Why do we need private affiliate networks when there are plenty of open ones?

In media and forums related to affiliate marketing, you often come across banners of various affiliate programs. There are established market leaders in each vertical, where newbies flock daily to drive traffic. However, there are also numerous other affiliate networks in the market, some of which are geared towards working with top teams and experienced solo buyers. What sets them apart from popular public affiliate networks will be explained below.

Registration in private affiliate networks

Registration in closed-type affiliate networks occurs either through a short online interview or only after receiving a special invitation. The main goal of such an approach is to understand how experienced the webmaster or arbitrageur is, what offers, affiliate networks, geos, and advertisements they’ve worked with before. In addition, the affiliate network needs to clarify information about the traffic sources and budgets that he’s willing to use.

It's like switching from an old beater car to a brand-new Mercedes and racing towards profit. Right now, affiliate networks are actively competing for traffic from webmasters and arbitrageurs, hosting various events and participating in annual awards. But in the long run, what matters for webmasters are not the events but higher rates, improved working conditions, exclusive offers, competent affiliate managers, and the availability of tools for generating additional profit.

That's why it's not the private affiliate network that pursues experienced webmasters, but rather they strive to start working with such an affiliate network.

The advantages of working in a private format

Of course, there's nothing wrong with thematic events, contests, and conferences, but profit and service are the key factors in this case. You can always go to a direct advertiser, but the likelihood that he’ll disappear with the leads and payments is quite high.

To understand all the advantages of working in a private format, it's enough to launch a few initial campaigns, even if it's just push traffic for top offers: 

• Closed affiliate networks do, in fact, select offers with the best conversion rates;
• The initial rates are ALWAYS higher for similar offers compared to public affiliate networks. Or, simply, new offers from trusted advertisers are launched in private affiliate networks much earlier and have a low number of registrations with a better reg2dep ratio;
• The payment system is organized in such a way as to minimize commissions and holds. 

Furthermore, private affiliate networks are always ready to create a bunch of creatives for your campaigns on short notice, even on weekends, and provide all the necessary tools for traffic generation: top-notch cloaking, email marketing databases, top conditions with sellers of various stuff, and so on.

The tools as the essence of private affiliate networks’ existence

Let's talk about the tools in a bit more detail because this explains the purpose of private affiliate networks' existence in the market.

When a private affiliate network consistently provides its partners with up-to-date and fresh databases for email campaigns across various email providers and GEOs, it's much more valuable than another affiliate gathering. This is because even in the forgotten by everyone CIS registrar like mail.ru, webmasters can currently make nearly $22000.

Such a combination of various "perks" fulfills the main goal of a webmaster - to earn more with less effort.

Most likely, a large portion of webmasters who run campaigns in open affiliate networks are already operating at maximum rates but are still earning 10-20% less. This may be acceptable for some, but those who understand the real situation are forced to regularly monitor offer conditions in the market, continually test them, and compare the final ROI.

Conclusion

Private affiliate networks, unlike most open-type affiliate programs, offer premium services and high rates for skilled webmasters. Top advertisers with fresh offers primarily choose to work with such networks, knowing that they will receive quality traffic from the very beginning. Working with such an affiliate network is much more profitable and enjoyable, especially if they provide all the necessary technical support for the webmaster and offer payouts without holds or commissions.

When choosing where to drive your traffic, it's important to pay attention not only to higher rates (although often this is the decisive factor) but also to the perspective and convenience of work, as these components also have a significant impact on profit and the speed of its acquisition. This is precisely what distinguishes private affiliate networks from open ones.