Hey all,

The way I see it there is a fork that PUBLISHERS come to on the path to affiliate marketing success. I am not talking about affiliate marketers, I am only talking about publishers. If you are an affiliate marketer, you have your fair share of choices too, but that is for another article!

The two paths I am speaking of is the marketplace path and the third-party software path.

Both of these choices are good, but it really all depends on what you need, and how much you want to spend. If you go the marketplace route, you will be dealing with Clickbank or Commision Junction or a company like that.
They are basically online affiliate marketplaces where marketers and publishers are joined together. Now, if you are a publisher this can be a lucrative option because you have potentially several thousand affiliates just waiting to promote your product or service. Of course this comes at a price, and it aint cheap. I think Commision Junction is even more expensive than CB. But the cool thing is you have a large affiliate base, and these companies will payout out you and your affiliates.

On the other hand, publishers have the option of walking down that other path - the third party software path. This consists of purchasing a program to download onto your website that will track your affiliates every move and tell you when they have made a sale. It doesn't stop there. Programs like Post Affiliate Pro will track every bit of information you could ever consider to be important, plus more! You can customize your software to pay out by lead, per sale, per click, or whatever you want. These programs are relatively cheap, around 100 bucks. The downside is that it is up to you go out and find affiliates to promote your product, and when you do you must be sure they are trustworthy and effective sellers.

Personally, I use Post Affiliate Pro. It is cheaper, and it allows me to be more hands on with my affiliates.

In the end you must look at your product or service, your budget, and the time you have to dedicate to your affiliates. Once you decide to set up an affiliate program, it is essential that you allocate the time to conduct research on both options, so you choose the right path.