First, if you're new to affiliate marketing, some
preliminary explanations may prove helpful in your quest
for becoming a part-time or full-time affiliate marketer.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is quite simple to explain: you promote
and market a product or company in return for a commission
if a sale or lead is made from your marketing efforts. With
online affiliate marketing you simply place your affiliate
ID embedded links on your web pages and if a customer
clicks your link and proceeds to that designated company's
site and makes a purchase or signs up for a service, you
earn a commission.
Affiliate marketing, if done right, can prove to be a very
lucrative venture. Commissions can run anywhere from a few
pennies to thousands of dollars for just one click or sale.
Professional marketers develop affiliate relationships with
hundreds of companies and build sites to promote these
companies and products.
Needless to say, the advent of the Internet has been a
golden opportunity for affiliate marketers to really expand
their promotions and marketing. As more as more customers
choose to buy online, advertising and purchases keep
increasing at a maddening pace.
To accommodate all this online ecommerce we have seen the
birth of large affiliate networks, operated by large
corporations. Make no mistake, affiliate marketing is big
business, accounting for billions in sales and commissions.
What is an Affiliate Network?
An affiliate network is a third party facilitator which
brings affiliates and companies together. It connects
Advertisers (companies with products or services to sell)
together with Publishers (those who display and promote
these products or services) so they can do business. The
affiliate network does all the tracking, accounting and
payment of commissions.
The following Top 10 list of the best Affiliate Networks is
compiled by an actual full-time affiliate marketer who has
worked these programs for over five years. This list is
subjective and based on first-hand experience. It should be
seen in this light and every marketer probably will have a
different list or have these in a different picking order
depending on the type and nature of their marketing.
But this list of the 10 Best Affiliate Networks will give
you a general rundown on these affiliate networks and how
they operate.
1. Commission Junction (www.cj.com)
Now owned by ValueClick, Commission Junction was one of the
first affiliate networks. It is also one of the most
important with many of the Top Fortune 500 companies listed
here.
CJ is an international network with excellent stats and
tracking (some of the best you will find), along with
regular monthly payments makes this the obvious first
choice for anyone wishing to try affiliate marketing. For
those new or old at affiliate marketing, CJ also holds
regular seminars and training sessions.
Most merchants offer pay-per-lead or pay-per-sale, one of
the best features is the performance bonuses and
incentives. As most experienced marketers will know,
selling 50k to 100k each month for merchants will bring in
the big incentives or bonuses.
Commissions run as high as 50% but most are in 3% to 15%
range. You have the option of direct deposit for your
payments. One major plus, CJ will tell you which merchants
and ads are earning the most revenue for affiliates so you
can easily choose which merchants are worth promoting.
2. ClickBank (www.clickbank.com)
ClickBank is another professional affiliate network with
excellent stats and tracking. Easy to use and pays every
two weeks.
ClickBank is slightly different from the other networks in
that it deals mainly with digital download products. The
commissions from ClickBank are usually much higher than the
other networks, around 40% to 50% or more.
ClickBank has over 10,000 products but keep in mind,
info-marketing products will have stiff competition from
all the savvy and well established Internet marketers
promoting these same products. Consider youself warned!
The most successful marketing tactic here is to first
dominate your targeted niche with your blogs and sites,
then find affiliate products to match your content or niche
subject matter, whether it be gardening equipment, gaming
laptops or Mediterranean cruises!.
3. LinkShare (www.linkshare.com)
LinkShare is another excellent affiliate network. It is one
of the oldest affiliate networks on the web. LinkShare was
recently acquired by the Japanese Portal Rakuten, with a
price tag of $425 million.
Very good stats and reporting with their Synergy Analytics
system. Many Top Fortune 500 companies are presented here
so you will no trouble finding products and services to
promote. LinkShare pays commissions as they receive them
from merchants - monthly checks.
4. Affiliate Window (www.affiliatewindow.com)
Affiliate Window is an UK based affiliate network which
offers top brand companies and good commission rates. Pays
once a month and has excellent stats.
Savvy affiliate marketers know promoting in other countries
can be much easier than promoting in the American market
place. Mainly because these other countries haven't become
saturated with online marketers, little competition means
more sales.
5. Amazon (www.amazon.com)
Amazon is another excellent affiliate network to join if
you want to sell products from your site or blog. Amazon
has excellent stats and the links are very easy to create
and place on your web pages.
You also have the option of creating your own store with
Amazon aStores. Amazon also now has context link ads and
Widgets!
Commission rates are somewhat lower than the other networks
but making sales thru Amazon is much, much easier. You will
make more sales mainly because Amazon is a well known and
trusted online company. Amazon now pays monthly.
6. Shareasale (www.shareasale.com)
Shareasale is yet another easy system to work with good
stats and simple to create links. With 1,700+ merchants to
choose from, Shareasale is another good affiliate network
to promote.
The control panel is easy to use and the reporting is very
good. Usually pays the month following your sales.
7. Google (www.google.com/adsense/)
Many won't think of Google as an Affiliate network but it
does run affiliate products thru its Adsense program. Very
few products but like everything from Google it is
professionally run and top caliber all the way.
Please note, top marketers know affiliate links/products on
their content pages will return 10 times what Google
Adsense will give them. However, these marketers will also
know using Google Adsense on less targeted pages throughout
your sites or blogs will give you a healthy return.
Besides receiving that monthly check from a multi-billion
dollar company like Google will put a smile on your face
every time.
8. LinkConnector (www.linkconnector.com)
LinkConnector is a relatively new affiliate network which
launched in 2004. It has Pay Per Click, Pay Per Sale and
Pay Per Lead. Good stats and reporting. Worth checking out
for their different types of new affiliate technology such
as Direct Linking which passes pagerank along to the
merchant's site.
9. CPA Empire (www.cpaempire.com)
Great CPA (Cost Per Action) network especially if you do a
lot of email marketing and promotions. Geared towards
acquiring leads and sign-ups but does offer other merchants
as well. Good stats and reporting.
10. Independents
Individual affiliate deals with different companies which
may or may not be listed with the major networks above.
Your independent affiliate deals will be some of your most
lucrative since you can sometimes work out separate private
commission rates and bonuses. Aim for residual income here.
Don't ignore this aspect of affiliate marketing as it will
pay the highest dividends.
Keep in mind, all the above affiliate networks are
middlemen, they come between you and the merchant you're
promoting. For affiliates with a proven track record, who
have shown they can deliver the customers and sales, a
private deal cutting out the middleman/fees can prove
very beneficial for both parties. If you're fortunate
enough to become known as a super affiliate, these private
deals will become more common and more profitable.
Professional affiliate marketers use all of the above
networks to create multiple income streams from their
marketing efforts. In the process, they build a healthy
monthly income for themselves and their families. There is
no reason why you can't do the same.
----------------------------------------------------
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For
the latest and most effective web marketing tools try:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com Or why not try these excellent
free training manuals and videos:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/Free_Marketing_Courses.htm
2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.
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