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João Aguiar

Head of Marketing at Mobidea

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/author/joao-aguiar/)

Last updated on July 3, 2020 - 22 min read

(/#facebook) (/#twitter) (/#linkedin)

The Best A liate Marketing Tools (Free and Paid)

Table of Contents [Show]

Introduction (/academy)

Being a successful in a liate marketing (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/successful-a liate-
marketing/) is about working smart, not just working hard.

Learning to be more e cient and more effective in the day to day running of your business can pay
dividends.

To help you become the super a liate (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/super-a liate/) you know you
can be, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best a liate marketing tools that will help you monetize faster,
and pave the way to greater success!

These tools will help you at every step of your journey, from planning your campaign through to the
optimization process, while being able to track your performance like a pro!

In a business where time equals money, it’s important to know how to save on both with these awesome
a liate tools.

Here’s what does it mean to be more e cient and effective in a liate marketing:

“E ciency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker, the
father of modern management

That’s easy to say, but in reality this is easier said than done.

The tools you’ll nd below will show you how to achieve this optimal performance in your own work, so you’ll
be able to make brass with annoyingly cool class!

Our hope?

That you’ll get some great insights and boost your ROI by using these awesome tools for a liate marketers!

Let’s put this in perspective for a moment.

If we can save you just 20 seconds per one hour of your work, this will basically mean that we’re gonna help
you save an extra day in your work life per, just by working smarter!

You then get to enjoy all the amazing revenues this industry can provide you with!

That’s something to think about, right?

This was with only 20 seconds. Now imagine what you could do with your time if you managed to save a
whole minute per working hour! (/academy)

But rst things rst, there are two important objectives you should tackle right away:

You need people to sell to (tra c sources) and you need something to sell (the offers).

Let’s review the top a liate marketing tools tools!

List of the Best A liate Marketing Tools

Knowing your competition is at the heart of any good a liate marketing strategy.

Identifying industry trends and gaining insight about competitor campaigns, along with top performing
creatives and tra c sources, is essential if you want to make sure you can hit the ground running.

Advertisement

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/linkout/17963)

Spy Tools

Ad spy tools (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/ad-spy-tools) are a huge advantage nowadays when


compared to the beginning of online advertising, when the only way to know what your competitors were
doing was to visit the website where a liates would promote their offers and just check what appears.

Spy tools come in handy in case you don’t know much about designing creatives.

Thanks to these a liate marketing tools, you can now keep-up with a whole lotta things that’ll simply blow
your mind.

You’ll be able to know which offers, pre-landers, and banners your competitors are using and even be able to
download them like a super pro!

(/academy)
With spy tools and competitive intelligence tools you can analyze the stats and results of everything that
your rivals are doing – from the carrier where the ad is running, to the conversion rate for a given GEO.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, you can also compare the performance of networks, nd the best offers, and
pretty much gather all the info you need to get that competitive advantage that’ll separate you from the slow-
moving herd.

So, after all the hype created around these game-changing tools, here’s what we’re speci cally talking about:

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity/)

If mobile, desktop, e-commerce, native or push ads (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/push-ads/) are


high on your list, look no further that AdPlexity (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/adplexity/). This
platform makes nding pro table campaigns a piece of cake and with support for multiple tra c sources, it’s
an essential tool for the serious a liate marketer.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spypush/)

SpyPush (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spypush/) is the rst ever tool to spy on push


noti cation ads helps you dig in your competition’s funnels. Learn what works for them by accessing a
database of over 200 000 ads in more than 140 countries.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spyover-

discount/)

SpyOver (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spyover-discount/) is very similar to AdPlexity,


but it focuses on native ads only.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/idvert/)

Tracking competitors Facebook ad campaigns and identifying black hat opportunities for your offers makes
Idvert (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/idvert/) a strong contender in its category. Add
to this the ability to view an impressive range of your competitors knockoff, COD and dropshipping data, and
you’ll be able to nd pro table campaigns in no time.

Tracking Tools
(/academy)

If you’re looking to optimize your ROI and keep your eCPC as low as possible, you’ll want to track your
campaigns with a professional a liate tracker (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-tracking-
platforms/).

It’s essential for keeping an eye on your balance. You see, a lot of beginners don’t pay regular attention to
their stats and lose track of their ROI.

And if you don’t know where you’re standing, how can you get where you wanna be? You’ve gotta track
everything and analyze the results.

How are you supposed to know whether or not your campaign is converting if you don’t have solid proof to
look at?

Write every little shift, alteration, tweak and change!

It may be faster to ignore the tracking part, but it’s also a very quick way to lose money on advertising.

Now, when it comes to analyzing numbers, the storyline changes. Media buying isn’t just splitting pro table
and non-pro table campaigns. You’ll actually need to retrieve the information through good tracking tools!

Below, we’re sharing the market leader in tracking tools, along with some alternative sites of equally good
quality for new a liates or those with medium to low volume campaigns.

It’s worth mentioning that not only are these tools worth their weight in gold, but as an a liate marketer, you
really can’t afford to run tra c sources without having at least a basic tracking solution in place.

So, which ones should you pick?

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/voluum-

signup/)

Pretty much the market leader in tracking software, Voluum


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/voluum-homepage/) is a powerful tool for
marketers.Track ads for all your campaigns and manage your team all form one place at a starting price of
$44!

