Affiliate Networks act as intermediaries between the merchant and you the affiliate. The affiliate network tracks provides you with banners and link code, tracks all clickthroughs, tracks sales, and pays you the commission. A lot of affiliate programs are run through affiliate networks while others are run "in-house" by the merchant themselves. The advantage of an affiliate network is that you just need to learn one
affiliate center interface when dealing with all the merchants in that affiliate network, and also that the affiliate network sends you one check combining the commissions from all the merchants that you have earned commission from. This last advantage is important compared to "in-house" programs because such programs will only sent a check when a certain minimum commission balance has been reached. At an affiliate network all those amounts are pooled together and you get your commission
earlier. So, in general, join affiliate programs that are part of affiliate networks. If you find a merchant that you really like and want to join, then go ahead and join but keep in mind the disadvantages of having to learn their affiliate center interface and having to wait for a minimum balance to be reached before getting a check.
