Frequently Asked Questions for Affiliates
Who is an Affiliate?
Also referred to as Publisher in affiliate marketing, an Affiliate is an individual or group of individuals who promotes a merchant's web business expecting a compensation or commission. Compensation or commission may be made based on a certain value for each exposure, visit, registrant, sale or any combination of them.
How can I be an affiliate of AffiliateBOT.com?
Simple, just sign up. Joining the AffiliateBOT is as easy as 1-2-3. To sign up as an affiliate simply
click here. If you have any question, you may
contact us.
Are there set up fee or monthly charges that I need to pay?
No, joining AffiliateBOT.com as an affiliate is absolutely free. There is no setup fee and there are no monthly charges to pay.
What's the first thing to do after signing up?
It is important to first verify your email address. We have sent you an email to the email address you used when signing up.
Upon verifying your email address, you must make sure to setup all information on your Account Tab (Profile, Website / Promo Setting, and Payment Settings). Information on this tab must be accurate as these are the basis for our affiliate managers to analyze your status and for sending of payments.
I did not receive my verification e-mail, what's wrong?
Right after signing up, our system will automatically send you an email to verify your email address. If you have not received it yet, just click on the Resend Verification email at your Affiliate Control Center (after logging in).
Please double check your spam filter that it is not set to block auto generated e-mails. Please also check your bulk mailbox. The verification email might be sent to the bulk mailbox when using free email accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail.
How do I start promoting a program I like?
Once signed in, click the "Get Links" tab at the top of the page. On this page, you will be able to see all the possible programs you can join and promote.
If you want to see the details of a specific program, click on the hyperlink below each merchant's name/logo.
Once you have decided which program(s) to join in, simply tick the box beside each program and click the "Apply to programs" button at the bottom of the page
How long does it take to be approved on a program?
You can see the status if you have been approved or rejected for a program on “My Programs” under Get Links tab. This is just usually within 24 hours for the review of your application. Some merchants even have auto-approval.
Why is my application to promote a merchant pending approval?
Until the merchant chooses to accept or decline your application, every application to run a merchant’s program is categorized as Pending Approval. Approval or denial will be instant in some cases, like when the merchant has auto-approval rules set up for the program.
I want to promote a particular program; why did i get rejected?
It is up to the discretion of merchants as to which affiliates they want to advertise their products and why. If your website does not fit their requirements or you don’t fit into their advertising plan, your application could be declined.
If you believe that you have the right traffic and demographics for a program but your application has been rejected, you may choose to re-apply or you contact us with a description as to why your application should be approved.
I want to start promoting, how do I get banner ads?
When you are already approved for a program, you can begin promoting the merchant's sites and products by acquiring link codes of banner ads you can post to your sites/blogs or use as an email signature.
To acquire link codes:
- On the get link page, click on the "My Programs" link on the top.
- On this page, you will see the programs you joined in and have been approved. Click "View Links" on the program you want to acquire links.
- You will then be redirected to a page where you can choose different banners ads to use. Click on the hyperlink below the banner you have chosen.
- Copy the link code on the pop up page that appears and paste it in your sites/blogs or use as an email signature.
AffiliateBOT system will track all the transactions generated through this link, and the rightful payment will be credited to you. Make sure to setup Payment Settings on your account tab.
I lost my username or password. How do I get it?
You can retrieve your login information by clicking the “forgot password?” link on the affiliate log in field. You will have to key in the email address you used when you registered. Our system features an automated tool that will e-mail your login information to your email address.
PAYMENT
What is the minimum amount to earn before a payout?
AffiliateBOT will send payment to any affiliate who has accumulated a minimum of $50 earning balance prior to payout.
We offer two payment options, either through Check (we can deliver local checks to many countries) or PayPal. You can further specify your choice of payment on your Account Tab under Payment Settings.
When will I get my payment?
On every 15th day of each month, any transactions that are marked as Accepted, Denied or Pending are processed and marked as Final. Once the amount of payout is confirmed and finalized, we will process a payout list of validated transactions, and make the necessary commission payments to you (provided it reaches the minimum amount of payout). Payments could also be made after an alternate period of time, as defined by the specific merchants, if a merchant states otherwise in their merchant campaign terms.
Under what currency do I receive my payment?
Payments are issued in US dollar currency, unless stated otherwise by certain specific merchants who pay their affiliates in other currencies. If you opt to receive checks, it would be converted to your local currency.
Does the merchant withhold income taxes?
No, merchants do not withhold income taxes. You are an independent contractor and as such, are responsible for filing on your taxable income.
All affiliates, who are not corporations, must provide us a Social Security number. If you earn more than $600 during a calendar year, we will issue you a 1099 form.
TECHNICAL
What type of tracking system does this program use?
We use our own internal propriety software tracking solution specifically developed for AffiliateBOT. This system has been extensively tested for reliability and accuracy.
What happens when a visitor clicks on the banner on my website?
When a visitor of your site clicks on the merchant advertisement (text/image link), it will take the visitor directly into a specific landing page (ei. the sales page of the Merchant’s site), and a cookie will be set on this visitor's computer.
