My Favorite Affiliate Programs

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Connecting with Retailers to Create an Income

Affiliate programs allow users to connect with merchants to help sell their products. This is done by registering for the affiliate program which is always free and receiving a special number to be used in product urls. When customers click on the url to visit the merchant website it is monitored at the main affiliate site. They are able to ultimately see and keep track of any sales the customer makes through this link. Depending on the merchant you can make anywhere from 3 - 20% of the sale.

For the last five years I have worked with a lot of affiliate programs. Some are easy to use while others require a little more thought. I think every affiliate has a few companies they feel a little more loyal to than others, either financial gain or ease of use.

This lens will focus on the affiliate programs I use throughout all my sites.

Shareasale 

This is my first affiliate program. I don't remember why I originally signed up for Shareasale but I can tell you it is still one of my favorite programs. I've heard mixed reviews from other people but I've never had any major problems. Any minor problems were an email away and were quickly answered or resolved. I tend to be most loyal to the affiliates I've met through though company.

One of my reasons for liking it is that it isn't super high tech which makes it easy to place simple html links and banners. They also have a "create a custom link" feature that will automatically enter your code info and create the html link. All you have to do is enter the product url from the merchant's website. Very handy and easy. I use it like crazy for blogging and speciality lenses.

But my absolute favorite feature is the "Activity Details" which allows me to look at each sale, date, amount, from who in chronological order with just one click.

Visit Shareasale to learn more about their affiliate program.

LinkShare 

This was the second affiliate program I signed up with. It has evolved a lot over the last five years. It's most recent evolution an attempt to make it easier for their affiliates to use the website, create functional links and find reports.

It also has a nice create a link feature which requires entering the url for the product and the url for the image. Unfortunately it isn't a mandatory feature for every merchant.

What I don't like is their new weekly payout schedule. I wish they had an option for your to choose the number of payment a month.

Overall, it's easier to create text and banner links than before and with the new system easy to find out about sales and payment.

Visit Linkshare to learn more about their affiliate program.

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca 

This affiliate program is also at the top of list of programs that I use regularly. They have a simple text links and banner system and they offer a variety of products besides the traditional books and CDs.

Unfortunately a lot of their links with "frills" use script which doesn't work well with lenses but it's easy enough to make a simple text link to any product.

Their reports are easy to read and sales show up in real time. They work on a fluctuating percentage that changes with the number of sales you have each month so you can make anywhere from 4 - 6% on sales. I've seen more action through the .com one than the .ca one, hence the one link below.

Visit Amazon.com to learn more about their affiliate program.

Commission Junction 

I've been using this affiliate program since my first year and while it has never been one of my favorites for ease of use, it does have an amazing variety of merchants as well as a reliable pay schedule. You can see at a glance what your current sales amount is as soon as you log in.

One of the things I like about Commission Junction is that they have a system for checking on broken links that will take you exactly to the page where it is located so you can easily fix it. (Shareasale has a similar function but I discovered it here first). The downside is that when someone clicks on the broken link they get a big Commission Junction message that the link has expired. Other affiliates, even though the link is broken, still direct customers to the product or company page you intended.

One of my major peeves is that their links/banners don't work everywhere because they are too hightech or spamish.

Commission Junction is celebrating its tenth year of business so they must be doing something right.

Visit Commission Junction to learn more about their affiliate program.

Do You Make Money Using Affiliate Programs? 

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How Do You Decide  

There's two ways you can decide. You can go through each program's list of merchants to see which ones suit your needs. You can then sign up with the program that has the most or you can sign up to them all. In the beginning I'd sign up to the one with the most merchants in your topic.

Another option is to search for merchants or products on the Internet that you want to feature then find the affiliate programs they belong to. Companies usually have a link to their affiliate programs in their footer links. This is a bit time consuming but helpful if you happen to come across a merchant your interested in while you're surfing. Many of the merchants I work with I found this way.

Pepperjam Network 

This company is new to me this year. I found out about it when a merchant I was dealing with left one of my other affiliates to come here. I only work with about four merchants at this company but that have a lot of business to choose from and the list is growing fast.

They have an excellent support network and are willing to work with new and extravagant affiliates. What I don't like about it is I haven't been able to find an adequate searchable help section.

Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus.

Affiliate Future 

I only have one merchant with this affiliate but I thought it was worth mentioning because they have world access which is sometimes hard depending on where you live.

Visit Affiliate Future to learn more about their affiliate programs.

 

A few program that I didn't care for because of lack of choices or terrible system or sluggish website were Clix Galore, Share Results.

My Favorite Affiliate Programs Guestbook 

Let us know what you think of the affiliate programs mentioned here or of any other ones you use.

Or just leave a warm fuzzy!

Lensmaster

Gail47 wrote...

Thanks for the list. Great to have someone comment on the affiliates they have tried. One never knows what an affiliate will be like unless someone like you is willing to share from your experience.

ReplyPosted June 21, 2009

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

Great list. thanks for making this. you've been blessed by a squidoo angel :)

ReplyPosted April 18, 2009

Lensmaster

jill florio wrote

I am still in the buy a coffee category. Although some months dinner and movie happens. I love Amazon but I think their percentages make them fall into the category of "easy to use, but low paying." They are more of a volume site for me.

I know some people get good money off them, however.

I would like to hear more of your experiences with Pepperjam!

Reply Posted October 07, 2008

Lensmaster

SweetSouthernWoman wrote...

very clear explanation of what an affiliate program is. That helps me a lot.

ReplyPosted October 07, 2008

Lensmaster

Joan wrote

I use Amazon & Linkshare also and love them. Linkshare offers many choices that fit into my website and blog.

Reply Posted September 24, 2008

Lensmaster

Deborah wrote...

Can't wait to hear your others, Moe! Love learning from real people about affiliate programs--another great idea!

ReplyPosted September 24, 2008

Lensmaster

BigGirlBlue wrote...

I have 8 more that I'm going to include over the next week.

ReplyPosted September 24, 2008

 
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Clix Galore 

The learning curve was steeper on this one than some of the others. But once I finally figured it out I was able to find some affiliate programs that coincided with my topics.

Visit Clix Galore to learn more.