External Miles and Points Resources - blog credit card referral program

Curious to know how do these bloggers setup their credit card referral programs? Do they reach out to the card companies?

http://www.cj.com/

https://www212.americanexpress.com/dsmlive/dsm/int/affiliate/program/main.do?vgnextoid=43e32a49a295c210VgnVCM200000d0fa ad94RCRD

Leads to...

http://www.linkshare.com/advertisers/publishers/join/

http://www.allaffiliateprograms.com/chase/

Any blog posts on how to set up your own blogs to get in on some of those credit card referral programs?

Any blog posts on how to set up your own blogs to get in on some of those credit card referral programs?

Why would a blogger posts such things to invite more competitors to him/herself?

Why would a blogger posts such things to invite more competitors to him/herself?

because bloggers like to increase their readership and have their voice heard...

Why would a blogger posts such things to invite more competitors to him/herself?
Some programs provide a commission to those who refer other potential affiliates.

Check out today's Cranky Flier post (including the comments) for a rare look into the world of credit card affiliates. There are quotas to meet. So if you're wondering why your favorite blogger posts another completely pointless shill for the Chase Sapphire....
http://crankyflier.com/2012/07/06/your-last-day-to-support-cranky-by-signing-up-for-a-credit-card/#comments

Some programs provide a commission to those who refer other potential affiliates.
Oh great, a new multi-level-marketing scheme. Just what the world needs.

http://www.flexoffers.com/affiliate-programs/financial-services/

I know a number of folks use them for CC affiliate marketing. Commission Junction (cj.com) isn't as useful for CC referrals, though I've been using them for a number of other travel-related referral opportunities (http://www.wandr.me/travel-rebates.aspx)recently.

ETA: CardSynergy is another player in the space.

Check out today's Cranky Flier post (including the comments) for a rare look into the world of credit card affiliates. There are quotas to meet. So if you're wondering why your favorite blogger posts another completely pointless shill for the Chase Sapphire....
http://crankyflier.com/2012/07/06/your-last-day-to-support-cranky-by-signing-up-for-a-credit-card/#comments.

I spent most of yesterday Googling and trying to learn how affiliate programs work and found this older thread. This is pretty discouraging as I was hoping there was some way to keep a credit card link in the advertising sidebar (not the posts) for people to just click on at their leisure without making my content more commercial. Cranky Flier seems to have a large following and is affiliated with Conde-Nast and if HE can't meet the quota, that's pretty bad! InACents is in the same boat. There would be no way for a new blogger to meet quotas, though I could probably get 1 or 2 a month.

http://www.cj.com/

http://www.flexoffers.com/affiliate-programs/financial-services/

I know a number of folks use them for CC affiliate marketing. Commission Junction (cj.com) isn't as useful for CC referrals, though I've been using them for a number of other travel-related referral opportunities (http://beta.wandr.me/travel-rebates.aspx)recently.

ETA: CardSynergy is another player in the space.

This Commission Junction sounds interesting and from what I can see, they have some affiliates that fit my ecotourism theme. Does anyone know if they kick people out if they don't meet a quota? Will they work with a new blogger or do you have to have been around awhile? My little niche blog is never going to be as big as the mainstream travel blogs so I won't be one of their top performers. And are they easy to deal with, pay on time?

This Commission Junction sounds interesting and from what I can see, they have some affiliates that fit my ecotourism theme. Does anyone know if they kick people out if they don't meet a quota? Will they work with a new blogger or do you have to have been around awhile? My little niche blog is never going to be as big as the mainstream travel blogs so I won't be one of their top performers. And are they easy to deal with, pay on time?

I've talked to flexoffers and they require to have a certain number of unique visitors/stats to do each program. And as said above there's also quotas?

Any blog posts on how to set up your own blogs to get in on some of those credit card referral programs?

Assuming that's not possible for the moment, how to decide which blogger link to use (e.g. when applying for Chase Ink card)?

Assuming that's not possible for the moment, how to decide which blogger link to use (e.g. when applying for Chase Ink card)?

Just pick the blog that you feel give you most value. If none of them do that for you, just go direct to the Chase site and then Chase gets more money!