From that point on, when the visitor initiates a transaction on the merchant's website, your commissions will be calculated and paid to you accordingly upon finalization. Transactions will remain pending upon merchant's approval. In some cases, transaction may be denied if the merchant believes that the transaction done is invalid.
Why would a transaction become invalid?
A transaction could be considered invalid if the customer returns the product and requests a refund. When this happens, the affiliate will not be paid commissions and the transaction is not valid. This is to safeguard merchants from affiliates who make fraudulent purchases in order to gain commissions and later returns the products for a full refund. If you believe that a transaction was incorrectly denied, please contact us.(link to contact us)
How long are cookies set for?
The duration or life of the cookies varies on each program. You can view the cookie duration of a program on the program details.
REPORTS AND DATA
How do I access reports and gauge my performance?
Your Affiliate Control Panel enables you to track all the transaction you have made in the entire duration of being an affiliate. Once logged in, under Report Tab, you can see all the data of your past and recent transactions.
How soon after a sale or click will I be able to see the new stats show up?
That actually depends on each individual merchant. Most programs have real time reporting, but some merchants may opt to upload reports on a weekly basis. Clicks will be immediately viewable from your login screen within the affiliate service center.
How are transactions measured and credited for?
AffiliateBOT.com follows two compensation model depending on the specifics of a program:
Pay-Per-Sale – An affiliate will be credited for a commission once the customer referred by the affiliate buys a product from the merchant.
Pay-Per-Lead – An affiliate will be credited for a commission once the customer referred by the affiliate performs a desired task (eg. signing up a membership, filing up a form, subscribing to a service – as oppose to buying a product for Pay-Per-Sale)
PROMOTION
What types of links are available?
Depending on the program, we offer text links as well as a variety of professionally designed image banners and e-mail templates.
How often are text links and banners updated?
Banner ads and links are updated frequently. This is to make sure that you only get the best banner there is. Each time a new banner or link is added you will receive an email update from our affiliate management team.
Can I modify text links or banners?
Yes and No. It all depends on the merchants. In order to maintain a consistent presentation that matches the guidelines that we have set forth, we require that banners and text not be modified without the program manager's prior approval.
Which type of link produces a higher click through rate-banner or text?
The key point to remember is to understand what kind of demographics you have. Understanding your visitors will make you realize which type of links would be more appealing to them. Nonetheless, in a more general sense, the effectiveness of banners and links will be available in frequent newsletter updates sent to our network of affiliates.
You are also free to experiment on which banners will be more effective for your site. Under your Performance Report, you can view the details of the links that actually translates to good earnings for you.
I have an idea, how do I make suggestions for a new banner ad copy?
AffiliateBOT encourages you to give us feedbacks and ideas on new banners and/or text links that would help you be more effective affiliate. Please follow this link to send a suggestion to the affiliate manager.
OTHER AFFILIATE CONCERNS
I am an affiliate of another affiliate marketing network, can I still be an affiliate of AffiliateBOT.com?
Yes, Affiliates of other affiliate marketing networks are still eligible to become affiliates with us.
DEFINITIONS
Affiliate – Also referred to as Publisher in affiliates marketing, is an individual or group of individuals who promotes a merchant's web business expecting a compensation or commission. Compensation or commission may be made based on a certain value for each exposure, visit, registrant, sale or any combination of them.
Merchant – Also referred to as Advertiser in affiliates marketing, is a commercial dealer who hires affiliates to promote their web business in exchange for compensation and/or commission. Compensation or commission may be made based on a certain value for each exposure, visit, registrant, sale or any combination of them.
Cookie - A script executed on computers for the collection of information and stored on the local computer of a person when he/she loads a website. Cookies are commonly used to identify which affiliate a merchant needs to pay when a consumer creates a lead or makes a purchase.
Commission – A commission is a financial incentive received by an affiliate for generating some action for a merchant such as generating a lead or a sale on the merchant's website.
EPC (Earnings Per 100 Clicks). Affiliates are being paid for the actual leads or sales generated for our merchants rather than on the number of clicks the affiliates generate for the merchants. In this regard, EPC shows the correlation between the number of clicks generated by the affiliates with the actual payment being received.
PPI (Pay-per-impression) / CPM (Cost-per-thousand). Affiliates get from Merchants a certain amount of money for every 1000 impressions /page views/displays of an advertisement. The Ad can be text, banner image or rich media.
PPC (Pay-per-click) / CPC (Cost-per-click). Merchant pays affiliates a certain amount of money, every time a visitor clicks on the advertiser's Ad. It is irrelevant how often an Ad is displayed. The commission is only due when the Ad is clicked.
PPL (Pay-per-lead) / CPA (Cost-per-action/acquisition) / CPL (Cost-per-lead). Merchant pays affiliates in commission for every visitor that was referred by the affiliates to the Merchant and performs a desired action, such as filling out a form, creating an account or signing up for a newsletter. This compensation model is very popular with online services from internet service providers, cell phone providers, banks and subscription services.
PPS (Pay-per-sale) / CPS (Cost-per-sale). Merchant pays the affiliates a percentage (%) of the order amount (sale) that was created by a customer who was referred by the publisher. This form of compensation is also called as Revenue sharing.