blog credit card referral program
#16
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
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.
#17
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 290
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.
Last edited by saacman5033; Nov 26, 2012 at 5:41 pm Reason: Deleted link to personal blog
#18
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,385
or find a niche!
Last edited by saacman5033; Nov 26, 2012 at 5:41 pm Reason: Edit quoted text
#19
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Programs: Airline Free Agent, Fairmont Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,041
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.
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.
#20
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
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.
#21
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Programs: Airline Free Agent, Fairmont Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,041
Oh oh, I don't think they like me there. I was the one who kept tweeting repeatedly "Boarding Area is down...Again!" 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^
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^
#22
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 367
Ideally the bloggers would bid on your application. Then you'd go through the link with the highest percentage kickback.
#24
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
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.
#25
Formerly known as iahsumr
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 520
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.
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.
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,644
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?
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.
Like sbm noted, there are many that didn't want anything to do with my site.
Mike
#27
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
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 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
I am surprised there is no cut for the house - maybe Randy is not as smart as I give him credit for 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
#28
Formerly known as iahsumr
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 520
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 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
I am surprised there is no cut for the house - maybe Randy is not as smart as I give him credit for 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
#29
Formerly known as jdd2po
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 51
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.
I hope that helps shed light on some of the mystery.