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/redtrack/)
(/academy)

This easy to use ad tracker allows you to keep an eye on the impressions, clicks and conversions of your
campaigns. Packed with features and regularly updated, it costs just $28/mo for a starter package and up to
$939/mo for an enterprise plan.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/bemob/)

With 100,000 free events per month, BeMob (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/bemob/)


is an excellent tool for smaller volume a liates who are looking for a low cost way to track their campaigns.
Their sixth sense tech can analyze your advertising campaigns for audience optimization and paid plans
start from $25/mo to $499/mo.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/binom/)

A self-hosted tracking solution with blistering speeds that gives you full control over your campaign data. It
has a 14-day free trial and the licence fee is only $69/mo.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adsbridge-homepage/)

If you’re looking to step-up your game with advanced tracking tools, AdsBridge is a perfect choice. The
investment is gonna be something between $25 and $595 per month, depending on the package.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/thrive-

homepage/)

This tracker is designed for mobile and web media buyers and performance marketers, who are looking for a
agile, real-time campaign management tool. Plans between $79 and $799.

Hosting

As with domain registrars, when hunting for a hosting company, you really want to go with the top dogs.

The companies cited below have proven to be reliable for marketers and a liates, and all have excellent
support in a combo with a variety of features that will transform the hosting of your sites into a breeze.

(/academy)
Make sure to do your research to see which features are most suitable to your strategy. There’s no need to 
obsess too much on that tho – you’ll be in safe hands with any of the hosting companies listed below.
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/bluehost/)

Consistently found at the top of many “Best hosting” lists, Bluehost


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/bluehost/) is a service with a well-earned reputation. If
you need reliable and affordable website hosting for your landing pages or WordPress sites, they’re the ticket!
Bluehost also offers a free domain for those who choose their hosting services. Check our Bluehost review
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/bluehost-review/) and see by yourself!

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/siteground-hosting/)

SiteGround (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/siteground-hosting/) is another great


solution for expert hosting. It’s secure, affordable and packed with features that make it ideal for a liate
marketers. We found the WordPress and Joomla staging on the GoGeek plans to work particularly well and
is perfect for creating a test environment for your campaigns.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/hostgator/)

Another big hitter in the web hosting space, HostGator


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/hostgator/) offer packages from just $2.75/mo and
you can choose yours with cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting or a dedicated server.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/wpx-

hosting/)

If you’re in the market for dedicated WordPress hosting, look no further than WPX
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/wpx-hosting/). Fast, secure and with free built-in
support, you’re sure to have everything you need to get your site up-and-running in seconds.

Domain Registration

Setting yourself up with a domain may sound simple, but it’s always a better idea to go through a reputable
domain registrar, rather that using the hosting company.

(/academy)

A reliable domain registrar can save you fees in the long-term especially if you ever need to transfer your
domain name, plus many offer additional services like private whois protection, customer support, ICANN
Accreditation and SSL certi cation.

It’s usually better to go with a company that specialises in this area and has been around for a long time,
rather than one who simply offers domain registration as a bolt-on service and-or doesn’t have a long track
record.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/name-

cheap/)

Namecheap (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/name-cheap/) is one of the most


reputable and long-standing domain registrars with discounted domains starting from just $0.98. They give
free WhoisGuard on many new domains and have additional features such as trusted SSL certi cates and
private email support.

VPN Services

Having access to a VPN is essential for any serious a liate.

Not only will it keep your information private in public spaces, such as cafes or while on the move, but you’ll
also be able to check how your landing pages appear to people in various global locations.

Plus, you’ll bene t from the security, freedom and privacy that a VPN is all about.

There’s been an in ux of VPN providers on the market in recent years, all of which offer fantastic services at
a reasonable price.

To spare you the headache of researching, we’ve shortlisted the most trustworthy, so read-up and if you nd
a match – register your account!

You’ll be glad you did.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/nord-

vpn/)

With 5200 servers in 62 countries and apps for all operating systems and devices, NordVPN
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/nord-vpn/) has established itself as one of the most
(/academy)
secure and reliable services you can buy. Plans start from just
devices at the same time.
$2.99/mo and allow you to secure up to 6

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/safervpn-coupon/)

If you just want a simple plug-and-play VPN service, then take a look at SaferVPN
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/safervpn-coupon/). It’s easy to use from all your
devices with plans starting at $2.29/mo.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/ivacy-

vpn/)

Designed to be a one-size- ts-all solution, Ivacy (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/ivacy-


vpn/) gives you complete freedom over however you choose to use the web. Prices start from $2.35/mo.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/vypr-

vpn/)

Great speeds and proprietary technology to defeat VPN blocking, makes VyprVPN
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/vypr-vpn/) the perfect choice for unrestricted internet
access. Plans start from $5/mo.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/express-

vpn/)

Another popular favorite VPN service with high speeds and offshore privacy protection. ExpressVPN
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/express-vpn/) plans start from $8.32/my and you can
buy anonymously with a preferred payment method.

(https://www.cyberghostvpn.com)

Simple, automated and customizable, CyberGhost (https://www.cyberghostvpn.com) is a serious contender


in the VPN space. Plans start from $2.5/mo.