Just pick the blog that you feel give you most value. If none of them do that for you, just go direct to the Chase site and then Chase gets more money!

I also pick the blogger that I follow the most and put a link to their post with the particular offer.

I looked into this topic when I started my blog and here's what I found:
--For AMEX, the company has to approve your site and they don't hand out approvals very often.
--You need to hit large visitor quotas before anyone will consider you.
--My blog isn't exclusively about credit cards and earning miles, it's about how to travel cheaper in general, so it really isn't appealing to a credit card company.

I joined Google AdSense and I have made a little money from it but I think it will take years of building the site to get any kind of income from it. I do the site because I enjoy it.

This Commission Junction sounds interesting and from what I can see, they have some affiliates that fit my ecotourism theme. Does anyone know if they kick people out if they don't meet a quota? Will they work with a new blogger or do you have to have been around awhile?
I do very low volume with them and haven't had threats of being thrown out. Some partners won't do business with smaller sites but you likely will be approved for some. Of course, just getting to have groupon or livingsocial deals on your site with commissions might not do you much good.

I do very low volume with them and haven't had threats of being thrown out. Some partners won't do business with smaller sites but you likely will be approved for some. Of course, just getting to have groupon or livingsocial deals on your site with commissions might not do you much good.

don't you fall under boardingarea rather than your own account though?

Don't try to get CC affiliates right away, work on great unique content! I am in the process of developing content and building my site first. Any critiques or suggestions welcomed! Thanks everyone.

Don't try to get CC affiliates right away, work on great unique content! I am in the process of developing content and building my site first. Any critiques or suggestions welcomed! Thanks everyone.

or find a niche!

I have also been told bloggers must first focus on content. Content, content, content. If no content, readers stop coming back. Period. Focusing on anything other than content is like a startup is focusing on the IPO and not on the business itself.

What I don't understand (yet) is how some Boarding Area bloggers do not offer any credit card referrals while others offer them in a very low key way and others pretty much pump the crap out of them! I thought that banks want a minimum number of apps processed and if the number is not achieved they can take the aff cc links away without any notice whatsoever. So...does BA have an umbrella quota criterion satisfied which allows some bloggers to offer them in a very low key way and not have to worry about hitting that minimum quota? Is this the reason why Boarding Area bloggers stay within Boarding Area as it would be really difficult to off aff cc links if you were on your own (unless you were TPG, MMS, of FTG?)

If anyone knows and feels comfortable/allowed to discuss here please do so!

Thanks.

I think Boring-Area must have a single account... I believe the house (Randy Petersen - one of the smarter guys in this biz) takes a cut of all the apps and rest goes to the blogger. But there is no doubt there must be some aggregate deal as there is no doubt some of the more obscure guys would get booted off the Chase program on their own.

Oh oh, I don't think they like me there. I was the one who kept tweeting repeatedly "Boarding Area is down...Again!" :D Good that they have finally fixed that issue now. I wonder how much revenue was lost!

So...Chase pays and affiliate company, Boarding Area, bloggers all get a cut. The card applicant gets a bunch of miles/points. What a country^

Just pick the blog that you feel give you most value. If none of them do that for you, just go direct to the Chase site and then Chase gets more money!

Ideally the bloggers would bid on your application. Then you'd go through the link with the highest percentage kickback.

Duplicate :)

Hmmmmm...been speaking to Cardinal Fang. He's got a great idea for a niche blog devoted to helping people get financial reviews, account closures and bank suspicious activity reports. He figures there must be referral income with links to debt collectors, bounty hunters and The Internal Revenue Service. :D

or find a niche!

I think Boring-Area must have a single account... I believe the house (Randy Petersen - one of the smarter guys in this biz) takes a cut of all the apps and rest goes to the blogger. But there is no doubt there must be some aggregate deal as there is no doubt some of the more obscure guys would get booted off the Chase program on their own.

Every blog is completely and totally separate - just housed under the BA umbrella. The affiliate accounts are all totally separate. I have never been told any quota or similar number that must be reached - ever. That said, reading others accounts of their dismissal from affiliate programs there does seem to be some minimums required to get on or continue with an affiliate program (which makes sense to some degree as maintaining your account and ensuring what you say about the card is accurate does take some manpower). I have no idea what those are though as they have never been mentioned.

