It seems like new affiliates might have difficulty getting accepted into a CPA network, especially if they’re new and have little or no experience.

I often read of these new marketers having their affiliate application denied, especially at major networks.

Here are some tips to increase your chances of getting accepted.

“Interviewing” for your CPA network affiliate application: Just like interviewing for a job, it’s important to be prepared when you’re “interviewing” to get into a network. It’s not very encouraging to have an affiliate apply then say they don’t know anything about the network, or worse, say “I’m brand new and I’m not in any network yet, so I applied to everyone.

Some tips that will help you get in, especially if you’re newer.
1) Do your homework: Check here and on affiliate blogs on the profile of the network. It’s a 2-way street. How is the network’s offer selection? Payment policy? How helpful are the affiliate managers (AMs)? Are they “agency of record” for the offers they promote, or do they mainly syndicate offers from other networks?

2) Have a game plan in hand. This can be difficult if you’re not already in at least one network, but if you are in one network, you can surf through the offers and get an idea of what your focus will be on. If not, you can use offers202 or another offers search engine as a means of last resort (although you might not be able to see some of the analytics like CTR, EPC, etc) Figure out what niches do you focus on? What is your traffic strategy, what are your primary promo methods? If you can’t understand this, you might score lower on the network’s internal rating system (generally the lower your score, the more difficulty you’ll face in getting accepted), also depending on the network, you might have a smaller pool of offers to choose from.

3) Invest in yourself: A lot of affiliate marketing is knowledge-based. So be sure to trawl through the available resources and know what you need to know to run your business. If you don’t have all the tools and knowledge to be effective, it’s not likely that anyone else is going to do it for you. So this step is just smart business sense.

4) Follow up: There’s a couple of ways to do this. You can call the network after you’ve submitted the application, be sure to be able to answer questions about your background, experience, promo method, niche selection, etc. Alternatively, if you get in touch with someone from the network (either from the AM side or from the biz dev side), and have a conversation with them (tell them especially if you’re brand new), then you have a much better chance of getting in. Applications at the larger networks go through an automated screening process when you first submit and may be denied during this stage. If you talk to someone, they can flag it and the application can be prioritized. It’s more difficult to approve a denied application than to manually review an application that is in the pending pile.

Ok, that was long, but hopefully it’ll give a better idea of what happens during the account application and review process.

If anyone has any questions, especially about applying to Neverblue CPA network, you can read my earlier post: “I’m looking for a few top Neverblue affiliates”

Alternatively, you’re also welcome to email me.