Landing Page & Design Tools

If you’re a programmer and know all about coding, we recommend you stop reading this paragraph, as you’ll
probably despise the tools we’re about to drop.
(/academy)

In case you’re a common mortal as the rest of us, there are tools that’ll do all the work of creating your pre-
lander, banner and whatever creative you’ll need for your campaigns.

The most important point here is that, once you nd a hit offer, you’ll need to “polish” it. It might look perfect
and you might believe it will convert for every user who’s gonna see it, after all – it’s your baby, right? But the
truth is – good is not good enough. You’ve gotta engage the user and create that extra step to make it
irresistible to them so they click on the subscription button.

Having said that, you’re gonna need to build your own creatives adapted to your offer and even to the
websites, where you’ll be advertising. The more the user sees a pattern, the more trust they build for your
product.

Being into programming and coding is always be the best option in the long-run. Learning PHP, Javascript,
CSS and HTML will make you a master when it comes to creatives.

However, if you don’t have the time/interest/budget for all of this, there are still some tools to save you time
and help with perfect your product pitch.

Nope, we’re not saying you can skip the design part. We’re saying there are plenty of landing page tools that
will make the process of creating high-converting LPs easy as a piece of cake!

You don’t have to be a coding whizz to get started, so it’s a win-win situation:

Thrive Architect: If you use WordPress to create landing pages, you’re gonna love this visual page builder
from Thrive. A huge time saver and the simplest way to get beautifully designed, high-converting landing
pages without the need for any coding.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/landingi/)

Landingi is a fantastic landing page tool for non-programmers that automates key tasks, and analyzes and
optimize your pages. Well worth the look!

Check our exlusive Landingi coupon (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/deals/landingi-discount-


coupon/), and read our Landing Review (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/landingi-review/).

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/instapage/)
(/academy)

Great for solo or team projects, Instapage (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/instapage/)
will help you to maximize your conversions and it comes with neat tools to optimize and share your pages.
Depending on the package, it will cost you anywhere between $29 and $127 per month.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/unbounce/)

With over 100 conversion-focused templates and a sweet page builder, Unbounce
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/unbounce/) remains a popular choice for a liates
priced between $49 and $199/mo.

(https://try.wishpond.com/mobidea-discount/)

More than a landing page design tool, Wishpond (https://try.wishpond.com/mobidea-discount/) enables


you to create funnels that include contests & promotions and are ideal when running social and email
campaigns.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/leadpages/)

Leadpages (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/leadpages/) is a great choice for lead gen


campaigns and a good all-rounder. The amount to invest is gonna be something between $25 and $199 per
month, depending on the package.

Email Marketing

For quality email campaigns, what you’ll need is a robust solution that guarantees optimal delivery rates.

In the list below we’ve covered everything – from capturing leads to sending and managing your campaigns.
The picks we’ve selected are packed with features such as autoresponders, automation and work ow tools
that will make your life much easier.

You’ll probably also want to segment your lists and split-test your subject lines. Say no more!, You’ll nd that
all recommended solutions below are more than adequate and can help you set up professional-looking
campaigns, whether you have a list of 1,000 or 100,000 subscribers.

(/academy)

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/thrive-

leads/)

To capture more leads from your WordPress site, you need ThriveLeads
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/thrive-leads/) in your life asap. It’s more than your
average leadgen plugin – it will help you increase your opt-ins and conversions, and can spit-test variations
of the form with its A/B testing engine.

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/constant-contact/)

With excellent mobile optimized templates and an intuitive interface, Constant Contact
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/constant-contact/) is an all-in-one solution to send and
manage your email campaigns, taking your email marketing to the next level.

Campaign Optimization

Once your campaign has been running for a while, you’re gonna want to make sure it’s optimized for the best
results.

Unpro table campaigns can (sometimes) be turned around, and a pro table campaign can always be made
better. Split-testing is the heart and soul of any a liate marketing success.

The following tool can help you with automatic optimization for conversions across multiple campaigns, so
that you can focus on the winners for your offers.

TheOptimizer gives you the ability to automate and optimize your native, pop redirect and push tra c with its
hassle-free campaign management software.

They have 3 versions:

TheOptimizer Mobile (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/the-optimizer-mobile/)


TheOptimizer Native (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/the-optimizer-native/)
TheOptimizer Adult (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/the-optimizer-adult/)

The best in the business! (/academy)



Tra c Sources Tools

Sometimes you wanna be able to manage multiple tra c sources from a single platform.

Or, you might want a tool that can facilitates the creation and optimization of your campaigns, to save you
time across multiple offers.

This can help by linking together various accounts from paid tra c sources, helping you visualize and
optimize your ad performance in a jiffy.

(https://adespresso.com/)

If you regularly create Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads campaigns, you’ll nd this tool to be a real
timesaver. You’ll be able to create campaigns and manage them all in one place, leaving more time to enjoy
your pro ts.

SEO Tools

If you’re looking to get more organic tra c to your landing pages and wanna know what the competition is
up to, then these tools are for you.

With these tools at your disposal, you’ll be able to analyze and track competitor campaigns and identify top
performing keywords in your niche, relative to the competition.

Make sure you give your landing pages a thorough SEO and content audit and then work through the list of
recommendations to get your pages up to scratch.

You’ll be racing ahead of the competition!