BA has nothing to do with which affiliate programs individual bloggers do or do not participate in. Truthfully, when I joined BA I thought we could not have affiliate links. Turns out that wasn't the case, and many BA bloggers do now have affiliate links. However, not all do, as it is totally an individual decision.

There may have been a period of time where being on BA was helping to expedite things in terms of getting set up with some affiliate companies, but my understanding is that isn't really the case anymore. I'm not even sure it ever was the case, but it might have been for a few months.

Since there seems to be a bunch of interest in affiliate links and how that works on BA, hope this helps answer some of those questions.

I spent most of yesterday Googling and trying to learn how affiliate programs work and found this older thread. This is pretty discouraging as I was hoping there was some way to keep a credit card link in the advertising sidebar (not the posts) for people to just click on at their leisure without making my content more commercial. Cranky Flier seems to have a large following and is affiliated with Conde-Nast and if HE can't meet the quota, that's pretty bad! InACents is in the same boat. There would be no way for a new blogger to meet quotas, though I could probably get 1 or 2 a month.





This Commission Junction sounds interesting and from what I can see, they have some affiliates that fit my ecotourism theme. Does anyone know if they kick people out if they don't meet a quota? Will they work with a new blogger or do you have to have been around awhile? My little niche blog is never going to be as big as the mainstream travel blogs so I won't be one of their top performers. And are they easy to deal with, pay on time?

I do very low volume with them and haven't had threats of being thrown out. Some partners won't do business with smaller sites but you likely will be approved for some. Of course, just getting to have groupon or livingsocial deals on your site with commissions might not do you much good.

I have even lower volume than sbm12 and rarely mention my CJ deals, but they haven't kicked me out. In the year or two that I have been with CJ, I have earned a whopping $80, but that's because I rarely do anything with them. If you did some marketing or got a bunch of friends to sign up for stuff, you could easily make more.

Like sbm noted, there are many that didn't want anything to do with my site.

Mike

Thanks MommyPoints for the color, it is good to know. I appreciate there are now published minimums but it's clear from reports that there are in practice certain minimums required (see for example CrankyFlyer or InACents being kicked off the Chase platform)

I am surprised there is no cut for the house - maybe Randy is not as smart as I give him credit for :D I always thought the passport to wealth was own the land and charge rent!

It does now make sense though how each blogger there feels the need to put THEIR links in each and every post. If you go to the site and just click on a banner ad link I assume that does not credit back to the blogger. So every time something happens with a card that is why every blogger on BA presumably puts out a post on it, to get "their" link out. And this is what can make the site feel pretty distasteful a lot of the time these days, reading post after post about how wonderful xyz new card with a nice payout is, or how abc card's affiliate link is going to change tomorrow

Thanks MommyPoints for the color, it is good to know. I appreciate there are now published minimums but it's clear from reports that there are in practice certain minimums required (see for example CrankyFlyer or InACents being kicked off the Chase platform)

I am surprised there is no cut for the house - maybe Randy is not as smart as I give him credit for :D I always thought the passport to wealth was own the land and charge rent!

It does now make sense though how each blogger there feels the need to put THEIR links in each and every post. If you go to the site and just click on a banner ad link I assume that does not credit back to the blogger. So every time something happens with a card that is why every blogger on BA presumably puts out a post on it, to get "their" link out. And this is what can make the site feel pretty distasteful a lot of the time these days, reading post after post about how wonderful xyz new card with a nice payout is, or how abc card's affiliate link is going to change tomorrow

Randy is very smart. He also really wants each blog to be their own site and doesn't interfere with that at all...or at least never has with me. The banner ads are a different set-up than the individual affiliate links. It can look silly when you look at the feed or go to the BA homepage and see 8 posts on the same topic (be it a credit card or something else), but since we all operate as individual sites, sometimes that is the nature of the beast.

From my own personal experience and discussions with my affiliate manager, the quota, which is dictated by Chase and AMEX in particular, and passed through the affiliate companies, can change with time. So for me to say it is X amount of applications per month could totally change next month. What I can say is that when it comes to Chase, we (InACents) were batting better than .500 per month to the mystery quota (which I didn't even know about till after the fact, and that was with very, very minimal even mentioning of credit cards on our site).

