How to get accepted into Traffic Networks. (1)
Getting accepted to your first Affiliate Network has always been a challenge, but looks like we have a new phenomenon in the world of Affiliate Marketing – Getting rejected by a Traffic Network.
I already replied in at least a dozen of threads dealing with this problem, so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to write a short guide for the newbies amongst us.
BTW : If anyone has problems to get accepted into an affiliate network, we also have an excellent guide available here : http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...-First-Network
So why do Traffic Networks actually reject new customers, when they join the networks to make them money? Doesn't make much sense, right? Actually it does 
Traffic networks employ people to handle the everyday tasks, including support and most importantly, handling approvals and policing compliance. Since most networks are self-serve, support isn't such a huge issue, but the compliance checking is.
If they fail to catch a lot of uncompliant stuff, their publisher will complain and eventually leave the network for good. This is especially true with DSPs who can loose access to an exchange altogether or get a nasty fine, if they get too many complaints.
Obviously, the more advertisers they take on board, the more campaigns and creatives there is to approve and police. Since many affiliates do their best to cloak whatever possible, detecting the uncompliant stuff is more and more complicated and requires a lot of attention. That's why the networks become more and more strict with who they take on board.
The good thing is, they are always willing to take more advertisers, because it can mean more business for them. And that's exactly what you have to do in the screening process – show them you are there to do business and not to waste their time.
So what should you do to pass the “business” test? It's not that hard, just prepare for the eventualities.
1. Prepare a campaign before joining a traffic source. You don't need traffic until you have a campaign setup anyways, right? Once they ask about what you plan to promote on their network, just show them the campaign. You can say its a live campaign from another source and you're looking to scale. They have no way to check if its true. Obviously, start with a clean campaign not some aggressive antivirus LP
2. Since you are here to do business, you need to have a budget prepared to spend with them. This is something they cannot verify again. I'm not telling you to lie and come up with BS numbers, but you have a budget for AM anyways, right? So mention it, you don't have to say its also to cover your other expenses or fund other sources – at the end of the day, if their traffic works, you will send the whole budget to them anyways, right?
3. You don't want to sound like a newbie, so learn the vocabulary used in AM and use it. As an active affiliate you also know and have accounts with affiliate networks and other traffic sources – or you can pretend so. When asked to name them, simply mention those that you know or are trying to get accepted into. I'm not telling you to lie again – there are many traffic sources that don't have a screening process, so register there first. The same goes for affiliate networks, since you are on STM just as many affiliate managers, so it's no problem at all to get accepted to some.
If you follow these 3 steps, majority of sources will accept you. All it takes is to use some common sense and come out as a business man and not some clueless newbie who they'd rather stay away from
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