The first article in this series on Affiliate Marketing talked about the value of adding affiliate products to your marketing mix. The natural next question is “Ok, what’s the next step?”
Previouly, I suggested that you brainstorm products and services that you recommend to your clients or that compliment your product and service offerings. With that list in hand the next step is to identify affiliate programs to join!
Affiliate programs can be found thru Affiliate Networks and Independent Merchant Affiliate Programs.
What is an Affiliate Network?
An affiliate network is simply a company that manages all of the details of the affiliate programs of many different merchants. One of the largest, Commission Junction manages the affiliate programs of over 2,800 merchants. This includes both large companies such as Best Buy, Apple and Staples to smaller companies such as Tax Brain, BuyCostumes.com and Tilly’s.
Of equal importance the affiliate network provides all of the resources that you (the reseller or affiliate) needs to market the products or services from your site.
What is an Independent Merchant Affiliate Program?
An independent Merchant Affiliate Program means that a company manages its own affiliate program. The best known example is Amazon. The Amazon Associates program is run and managed by Amazon. When you join their affiliate program they provide you with all of the tools that you (the affiliate) need to market the product from your site.
Many companies manage their own Affiliate Programs. Ranging in size from Amazon to Aweber to smaller such as Blogging Mastermind, you can find many Independent Merchant Affiliate Programs.
How to Find Products or Services
Here’s how to get started:
Books and Amazon Associates
Books are often the most common item to add to your marketing mix. To get started go straight to Amazon.com and at the bottom of the page, click on the link for Associate Program. Follow the directions to sign up for your account and within minutes the entire product universe of Amazon will be at your finger tips.
Affiliate Networks
Joining an affiliate networks is free for affiliates (that means you- the reseller). Sign up for one or two of the largest and take a tour. Although the sign-up process will be slightly different for each network, the process of finding and selecting products and services will be similar.
You will be greeted with a category list. Click on any category and you will be taken to a page that has a detailed list of merchants. From there simply click on the merchant link to find out the details of that merchants affiliate program.
There are many Affiliate Networks but the following three represent some of the larger Affiliate Networks.
Independent Merchant Affiliate Programs
Amazon Associates is one of the largest Independent Merchant Affiliate programs. But as noted, there are lot’s of other companies that run their own programs.
If you haven’t been able to find what you’re looking for with the Affiliate Networks or just want to check out what and who else…then simply…Google It! Just enter the type of product or service and the word “affiliate” into the search box.
Take a look at the search results and visit any sites that seem like they have what you’re looking for. As you are looking around the site, be on the watch for words such as “affiliate program”, “associate program”, “partner program”, “make money” and so on. Click on those links to learn more about the types of programs they offer.
One Last Tip
Save yourself some time and energy by setting up a spreadsheet to track your travels. Be sure and note the site address, your user name and password, and the products and services that interested you; for each site that you visit.
The next article in this series will provide tips on how to evaluate an affiliate program.