Which equals focused, determined, time to invest and budget to invest (even if small).

Question 3: What should a brand new affiliate NEVER say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

“I don’t know I just want to run some offers”. or  “I’m not willing to work a plan. I can’t commit to anything.”

Question 4: Do you have any offer recommendations for new affiliates that want to work with A4D?

Good offers to get started in are typically things with high conversion rates. This is because you get conversion data back much quicker after you start running traffic. It always feels good to get a few conversions.

We have low conversion rate stuff that most of our big affiliates run, some converts at 0.2%. So you could have 2,000 clicks and no conversions. This would still be statistically relevant.

So things like dating & games is always a good place to start. These are higher converting verticals where a new affiliate can get data back faster.

*** Click here to signup with A4D (Put “MALAN” in How Did You Hear About Us to get approved.

Luke Kling, Blogger and Affiliate Manager at Peerfly

Signup Link: Click here to sign up with Peerfly

Question 1: What’s the #1 mistake new affiliates make when signing up for Peerfly?

Not explaining in detail how they plan to promote our offers. As long as you’re 18 years old and have provided us with valid identification information then we could care less who you actually are. What we are interested in is HOW are you going to work with us.

Everyday I get complaints from affiliates around the world that they were denied because they are from “x” country or that they have no experience so they cannot be approved. This is not true at all. If you have a good marketing strategy that is going to make our advertisers happy and make us money, then why in the world would we deny you?

Pro Tip: DO NOT copy and paste your marketing strategy from an eBook you buy because it says “say this to get automatically approved!”

If you copy and paste your marketing methods from another person your account will be denied. Our Approvals Manager goes through hundreds of applications a day and thousands a month. It’s the easiest thing to catch and it’s the quickest to get you denied.

Question 2: What should a brand new affiliate say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

When an affiliate is approved to PeerFly they’ll get an email automatically from their affiliate manager asking them a few basic questions about their past affiliate marketing experiences and what type of offers they like to run.

Obviously, if you’re brand new then these things don’t apply to you in that context, but what I recommend you do is explain what your idea or strategy is to promote our offers.

We want to work with every legitimate affiliate we can find. The more money our affiliates make the more successful we are as a company. So, talk to your affiliate manager about a strategy you have heard of to see what they think and what they recommend.

As long as you show that you have the potential to be a good affiliate and aren’t simply asking silly questions like “how can I make the most money?” then your affiliate manager can be extremely helpful.

We aren’t really here to hold your hand. We are here to bounce ideas off of and make recommendations based on what we see across our network of affiliates.

Question 3: What should a brand new affiliate NEVER say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

“All I want to do is make $xxx/day profit. How can I do it?”

Question 4: Any other advice for new affiliates?

I’m fine with being optimistic and having goals. Goals are great. However, it’s important that you focus on the process.

Find a strategy and discuss it. Create a landing page and get recommendations. You have to put in the work. Affiliate managers are not here to run your campaign for you.

Click here to signup with Peerfly. Use Luke’s advice to choose an offer and get approved.

Eleah Portillo, Managing Director at Adsimilis

Signup Link: Click here to signup with Adsimilis

Question 1: What’s the #1 mistake new affiliates make when signing up for Adsimilis?

Affiliate networks get tons of new applications a day, many of which are fraudulent. Here’s a classic point in case of an affiliate fraud: (watch video) Thus any network worth their affili-salt will be screening each and every application before approving. This involves sifting thru the applications to prioritize based on best potential for legitimacy.

Not providing any information on your application, and not reaching out to the network to follow upon said application, will extend the time it takes to process. You’re copywriters, so give a gal a call to action! Make the affiliate team screening these applications want to get you signed up as soon as possible!

For the non native English speakers, have someone proofread. We’re an international network with offices in 7 countries… we understand! Heck, I question my own grammar and spelling…but proofreading for grammar and spelling eliminates any potential unwarranted red flags.

The Extra Legwork Will Give You the Leg Up:

Trust me, if you’re passionate about making affiliate marketing your craft (and I think you are if your’e a regular reader of this blog), every network out there wants your business. If you don’t get accepted in some of the more established networks right away, put a little work in and try again. (Not sure which networks are established? Reputation is everything pubrones, just ask around on the forums or look for industry veterans who work at networks and go there).

While you’re getting your feet wet, work wherever you can to learn and establish some history, some savvy and yes, a screenshot or two of your revenue wouldn’t hurt. Then apply to the original networks you wanted to work with again. It’s worth the extra effort. If there are low barriers to entry to a network, that network will attract lower caliber traffic. The top tier advertisers, payouts and caps you are looking for won’t be available on those types of networks for very long…

Actions speak louder than words, but words speak louder than no action.

