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Nowadays, the competition for online traffic is becoming more and more fierce, and the cost of obtaining traffic is getting higher and higher. Whether it’s through social platforms or advertising, traffic has surged to new heights. Here, I recommend a low-cost, pay-for-performance method to increase conversion sales – affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a very effective way to increase sales and its results have been proven over the years.
This article is mainly aimed at merchants and recommends platforms to promote product sales. If you have a website or social media account, are a content publisher, and want to make money by recommending other people’s products, please check out our online earning alliance and affiliate platforms. You can check Which platforms can help you monetize your content and earn commissions. If you only focus on affiliate networks, you can check out our top ad network recommendations .
What is affiliate marketing?
First, let’s learn about what affiliate marketing is.
Affiliate Marketing (English: Affiliate Marketing), or affiliate marketing, is a digital marketing strategy in which merchants (buyers) enter the affiliate marketing network platform and then promote their products through content publishers on the platform. After generating conversion sales, merchants have to pay a certain percentage of commission to the platform and content publishers.
Affiliate marketing is a pay-for-performance online promotion method, which is very suitable for independent sellers. Sellers only need to pay commissions for the orders brought by the affiliate website. In other words, you only need to pay when the transaction is completed, which is low cost and risk-free.
Affiliate Marketing Participants
The role of affiliate marketing is mainly composed of three parties, including merchants (that is, advertisers), affiliate marketing platforms, and affiliate members.
- Merchant ( advertiser ) : That is, the seller, who joins the affiliate marketing platform and adds his own product link, and pays a certain commission fee to the platform and alliance members based on the actual sales results (such as sales, number of registrations, etc.).
- Affiliate marketing platform: It is a bridge connecting advertisers and affiliate members. It tracks the conversion of product links through technical means and pays sales commissions to the content publishing platform that recommends the product, that is, affiliate members. Well-known foreign alliance platforms include ShareASale , CJ, etc.
- Affiliate members: Content publishers who have their own websites or social accounts, earn commissions by creating content to introduce useful knowledge and products on the affiliate marketing platform to readers, turn website visits into revenue, and realize content monetization.
These three are complementary to each other. Merchants must provide high-quality and low-price products, which can be physical products or virtual products; the affiliate marketing platform provides services and technical work for merchants and alliance members; alliance members publish Useful information helps visitors, thereby recommending products to them, generating sales conversions and earning commissions.
Best affiliate marketing platform recommendations
1. ShareAsale
Founded in 2000, ShareAsale is one of the leading platforms in the affiliate marketing world. They have advanced technology, processes, management and many excellent affiliate members to publish content, and have been rated as the best affiliate marketing network by many well-known media.
Suitable merchant/advertiser type
It is very suitable for websites of many niche merchants, that is, websites that specialize in serving a certain consumer group: fashion, home and garden, business, computers/electronics, etc. in almost all categories. It is very suitable for small and medium-sized sellers and websites.
Merchant entry fee
One-time registration fee: $625. A minimum deposit of $125 is also required, which is deposited directly into your account on the platform and used to pay affiliate commissions.
transaction fee
The transaction fee refers to the platform transaction fee incurred when a valid transaction is generated, which is 20% of the total commission. For example: your total commission rate is 10% of sales, then the transaction fee to the platform is 2%. The minimum monthly transaction fee is US$35. If the minimum amount is not reached, the monthly transaction fee will be charged based on the minimum amount.
ShareAsale has more than 241,000 affiliate members posting content recommending products. It brought a total of US$16 billion in revenue to platform merchants in 2021, and is paid based on the actual sales generated. It is a very effective product promotion platform.
Shareasale merchant registration link
2. Flexoffers
Flexoffers is also a well-known affiliate marketing platform. FlexOffers.com is an award-winning affiliate marketing network providing comprehensive solutions for advertisers and content publishers. The platform has 12,000 advertisers and 75,000 affiliate members.
Suitable merchant/advertiser type
Similar to ShareAsale, this platform also focuses on independent websites for niche products, supporting physical products and digital products.
Merchant entry fee
For US businesses: There is a one-time initial setup fee of $500, which includes a $100 deposit.
For businesses outside the United States: There is a one-time initial setup fee of $1,000, which includes a $500 deposit.
transaction fee
FlexOffers offers two different transaction fee models:
CPS Plan: Transaction fee is 3% of total sales. For example, if a content publisher generates $100 in sales and your program commission is 5%, the fee paid to the publisher is $5, and FlexOffers’ platform transaction fees are an additional $3 (3% of sales ). Therefore, the total amount payable to FlexOffers is $8, and Flexoffers will pay $5 to the content publisher.
CPL/CPA Program: 20% of total commission. For example, if your plan pays content publishers a $5 commission, FlexOffers will charge an additional $1 platform fee (which is 20% of the commission). Therefore, the total amount you need to pay to FlexOffers is $6, and the platform will pay those $5 to the content publisher.
Please note: If your cumulative monthly transaction fees do not reach $25, FlexOffers will charge a minimum monthly fee of $25.
Shareasale merchant registration link
3. CJ Affiliate
CJ’s full name is “Commission Junction” and they work with well-known brands such as Bluehost, Hostgator, Vistaprint and more.
Suitable merchant/advertiser type
Overall, CJ’s overall cost is relatively high, and it is suitable for merchants with certain strength, but is not very friendly to small website sellers.
Merchant entry fee
The CJ Affiliate Network has not publicly released its prices or any associated fees. However, some merchants disclosed their fee information:
One-time registration fee: $3,000. A minimum deposit of $3,000 is also required, which is used to pay affiliate commissions.
transaction fee
The transaction fee provides you with 30% of the commission. However, if your monthly platform transaction fee is a minimum of US$500, you will still have to pay the minimum fee if you cannot reach it.
