What's Your Favorite Affiliate Network?

[ulterios]

Greeting fellow Webmaster Sun members, I am wondering what my fellow members consider their favorite affiliate network and why that particular one is your favorite.

Maybe point out some good points as to why it's your favorite as well. Feel free to also point out some bad points, if there are any also.


My favorite is CJ Affiliate (formerly Affiliate Junction). I have to admit that in part, I choose CJ because that's been the one that has made me the most money.

A couple of the other reasons I picked this one as my favorite are:

A wide variety of Advertisers/Merchants. This is good for me because I have sites in several different niche's, so this is helpful having many needs covered in one place.

One of their payout options is by direct deposit, which makes it easier for me to get the earnings into my bank account.

Their support is has always been good and helpful to me when I have needed it.

As far as bad points, I think that their control panel does need some work. Some things are not always easy to find and some new publishers using CJ have pointed that out several times in the past.

Share what your favorite is and why they are your favorite. If you also want to share any other details like the best niche's or any other details then feel free to do so. I do however understand that many people like to keep some details to themselves so that they don't create more competition for sale, and that's completely understandable. Just share what you feel comfortable sharing and nothing that you aren't comfortable sharing.

I look forward to seeing which affiliate networks others here like and why that particular network is their favorite.

 

[Lonric]

I see so many people saying that it's great money getting into affiliate stuff, but don't you have to have a popular blog in order to make money from it? As you can tell, I know nothing about affiliate marketing lol :crazy:

 

[ulterios]

Hello Lonric,

To answer your question, it does definitely help to have a popular blog / website since the more people that see your affiliate advertisements and promotions means that your chances of earnings are greater. This isn't always needed though, if you have a site that gets targeted traffic and you are marketing products or services that related to what that traffic is interested in then you can do well also. I have a couple of sites that don't get nearly as much traffic as others, yet they earn more in affiliate revenue. You just have to make sure that you are marketing/promoting/advertising the right products and services.

Many people have very popular websites or blogs, yet they don't make much money from them because they aren't giving their site's visitors something that they might be interested in. One thing that a lot of people do, especially when they are new to affiliate marketing is to push the products or services that have the greatest earnings potential if someone buys that product or service. Sometimes it's actually better to market lower earning potential products or services and getting more people to buy that product or service. I have a couple of sites that rarely get a big commission but they nickel and dime me a real good amount of earnings.

Another way that some people earn money with affiliate marketing is to promote products and services through social media, email and other ways. That can depend on the advertiser sometimes as well since not all want their affiliates to market that way. Many different advertisers have different terms with different things they allow and don't allow, you just have to make sure that you are doing things they way they want.

So you don't have to have a popular blog or website with a lot of traffic but it definitely helps.

One good thing about affiliate marketing is that you can always try it out and see how you do. It doesn't have to cost you anything to join most programs.

 

[Lonric]

Lonric

Once again, you just gave some excellent advice on affiliate marketing. Do you know of any tutorials that covers everything there is to know about getting started?

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

I'm glad that you liked my input.

I really don't know of any tutorials off hand, mainly because I haven't used any. I know there are several good ones out there, I just don't know which are good and which are not. One thing that helped me and many others is to just read as much about it as possible. Look through the forum threads (even the older ones) and you will probably be surprised at how much you can pick up. If you have any question, just post a thread and fellow members will surely be happy to answer them for you.

You can also look for blogs on the subject by doing a Google (or other SE) search and checking out the sites that show up. I've learned most of everything I know about websites by just searching and reading. The more you read, the more you will learn.

 

[Lonric]

Lonric

Thanks for the awesome advice once again. I will do that for sure. Also, now that I think about it, I do remember seeing a few Affilate ebooks on Amazon a while back. I will check those out as well.

I tell ya. I love this place already:hug:

 

[Miguelito203]

For me, I think Clickbank is my favorite. The funny thing is that, when I first heard about it, I used to hate it. I guess that's because I didn't understand it or whatever. I've gotten used to the predictable pay schedule and stuff now.

I see so many people saying that it's great money getting into affiliate stuff, but don't you have to have a popular blog in order to make money from it? As you can tell, I know nothing about affiliate marketing lol :crazy:

One of the best and most common ways to make money with affiliate marketing is to start a blog and build an e-mail list. The e-mail list acts as something of a second income stream. A number of the people who come to your blog via the search engines will basically just sign up to your e-mail list without you have to do much -- as long as they like your content. Building a relationship with your list is important because trust impacts your conversion rates, which effects the amount of money you make. Starting a blog on your own domain is quite simple. I'm a non-techie person that did it on his first try. You just need to do your research first to make sure that you go into a profitable niche and what not.

Joey

 

[Lonric]

Lonric

Thank you so much for the info, Joey. I hear that the Tech niche is very good to into. What are you guys thoughts?

 

[Miguelito203]

Miguelito203

The technology niche is very popular and quite profitable. However, if you want to make money in it, you're going to need to narrow your focus. For example, if you're into computers, you could create a site that focuses on those. You could narrow it even further by having a site that just focuses on desktop computers or laptops. In addition, you could cross promote related products that someone buying a new computer might need. Amazon is a big help for stuff like this because it tells you what related products people buy.

Joey

 

[Lonric]

Lonric

I agree. That is very good advice!:ertery:

 

[Miguelito203]

Miguelito203

I try!

Joey

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Thanks for sharing your choice.

I haven't done much with Clickbank myself, mainly because other platforms were doing so well. I have a couple of new sites that i'm working on and planning to use Clickbank for them and see how it works out.

