Affiliate marketing porgram

After you have your new website up and running, the next step is to monetize it. After all, the big idea is to turn the witty words from your blog posts into the dream of becoming a ‘Dotcom millionaire,’ and you can then retire to a secluded beach, with the money continuously flowing into your bank account. 

While a few folks hit it big online, the reality is to not quit your day job, as it is challenging to earn money online. The first key is to have compelling content, that keeps those eyeballs coming back to visit your site, as opposed to the over a billion other websites out there. Once you have consistent traffic, the next step is to configure the revenue stream, and that is where affiliate marketing comes in. 

Basically, you partner your website with the affiliate marketing program, that in turn connects you to a merchant that sells your product. For example, you write a post about the uses of a widget, and the affiliate marketer then connects you to a seller that has widgets available for sale, and in turn a cut of the profits comes back to you when a reader purchases one. Simple, right? 

With that brief backgrounder in affiliate marketing out of the way, let’s go through some great, and potentially profitable, choices to partner your website with, while highlighting the potential pitfalls.We've also highlighted the best website builders

Image Credit: Clickbank

1. Clickbank

Higher commissions lead the way to popularity

Free registration

High commission rate

Lower quality eBooks

Only digital products

Clickbank is a major affiliate marketer which has been around for years, with 200 million customers. They feature a variety of products to partner with, across many categories, particularly eBooks. It is simple for a novice to get started as anyone can create an online account, and it is free with no signup fee, so it is great for startups. They are also notable as Clickbank is known for having a higher commission rate than other affiliate marketers. They even run a Clickbank University to teach the ins and outs of affiliate marketing to those new to the field. 

The downside of Clickbank is most of the products for sale are eBooks, and while they span several categories, most are lower quality offerings, without name brand recognition. 

• You can sign up for Clickbank here

Image Credit: ShareASale

2. ShareASale

The partner with literally thousands of vendors' products to sell

Wide variety of products

Free signup

High payout threshold

ShareASale is another affiliate marketer, with a longstanding reputation across eighteen years, and were acquired last year by Awin, an international affiliate marketer. They feature a large catalog of products to partner with from beauty supplies, to branded sports gear, luxury goods, and eyewear- almost 5,000 vendors in total, making it easy to find products that tie into your site. With so many options, ShareASale uses a Power Rank system to clue you in to the most popular vendors. The signup process to get started has no cost, and is quite painless, with owner’s of multiple sites able sign them all up in ‘one fell swoop.’  

The drawbacks of ShareASale center around the payouts. The payout threshold of $50 can be difficult to reach for newer websites still building their traffic. In addition, to add insult to injury for a struggling site, they can actually delete your account if your account remains under $25. 

• You can sign up for ShareASale here

Image Credit: JVZoo

3. JVZoo

The SaaS approach to affiliate marketing

Additional revenue from recruited affiliates

Lower quality products

PayPal is only payout option

JVZoo is relative newcomer with six years of experience, and takes a SaaS approach to affiliate marketing; they must be doing something right as they were named by Inc among the ‘5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America’ for 2016 and 2017.

Product creators can list their products in their marketplace for free, and JVZoo gets a standard 5% commission on anything that sells - and nothing before that. Marketing affiliates get instant payments to their PayPal accounts as soon as the item sells, with no payout threshold required. In addition, there is opportunity to make money as affiliates can get a cut of sales of any affiliates that they have recruited, termed a ‘Second Tier Commission.’ Finally, if the buyer that was referred purchases another product (that was not specifically referred), the affiliate gets the commission- permanently.   

The downsides include that payments are only made via the PayPal platform, with no option for direct bank transfers. Also, looking at the top selling products, they are all digital downloads, and of lower quality, that could potentially lower the quality of a website. Finally, the affiliate marketing commissions will be taken back for a buyer that requests a refund.