If you are a blogger and not making money through affiliate marketing, it is likely that you are not maximizing your earnings as a blogger.
I did not pay attention to affiliate marketing when I started blogging because I believed it would not be worth my time. How mistaken I was.
After starting to explore affiliate marketing, I came to the realization that I had been promoting products for years without making any money. This doesn’t necessarily imply any wrongdoing, but if you have the opportunity to promote your favorite products and earn income in the process, why not take advantage of it?
One positive aspect of affiliate marketing is that making money does not require a substantial amount of traffic.
In order to achieve success in affiliate marketing, it is important to establish a trusting audience and promote products that genuinely interest you, despite the fact that having traffic is advantageous.
How To Find Affiliate Products To Promote
Affiliate marketing is considered to be one of the most effective methods to earn money, whether through blogging or operating a specialized affiliate website.
During the holidays, you can utilize your affiliate links on social media, in blog posts, and in gift guides without adding or removing any information.
If you want to become an affiliate for different products, there are two choices available. The first option is to directly reach out to retailers to inquire about their affiliate programs. The second option is to apply to affiliate networks, which grants you access to numerous companies and their affiliate links all at once.
Why Use Affiliate Marketing?
There are a couple of reasons why affiliate marketing is one of my preferred methods of earning money through my blog.
To make money, it is not necessary to invest time in creating a product or offering a service.
Once you have completed the initial work, the money you earn becomes passive, allowing you to potentially continue making money with minimal effort for several years in the future.
Applying to Affiliate Programs
Before you apply to an affiliate program, it is recommended that you take a few steps. These steps include joining affiliate programs, and here are my recommendations on how to do this.
Check the Requirements to Join
Before applying, it is advisable to check what the requirements are for joining certain affiliate programs and whether you meet those criteria.
Check the Commission Structure and Rate
Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the commission structure and rate before deciding to join an affiliate program.
There are two prevailing commission structures that are commonly used, namely pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale.
If an advertiser utilizes the pay-per-lead payment model in their affiliate program, it implies that you will be paid according to the number of leads that successfully convert. This means that when someone completes a desired action such as subscribing to their newsletter, you will receive a commission.
Under the pay-per-sale commission structure, you will receive a commission solely if a sale is generated through your affiliate link.
In addition to understanding the commission structure, it is important to have knowledge about the commission rate for the product you are promoting. This refers to the specific amount you will earn for each lead or sale.
Considerations When Applying For Affiliate Networks
- Types of affiliates they work with and how well they fit with your niche
- Payout schedule – some networks pay monthly, others leave it to the discretion of the individual company
- What creatives do they offer? (text links, different size banners)
- How long are the cookies? This is the length of time your personal affiliate link will be registered with the product/retailer. Some cookies last a year while others last only a day or so. The longer, the better, in case the buyer takes a little time to think before making their purchase.
- Do they offer deep linking? It’s a lot easier to be successful at affiliate marketing if you can link directly to the product you are talking about and not just the company’s homepage.
- Support – some networks assign you with an account manager who checks in regularly and can assist with any questions you have, with others, you are primarily on your own once you are approved.
Blogger-Friendly Affiliate Networks
Shareasale
- They feature a lot of smaller, family owned companies that are not on any other network.
- Part of the AWIN group but acting independently for now.
- You have to apply to each individual company, some approve affiliates automatically while others will review your site and give you an answer within a couple of days.
- Minimum payout is $50
- They pay out monthly and once you have made your first sale. Payment is made through bank transfer.
- Shareasale offers two tier commissions which means that if an affiliate of yours becomes an affiliate and makes a sale, you receive a portion of that sale (sometimes just a few cents but hey, it all adds up).
MaxBounty
- Dedicated affiliate manager who is available through Skype, phone or email. They will work with you to find campaigns that fit your niche and to get the highest paying programs available.
- MaxBounty pays weekly which is awesome for new bloggers who need income quickly.
- There are over 1,500 campaigns to advertise across all kind of niches such as like surveys, freebies, financial, insurance, dating, diet, etc. They mainly deal with larger companies.
- To get approved for MaxBounty you need to complete the web sign up and have a quick telephone call with an account manager. You are then automatically qualified for most programs.
CJ Affiliates
- CJ affiliates (formerly know as Commission Junction) is one of the largest affiliate networks.
- Works in much the same way as the other programs whereby you receive a commission for a lead/sign up or sale to a website.
- They work with companies such as VRBO, Zappos.com, and Walgreens.
- They pay monthly, like the other networks via direct deposit.
- CJ affiliates is a good option if you would like to feature specific ads on your blog, instead of Adsense.
- CJ will close your account if you don’t make any sales in the first 6 months.
Awin
- Affiliate Window or AWIN, is a UK based affiliate network.
- Until recently, AWIN was the only network that had Etsy (Shareasale also has Etsy as of May 2017 for USA only, Canada and UK still need to go through AWIN)
- Features a ton of travel products such as Caesars Entertainment, Travelzoo, booking.com and lots of hotel chains.
- To join AWIN you may need to pay $5 by credit card as a good faith payment – it will be refunded when you make your first sale and reach the payout threshold.
Amazon Affiliates
- Promote every product under the sun through Amazon plus their own products such as Amazon Prime.
- Amazon is pretty easy to join but there is an approval process once you start using their links.
- You will earn commission on anything bought within 24 hours of clicking your link. Imagine featuring a special kind of baby bottle and then the person ends up buying their crib the same day!
- Payment once you reach a threshold of $100.
Impact
- Looking to be an affiliate for Target? Impact is where you want to be!
- They have some great campaigns such as Uber and Target.
- Sign up for each program individually
- You cannot search for merchants to join with Impact they work a bit differently. You also have to sign and review an insertion order for each approved program.
