Tips for beginners: the best arbitration partner with favorable terms
Tips for beginners: the best arbitration partner with favorable terms
Traffic arbitrage attracts thousands of newcomers with the opportunity to make quick money. The bottom line is simple: buy traffic cheaper in one place and sell it more expensive in another, making a difference in the quality of profit. However, this simplicity hides a complex system where the choice of an affiliate program plays a key role. Your income, stable payments, and overall prospects in this area depend on it. Finding your first, and ideally permanent, best arbitration partner is a fundamental task for every novice webmaster.
Many newcomers make the same mistake: they grab the first offer they see, attracted by loud promises and high stakes. As a result, they face a shake (when the partner intentionally does not count part of the leads), delayed payments, or a complete lack of support. To avoid such a scenario, it is necessary to approach the choice consciously, analyzing many factors. This article is your guide to the world of affiliate marketing, which will help you determine which is the best arbitration partner for you.
What is an arbitration Partner Program?
An affiliate program, or CPA network (Cost Per Action), is an intermediary between an advertiser (the owner of a product or service) and a webmaster (an arbitrageur). The advertiser needs clients, and the webmaster needs offers to monetize his traffic. The CPA network unites their interests by providing a technology platform for tracking conversions and making financial calculations.
For a beginner, an affiliate program is not just a catalog of offers. This is a whole range of tools and services. A good network will provide you with a personal manager who will help you choose an offer, suggest working bundles (creative + traffic source + offer) and give recommendations on optimizing advertising campaigns. Therefore, the search for the best partner for arbitration is, in fact, the search for a reliable business partner.
Advertisers come to CPA networks to get targeted actions: applications, registrations, app installations, sales. They are willing to pay for every such action. The task of the arbitrageur is to bring the user who will perform this action. The cost of attracting this user should be lower than the payout from the affiliate program. This difference makes up the profit.
Key criteria for choosing an affiliate program
Choosing an affiliate program is not a quick process. You shouldn't sign up for the first network you see in an ad. Do your research, compare the conditions, and only then make a decision. Here are the main criteria that you should pay attention to.
Reputation and reviews
The first place to start is to study the reputation of the network. Look for reviews on relevant forums, Telegram channels, and specialized aggregator sites. Pay attention not only to the positive, but also to the negative comments. It is important to understand what exactly the webmasters are complaining about. If the main claims are related to payment delays or unjustified shake, it is better to stay away from such a network. Stable and honest work is a sign that you have potentially the best partner for arbitration.
Verticals and offers
The vertical is the niche in which you will work (for example, interior, gambling, finance, dating). Each CPA network has its own specialization. Some work with all verticals at once (multivertical), others focus on one or two. It is better for a beginner to start with networks where there are many offers in niches that he understands.
Nutra: Beauty and health products. It is considered one of the easiest verticals to start.
Gambling and Betting: Online casinos and sports betting. High payouts, but also high competition.
Finance: Microloans, credit cards. It requires high-quality traffic and understanding of the target audience.
Dating: Dating sites. It is divided into mainstream and adult, and requires specific approaches.
Analyze what offers the network offers. Are there any exclusive offers? How high are the stakes compared to the competition? The best arbitration partner always strives to provide its partners with the most favorable conditions and unique products.
Payment model and payout amount
CPA networks offer different payment models:
CPL (Cost Per Lead): Payment for a lead (for example, a completed application or registration).
CPS (Cost Per Sale): Payment for sale. The most common model in product affiliate programs.
CPI (Cost Per Install): Payment for the installation of a mobile application.
RevShare (Revenue Share): You receive a percentage of the revenue generated by the customer you attracted.
It is easier for beginners to start with CPL or CPS models, as the result is more predictable here. Compare the payout amounts for the same offers in different networks. Sometimes the difference can be significant. However, don't chase the highest stakes. Often, an inflated payout is a bait that hides strict traffic requirements or a high percentage of rejected leads.
Hold and frequency of payments
Hold is the time during which the partner program checks the quality of your traffic and confirms leads. For beginners, this period may be longer. The standard hold is from 7 to 30 days. The shorter it is, the faster you will be able to reinvest the money you earn into new advertising campaigns.
Please specify how often payments are made (once a week, twice a month, on request) and which payment systems are available (bank cards, electronic wallets, cryptocurrency). A reliable and best arbitration partner always offers several convenient withdrawal methods and strictly adheres to the payment schedule. Delays in payments for no clear reason are a very bad sign.
The role of a personal manager for a beginner
For a novice arbitrageur, a personal manager is the main ally. This is not just a technical support employee, but your mentor and consultant. It will help you navigate the interface of the affiliate program, tell you which offer is currently trending, which GEO (geographical region) is better for pouring traffic, and which creatives show the best conversion.
A good manager is interested in your success, because his income often depends on your earnings. Feel free to ask questions and ask for help. It is the quality of support that often distinguishes the average affiliate program from the really best affiliate program for arbitration. When registering for a new network, be sure to contact the attached manager, get to know each other and discuss your plans. His willingness to help and competence are an important marker of the quality of the entire CPA network.
Technical side: tools and statistics
Modern arbitration is impossible without analytics. Your affiliate program should provide detailed and convenient statistics in real time. You should see how many clicks, conversions, and revenue each of your advertising campaigns has generated.
Pay attention to the availability of additional tools that make your work easier.:
API integration: For automatic data transfer to trackers and other services.
Postback URL: For tracking conversions on your tracker's side.
Domain Parking: The ability to park your domain to an affiliate site to bypass locks.
Ready-made promotional materials: Landing pages and pre-landing pages that have already been tested and show a good conversion rate.
The more technologically advanced the platform, the easier it will be for you to analyze the results and scale successful bundles. The best arbitration partner company invests in its IT infrastructure to provide webmasters with the most convenient and functional tools.
How to avoid cheating: Signs of a bad affiliate program
Unfortunately, there are also unscrupulous players in the CPA marketing market. To avoid becoming a victim of them, pay attention to the "red flags":
Lack of information: If there are no contacts, legal information on the affiliate's website, and the company itself is not mentioned anywhere, this is a reason to be wary.
The bids are too high: If the payouts for the offer are significantly higher than the market average, this may be a bait. You will probably receive a hard shake or non-payment.
Negative reviews about payments: A single negative review may be an accident, but if there are massive complaints about withdrawal problems on several webmaster sites, this is the system.
Incompetent support: If the manager responds for a long time, using boilerplate phrases and cannot help solve a simple question, this indicates a low level of service.
Remember that the best arbitration partner has been building its reputation for years and values each partner. She works transparently and is always ready for dialogue.
Conclusion: there is no universal solution
It is important to understand that there is no single "best" affiliate program for everyone. The choice is always individual and depends on your vertical, traffic sources, experience and goals. For one webmaster, the best arbitration partner is a large network with hundreds of gambling offers, while for another, it is a small but reliable partner specializing in interior products for Asia.
Don't be afraid to test. Register in 2-3 networks that have passed your initial verification. Run a small amount of traffic on them, chat with managers, evaluate the convenience of the platform and the speed of payments. Only in practice will you be able to determine which one is right for you.
The path to traffic arbitration begins with choosing the right partner. Take the time to analyze and research, and this contribution will pay off with a stable income and saved nerves. Your best arbitration partner is waiting for you, you just need to do your due diligence when searching for her.