I hope that helps shed light on some of the mystery.

Randy is very smart.

Just to be clear, I hope the jest in my comments was received. No doubt at all a guy that creates FT and BA is smart.

First, thank you Mommy Points for participating here!

>>>>>>>WideOpenSpaces: we (InACents) were batting better than .500 per month to the mystery quota (which I didn't even know about till after the fact, and that was with very, very minimal even mentioning of credit cards on our site).

Thanks to you too! Thinking out loud...What I don't quite understand is how BA bloggers who do not push this stuff (recently Rapid Travel Chai and Frequently Flying joined the party) can maintain said quota!! This is why I thought it was a pretty good guess that BA must have a Grand total umbrella type arrangement with the affiliate companies. Which then leads me to ask you if there was something else that was the cause for the separation? These banks can get touchy with certain words (Hack, sh*t, etc.)? Probably not...But not knowing what the quota is must be so frustrating. All this non transparency is just not very consumer friendly:D How can you then compare the quality of the affiliate companies and evaluate which one you are going to go into bed with??

This is a fascinating topic@:-)

Just to be clear, I hope the jest in my comments was received. No doubt at all a guy that creates FT and BA is smart.

You forgot Milepoint:rolleyes:

:DYou forgot Milepoint:rolleyes:

You think I forgot? I will reiterate, the guy that created FT and BA is smart :D

Thanks to you too! Thinking out loud...What I don't quite understand is how BA bloggers who do not push this stuff (recently Rapid Travel Chai and Frequently Flying joined the party) can maintain said quota!! This is why I thought it was a pretty good guess that BA must have a Grand total umbrella type arrangement with the affiliate companies. Which then leads me to ask you if there was something else that was the cause for the separation? These banks can get touchy with certain words (Hack, sh*t, etc.)? Probably not...But not knowing what the quota is must be so frustrating. All this non transparency is just not very consumer friendly:D How can you then compare the quality of the affiliate companies and evaluate which one you are going to go into bed with??

This is a fascinating topic@:-)

I can not 100% speak for BA, as we are not affiliated, so please understand I am speaking as an outsider to their arrangements from what I have read. I haven't been able to track down where, but I read a response from Randy a while back that the BA affiliate ads are totally separate than those of their bloggers. So therefore, any quotas (if any) are separate and unrelated between BA and it's bloggers. Their bloggers are free to do what they want with affiliate companies.

There COULD also be totally separate sets of rules, especially when dealing with a large conglomerate like BA. Meaning, they have really high traffic volumes, which could let any quotas slide. That is also why some new BA bloggers get approved for affiliates right out-of-the-box.

Keep in mind, once approved as an affiliate, there is also a trial period of unsaid time, at least in our experience. Chase, for example, gave us 4 months to meet said unspecified quota. Apparently, our affiliate company knew all of this too, and in the midst of a transition between representatives, it never got mentioned.

As we eluded in our article, even if we had known their was a quota, we would not push, push, push links just for the sake of our site and audience. Almost all of our traffic is from travel topics outside credit cards. It's not how we set out to do things, but other bloggers may and are free to do so. We still have an affiliation for AMEX, for example, and are not even close to their supposed quota, and are in no rush to sell ourselves out to do so. It just depends how each site wants to run their business.

To answer your other question about whether it was something we said, we are a family-friendly site (other than any frustrations in our dropping Chase post), and the specific reasoning left in our termination notice was "Merchant declined due to low volume." If it had been any other reason, I would think it would have said so.

.......even if we had known their was a quota, we would not push, push, push links just for the sake of our site and audience.
Bless you for that. You are one of only a few who think like this it seems.

Anyways, my question for you is since you have already been given the boot by Chase, would you mind sharing the various CC affiliate payouts for the various Chase cards as many of us here are very curious to know that info?

Anyways, my question for you is since you have already been given the boot by Chase, would you mind sharing the various CC affiliate payouts for the various Chase cards as many of us here are very curious to know that info?

