Rakuten LinkShare Review for Publishers

Introduction to Rakuten LinkShare

Founded in 1996, Rakuten LinkShare is one of the oldest affiliate networks still in existence today. With just over 1,000 advertisers, it is significantly smaller than Commission Junction (who has over 2,500 advertisers). Still, it’s worthwhile to look through their advertisers and use them to compliment display advertising as well as affiliate offers you may have from other networks.

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5.

• What We Like: User-friendly admin control panel, robust support documentation.
• What We Don’t Like: Sporadic payment schedules, limited amount of advertisers.

Rakuten LinkShare Company Stats

• Homepage: LinkShare.com
• Program Founded In: 1996
• Employee Count: 201-500 employees at Rakuten Marketing as of October 2, 2013, according to LinkedIn
• Ownership: Rakuten, Inc. (RKUNF)
• Profiles: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Crunchbase, BBB

Rakuten LinkShare Support & Contact Information

• Address: 215 Park Ave S Fl 9, New York NY 10003
• Phone Number: 888-880-8430
• Support Email: http://helpcenter.linkshare.com/publisher/contact.php

Publisher Requirements

• Publisher Terms: http://merchant.linksynergy.com/fs/cli/en/docs/global_agreement.pdf
• Traffic Minimum: None.
• Publisher Language Requirement: There is no specific language requirement in their Publisher Membership Agreement.
• Prohibited Publisher Content: Racial, ethnic, gender, religious, sexual orientation, age, or disibility discrimination; libelous or harassing content; obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit content; gambling; illegal substances; terrorism; IP rights violations; harm to minors; impersonation of any person or misrepresentation of affililation with any person.

Advertisers & Offers

• Advertising Types: Affiliate.
• Offer Types: CPA.
• Verticals: All.
• Network Size: 1,000+ advertisers.
• Sampling of Publishers: Unknown.

Tech Implementation

Rakuten LinkShare Tech Implementation Rating: 5 out of 5.

Rakuten LinkShare Tech Implementation Rating: 5 out of 5.

Example of Linkshare affiliate link and skyscraper ad for jewelry company

• Creating an Ad Unit: Like most affiliate marketing networks, in order to run any ad units, you first need to be approved by each individual advertiser. Once approved, creating ad code involves just a few steps: in the top nav under Links, click “Get Links”; select the advertiser; select the type of ad desired; then click the “Get Link” button alongside the desired ad unit. There is also an option to create a rotating banner, which will display at random one of several different ad units, which can be very beneficial for testing purposes and allows publishers to avoid having to implement a third-party ad server to accomplish the same feat. Other advanced options such as deep linking and data feed creation are also available, making the tech implementation of LinkShare very robust.
• Display Ad Unit Sizes Available: Varies by advertiser.
• Implementation Technology: HTML.
• Compatible with Google AdSense: Yes, as long as ad units are not styled to look like AdSense units.
• Mobile Ad Units Available: Yes.
• WordPress Plugin Available: Yes (third-party only).

Publisher Reporting & Admin Control Panel

Rakuten LinkShare Publisher Reporting & Admin Control Panel Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rakuten LinkShare admin control panel

• Control Panel: The LinkShare dashboard is easy to navigate and user friendly for the most part. Upon login, the dashboard displays key metrics for the month, payment information, trailing 30-day commission trend, and top advertisers. Via the top navigation, it is easy to browse to advertiser programs, link codes, reports, messages, and account settings. The tricky thing about the control panel is realizing which site profile you have active when you are applying to programs and pulling up reports. This isn’t immediately clear, but look to the dropdown in the top right, where you can select which site you want as the active profile. Or else you may apply to an automotive program from your hair care website’s profile, and vice versa. (Not fun when this happens!)
• Reporting: The reporting functionality in LinkShare is relatively intuitive and simple to learn. Like the rest of the control panel, the key is to realize that all reporting is first segmented by site. To choose the site you want a report for, look to the dropdown in the top right, just to the left of the “Logout” link. Once you have the correct site selected, there are options for Quick Reports or Advanced Reports, both of which are fairly straightforward to create.
• Control Panel URL: https://members.cj.com/member/‎

Payment

Rakuten LinkShare Payment Rating: 3 out of 5.

• Publisher’s Share of Revenue: Varies by advertiser.
• Payment Methods Available: Check, Direct Deposit, Paypal
• Payment Terms: Varies.
• Minimum Payout Threshold: $50.

Account Help

Rakuten LinkShare Account Help Rating: 3 out of 5.

• Knowledge Base URL: http://www.cj.com/support-center
• Personal Account Manager: No.
• Easy to Contact Support: There is no support email address, only a contact form.