What are you passionate about? I’m sure there is a product or brand that wants you to advertise for them…and get paid to do it! This may be in the form of standard ads, or through affiliate marketing, which is what we are discussing in detail today.
Before you get into affiliate marketing, I always encourage you to look at what the focus of your site is. I have seen publishers get into a niche because they feel it’s more profitable than others. While there are more opportunities for various niches to earn, no one niche is going to make more than any other.
Regardless of what your site’s focus is on, I would encourage you to step outside your “blog” of posting and see how any of these affiliates can organically fit within your own posts. I have helped and have seen many bloggers find a way once they figured out what was available (these were NOT coupon or deal related sites either!). It’s completely possible but it won’t just jump out at you at first. YOU have to take the time to see what is out there and YOU have to make it happen.
This is where influence comes in. If you have 100 readers a month but all are extremely loyal to you and your recommendations, you can earn a decent income with affiliate marketing. When people ask “Well, how much realistically?” I always respond the same “How much work do you want to put in?” It’s up to you. That’s why it’s called being an entrepreneur. You create the rules for what you post about and how much work you want to put into it.
As you get into the territory of affiliate marketing, there are a few terms you will hear frequently. You need to understand what these mean because they can make a difference in your income potential.
CPC
Compensation Per Click. You are paid each time someone clicks on the link you advertise for the company.
CPA
Cost Per Action or Acquisition. Revenue is earned each time a specific action is taken. This may be a sale, registration or other type of lead as per the affiliate agreement.
Lead
Revenue is earned each time a lead occurs. This may be a new signup to a newsletter.
PPS
Pay per sale. Revenue is earned each time a sale is made per the affiliate agreement. This may be something unique where you get one amount for any new customers, and existing customers you receive a commission payout.
Commission
Revenue is earned each time a sale occurs. The commission is agreed upon in the advertiser terms.
Creative
These are the banners, widgets or displays that you may use in advertisements. Pay close attention to which creatives are approved for promotion. Also be mindful of how you may promote each creative. Newer stipulations are restricting the use of promotion directly on Facebook.
Cookies (Web)
Cookies are placed on a computer during the visit to an affiliate site. If a visitor clicks and does not make a purchase or finish a lead, you may still have potential to earn from their visit down the road. These web cookies stay tied to that visitor for a period of time. If they come back the next day, and your affiliate agreement has the web cookies expire in 48 hours, you can still earn from that sale or lead.
Check your affiliate terms to determine how long cookies are set for each visit.
Conversion
A conversion is getting the desired action. If you are running a CPC ad, it’s getting that click. If it’s a commission based ad, it’s getting a reader to make a purchase.
Often times you may hear others say “this offer converts well.” This means, the offer has a high success rate for obtaining leads, commission or clicks.
So, what affiliate marketing companies have we had success with? Some of my first affiliate resources were for online survey companies. I was organically sharing about these companies as a way to help others earn a few extra bucks. Once I realized I could actually earn a commission or lead payout for each new member, I started using affiliate links instead of using the company’s referral program.
As mentioned above, it will take time to figure out which programs will do well with your audience. The easiest place to start is find out what you’re already promoting and see if there is an affiliate program for that product or service.
Here are a few affiliate marketing companies that we personally have experience with:
- Amazon.com (not available in several states)
- Escalate Media*
- MySavings*
- Panthera*
- Pepperjam
- LogicalMedia*
- Commission Junction
- Brandcaster (Coupons.com)
- LinkShare*
- Impact Radius
- Share A Sale*
- MyLikes*
- Grocery University
- Ebates*
- ShopAtHome.com*
- BigCrumbs*
- Swagbucks*
*Company also offers a publisher referral program.
Do you have experience with other affiliate marketing companies?
Andrea publishes SavingsLifestyle.com and is a co-founder of Savvy Blogging and business partner in My Coupon Database.
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Disclaimer: This post contains one or more links to an affiliate. See the Disclaimer Policy for additional information.
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Maybe because of the focus (or size) of my blog, besides Amazon, I’ve had the best luck with smaller affiliates–like e-books of other bloggers, e-mealz and the like. It’s because the price point is so small, people buy them quickly–and the payout is usually big (by comparison to big affiliate programs).
Thanks for all the great info–I’ll try to do better now on the BIG companies!
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Andrea @ Savings Lifestyle Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:00 am
Amanda, we are working on getting a list of the ebooks that bloggers produce to share with everyone too! I like that most of them do a 50/50 split too. You’d be surprised how well you would do with big companies though
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Vision Forum is one that I have really enjoyed working with since I already love their products and promote them often. Although I must say, probably every dime I make from them goes right back to them!
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I agree that the success of the affiliate will depend on how much time & effort you put into your blog and how you can seemlessly incorporate to your blog without looking like a sale page.
I also have success with a couple products with Commission Junction. And by *success*, I mean making enough each month to get a minimum payout. But not yet enough to pay for mortgage.
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Amy @ Atlanta Deal Sites Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Also forgot to add Living Social affiliate is one that has a great payout for both signup and sale.
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Eric Reply:
June 6th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
My application with them is pending … what sort of payout structure do the offer for both sign up and sale? Thanks
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Eric Reply:
June 8th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Most affiliate marketing programs don’t allow you to give actual numbers because they’re part of a contract between the company and the blogger.
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Amy @ Atlanta Deal Sites Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
You should email them. They are pretty good at responding to the email request.
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I love my Amazon Store.
I also love Earth Mama Angel Baby. It fits my niche and I love their products!
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Heather Reply:
December 20th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
There’s an affiliate for Earth Mama Angel Baby? That’s totally in my niche & I already prmote them! Who knew?
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Commission Junction has been a hard one for me to really make any decent money!
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Thanks for all the great information. I am a new blogger and love what I am doing. Hoping to make a few buck down the road.
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OK, this is my problem w/affiliate marketing (and it’s my personal problem w/computer savvyness not a problem w/any affiliate program, none of which I have a problem with) I can’t figure out where to put the code they send me. OK, yes I’m relatively computer illiterate regarding html but not sure how and where to put this stuff. Any guidance? God knows I need some!
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Crystal Collins Reply:
December 13th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
You can put it within posts when the html tab is open, or in widgets on your blog. Hope that answers your questions!
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Thanks for the tips. I just figured out recently that I can put affiliate ads within my posts or at the end of them. Takes me a while to get the simple stuff, unfortunately!
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