AffiliateFuel - Merchant Information

We highly recommend AffiliateFuel if you are looking to run an affiliate program on a pay-per-lead basis. They are one of the most reputable companies we have had the joy to deal with. Their focus is on quality, not quantity, a ethic that is rare with many of the networks out there.

We had the opportunity to go straight to the source and interview a representative with AffiliateFuel.


Interview With Joe Flores of AffiliateFuel - 3/23/04

What is you name and position held at AffiliateFuel?
Joe Flores, and I'm in Business Development. I manager over 600 of our affiliates and also work with many of our advertisers.

What makes AffiliateFuel different than other affiliate networks? Why should I use AffiliateFuel?
AffiliateFuel is a premium affiliate network. We're not a turnkey solution for merchants and we don't accept all advertisers. The ones we do accept, however, are handled carefully and worked with until we feel we have a promotion that performs well for everyone. We've never claimed to be the biggest network, just the easiest to work with for the best results possible.

What is AffiliateFuel’s philosophy when working with advertisers?
AffiliateFuel aims to optimize each program until it can be effectively run long-term and provide the best quality possible. We never sacrifice quality for volume and, as a result, earn some of the largest budgets and best rates from our advertisers. Once they see that quality is our main focus, they are often able to increase their payouts and budgets in confidence, making a better program for the affiliates, who then promote in higher volume, and so-on. It's a philosophy that works well and it's shown by our back end results and our 90% advertiser retention rate.

How can AffiliateFuel fit into a potential advertiser’s existing business model to maximize their return on income (ROI)?
We will always try to offer a promotion that fits into an advertiser's existing model. If we feel that they already have a great affiliate program and can be an excellent addition to the network as-is, we can be integrated very easily. However, where AffiliateFuel really shines is in our ability to look at an advertiser's model and come up with a new, effective way to use affiliate marketing to their advantage. We have created and designed many of the promotions on our network and are often told that they work much better than previous efforts through turnkey, affiliate program solutions.

What kind (size, type, etc) of advertisers do you look for?
We look for advertisers with a strong product or service and an interest in providing affiliates with a good opportunity. We only want to work with solid companies who understand the importance of a fair and effective affiliate program. We specialize in lead generation but, on occasion, will accept a merchant promotion or cost-per-sale campaign that we feel offers something special to our affiliates.

Please give some general information about the process of integrating an affiliate program into an advertiser’s existing signup or merchant system.
Our system is easy to implement for most advertisers. We use a pixel tracking system that can be quickly and easily added to the "Thank You" page of an advertiser's checkout process. Once the user completes the transaction and is taken to the "Thank You" page, our pixel loads, the action is tracked, and the affiliate is credited.

Please give some general information about the costs of running an affiliate program through your network. Include info about setup fees, maintenance fees, member fees, fee basis, etc.
AffiliateFuel does not charge any setup fees or monthly fees. We want our affiliates to know that every promotion we make available is one that we feel has volume potential and can perform well. In other words, if our affiliates don't make money - we don't make money. This gives good advertisers a little- or no-risk startup opportunity, as well as sends a message to our affiliates that we're not setting up poor promotions just to earn a small setup fee.

Please give some general information about the affiliate base that is available for advertisers to get affiliates from. Include statistical info and demographics if possible.
AffiliateFuel's base of publishers is wide and we offer a very large diversity of demographics. We have not focused on a specific demographic target, such as men or women, but can offer just about any demographic an advertiser is looking for through our 2,300+ affiliates.

Please give some general information about you criteria of selecting affiliates for your network.
The most important thing to note is that we have very strict acceptance requirements. One rule is that they must have 2,000 unique daily visitors and a top-level domain (www.your-name.com). These and our other requirements help to ensure that all of our affiliates are professional publishers and marketers with extensive experience and a valuable audience. This reduces administrative efforts and allows us to work more closely with the publishers that are accepted, which means stronger promotions through better marketing strategies and resources. As a result, we attract the kinds of higher-end publishers who look for partners able to provide these resources.

Please give some general statistical information about conversion rates of your programs if possible.
The conversion rate of our promotion vary greatly. We have some promotional landing pages that convert at over 30% and others below 3%. It really depends on the product or service being marketed, how wide the audience is that it targets, and a number of other factors. However, we work with all of our advertisers to optimize their promotion and get them performing as well as possible.

Please give a brief bio of your network (when it was created, where it is located, how many employees, publicly held or private, partnerships with other companies, etc.).
AffiliateFuel is privately owned by two managing partners and has been around for just about 3 years now. We're located in Southern California, about 1 block away from Venice Beach Pier, and have been profitable since just after the launch of the network.

Any other information that you believe would be valuable for my site’s visitors.
AffiliateFuel is about Quality over Quantity. We work with the best affiliates and advertisers we can, so that everyone has something to offer each other. If we can provide a fair promotion to our affiliates, they can generate outstanding results for our advertisers. We're the #1 provider of leads for many of our partners and have the strongest reputation for fairness in affiliate marketing.

Is there any information you would like to tell potential advertisers for AffiliateFuel?
Unfortunately, not every advertiser is a perfect fit with the AffiliateFuel network. Just like we have to turn down many publishers who apply, we also turn away many advertisers. However, if a sponsor offers a quality product or service, a competitive payout to affiliates, and is interested in a long-term partner dedicated to making their promotion as successful as possible - that's what we do.

As you can see, AffiliateFuel is highly dedicated to aquiring and retaining quality merchants and affiliates. If you are interested in advertising on a high quality pay-per-lead the network, please visit AffiliateFuel and tell them Webmaster-Affiliates.net sent you. Thanks!