You will need to provide your company’s annual revenue. Once you fill out the form, a CJ Affiliate staff member will process your details and recommend the best solution for you.
4.ClickBank _
Clickbank is one of the most popular affiliate marketing networks. Founded in California in 1998, ClickBank is one of the originators of affiliate marketing networks. They have a ton of digital/virtual products. Because it is a virtual product, the commissions on its platform for content publishers, that is, its affiliates, are very high. Its high commission characteristics attract many members to promote products on the platform.
Suitable merchant/advertiser type
It is very suitable for sellers who provide virtual products, such as e-books, training courses, games, software and services, e-commerce and e-marketing, etc. Advertisers on Clickbank are basically small businesses and small website owners.
Merchant entry fee
If you plan to register as a ClickBank vendor, you must pay a one-time activation fee of $49.95. And pay a minimum deposit of $29.95 for your account.
transaction fee
ClickBank does not charge monthly fees to its customers. However, there is a $2.50 payment processing fee for every payment issued to a customer.
Additionally, every time a product is sold through ClickBank, ClickBank purchases the product from the seller for 92.5% of the selling price – $1. In other words, ClickBank takes a commission of 7.5% + $1 as platform commission.
For example: Your product sells for $100. Each time a product is sold, ClickBank will buy the product from you for $91.50 (92.5% of $100 minus $1). Your total revenue is $91.50. If you choose to pay a 50% commission, $45.75 of the sale (50% of $91.50) will go to the affiliate. Your total revenue from this sale is $45.75.
cLICKBANK Merchant Registration Link
5. Skimlinks
Skimlinks is a UK-based company that has been active in the affiliate marketing space since 2007, providing display advertising, mobile advertising and CPA/CPC products.
More than half of the top 100 publishers in the US and UK work with Skimlinks (including Buzzfeed, HuffPost, Conde Nast, Hearst and Gizmodo), with 60,000 content publishers worldwide. The network generates $2.5 million in daily affiliate sales.
Suitable merchant/advertiser type
Skimlinks is special. It is equivalent to a second-level affiliate network. It is free to join, but the premise is that you need to be a member of some affiliate marketing networks such as CJ, Rakuten Advertising, Awin, ShareASale, Impact, Partnerize, Avantlink, Tradedoubler, Webgains wait.
Merchant entry fee
It’s free. When you become a member of an affiliate marketing network, you can contact Skimlinks and ask Skimlinks to apply for membership on these networks. After you approve Skimlinks (or Skimbit), make sure your application has deep linking enabled. You can now place ads on the Skimlinks network.
Skimlinks is also equivalent to the content publisher of various affiliate marketing networks. You just need to approve it to publish content.
SKIMLINKS merchant registration link
How to become an affiliate marketing online merchant
1. Choose the right affiliate marketing platform
To promote your products or services, the first step is to find an affiliate marketing platform where you can connect with affiliates.
Here are some well-known affiliate marketing platforms:
- ShareAsale
- FlexOffers
- CJ
- ClickBank
- Skimlinks
- AvantLink
- Impact
Affiliate networks provide merchants with a variety of services, including tracking tools, reporting, payment processing, attracting affiliates, and more. This saves merchants a lot of energy and time. A good affiliate marketing platform can provide better services to merchants and recommend more and better affiliates to recommend merchants’ products.
2. Determine how and at what rate your commission will run
Once you find an affiliate marketing company you want to work with, you need to agree to the payment terms. Affiliate marketing payout rates vary depending on your partner.
Merchants who are new to affiliate marketing can choose the payment method that works best for their business. Some businesses use simple payment systems like Paypal, while others have dedicated affiliate managers who manage commissions.
Once you’ve decided on your rates, you’ll need to agree on how your payments will be distributed. The commission structure for most affiliate networks is as follows:
- Pay per sale : Affiliates receive a commission based on the number of sales made using their affiliate link or website.
- Pay per lead : Affiliates receive a commission based on the number of leads (measured by conversion rate) generated through their affiliate links or websites. If a customer is recommended to sign up, a commission will be charged.
- Pay per click : Affiliates receive a commission based on the number of times their affiliate link or website is clicked by consumers (measured by cost per click).
No matter which system you use, provide the affiliate marketing platform with some necessary information ahead of time.
3. Develop clear terms of service
One of the big risks with affiliate marketing is that you need people outside of your company to promote your products. It’s possible that a new affiliate marketing company won’t understand your brand and your attributes as well as your in-house staff. Your affiliates need to be provided with clear terms of service, which means clear guidelines for marketing your product.
Creating your own terms of service ensures you control the perception of your brand. Uniform Terms of Service You can ensure that all affiliate user-generated content has the same look and feel as your branded content.
What should be included in your membership terms of service?
- Detailed overview of affiliate partner requirements
- Overview of Affiliate Expectations
- Necessary brand language or guidelines required by affiliate marketing companies
- Clear commission structure and payment schedule
Finally, terms of service can protect your brand from bad affiliate partnerships.
Some affiliates may not follow certain guidelines, may spam, or do things beyond your control to promote products. Clear terms of service can try to avoid such situations.
Summarize
Creating a great product or building a website is hard, but affiliate marketing can do the heavy lifting for you. The affiliate marketing network platform promotes and helps you sell your products in an effective way, thereby growing your business and saving you time and money as a marketer. Using the right affiliate marketing platform for your company can skyrocket your sales and is well worth signing up for and using.