Types of Affiliate Marketing Software?

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Different types of affiliate marketing software include stand alone, hosted, shopping cart and network. Determining which type of software to use depends on your company’s long-term goals, preferred features, and budget. Each type of affiliate marketing software comes with its own level of functionality, capabilities, and customization possibilities. In general, businesses that want full control over the customization and functionality of the software should be best served with a standalone type, while small businesses without an IT department may be more satisfied with hosted or shopping cart-based software.

The standalone affiliate marketing software is installed on the company server and is self-hosted by the company. The benefits of using this type of software include more customization options, downtime control, and flexibility in adding new features. Depending on whether the software is open or closed, the company may also be able to build its own features, add advanced features, and create more elaborate reports. Disadvantages sometimes include having to pay a high upfront cost and being charged a fee for future upgrades or customer support.

Hosted affiliate marketing software is a type of software hosted on a third-party server. New start-ups and small businesses are the biggest benefactors of this type of affiliate marketing software as it is quick to set up, has low monthly payments, and requires no future updates. Because this type of software typically requires a monthly fee, it can become more expensive over time than buying standalone marketing software. Disadvantages of this software include the ability to do advanced customizations, not being able to control downtime, and having to wait for the third-party IT department to fix the issues.

Shopping cart affiliate marketing software is usually bundled with an electronic shopping cart program. This allows for streamlined functionality and less chance of affiliate payout miscalculations. While it is convenient and usually inexpensive, it may not be packed with the rich features and functionality of standalone software. Businesses also need to wait for shopping cart software updates to receive more features or bug fixes.

Network affiliate marketing software is gaining popularity because businesses don’t have to spend time adding features, updating or communicating directly with affiliates. This type of hosted affiliate software provides its members with a database of affiliate programs to choose from so they can manage all their earnings in one place. The company must provide the affiliate network with its marketing banners, reward details and terms and conditions. While this type of affiliate marketing software is affordable for businesses, they usually have minimal control over campaign management and communications with affiliates through this type of software.

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