About a week and a half ago I received this wonderful email from my friends over at Commission Junction – saying a little something like this:
Dear Elijah Vieau,
You are receiving this email because we are concerned that your Commission Junction publisher account has not generated any valid commissions (from payable transactions) recently. We encourage you to begin earning commissions as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your publisher account is at risk of deactivation due to dormancy. Please see the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement for further explanation…
My first reaction was not very pleasing, but as I took a step back I realized that I’ve barely done anything with my Commission Junction account since I signed up several months back – aside from a few niche mini-blogs that I set up and left for Adsense income. My CJ account got lost in the shuffle of my other affiliate programs and CPA networks. I can’t let this happen again! They did clearly state in the email that if my account were to be deactivated I would have the opportunity to apply again when I’m “ready”. I think we all know what “ready” means.
What I would like to know is if anyone else has experienced this at one time, or another?
When I first discovered the truth behind affiliate marketing secrets, and the tools needed to succeed, I immediately went on a rampage and signed up for every major affiliate network on the planet – Commission Junction being one of the first. As time passed and mistakes were made (still being made), I began to narrow down the networks and primarily build sites around advertisers I liked. The problem with this scenario is that accounts become dormant and networks can’t afford to have inactive publishers laying around taking up room in their databases. Networks like Commission Junction or Neverblueads aquire advertisers strictly based on reputation and the performance quality of their publishers. If affiliates are unable to produce the results needed to meet the agreement between the network and their advertisers – then the network must trim the unproductive and focus in on their top affiliates to bring the heat back into the kitchen. This is sort of along the lines of Pareto’s Law – or the 80/20 rule as some refer to it as. I’ll get more into that at another time.
Sign up for one network at a time. Take time to test out the products, tracking, and payment structure before you move on and add another resource of products, user names, and passwords to your empire. The ability to manage multiple accounts and campaigns comes with experience, and until you are able to push out 4-5 campaigns in a single week you really shouldn’t be an active member with too many affiliate networks. Remember: slow and steady wins the race!
Cheers,
Elijah