Affiliate Marketing Newbie

I'm looking at building a credit card content site, joining credit card affiliate programs, and the watching the money come rolling in. ;) Can anyone tell me why I would use an affiliate marketing network providers (like www.ncsreporting.com) instead of connecting to the credit card company affiliate programs (eg, American Express) directly?? Is it for tracking/reporting? Do some affiliate marketing network providers have exclusive relationships with some credit card companies?

Thanks a bunch.

Hi Toboz,
Those are some excellent questions. I am an affiliate program manager, so my views may be a bit biased. I would suggest talking to companies that have their own in house affiliate program. This way you'll have a direct contact with the affiliate program manager and they can generally give you better assistance and better commission rates. Both affiliate networks and companies that use their own in house program will offer you tracking and reporting. Depending on the company, you may have more detailed tracking if you join a network and promote their merchants, but chances are, you'll get all that you need from an in house program. I strongly suggest looking through the affiliate program directories such as www.refer-it.com for recommended programs.