Motive Interactive Network Review

Motive Interactive is very similar to what we tried to do with LeadCrunch.com oh so many years ago.  The main difference is, they have done a better job.  Motive is an affiliate network that specializes in CPA offers.  They were founded by Brendan J. Smith and Colin Johnson back in 2003.  Read our full Review of Motive Interactive below.

Much like us, they couldn’t find software that they liked so they set out to build their own.  Their proprietary performance advertising platform is called Advent and it’s pretty impressive.  Having been where they were, I know how much time, effort and money goes into building a system like this.   The platform uses Ajax technology to deliver the data you want quickly.  This technology makes the internal navigation easy and convenient as everything you need loads right there on the same page.  Finding the right types of offers with the ad types you are interested in is easy with their search system.

But as we all know, technology can only get you so far.  It’s important and as an affiliate you need to be confident in the technology that powers a network but it’s only part of the equation.  They still need to have worthwhile offers to promote.  So, how does Motive rank in terms of their list of offers?  I wouldn’t say they are in the top 5 in this area but they have a very respectable list offers to promote and are certainly above average.   As of today, while writing this review, Motive Interactive has 255 live offers.  They claim (like every other network) that they have the highest payouts on these offers.  I didn’t take the time to verify this with every offer they have but the offers I did check they were very competitive.  They have the standard ad types that most networks seem to have but I did spot a few programs that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

They offer a great selection of ad types, including banners, email, POP, social media, co-registration, incentivized, search and text links.  Of course, not all ad types are available with each offer but it’s nice to know that they support a wide variety.

On their web site they highlight the following reasons why a publisher/affiliate should consider using them:

• Highest Payouts
• Top Performing Offers
• Reliable Payment Schedule
• Host and Post Offers
• Best in class Interface
• Advanced Tracking and Reporting
• Registration Path Technology
• SID and AID Technology
• Multiple Ad Formats and Ability to Customize
• Superior Customer Service

Some of that is marketing speak that I can’t speak to, I haven’t used them long enough to speak to all of those points.  However, the points that I can speak to, the offers and technology, I think are pretty spot on.  If you haven’t tried this network out yet, it is one that I recommend.   Go to Motive Interactive’s Publisher Sign Up page and fill out the application.  Expect to get a phone call or email from them verifying your information.  That is something that not enough networks do, I love know that they go the extra mile to ensure that the affiliates they are bringing in are of a certain quality.

Pepperjam Affiliate Network Review

This review is going to be from the perspective of the affiliate.  We will follow up and write another review from the advertisers perspective once we have had a chance to explore that area of Pepperjam a little more thoroughly.

I am fairly new to the Pepperjam Affiliate network but man, color me impressed!  The company was founded in 1999 by Internet marketer Kristopher B. Jones.  Their offices are actually pretty close to me, they are based out of Wilkes-Barre, PA which is about 2 hours north of our offices in Reading, PA.

They started out as affiliates themselves and leveraged their success and expertise by switching sides and becoming an affiliate network. The huge benefit of the path they took is that they have a very strong understanding of what affiliates are looking for in a network.  They took the concepts they liked from other networks and programs and improved upon the things they didn’t like.  Their mission was to solve two major problems that they saw in the affiliate marketing industry.  The first was poor and unreliable communication and the second was lack of real transparency into how programs were performing.

The software that runs their network appears to be completely custom made and is pretty and functional at the same time.  Too often networks hide behind fancy graphs but lack the tools that real affiliates need to really succeed.  That is not the case with Pepperjam.  They have the fancy graphs but they are actually useful and give you real data to test against.   Of the offers I have tested, they offer a wide array of linking options and give you the ability to add your own tracking id to each URL you deploy so you can test what is working and what isn’t.  These are tools that are designed to help affiliates make more money for their advertisers.  It seems like such an obvious concept and Pepperjam isn’t the only network offering these kinds of tools but they are certainly one of the best.

They offer both revenue share offers where you are paid for a % of a sale  and CPA offers where you are paid based on an action other than a sale.  They offer you all of the tools you would expect from a top-tier network and some that I hadn’t seen before.  You can grab coupons, generate coupon feeds for easy integration into your site, build out a store with product feeds, build out customized contextual ads with their pepperjamADS system and more.  This all keeps coming back to the fact that the tools they provide are impressive and if you know how to use them, you can make more money with the same offer on Pepperjam than you could with a network that doesn’t offer these tools.

At the time of writing this review they have 557 active offers and the most important part of that number is that these are NOT the same old offers you see in every other network.  They have some very impressive companies and some really great exclusive offers that you will only find at Pepperjam.

