An affiliate network is a platform where many different sellers list their affiliate offer. By creating an account with the affiliate network, you can promote all the offers in their rolodex and earn all your commissions in one account. Examples of affiliate networks are ClickBnk, Commission Junction, and our own Malaysian affiliate network at JomNiaga.com.
An in-house affiliate program on the other hand is a system owned and managed by the product owner directly. You have to create an account with each product owner, and of course you’ll only be able to promote offers from the seller.
In my years of promoting affiliate programs, I have used both affiliate networks and in-house affiliate programs. However, I recommend that all new affiliate join a good affiliate network instead of in-house programs.
Here are 3 reasons why..
Guaranteed Commissions for Your Efforts
I have seen this happen too many times. A product owner sets up an in-house affiliate program to launch his new product, and he invites you to join. During the first few months of the launch, the product owner will pay commissions promptly
But after some time the commissions stop coming, and finally the affiliate program (or sometimes the entire site) is shut down permanently without warning. The product owner becomes unreadable and your commissions are lost forever.
This will never happen with an affiliate network, since the network either manages sales and commissions, or requires the product owner to pay up front for expected affiliate sales. Therefore, even if the seller goes out of business your past earnings are still protected, and you will still be paid.
More Products to Promote, Easier to Manage
When you join an in-house affiliate program, you often have a very limited range of products to promote. This means that you are putting all your eggs in one basket. You are committing your time and money for a limited earning capacity.
If the products sell well, no problem. But if they don’t then soon you’ll be wishing that the products were part of an affiliate network so you can easily replace them with similar offers and increase your commissions.
In JomNiaga for example, there are already many affiliate products that you can promote. Some of the products are very similar, so if one doesn’t sell well you can easily switch to another.
Better Reliability and Advanced Tools
Affiliate networks keep their platform updated all the time, and constantly add new affiliate tools that help you make more commissions with less time. Our JomNiaga WordPress plugin for example, will automatically convert keywords in your site to affiliate links, and keep these links updated automatically.
One of the reasons we created JomNiaga in the first place is to create a better affiliate marketing experience in Malaysia. In 2011 when we first opened JomNiaga, the Malaysian market was dependent on too many in-house affiliate programs that failed to pay affiliates, had poor tracking systems and were generally unreliable.
You can sign up free for a JomNiaga account and start promoting affiliate products immediately. Use our WordPress plugin and other tools to generate affiliate commissions easily from your blog, or join our free webinar to learn how to create an effective affiliate marketing site.