The Paid on Results affiliate program (to be found at www.paidonresults.com) is a site that makes some big claims. They guarantee the best commission rates on the internet and claim to possess the most reliable and advanced tracking and reporting systems. On the whole, Paid on Results seems to live up to the hype.

The reporting tools available on Paid on Results are excellent. The main feature is a commission screen which provides a detailed breakdown of your current earnings, including clear information on important areas; clicks, impressions, commission earned etc. This data can be easily broken down into relevant days or months and is provided in both table and graph format.

The basic program performance report is supported with many other tools for monitoring your commission levels. The “Basket Data” tool allows you to view what your referees have been purchasing, and analyse the average basket values of your sales. This privileged insight into your visitors’ activity can be broken down into any specified period of time, allowing you to monitor how much money they are spending and what they are spending it on. This is supplemented with the “Trends” tool, which allows you to compare the performance of all merchant programs with each other. From this, you can easily ascertain which of your programs need attention and which are doing well.

The “performance tool” allows you to look at any merchant on the Paid on Results program with regard to average commission earned, average basket sizes, void rates, validation periods and details on the customer base. The information provided is, generally speaking, very impressive. You can compare all affiliates by table or graph format, and even specify which time frame the results should be based upon (this is ideal for comparing merchant performance and average basket sizes at peak times such as Christmas). The average merchant performance can be compared with your current performance, and this is done in both graph and table format. It is worth noting however, that not all merchants are included for customer base analysis.

The final reports tool is the “2nd Tier” page. This is designed for monitoring your referrals to Paid on Results. The site offers their own referral system, whereby you gain 5% of earnings for every referee who signs up from your link, for the life of their account. Paid on Results offers a good selection of promotional material in order to help you attract members and they suggest that over time their program can provide you with a steady and reliable income stream.

There is a good selection of merchants on offer, with the site proposing 128 merchants in total. They range across different categories, from gambling to apparel. There is also a small selection of Internet service options, such as E-learning websites. In addition to the merchant comparison tools above, essential information is provided about programs whilst browsing. This includes average commission rates and your last click and sale. Signing up to a merchant program is a slightly more complex affair with some other affiliate programs. You need to notify each merchant as to which websites (or – if applicable – email lists) will be advertising their links and also provide fairly detailed PPC information should you wish to use any system such as Adwords.

The ad material offered mainly takes the form of the program’s “Product on Request System”. This comprises heavily customisable content units for display on your site. You can combine products from multiple merchants and customise the colour, size and general appearance of the ad. The content is provided simply by a short section of html code, and is easy to incorporate into a website. All content units are updated in real time, offering your visitors the most up to date information of products on offer. It is worth noting however, that not all merchants are compatible with this service, and so you may be restricted to banners and text links with some programs.

The general usability of the site is good. All tools are easy to access within one or two clicks by the left hand navigation bar, and all commission and merchant information is displayed clearly and concisely. Merchants are easy to browse, with search and cross comparison tools are of a good quality.

Paid on Results seems to provide a good option for an affiliate who wants advanced reporting information, easily customisable and uncomplicated content units and a built in referral program. Whilst the sign-up process would benefit from some simplification, the merchants provide good commission rates throughout a range of categories, and to all intents and purposes, this network seems set to grow at a healthy pace.

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