(https://cdnwp.mobidea.com/academy/wp-

content/uploads/2019/03/SemRush.jpg)

If you’re looking to track the performance of your competitors’ organic search campaigns, then SEMRush
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/semrush/) is a tool you need in your stack. For detailed
analytics on your competitors including SEO, Paid Tra c, Social Media, Content & PR it’s just what the doctor
ordered and the reporting and layout is a dream to work with. Check them out now!

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/ahrefs/)
(/academy)

As both an SEO and competitor research tool, Ahrefs
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/ahrefs/) is well respected in the industry. Use it to get a
complete overview of your competition’s search marketing campaigns, whether that’s organic or paid
channels. It’s well-maintained and regularly updated, making it one of the most feature-rich tools out there.

(https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk)

This fully featured website crawler is a must-have if you want to drill down into the technical side of your
competitors on-page SEO. In addition, you can use it to carry out comprehensive technical audits on your
own sites to make sure there are no technical errors that could cost you visitors.

Keyword Research

If you’re working with any type of paid search to promote your offers, you’ll rst need to carry out keyword
research.

This is what will separate your target audience from the tra c you don’t want.

Identifying pro table keywords in your niche can and will drive down costs by nding keywords that are
within your competitive reach.

Which ones, you ask?

The ones who are looking for your product!

The ones who are gonna make you $$$!

You’ll want to have an awesome keyword research tool so you can understand what people usually search
on the web; that also happens to be similar to what you’re selling.

Keyword research tools will be one of your biggest allies by helping you target your campaigns and promote
them to the right customers.

In addition, don’t limit yourself to any one tool as you’ll nd the results will vary from one solution to another.

There’s also a difference between keywords for SEO and those for paid search campaigns. Make sure you
use the right tool for the job of tailoring keywords to your tra c source.

Here are some of the best choices in the market:

(/academy)

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/kw-

nder/)

KW nder (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/kw- nder/) makes you nding long tail


keywords easy as 1+1. Use it to identify keywords with low SEO di culty to increase the ow of converting
visitors to your landing pages.

(https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/)

This free keyword tool is owned by Neil Patel. It’s a great way to get new suggestions for keyword ideas for
both SEO and PPC projects.

(https://ads.google.com/intl/en/home/tools/keyword-

planner/)

The mac daddy of keyword tools, Google Keyword Planner


(https://ads.google.com/intl/en/home/tools/keyword-planner/) should be your go to tool for Google Ads
campaigns. Look for high monthly searches with low competition in an affordable bid range when planning
your campaigns. Remember also to choose buying keywords, as you want tra c that converts as well as
bringing visitors to your site.

(https://lsigraph.com/)

Search over 28 millions Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords for words that have relationships to the
primary keyword in your campaigns.These words are great for anchor text links and for discovering new
keyword opportunities that are closely related to the ones you primarily want to rank for.

Learn more: A liate Marketing Glossary of Terms (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-marketing-


glossary/)

Bonus Tools

If you made it till here, we bet you’re hungry for more tools?

That’s why we’ve prepared a few bonus picks (to make you happy!).

They’ll hopefully turn you into a more rounded marketer, as (/academy)


well as help you to spot new opportunities when
promoting your offers.
Networking: Networking is crucial for quality business development. We need other people to buy from us,
sell to us, and breakthrough with us. Of course, to get people to be excited to do all these things for and with
us, we must give something of in return. So go out there and meet all the interesting prospects you can. At
the end of the day, the bene ts of working with others go well beyond the immediate sales gures.

A liate Marketing Forums (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-marketing-forums/): You’ve also


got great forums where you can learn all there is to know! This is a way for you to learn from others players’
mistakes instead of making your own (costly and time-consuming, don’t you think?). Wondering which
a liate marketing forums you should explore? Check the top ones!

STM (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/stm-forum/) – English speakers


affLIFT (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/a ift/) – English speakers
A liateFix (https://www.a liate x.com) – English speakers
Forobeta (https://forobeta.com/) – Spanish speakers

The superstar forums are not free. Yes it will cost you to register, but trust us – your long-term ROI will be
worth more than those pennies.

Conferences (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-marketing-conferences-this-year/) and Trade


Shows: We hear many people argue that conferences aren’t worth it. We disagree. You see, the trick is to
know how to take full advantage of the potential of any event!

These 5 tips will help you make the most of conferences and trade shows:

Have a goal: why are you going there, what do you want to achieve, etc.
Pre-arrange meetings: trust us – this is a must. Don’t schedule meetings in the morning since the
probability of missing them is higher!
Work on your introduction. The rst impression is all that counts!
Attend the parties and ALWAYS give those cool business cards!
Quality is better than quantity: you’re not trying to meet everyone. Time is money, you feel us? Making 5
really good friends is better than making 100 scattered acquaintances that you’ll never meet or connect
with again!

Account Managers: Account Managers are a crucial aspect of a liate marketing.

You can almost see these guys as tools for marketers; tools that help you get awesome advice, optimize
with knowledge, and recognize mistakes in order to maximize pro ts!

They are your most priceless source of info, guaranteed to give you the latest updates on the market.

(/academy)
Therefore, when asking them to show you the hottest campaigns
should always be as speci c as humanly possible.
to promote or which GEO to target, you

Don’t go about asking them for “their best campaigns.” They hate that! Instead, ask about their “top 3 dating
campaigns in the UK based on EPC”. Help them help you. Easy!

