Joining an Affiliate Program

Incase you don’t know what an affiliate program is here is a little break down…

An affiliate program is a program that companies offer to people interested in promoting their products in exchange for commissions for sales. Some companies have direct programs where you can get links direcly through them like amazon, others are part of an affiliate platform like Commision Junction where you can find many different companies offering affiliate programs all in one place. Once you find the companies you want to be affiliated with, you can apply to be part of their program, they will review your application and accept or deny your request. Once you are accepted you will have access to product links and banner that will have specific tracking information attached to your account so that you can get your commissions for any user who clicks on your link and makes a purchase… pretty great right!

Let’s dive in deeper…

So, you have created a website, you have come up with some great ideas for things to write about, researched your key words to help with google rankings, now you want to know how to monitize your content on your site to make money. Joining affiliate programs is the next step.

Will my niche have an affiliate program?

I hear this question alot! There are affiliate programs for every niche you can think of, so don’t worry about not being able to find them.

If there is a specific company you are interested in promoting you can search for that company in a google search. For example, say you wanted to promote products from Home Depot because your website niche is about DIY projects. To do this you would type in “home depot +affiliate program” in google search and then press go. Links will come up that you can follow in order to apply to be part of the program, provided the company you are looking for has one. Looking for individual companies for your niche one by one may be tough, and you may miss out on some companies you never thought of. For that reason I suggest you also do a general search for affiliate programs related to your niche as well.

Another thing that you can do is join an affiliate platform. These platforms are used by companies to help them manage their accounts and help people find their programs. Just as theses accounts help the companies, they also assist you as the user to do the same… Keeps things organized. Through these platforms you can search and apply to many different programs and companies, some you may not have even thought of or heard of, all offering commissions to use their product links in your website. Some of the platforms you can check out are;

• Share- a – sale
• Commission Junction
• Pepper Jam
• Click Bank
• Rakutan
• Linkshare
• and more

I myself use a few of them, they all have different programs I use for different niche websites that I have. Most are very user friendly with a home page dashboard like the one above that lets you see any commissions you have made and news about new companies you can apply to. I like having my links in one place, makes my life easier too when I’m monetizing my content.

How much do you get paid? 

Every program offers different payment options. Some companies offer commissions in a percentage others offer a dollar amount per membership fee or package purchase. All the information you will need to know about getting paid will be given to you in disclaimers from the companies you promote.

When it comes to getting your commissions you can get paid by mail out check, and pay pal transfers. Some platforms will require you to hit a threshold, for example $100 in commisions before checks are issued, others do transfers monthly on the same day. To be honest as long as your getting paid, the rest is just details.

Being part of affiliate programs and adding links to your content will only go so far. To really have good money making potential you have to do what it takes to build your website and promote the crap out of it through social media avenues and friends and family to create steady engagement and traffic on your site and in turn create further trust with the search engines and hopefully have your content get first page rankings to reach more people.

There is alot to learn, and it can feel a bit overwhelming at first that is completely understandable. When I first started searching for online opportunities I know nothing about any of this. I learned everything I know about Affiliate Marketing and building an online business from a platorm called Wealthy Afiliate. If you are just starting out and feel like you have alot of questins click here, and you will find everything you need and more.

It takes time 

Success doesn’t happen overnight. Building a business is challenging and exiting. It’s frustraiting and it’s agrivating. It’s a lot of things through the journey you go through as your building it. Think of it as a roller coaster with its ups and downs, twists and turns. Giving it the time it needs to grow and the dedication to make it work will pay off in the end. Don’t give up!