If you have a website that you are hoping to monetize, then affiliate marketing is a great way to earn some income. The real questions are what is it exactly and where to get started.
Affiliated marketing is essentially a sponsorship. People reach out to brands or companies to offer to promote or feature their products. In turn, said brands or companies pay a small commission for every sale or click that originates from that site. Some of the most popular affiliate marketing programs are Google’s AdSense and Amazon’s equivalent.
Which Program is Best to Start With
The world of affiliate marketing is a bit confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing and where to begin. Because it is also so vast, there is no one-size-fits-all program that is the absolute best. Depending on what kind of website or blog you are running, then you will have to do some research into a few different programs to find the best fit for you.
If you aren’t exactly tech-savvy and don’t have experience with affiliate marketing, then obviously you should look for a program that is user-friendly. Some features to keep in mind are how extensive their user support is and what kinds of features are on the program’s dashboard. Some services will provide you with plugins to make their program easier to add to your website.
How the affiliate marketing program pays you is another key detail to pay attention to. Make sure the payment protocol is explicit and that they pay you on time. Reading up on user reviews can save you a lot of time and frustration so you know who will pay on time and whether or not they have issues transferring money to bank accounts or through digital wallets such as Paypal.
Another attribute to look into is how many users are on the platform and how successful they are. Some affiliate marketing programs might be extremely limiting and don’t generate a lot of income. Try to find programs that are proven to bring in some income and return on investment for your website.
Below we have compiled a list and broken down the best and easiest to use affiliate marketing programs if you are just starting off. Hopefully, you should find the right one for you in this comprehensive list!
Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is one of the largest and most popular affiliates available. With their vast reach as well as countless how-to’s on how to use this platform, this is a great option for absolute beginners.
Amazon Associates is well established and extremely popular. If you have a few different ways that your site or blog generates income, this is a great option. On top of their ease of use and timely payment, they also offer a wide array of products that will suit almost any niche.
It might be easy to use and get started with, but Amazon Associates comes with some downsides. One of which is the amount of money you might earn from clicks or sales. Because there are so many people using this platform, don’t expect the commission to be super substantial. You will have to generate a lot of sales or clicks in order to earn a nice chunk of change.
Commission Junction
Commission Junction has been around for over two decades. Not only does this affiliate marketing program have a reputation for being easy to use, but they are available to users around the world.
Commission Junction is great for beginners thanks to it’s established track record. With over twenty years under their belt and a wide selection of affiliates to offer, you are sure to find a brand that matches with your blog or website. The platform is also pretty easy to use and get accustomed to.
As you may have guessed, Commission Junction has some faults. Unlike Amazon Affiliates, Commission Junction chooses the products and brands that are promoted on your site. You have no choice in what is advertised. They also are a bit unstable in what brands are represented. One day you could have a promoted company on your site that generates a lot of clicks and income for you, then the next they are pulled from the platform.
ShareASale
ShareASale works to help pair marketing affiliates with sellers to find the best fit for one another. This platform has a lot of wonderful tools at its users’ disposal to make sure that they are successful in their money making ventures as well as having lots of companies to partner up with.
ShareASale boasts a long running history as well as a great reputation. They are a great choice for beginners because they host several thousands of different affiliates and make it easy to sign up. They have a comprehensive dashboard that provides users with easy to read and understand metrics and insights.
This affiliate marketing program conversely can prove to be a bit difficult to use when you first start. The user interface is clunky and hard to use upon start up. This has cost people the opportunity to grow their business and earn income.
Rakuten
Rakuten is an affiliate marketing program that has a massive global reach of over 100,000 brands around the world. They are a great choice for anyone who is just starting off in the lucrative world of affiliate marketing.
Rakuten’s easy to use tools has given it such a great reputation. They have easy to find and generate reports about how your site is performing to help you make the most out of affiliate marketing. The support Rakuten offers users is also fantastic and keeps everyone satisfied.
While they do have some great track record in client and user satisfaction, some people have found that the reports are lacking. There are some metrics that they leave out or simply just don’t share with users on the platform. Like Amazon Associates, you also need to have a lot of traffic to generate a sizeable income. It should also be mentioned that Rakuten’s dashboard is a bit of an eyesore. It is a bit dated and is in desperate need of a revamp.
If you have a website or a blog and need to diversify how you make money on it, affiliate marketing is a great way to boost income. By teaming up with one of these services that we have outlined, you are sure to grow your site’s earnings by promoting products, services, or brands that are associated with your niche!