What Are Affiliate Marketing Programs?
Affiliate Marketing Programs are arrangements where an online merchant that’s selling products pays an affiliate website a commission for any sales generated from their referral traffic. The affiliate website places affiliate links pointing to the merchant’s site to track transactions. Each agreement between an affiliate and a merchant features the commission structure and payout information.
Source: regentseo.com
There are three main parties involved:
- The merchant. For example, a retailer selling products.
- The affiliate. For example, a product review website linking to products on the retailer’s site.
- The consumer, who visits the affiliate site, clicks the affiliate link to the retailer’s website and purchases the retailer’s product.
How Do I Join Affiliate Programs?
There are primarily two types of programs: self-hosted programs, and ones in an affiliate network.
First, self-hosted programs run on the company’s website with affiliate software tools. You join these by searching for “Brand + Affiliate Program,” finding their program page, and filling out a form to apply.
On the other hand, a program can live inside affiliate networks – a collection of merchants offering their links in one secure place. These networks let you join new programs in different verticals, view reporting, see your commissions, and grab your affiliate links to add to your site.
With either approach, there are either automatic approvals or manual approvals. Some programs accept anyone; some automatically add you if you hit specific benchmarks. Many programs require an Affiliate Manager to review your application manually.
What Are the Requirements to Join Affiliate Programs?
To join, you need a website and a way to receive money – either a PayPal account or a bank account. Although you can participate without a website by adding links on social media, this works best for high-end social media influencers, and I always recommend having a website.
I recommend you have a well-designed website with an SSL certificate installed for HTTPS. You should own a business email address connected to your domain, and have a PayPal account set up.
What Do You Look for in High Paying Affiliate Programs?
The first two things to look for are commission rates and average order value (AOV). Remember, high rates x high average order value = more affiliate revenue. Next, look at the cookie duration and potential earnings per click (EPC).
Here are four things to look for in the best high paying programs:
1. Commission rate.
The percentage of a sale that’s funded by an advertiser to an affiliate for referring a new customer. This percentage can range from the low single digits up to 50% or higher.
2. Average order value (AOV).
The average dollar amount spent every time a customer completes an order. To calculate AOV, divide your total revenue by the number of orders.
3. Earnings per click (EPC).
The income an affiliate earns for each click to an advertiser’s website from an affiliate link. This definition is a little misleading as the true definition of EPC calculates the amount per 100 clicks.
4. Cookie duration.
A cookie is a value stored on an end user’s computer and is used to track affiliate sales. The duration is the length of time the cookie stays on the computer after clicking an affiliate link. For example, with a 30-day cookie duration, if a user clicks an affiliate link and makes a purchase within 30 days, the affiliate receives credit for the sale.
There’s no point in making a 5% commission on a $10 pair of socks. That’s only $0.50.
Alternatively, it would be much better to earn an 8% commission on a $1,200 treadmill and make $96. Since your affiliate website can only generate so much traffic every month, you should promote affiliate products that provide an EPC.
Finally, the last metric to look for is a long cookie duration. Standard cookie durations are typically 30 days. You can find programs as low as seven days and as high as 90+ days. Longer cookie durations are a standard feature of programs I recommend.
Remember, you want high payouts, high AOV, and long cookie durations.
Affiliate Marketing Tips.
Affiliate marketers don’t want to only focus on those four affiliate concepts and blindly recommend any product just because of their high affiliate payouts.
1. You need to promote the products you love and understand.
Web users can spot fake recommendations quickly and want to learn from real-world experience. Therefore, it’s vital to be authentic with your product reviews.
The growth of affiliate marketing is undeniable, this year will be no different. Affiliate marketing accounts for 16% of all online orders.
So how do you stay on top of emerging trends in the market and join the best up-and-coming high ticket affiliate programs?
2. Research emerging categories.
Currently, fashion is the most popular affiliate marketing category, with 18.7% of campaigns, followed by sports, and health and wellness.
Emerging affiliate markets may include virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, wearable tech, and drones.
If you fashion yourself a relationship expert or budding love guru, another emerging category is dating affiliate marketing. With the number of dating websites and apps on the rise and competition more intense than ever, dating sites are leveraging affiliates to recommend their platforms and get more users.
3. Mobile networks are multiplying.
Similarly, another big trend is mobile affiliate marketing and CPA networks. Mobile CPA affiliate networks and push notification companies help affiliates push traffic to smartphone apps and mobile platforms.
Summary
No matter which one of the best affiliate programs you want to join, there are a ton of different high ticket categories to match your unique interests.
First, when choosing a program, remember to check the commission rates, average order values (AOV), average earnings per click (EPC), and cookie durations.
Second, look into if the program is recurring, or provides one-time payments.
Finally, choose a niche that matches your interests, and you can passionately promote.
The affiliate market is growing as fast as ever, and the opportunities are wide open.
Remember, the first step is to build your affiliate website on WordPress.
First, to create your affiliate site, I recommend you get started with Bluehost for 63% off, or just $2.95/month.
Finally, if you really are serious about affiliate marketing, getting the best training to be successful is an absolute must – I learned from Dave Sharp at Legendary Marketer. In addition, tools like ThirstyAffiliates to cloak your links can be very useful.
Boost Your Affiliate Earnings
There are hundreds of ways to earn affiliate commissions with your website, including product reviews, top 10 lists, how-to guides, and more
But what about traffic and conversions? How do you make sure your affiliate links get clicked?
I used the affiliate training here to turn my brand new website into a six-figure income generator in less than two years. Build a business, not just a pocket-money side project!