Google Sheets or Excel: Hey, wait. Did you think we were never getting to Excel?

Believe us when we tell you the following jaw-dropping, life-changing truth: Excel might as well be all you
need to dig deep in your data.

Information is power and this power comes from doing serious continuous analysis for which Excel is
perfect:

Easy to analyze data


Good at summarizing in different ways
Building a pivot table report is a piece of cake compared to the process of building the same report
manually. Boring, indeed!

Through the use of the pivot tables, you can perform a successful A/B testing and split-test offers. It
basically helps you to create cross tabulations of ‘keywords’ against all the others.

For example: ‘operators’, ‘creatives’, ‘countries’, etc. Input these parameters into the sub-ids of your target
URLs.

All this precious info will then be processed through pivot tables in order to optimize your campaigns.

Conclusion

In conclusion, today’s a liate marketing industry is busier and much richer in terms of resources to work
with. It’s also much more competitive.

Where are we going with this?

The more you know about your niche and the better prepared you are, the more you’ll bene t from that tasty
extra-mile advantage.

Remember: being smart today means saving money tomorrow!

Equipped with the various tools we shared above, you’re sure to make it rain like a real a liate pro! If you
think we missed anything important, don’t be shy and reach out! We wanna hear from you so shoot all the
questions you have in the comments below!

Also, remember to take quality time out – it can never be all work and no play!
(/academy)

Loved these awesome huge list of a liate marketing tools?

Then tell us what are your favorite tools in the comments below!

Advertisement

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/linkout/15790)

João Aguiar
Head of Marketing at Mobidea

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/author/joao-aguiar/)

Tags: A liate Industry (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-industry/)

A liate Marketing (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/a liate-marketing/)

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Offers (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/offers/)

Review (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/review/)

Optimization (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/optimization/)

Tools (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/tools/)

Voluum (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/voluum/)

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(/academy)

Tatiana Alshevskaya
Key Account Manager

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/author/tatiana-alshevskaya/)

Last updated on May 21, 2020 - 13 min read

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Best Ad Spy Tools for Internet Marketers

Table of Contents

Let’s Find Ads Online


9 Top Ad Spy Tools You Should Consider Using
1. AdPlexity
Learn How To Start Using It
2. Mobidea Ad Spy Tools
3. SpyPush
4. SpyOver
5. AdMobiSpy
6. SEMrush
7. AdBeat
8. AdVault
9. WhatRunsWhere

Let’s Find Ads Online

Whether you’re only just beginning your marketer master path or you already see yourself as the ultimate
money game super pro, it’s always important to follow the market’s cutting-edge trends to stay on top!

How the heck are you supposed to do that? (/academy)



By spying competitors’ ads, that’s how!

Indeed, it’s crucial that you check which promo materials (banners, landing pages) other a liate marketers
are currently using. By analyzing how they do what they do, you’ll be able to create a strategy and earn big!

Even so, don’t go crazy, looking for spying tools like an addiction!

Why?

Because there’s a whole bunch of them and we wanna make sure you select THE best one to do your thing!

These are by far the best tools to spy on your competitors’ ads so you can follow and understand the
techniques you can use to explore your spying skills to the max!

Here we go!

9 Top Ad Spy Tools You Should Consider Using

1. AdPlexity (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/)

AdPlexity (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/adplexity/) is the leading ad spy tool and one of our favorite
tools by far.

By entering the platform, you can monitor and download promo materials (banners and landing pages) from
the most popular ad networks (more than 100) and ad exchanges across 75 countries and 120 carriers.

>>> Exclusive 30% Lifetime Discount on AdPlexity


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/)

In fact, AdPlexity has different versions:

AdPlexity Mobile (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/) – In-App,


Popup, Redirect and Banner ad formats of mainstream tra c
AdPlexity Adult (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-adult-discount/) – In-App,
Popup, Redirect and Banner ad formats of adult tra c
AdPlexity Native (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/) – Native ads
format
AdPlexity Push (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/) – Push ads
format
AdPlexity Desktop (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/)
(/academy)

AdPlexity eCommerce (https://ecommerce.adplexity.com/) – See competitors most pro table shops,
popular apps and much more.

AdPlexity provides several approaches, according to the different goals.

Now let’s try to imagine the questions you’re asking yourself! That’s how we’ll answer them and make sure
you know everything you need to know before making your move!

Learn How To Start Using It

Question #1 – Which offers are a liate marketers running on a certain segment (country + operator +
OS) and what promo materials are they using?

For you to be able to check this, lter by Country, Operator and Device type. This is how you can see all the
campaigns that are currently running on this segment.

This lter will also let you get the list of banners and landing pages.

Moreover, you can lter Ad Type for Mobile Web to see only banners
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/banners-tips-improve-performance/), or for popunder
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/popunder-ad/), to see only landing pages.

Even when you lter by Mobile Web, you can click any banner and check its landing page.

From what you’ll nd, some campaigns have a direct link to the offer and some are linked to a pre-landing
page from where the user is already going to the offer.

AdPlexity’s Tutorial suggests that, in order to nd campaigns which use a pre-landing page, you should select
“Search in outgoing URLs”.

Even with this selection, you’ll still nd many campaigns with the direct link to an offer.

