As you get started with affiliate marketing, you need to join some affiliate marketing programs. There are many available, but some are easier to start making money with than others. Some affiliate marketing programs have restrictions. Others will reject you if you don’t have enough traffic to your website. Amazon affiliates require you to have at least one sale within the first six months or your account will be deactivated. This can be difficult for people who are just starting out and haven’t figured out how to get traffic to their website.
1. Clickbank
This is by far the easiest affiliate marketing program. There are a variety of different categories and niches available. Clickbank has digital informational products. The links to the programs are easy to generate with the click of a mouse. Because Clickbank products are digital, they often have a higher percentage of commissions.
There are no requirements for website traffic or making immediate sales, as other programs require. This is great for new affiliates because they can start earning affiliate commissions right away. There is a low payment threshold before Clickbank will send you a check. It is $20. Therefore, you can start receiving checks for your sales relatively quickly.
Clickbank is my top recommendation for beginning affiliate marketers. It is the fastest way to start earning a decent commission. When you start affiliate marketing, you want to begin generating affiliate marketing commissions quickly to motivate yourself to keep working on it!
2. Commission Junction
Commission junction is a great program. It is a network of different companies. However, for each affiliate program, you need to sign up for individually. The different companies will evaluate your profile and determine whether they want to partner with you. Many of them will decide not to partner with you because new websites have very little traffic.
When you are beginning as an affiliate marketer, it is wise to sign up for Commission Junction and apply to a few companies that are relevant to your niche. However, it may take a while for you to get approval. Therefore, it won’t happen. You will get some rejections. It isn’t worth holding your breath on the approval process. You should continue to create content and build your audience. You can always apply for partnership with these companies as your website matures.
3. Amazon Affiliate Program
Amazon is one of the most diverse affiliate programs. It has a wide range of both digital and real products. Amazon affiliate program is a wonderful program, but they do want you to be an active affiliate. If you don’t make a sale within the first 6 months, you may have your account deactivated. It can take six months for you to start seeing a decent amount of traffic.
The pros of becoming an Amazon affiliate are that they offer a wide array of products and there is something that will fit in your niche. Another benefit of the Amazon affiliate program is that you can refer individuals to Amazon and you will make a commission off whatever they purchase in the next 24 hours. Shopping on Amazon has become very commonplace and many people do it frequently.
The downside to Amazon’s program is that there are no upsells. The cookies on computers last only 24 hours and the commission percentage is only 6%. The Amazon affiliate program is great when you have established a good deal of traffic to your website.
4. Share-A-Sale
The Share-a-sale sign up is very simple. It consists of five steps that involves setting up a username, ID, entering your email address, payment information, website information and contact information.
Share-a-sale requires you to pay a $5 fee, which goes towards your background check. It is refunded You’ll have to pay a $5 fee that goes towards a background check. However, that money does get refunded to you.
This program is not recommended for beginners though. Publishers will have to pay a $25 monthly fee only for accounts with balances less than $50. If the balance is below $25, your account will be deleted. Because accounts are deleted below $25, as a courtesy, ShareASale doesn’t allow fees to get below a minimum balance without alerting you. ShareASale won’t let any unexpected charges sneak up on you.
This is a good affiliate network, but it is for intermediate marketers who are able to consistently drive traffic to their website and generate a good amount of sales.
5. Independent Affiliate Programs
Some merchants have their own affiliate programs that you have to sign up for individually. As you peruse their website, you can discover these affiliate programs by scrolling down to the bottom of their page. If they have their own programs, there will be a link for affiliates to click on and have you sign up. You will need to read their terms and agree to them. Often individual programs only require an email address to sign up. You will then be given an affiliate link to promote their products.
Another great way to discover affiliate programs for your niche is to go to the infamous Google. Type in your niche or some keywords related to your niche and + AFFILIATE. This will bring up individual affiliate programs in your niche that you can sign up for.
I recommend signing up for Clickbank and a few independent affiliate programs for beginners. This will give you plenty of opportunity to make money as you are just starting out. As your website traffic grows and you become more experienced with online sales, you should add any and all affiliate programs that have products you would like to review. This will give you more flexibility in what you promote and lots of opportunities for reviewing the products online. Clickbank and other independent affiliate programs often have sales funnels with upsells for future commissions that you can earn.
As always, you should stay on top of the affiliate marketing trends once you join one of these programs. Wealthy affiliate is an excellent resource for people who are interested in earning a living through affiliate marketing.