In conclusion, Pepperjam is a network that we strongly recommend.  At the very least, you need to sign up and take a peek under the hood, you will be impressed. Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus

ShareASale Affiliate Network Review

ShareASale.com is an affiliate network offering both cost per sale and cost per lead offers.  Based in Chicago, they were founded by Brian Littleton and have been around since April of 2000.  During that time, they have done the most important thing any affiliate network can do, they have established trust with their affiliates and their merchants.   No matter what side of the table you are on, trusting the affiliate network you are going to be sending your traffic through should be on the top of your list of important things to consider.

They appear to be a rather small company but that does not seem to affect their service.  Anytime I have emailed them whether it was as a merchant, or as an affiliate, I have gotten an answer pretty quickly, usually the same day.  Customer service is important in any business but even more so when it’s a company that is business to provide a service that is supposed to make you or your company more money.  I think they understand that and have made communicating with their affiliates and merchants a priority.

For You Affiliates

As an affiliate network, ShareASale is an aggregator of affiliate programs.  They act as a service provider, giving you a safe list of programs you can join and market, they provide the tools and the means to track the sale or lead.  They aggregate your payments so you can promote multiple affiliate programs and get one check.   It costs you nothing to be an affiliate, ShareASale makes money by the fees that the merchants pay.

As of the date of this article, they have over 2000 merchants in their network.  They do a good job of providing transparency into how the individual merchants are performing for other affiliates and if the merchant is well funded or at risk of running out of money and having their program shut off.  The network has a very strong focus on shopping sites and with 2000 merchants they cover a very wide breadth of topics.

One of the things I am not crazy about is the way their software works.  It’s fantastic in it’s ability to to track and manage programs but I find the interface to be a little clunky and hard to navigate.  I think they could do with some improvements in that area.  I know I have had to personally help a few new affiliates with simple things like where to go to find new affiliate programs to join and get links.

If you are not already an affiliate of ShareASale, you can sign up by Clicking Here

For Potential Merchants

From a merchants standpoint, the pricing is very reasonable.  They charge a $550 network access fee and a 20% fee on top of what you pay your affiliates.  So, if you are running an offer that charges 10% of sale, you are going to pay a total of 12%, 10% for the affiliate and 2% for ShareASale.  The pricing is very reasonable when you look at how many active affiliates they have.  The marketing is virtually risk free as long as you manage it properly.  They have a huge network of affiliates that are waiting to promote your offer, a network of affiliates that has taken them over 8 years to build up.   For a more comprehensive review, check out our post on becoming a merchant on shareasale.  If you want to skip directly to their site instead, you can Click Here.

Maxbounty Affiliate Network Review

Oh so long ago, when LeadCrunch.com was still a CPA network, MaxBounty.com was one of my competitors.  It was founded by JP Suave who I used to see around the GeekTalk message board.  He may still be a regular there, it’s been awhile since I was active on any message board.  Both of us had very similar businesses and although I never met JP, I had a good sense of the man from his posts at GeekTalk and I respected him.   When I was looking for someone to acquire us, JP and MaxBounty was the first place we turned.  We worked out a deal and the rest is history.

It’s been a long time since I have done anything with the LeadCrunch.com domain name.  For the last couple of years it simply had a basic message on it letting visitors know that the network is no longer in business.  Since I sold LeadCrunch, I have continued to remain very active in the affiliate marketing world on both sides of the table.  I manage several independent affiliate programs and have multiple sites that I use to generate affiliate revenue.  One of the companies I continued to work with after the acquisition was MaxBounty.  With all that connected history with me and the old LeadCrunch, I thought they would be a good company to start off my new blog.

Web Site and Interface

The web site doesn’t seem to have changed much in the last couple of years.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I believe that carries over towards the interface that affiliates are presented with on the inside.  Affiliate Marketing is so competitive and there are so many affiliate networks competing for affiliate traffic, the interface including reporting and the ability to quickly find merchants you are interested in, can be very important to affiliates.  I think MaxBounty could do a much better job of presenting the offers they have available and making them easier for affiliates to browse.  The approach they have taken seems to be simplicity and I actually like that about them, but in some respects, it’s a little too simple

What about the Offers?

MaxBounty has a lot of good offers and focuses largely on lead generation which is what we used to do with LeadCrunch.  I think they do an excellent job of bringing in new offers and staying on top of the offers that are already live in their system.  They provide reporting on what the average EPC is for the network and they give you a variety of fresh creatives to use.

Do they pay on time

MaxBounty does an excellent job when it comes to paying their affiliaets.  I never received a check late and even though the company is based in Canada, they pay out in your local currency which is a very nice feature considering they are a small company.  I would guess they have a service that processes payments for them.

Do I Recommend Them?

Absolutely, I think they do a great job.  The key with any cost per lead network is to find offers that match up well with your audience.  If you can match your ad to your audience, CPL offers can pay out quite well.

Sign up with them today and check out their offers. You can get to their site by Clicking Here