Another suggestion from AdPlexity: uncheck “None” at the tracking tool lter, since 99% of all a liate
marketing campaigns use a tracking tool. This will exclude brand marketing and other non-relevant
campaign types.

Question #2 – How do I know which promo materials were used to promote a speci c offer type?

(/academy)

Let’s say you’re interested in an iPhone sweepstake offer. What you’ve gotta do is search by keyword on the
landing page for “iPhone”. This is how you’ll get all the campaigns which include the word “iPhone” on their
landing pages (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-landing-pages/).

No matter what you’re searching for, it’s always better to specify the segment (country + operator + OS),
otherwise you’ll have too many results in random languages.

On the other hand, you can sort global results by “Received Most Tra c” and see which are the biggest
markets in speci c segments for this kind of offer. You can also see which promo material ran for a longer
period since it may mean that it actually performs well.

Question #3 – How did a liates run a particular offer?

We know a great offer to promote, but we’re not sure how to actually promote it.

What to do?

Check how others are doing it!

First of all, you need the landing page URL of the offer. If the offer is available for Wi-Fi targeting, you can
open the a liate link of the offer through a VPN (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/best-vpn-service-
providers/) with an appropriate country and get to the offer’s landing page.

You’ll get more or less the following URL: http://www.xxx.xx/subscribe/?


cr=53210&clickID=97368794344125-201612-156t874bec&a liateid=1234

After erasing tracking tokens, you end up with the proper offer link, which in this case is

http://www.xxx.xx/subscribe/?cr=53210

Then, you search for this URL by advertiser and BAM, you’ll see all the campaigns promoting this offer and
their promo materials!

Question #4 – What and how are a liates running on a speci c website?

Imagine you know that some website works very well but you’re just not sure about how to promote there.

Open the tab “By Publisher” and insert the website you wanna check.

Then you can specify the segment you’re interested in (country + operator + OS).

(/academy)
Just to summarize, AdPlexity is the greatest spy tool of them all!

Advanced search lters
Campaign alerts
Live chat support

Now, not only can you choose from dozens of mobile offers on Mobidea’s CPA network and power up your
ROI with Mobidea Push Tra c DSP, but you can also uncover top performing ads and tra c sources and
create your own winning campaigns!

This makes it super convenient for existing Mobidea a liates to run and optimize their campaigns from a
single login at the push of a button, and all from within your existing dashboard.

So, what’s so special about Mobidea Spy Tools?

Well, for one thing, Mobidea Spy Push (https://www.mobidea.com/spy-push/) tracks ads on 40+ of the top
push ad networks including PropellerAds, MegaPush, DatsPush, AdMaven, Earnify, MGI, ZeroPark, and more.

You’ll also be able to tap into 19M+ Ads over 90+ countries.

The Mobidea Spy Native (https://www.mobidea.com/spy-native/) is similarly impressive, with native ads
from 27+ ad networks and includes data from over 266 a liate networks.

So, let’s go ahead and check out the tool in more detail!

First, you’ll wanna choose which avor of campaign you wanna spy on.

You can choose from Native Ads only, Push Ads only, or opt for the Push + Native Ads Combo Spy Tool, to
leave no stone left unturned.

For a limited time only you can take advantage of a free 2-day trial offer on each plan by using the promo
code ACADEMY.

This should give you enough time to get a feel for how the platform works to make sure you get the most out
of your experience.

Check Mobidea Spy Push (https://www.mobidea.com/spy-push/)


Check Mobidea Spy Native (https://www.mobidea.com/spy-native/)

3. SpyPush (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spypush/)

SpyPush (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spypush/) is an established push noti cation


monitoring service, with a classy design.
(/academy)

It supports a great number of ad networks, including PropellerAds, DatsPush, AdsTerra, EvaDav.

Media buyers and a liate marketers will like the platform for its clean interface and simplicity of use,
combined with data from over 500,000 push ads.

They additionally offer a free trial, so you can explore a limited version of the service at no cost.

The trial is limited to a handful of GEOs, but in some cases, it should be enough to get you acquainted with
the capabilities of the software.

The format of the data is well presented, and it’s easy to see the title, copy and creative used at a glance.

You can click through to the advertiser’s landing pages and explore similar creatives, to give you a better
picture of what’s trending in your niche.

You have the option to select country, language, device and network and sort by time and activity and even
save creatives to your favorites list.

All in all, it’s a great platform to get started by competitive intelligence for push noti cation ads, and one
which you’ll probably nd yourself using time and again. However, it lacks on some useful features like the
CPC bid history.

Check SpyPush (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spypush/)

4. SpyOver (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spyover-discount/)

SpyOver (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/spyover-review/) is a platform that focuses on monitoring


and analyzing competitors’ Native ads.

It monitors 15 ad networks and 70 a liate networks in 115 countries and has an impressive database of 7M
ads.

One of the cool features about SpyOver is the amount of segmentation you can use in your searches.

You can lter data by device, browsers, GEO, networks and tracks and sort by the date and duration of the
creative.

Use it to nd detailed stats, graphs and data for each creative and explore landing pages by text, URL, copy
title or even links.

As one of the more advanced tools of its kind, SpyOver allows you to download competitors’ landing pages
and select multiple creatives for downloading at time.
(/academy)

At the heart of the software is the purpose to uncover winning creatives and landing pages and apply these
strategies to your own campaigns.

