Your blog shouldn’t just be used for making viral content, but for making a living online.
If you’re ready to use your blog to make some real money, it’s time to explore the best affiliate marketing programs of 2018. These programs offer the most efficient way to monetize your blog and avoid killing your marketing budget. Affiliate programs are designed to help you make money by posting links to merchant’s websites and encouraging users to buy products, resulting in commissions to you.
To get started, you partner your website with the affiliate marketing program of your choice. The program considers your niche, content, and products and then pairs you with a merchant that sells your product. To have access to the top merchants, the program must be top-notch, like the ones on our list below.
CJ by Conversant
Formerly Commission Junction, CJ Affiliate by Conversant has been around for two decades. CJ uses product widgets—embedded on your site—that showcase numerous products through a grid, collage, or slideshow. The program offers real-time transaction monitoring, which can help identify and quickly resolve any challenges with a transaction. In addition, the platform provides deep link automation to help promote web pages that can increase your revenue.
Image Source: https://www.cj.com/what-is-affiliate-marketing
CJ is selective with which websites it partners. You’ll go through a thorough application process and once accepted, you’ll then apply to each vendor for the products that you wish to sell. CJ is best suited for professional and polished websites.
Main Benefits
-Real-time monitoring.
-Concentrates on high-quality websites.
-Deep link automation.
Impact Radius
Impact Radius was derived by the former founders of Commission Junction and is a big believer in quality over quantity. The Impact team concentrates on higher-quality campaigns rather than haphazard product links on your site that have no overarching goal. Impact Radius identifies as a SaaS (Software as a Service) resource and prides itself on transparency. With a quality partnership at the forefront, you can make up to 17 percent more when you follow the Impact Radius suggestions compared to other affiliate marketing programs.
Main Benefits
-Has a unique concentration on campaign building.
-Most advanced real-time reporting.
-Dedicated customer success managers.
ShareASale
ShareASale is an affiliate marketing program that boasts more than 5,000 vendors, which makes it easier for you to find products that are fitting to your site. The easy search tools mean you don’t have to spend all day browsing those 5,000 vendors.
Image Source: http://blog.shareasale.com/2017/12/02/how-to-search-for-new-merchants-on-shareasale/
Take advantage of its Power Rank system to keep track of which vendors are the most popular. ShareASale has a higher payout threshold than other affiliate programs at $50, but there are no start-up fees with this program.
Main Benefits
-Customize your portfolio of advertisers in the Opportunity Marketplace.
-Access to info hub that alerts you to product launches, special offers, and other news.
Amazon Associates
Amazon is one of the pioneers of affiliate marketing programs. When the company launched, a marketing budget was nonexistent, so they opted to pay people a commission for any referral sales. While Amazon has a fairly low payout compared to other programs (4 to 8.5 percent), you can benefit greatly from the worldwide recognition and immense number of products on the site. Whether you’re an affiliate marketing blogger, review site, or influencer, the program is free to join, and there are no metric requirements you must meet to be accepted. Plus, you can keep track of what’s selling with Amazon’s reporting system.
Main Benefits
-Highly recognizable brand and customer loyalty.
-Receive direct deposit payments into your bank account.
-Even if the customer doesn’t buy the product you promoted, you still get credit if they make another purchase.
Rakuten Marketing
Rakuten, formerly known as LinkShare, has about 1,000 merchants with several well-known brands. This affiliate marketing program offers an engaging, easy-to-use interface that offers a unique way to create a rotating ad banner. The simple dashboard offers real-time reporting, and the help library is filled with videos to walk you through any challenge. Flexible deep link capabilities make this program even more valuable, and by using Popshops (Rakuten‘s sister site), you get access to numerous plugins that can help improve the look of your site and the user’s experience.
Main Benefits
-Excellent deep linking tools.
-Training tools available on demand.
-Easy-to-use dashboard (great for beginners).
Flexoffers
Flexoffers has been in the affiliate marketing program game for more than a decade but continues to grow at a rate of 50 new advertisers each day. You can deep link a particular product page to make it easier for customers to find and buy exactly what they need. A unique feature of this program is the FlexRev program—a revenue sharing model that lets you earn up to 50 percent of their profit.
Image Source: Flexoffers.com
Main Benefits
-Access to 10,000-plus advertisers.
-Multiple domains can be registered to one account.
-Detailed reporting to show clicks, conversions, and sales.
Summary
Affiliate marketing can be a real money maker for your blog if you know which programs to use. The best news is you don’t have to choose just one. You can participate in multiple affiliate networks and platforms. Do your research on these top-ranking affiliate marketing programs and capitalize on their popularity.
Adam Enfroy is the Affiliate Partnerships Manager at BigCommerce. He is passionate about leveraging the right strategic partnerships and software to scale digital growth. Adam lives in Austin, Texas and writes about affiliate marketing at adamenfroy.com.