I respectfully have to decline out of respect for my fellow travel bloggers and relationships we still have outstanding. Also know that the payouts greatly vary by affiliate company (depending on how much they want to keep for themselves), and can even vary between bloggers. If a CC wants to pump out more of a certain card, they will increase the payout to encourage more promotion. I dare even say, we as bloggers, have control to encourage our affiliate companies to increase payouts for certain cards if we choose.

As I grow more and more familiar with WordPress, I have been analyzing some current blogs including those on BA. There is some kind of uniformity in the layout, they all have the same theme with a customized banner in the header. They all have the same Google Ads (currently everyone has "Jet Ease" in the sidebar and one place mid-blog). I am going to take a guess that the owner of BA gets this revenue in exchange for promoting the blog on BA. They all have what appears to be a customized widget with links to the top 15 BA blogs. Some have added a separate widget with other links of their choice.

A non BA blog such as MMS has a double sidebar set up with affiliate ads down both sides and one Chase ad in the header. As I scroll down the home page, there are far more credit card posts than travel posts but I do have to give props for the wedding pic on the Thanksgiving post. I'm a big fan of Indian clothes and bought a few sarees myself when I was there last year. I do find the double sidebar layout to be a bit busy for my tastes, I like the single sidebar layout.

I can see one possibility for us smaller bloggers. The SPG card does give ANYONE 5000 points when they refer anyone to the card. No quotas. The offer appears to be the same for everyone - currently 25,000 bonus with $5000 spend. I'll get one in a couple months when I have expenses that will meet the spend.

I am also looking at Amazon affilates. Birding guidebooks fit nicely with my blog and I think I could sell those once I build up the readership. Does anyone have them and do they have quotas?

I don't know whether I should join CJ now or wait until I have more page views? If certain affiliates want a minimum page view, how do you prove this? Screenshots of Awstats? :confused:

And if anyone knows a good spamblocker that doesn't block humans can you please post it here? I had one that appeared to be the most popular one and set it to the defaults they recommended (no pingbacks, html, etc) and one of my friends on Facebook messaged me and said she tried to comment but got a "fatal error". She was especially freaked out considering the title of the post!

Bless you for that. You are one of only a few who think like this it seems.

Anyways, my question for you is since you have already been given the boot by Chase, would you mind sharing the various CC affiliate payouts for the various Chase cards as many of us here are very curious to know that info?

From buildoffers (I am not an affiliate):
80 for Slate
120 for Sapphire
120+ for SP?

As I grow more and more familiar with WordPress, I have been analyzing some current blogs including those on BA. There is some kind of uniformity in the layout, they all have the same theme with a customized banner in the header. They all have the same Google Ads (currently everyone has "Jet Ease" in the sidebar and one place mid-blog). I am going to take a guess that the owner of BA gets this revenue in exchange for promoting the blog on BA. They all have what appears to be a customized widget with links to the top 15 BA blogs. Some have added a separate widget with other links of their choice.

A non BA blog such as MMS has a double sidebar set up with affiliate ads down both sides and one Chase ad in the header. As I scroll down the home page, there are far more credit card posts than travel posts but I do have to give props for the wedding pic on the Thanksgiving post. I'm a big fan of Indian clothes and bought a few sarees myself when I was there last year. I do find the double sidebar layout to be a bit busy for my tastes, I like the single sidebar layout.

I can see one possibility for us smaller bloggers. The SPG card does give ANYONE 5000 points when they refer anyone to the card. No quotas. The offer appears to be the same for everyone - currently 25,000 bonus with $5000 spend. I'll get one in a couple months when I have expenses that will meet the spend.

I am also looking at Amazon affilates. Birding guidebooks fit nicely with my blog and I think I could sell those once I build up the readership. Does anyone have them and do they have quotas?

I don't know whether I should join CJ now or wait until I have more page views? If certain affiliates want a minimum page view, how do you prove this? Screenshots of Awstats? :confused:

And if anyone knows a good spamblocker that doesn't block humans can you please post it here? I had one that appeared to be the most popular one and set it to the defaults they recommended (no pingbacks, html, etc) and one of my friends on Facebook messaged me and said she tried to comment but got a "fatal error". She was especially freaked out considering the title of the post!

Good luck?