You’ll be able to use it to nd trending offers and use the advanced lters to see what’s hot right now or what
has been working over a longer period of time.

It’s also an effective tool for optimizing your own campaigns and analyzing the prevalent messaging in your
niche.

Check SpyOver (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/spyover-discount/)

5. AdMobiSpy (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/admobispy/)

A leader in competitive mobile intelligence, AdMobiSpy tracks over 6M advertisements in real time in 183
countries and includes 6 pop networks and 23 ad networks.

What can you do with all this data?

AdMobiSpy is the tool to use if you wanna nd new pro table tra c sources for your campaigns.

Spy tools are essentially a way to identify pro table strategies which you can apply to your campaigns to
increase your CTR and conversions.

The more data that is available will allow you to create greater success and boost your ROI.

AdMobiSpy takes this to a new level and helps you drill down into the granular level of your competitors’
campaigns.

You’ll be able to calculate predicted results as well as avoid strategies that could be detrimental to your
business.

It’s also perfectly geared up for a liate marketers and tracks some of the most important networks in the
industry.

The interface itself will be familiar to those who have previously used push ad spy tools, but the presentation
of the data stands out as being of particularly high quality and gives you instant visual feedback on the
creative that you can put to use in your own campaigns.

The freemium plan comes with limited ad results and a choice of 4 ad networks in 2 countries and is limited
to 5 daily requests.

Check AdMobiSpy
(/academy)
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/admobispy/) 
6. SEMrush (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/semrush/)

You may be familiar with SEMrush (14-day free trial (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/deals/semrush-


discount-coupon/)) as a popular SEO tool for digital marketers, but it’s also a very neat tool for spying on
your competitors PPC campaigns.

As an all-in-one tool for competitive research on paid search campaigns, it’s certainly hard to beat.

If you predominantly run pay-per-click campaigns, then SEMrush is just the ticket!

You can use SEMrush to:

Analyze competitors’ ad budgets and keywords


Monitor ad copy and landing pages
Discover New Competitors in Google Ads and Bing Ads
Localize Your Ad Campaigns

They are also constantly adding new features, such as the CPC map, which can help you to optimize your
spending in geographical regions.

One of the best features about the platform is to be able to identify competitors’ ad copy in real time and
export the results for later reference.

This makes creating new ad copy for split testing your campaigns a breeze and, along with the organic
search results for the keyword, should give you an unfair advantage over your competitors.

You can also use the tool to uncover keywords that your competitors may have missed, and nd low
competition keywords, as well as ones which are in high demand.

The keyword magic tool can give you millions of keyword suggestions for your campaigns and, combined
with the ad history and keyword di culty tool, can make sure you pick a winner every time.

Check SEMrush (https://www.semrush.com?


ref=7121682351&refer_source=&utm_source=spytools&utm_medium=promo&utm_campaign=link)

7. AdBeat (https://www.adbeat.com)

While some of the platforms reviewed on this list are primarily concerned with Push noti cations, AdBeat
(https://www.adbeat.com) takes a different approach and instead gives insight into competitive intelligence
for the display advertising market.
(/academy)

While not strictly aimed solely at a liate marketers, it is nonetheless an impressive platform and extremely
useful for spying on your competitors’ campaigns.

AdBeat includes access to data from 120 ad networks in 20 countries, across 4 device types and can display
ad data from Desktop, Mobile, Native, and Pre-roll ads.

Names include Outbrain, Taboola, Revcontent and AdRoll to name a few, and it’s a great way to uncover
winning campaigns and optimize your own strategies.

The scheduled alerts and reports are also a nice touch, and it sends you noti cations any time one of your
competitors launches a new campaign.

You can also compare advertisers’ performance with visual data that makes gathering new insights for your
own campaigns child’s play.

AdBeat is a data intensive platform that is intended for industry professionals and, if you’re serious about
display advertising and wanna check out AdBeat for yourself, you can request a live demo from the team to
show you the ropes.

Check AdBeat (https://www.adbeat.com)

8. AdVault (https://www.advault.io/)

AdVault (https://www.advault.io) is 100% focused on nding and identifying winning Native Ads campaigns.

With over 14M native ads across 13 networks in 19 countries, it’s an impressive platform that is used by
thousands of a liates worldwide.

Featured networks include Outbrain, Taboola, Gravity ads, Adblad, RevContent and MGID and you can nd
ads in all of the top GEOs and publisher sites.

Similar to other spy tools, you’ll be able to lter your search by Ad strength and popularity metrics, giving you
every chance to discover trending creatives and offers.

AdVault additionally focuses on landing pages and funnels, so you can identify your competitors’ campaigns
from start to end and see how they are managed each step of the way.

The platform also lets you track the advertiser you wanna follow, and you can additionally save creatives to
favorites for later use.

It’s super easy to nd trending ads, keywords and advertisers and explore related ads in your niche.
(/academy)

One neat feature is the LeadFinder integration which enables you to contact advertisers who could be
suitable for partnerships.

You’ll also nd it easy to identify redirect campaigns which focus on ROI and discover new offers to use in
your own campaigns, which are used by high volume a liates in your niche.

Check AdVault (https://www.advault.io)

9. WhatRunsWhere (https://www.whatrunswhere.com)

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/whatrunswhere-1.jpg)

Now it’s time to learn how to explore another awesome spy tool: WhatRunsWhere!

