I recently came across a thread at Wicked Fire about an affiliate who was denied by Market Leverage. We also had some speculation about our sellers from the Lead Critic. These two posts got me thinking about affiliate managers and affiliate applicants and the whole approval process and in particular how LeadPoint approves or denies a seller. I also wanted to provide some insight as to how LeadPoint’s application process works as well as some tips for potential and current applicants that will assist you in the application process so that you can start submitting leads into our exchange.

One of the first things we look at when a seller applies is their e-mail address and the website provided on the application. It is annoying when sellers submit an application and do not supply a website or apply with sites where they have yet to take down the Go Daddy parked site page. For this part of the application it is fine to use any site you own, however, take 30 seconds and put something up that explains what you do and how you do it. For example, in explaining how you generate leads write “I use pay per click to drive my traffic and don’t use BHOs.”

When you apply to become a seller, do so with the expectation that we are going to ask you lots of questions about your marketing methods, experience in affiliate marketing and lead generation. We are not asking these questions to steal your business – LeadPoint employees are contractually prohibited from doing any lead generation on our own – but to see if there is a fit. You should also know that LeadPoint has never spent a single dime on media to generate a lead. So yes, these questions may seem personal but we only ask them because we don’t want you to spend hours of your time integrating with us and your leads are not accepted because they are generated via co-registration and are incentivized, which are two types of leads we do not accept. In return for your candor and highest performing leads, we promise two things: some of the highest payouts anywhere and a promise that we aren’t blabbing about your keywords to your competitors.

Once you’ve filled out the form and clicked submit, we will send you an automated e-mail asking you to validate your email address by clicking on a link or going to a URL that you paste into your browser. At this point, the LeadPoint system knows you as an applicant but we humans can not do anything for you until you click on that link. If you do not get an e-mail from us within a couple of minutes, check your junk folder. If it’s not there, give us a call.

Now that you have validated your e-mail address, you’ve become a “validated applicant”. At this juncture, we will make three attempts to contact you. We will email you within two business days looking for information about your traffic and to set up a time to chat. If we don’t hear from you after that first e-mail, we will then call you to follow up. The last attempt to reach out to you is made via e-mail. If we don’t hear from you after our third attempt, we will close your account. However, if we do connect, the account manager will ask you about your lead generation methods and your site. If everything checks out and your lead generation methods are appropriate, you’ll be passed to the integration folks and an account manager who specializes in launching new sellers and dealing with any technical questions you may have.

With that final step – it really doesn’t take that long – we will activate you and help you begin the integration. Post integration, we are continually monitoring your lead performance. There are a number of ways to do this but the number one way we track your lead performance is by talking to our buyers. Our buyers are continually entering feedback about your leads which goes to your account manager. If we see poor performance, we will talk to you and take a variety of steps to improve performance with the most extreme of these being removal and deactivation. Long story short, we are always monitoring your lead performance and working to ensure that our customers – buyers and sellers alike – have an optimal relationship where everyone profits (look for a post in the future about lead performance).

Ultimately, LeadPoint is about relationships and communication. Your success is our success and we are here to help you achieve it. Sign up today if you haven’t already. If you currently have an account, remember your account manager is there to help.