Another mistake affiliates potentially make when signing up is not trying to speak with any of us if they want their application expedited. Like most networks, the Adsimilis team’s Skype and email addresses are listed on our website. We’re we’re active in StackThatMoney and AffPlaybook, and on the main industry FB Groups. It’s easy to get a hold of us… do so and we’ll get you taken care of!

Reality Check: If you make post in a forum for Facebook page, and someone from a network responds that day with a helpful answer, that’s probably the person you want as your affiliate manager anyway. Extra benefit of taking the initiative to ask.

Question 2: What should a brand new affiliate say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

Game the System.
In order for you to be efficient and effective in this biz, you’re going to need a game-plan so you can test and collect data with intent, then take action based on that data to optimize your campaign toward profitability, and ultimately scale.

Start with the proven high-quality traffic sources and stick with it. Or, start with a well-known evergreen vertical (read: not the flavor of the month), and– you guessed it– stick with it. Preferably both. Your game plan will involve what your threshold for success should look like so you know when you’ve gotten there.

Communicate that gameplan to your affiliate manager as soon as possible. Which type of traffic are you focusing on, and which vertical? What does success look like for you? With these goals in mind, your affiliate manager can set you up with campaigns that are the best fit for your business, and help keep an eye on your performance. You’re optimizing your campaigns, and your affiliate managers are optimizing their recommendations based on your performance.

Question 3: What should a brand new affiliate NEVER say during their initial conversation with an affiliate manager?

3’s the Magic Number.

1. “Hi… ” (then silence). My magic 8 ball ain’t as reliable as she used to be, so it’s getting really difficult for me to read your mind. Adsimilis is here to help, just tell us how. 🙂
2. Speaking despairingly about another network or an individual… it’s a small industry lovelies, and we’ve all worked with each other at some point or will soon. No time or interest for gossip or industry drama, and everyone talks to everyone. Really.
3. “Whats hot?” For the love of the wine gods, avoid the herd mentality. If you’re new, you probably won’t have success competing against 90% of the industry. And that’s ok! Adsimilis can help you find something you have a better chance of success in, and we’ll work with you to get there!

Question 4: Any vertical / offer suggestions for new affiliates that come to Adsimilis?

Depends on your background. If your’e completely green, I prefer to start affiliates on social. Facebook has proven high quality traffic, so many variations and options available to you, massive scale potential, and relative consistency to build upon. Hard to go wrong.

POF has incredible resources out there to leverage. POF Ben’s insights, blog, guidance and friendliness is just exemplary. In fact do whatever it takes to get to know and befriend this industry gem; guys like that are rare.

Once you decide the where, your AdFabs affiliate manager will help you figure out the what with bespoke offerings based on your business, goals, and history.

Question 5: Any other words of wisdom?

When you go into battle, suit up in armor.

I encourage you to pony up for proper tools you should be employing (scrapers like WhatRunsWhere, proper tracking like Voluum, etc) from the get go – don’t start yourself at a disadvantage that you can avoid! And really, just get in there and start testing. It sounds cliche for the network to just say “test,” but if you’re completely new you, not matter how many blog and forum posts you read, how many offers you scrape, you just won’t get it until you jump in and try to swim.

Paralysis of analysis is a real thing. But hopefully Thomas Edison’s words can switch on your mental lightbulb: “Vision without execution is hallucination.” Namaste.

Signup Link: Click here to signup with Adsimilis. Use Eleah’s advice to get approved

My Thoughts

After reading through all of these responses it looks like the common thread is that you need to have a plan. Having a plan means at the very minimum have an offer, a traffic source, budget and a time frame in mind.

Say something like this:

“Hi my name is _________. I’m interested in running your ______ offer on ________ ad network. We’ve heard it’s doing really well for others and want to give it a shot. My current budget is _______ / month, but that will grow based on performance. If things go well over the next month, we’ll hit it really hard and scale to other networks.”

Do Not say something like this:

“Hey I’m brand new but want to get rich fast, what’s hot?” I have like $100 right now and I can’t lose it all so probably like $50 to start. I have no idea what offer to run or which ad network to use, I thought that was your job.”

Being able to communicate a solid plan will help you sail through that first conversation and you’ll probably have a better chance of getting their Skype username and getting help in the future.

Conclusion

If you’re new and having trouble getting approved at affiliate networks. Take some time and come up with a plan.

Affiliate networks don’t want to work with people who just “want to make $1000/day” or have no idea what they’re doing.

By coming up with a plan and presenting yourself as an asset to the network you’re much more likely to get approved, get some help from the inside and put yourself in a position to start making money.

Remember, my first big campaign was the result of an affiliate manager’s help.

That’s my advice.

If you have any questions post them in the comments.

Good luck out there.

Resources:

• A4D Signup (put “MALAN” in How Did You Hear About Us?)
• Peerfly signup
• Adsimilis signup