>>> Exclusive 25% Lifetime Discount on WhatRunsWhere


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/whatrunswhere-promo/) or 50% on the First
Month (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/whatrunswhere-50/)

WhatRunsWhere is a marketing spy tool that allows you to nd: a) where your competitors are advertising; b)
what kind of ads they’re using; c) which advertisers and ads are running on a particular domain, by keywords.

You can select among display version, mobile, or full (display+mobile).

WhatRunsWhere has international coverage for over 150 display networks and 140 mobile ad networks. It
also collects banner, text and native advertisements.

WARNING: in case you forget to cancel the subscription before the expiration date, the money for the full
version will be automatically deducted from your account!

WhatRunsWhere offers you the possibility to search by advertiser, publisher, keyword or network. Using the
enterprise version, you can explore the advanced opportunity to search by category and network. These
features will help you nd inspiration and launch the new GEOs while being fully prepared!
(/academy)

There are only 4 ways to research the ads:

Advertiser

This feature allows you to nd where the advertiser is running his ads. Imagine you have decided to advertise
Uber. All you’ve gotta do is insert the domain’s name in the search by advertiser eld.

You can then see demographics, sources of tra c and all ads (text, banner, native) for it, as well as info
about the publishers.

Important: we advise you to sort the creatives by Ad strength, as it’ll show you the best ads rst!

Publisher

If you wanna put your ads on the speci c site, this section is for you. For the speci c domain, you’ll get info
about sources of tra c, type of ads, and a list of advertisers.

You can check all the ads that were placed on it, for how long it was running, and other details.

Moreover, you can pick the most popular domains, to nd out which offers your competitors are promoting.

Keywords

This section is great for you to research a speci c niche. For instance, you can check the info for the keyword
“beauty” on the following image.

You can also select the format that interests you the most.

Searching by keywords is a pretty useful tool if you wanna see the advertisers in the particular market. In
addition, it also helps you gure out how to design your ads!

Top ads

This section is really worth exploring as it shows you the best ads according to your lters: country, creative
type, ad network, and period of time. This allows you to check current industry trends and design the right
ads.

Note: if you wanna check adult ads, don’t forget updating your preferences so as to allow adult ads!

(/academy)
Long story short, WhatRunsWhere is a good service for a liate marketing beginners. That being said, you
should understand that true pros will always want a platform with more advanced tools.

Check WhatRunsWhere (https://www.advault.io)

As I’ve mentioned above, there are many quality spying services available on the market.

I wanted to help make this choice easier for you!

Other Tools

I truly recommend to use an ad spy tool but I’ve also gotta mention that you may not even need a tool to
monitor your media buying enemies.

For instance, let’s say you’re wondering what and how other a liates promote on a particular website for the
mobile Wi-Fi tra c of some country.

You can use a VPN service (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/best-vpn-service-providers/) along with


the User-Agent Switcher extension for your browser!

Just connect through a VPN to the country you’re interested in. Then make it seem like you’re using a mobile
device on the User-Agent Switcher extension, and check the website.

In case you don’t know the website you wanna check, just launch the campaign on the ad network, spend 50
miserable cents, and you’ll get the long list of websites on your stats.

Additionally, never hesitate to ask your account manager for suggestions on how to promote a particular
offer in a particular segment! Trust us: it’s probable that they know a bit more than you.

Cheers to all!

Keep spying like crazy and become the example of success in a liate marketing
(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/successful-a liate-marketing/)!

Tatiana Alshevskaya
Key Account Manager

(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/author/tatiana-alshevskaya/)

Tags: A liate Industry (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/a liate-industry/)

(/academy)
Ad Network (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/ad-network/)

A liate Marketing (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/a liate-marketing/)

Banners (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/banners/)

Media Buying (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/media-buying/)

Mobile A liate Marketing (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/mobile-a liate-marketing/)

Offers (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/offers/)

Review (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/review/)

Tools (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/tools/) Tra c (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/tag/tra c/)

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What to read next


It makes all others pale in comparison, especially because you can nd and download many pre-landing
pages on AdPlexity. That’s huge, since it’s a cool opportunity that’ll allow you to understand the whole ow
used by other media buyers to sign up their users and get slippery sweet pro ts!

Important note: You should check our in-depth AdPlexity Review Guide


(https://www.mobidea.com/academy/adplexity/) in order to learn all the hidden tricks.

AdPlexity: The De nitive …

Check AdPlexity (https://www.mobidea.com/academy/recommends/adplexity-discount/)

2. Mobidea Ad Spy Tools

Mobidea Spy Push (https://www.mobidea.com/spy-push/) and Mobidea Spy Native


(https://www.mobidea.com/spy-native/) let you  nd out which of the Push and Native ads are making
serious bank.

Mobidea included the top features from the world’s best spy tools and rolled them into one kick ass package
that’s been put together with a liates in mind.

Here are some of the dope features:

CPC bid history


Landing page ripper
Hourly ads update
(/academy)

ALSO ON MOBIDEA ACADEMY

2 years ago • 1 comment 3 years ago


Paulo Faustino What is
Interview @ TES and Ho
2018 Work?

Comments Community 🔒


1 Login

 Recommend 6

What to read next

(/academy)

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