Predictable pay schedules are always a big plus! It's always nice to know when you are getting paid.

 

[ulterios]

Thanks for the awesome advice once again. I will do that for sure. Also, now that I think about it, I do remember seeing a few Affilate ebooks on Amazon a while back. I will check those out as well.

All the information found in eBooks can be found on the web somewhere so buying them isn't a must, especially if you are trying to keep within a spending limit or budget.

You also might want to try YouTube and see what's available there. I haven't looked myself but I am sure there will be some helpful videos somewhere on YouTube.

I tell ya. I love this place already:hug:

We are very glad that you like. It's good for the forum to have good members such as yourself that ask question, post threads and stay active on the site. That will help more good people throughout the future as well as draw new members who can also contribute to the forum and it's growth as well as it's success.

 

[Lonric]

Lonric

Thank you very much. I agree.BTW. I just put in a request over the Warrior forum for my account to be deleted. I want no part of that negativity.

 

[ulterios]

Thank you very much. I agree.

You are very welcome.

BTW. I just put in a request over the Warrior forum for my account to be deleted. I want no part of that negativity.

Well we are glad that you are here with us. If you know anyone that's looking for a great forum with good helpful people on it, send them our way.

 

[vishwa]

I am currently using clickbank and Commission Junction. I am completely satisfied with them. I also get payments from them in timely manner.

 

[Hawker]

I would have to say [URLnf="http://www.webgains.com/public/"]Webgains[/URLnf] because like you, they are the ones that I made my fortune with a little over 8 years ago now.

Back when mobile phone recycling first kicked off I dominated the searches for things like "sell your mobile" "recycle your mobile" "cash for mobiles" that kind of thing.

They have a lot of affiliates and merchants you can sign up with from virtually everything you can think of.

Just type something in and it will show you a list of merchants you can join and how much commission they are paying.

So yeah, Webgains for you. Webgains for me.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

I've never used them. I'll have to look into them.

Thanks for sharing your input!

 

[Ron Killian]

Kind of hard question to answer, kind of depends on what you want to sell.

I don't do as much affiliate marketing these days, but I really prefer the individual affiliate programs. One of my best performing program is an in-house program for a single service type product.

If I had to choose a multi-product/service platform I would probably say JVzoo. Just where most IM type products are being sold lately, most popular. Warrior+ would probably be next.

One thing I do like about Clickbank is that you can get links right away, you don't have to wait for approval. One thing I don't like about Clickbank is that they charge you a fee if you don't make the minimum. Some people could make a few sales but never get paid because it gets eaten up with the fee's. Oddly i have never seen good conversions with clickbank products. Odd because each one has it's own sales page, but for some reason I have never had many convert well. That or I pick the wrong ones

 

[ulterios]

If I had to choose a multi-product/service platform I would probably say JVzoo. Just where most IM type products are being sold lately, most popular. Warrior+ would probably be next.

I've never used those myself. I have been trying to look into other earning options for my websites, but have been too busy to check other options out. I'll have to check these out.

One thing I do like about Clickbank is that you can get links right away, you don't have to wait for approval. One thing I don't like about Clickbank is that they charge you a fee if you don't make the minimum. Some people could make a few sales but never get paid because it gets eaten up with the fee's. Oddly i have never seen good conversions with clickbank products. Odd because each one has it's own sales page, but for some reason I have never had many convert well. That or I pick the wrong ones

ClickBank is one that I haven't gotten into. I do know that from what I have seen around the web, you either do real well with it or real poorly. There doesn't seem to be too much middle ground with them.

 

[LavaHotDealsCom]

My fav is amazon. I cannot believe there are not too many replies include amazon as their fav. Most of my earnings are coming from amazon affiliate. thank you amazon!

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Yeah, I am also surprised that nobody has mention Amazon yet. Maybe because Amazon is not a traditional affiliate network in the same way others are.

I know they have lots of people using their affiliate program and I have heard that some people do well with them. I signed up with them twice (only 1 account at a time) but wasn't getting many clicks or sales so I switched to others. Then they closed out my account for non-use/non-activity. I was thinking about setting up a site specifically for using Amazon but haven't had time lately.

Maybe one day soon.

 

[Miguelito203]

Miguelito203

I think the reason you don't hear a lot of people talking about Amazon is because Amazon banned a lot of states (at least in the U.S.) from promoting products -- due to some state legislation stuff. A lot of states just recently got un-banned, so a lot of people are just now about to get into it. The funny thing is that Amazon didn't even really make a major announcement about it, so some people might still think they are banned when they aren't.

Joey

 

[Developer]

I am pretty partial to the likes of CJ.com and JVZoo myself. I live in CT and as such,
I was one of those who was banned from using Amazon. I "THINK" I am now able to
as I was recently re-accepted into their program, but I will have to look into it further.

Sites like JVZoo I use only for high ticket items. After JVZoo takes their cut and PayPal
takes theirs, the commissions have dwindled considerably.

CJ.com is quite nice, however, most of my affiliate links are within my software apps
and are used via rotating banners. Since most of my apps use a "per session" type
of display system, some of the banner ads are not seen as much as others, so, I'm
constantly receiving notices of being shut out of this program or that one. That's
usually fixed fairly simply by contacting the site owner for those particular programs
and explaining how I am displaying ads. Most of them are quite happy to ensure my
affiliation with them is not terminated.

The BEST affiliate program for ANYONE is quite simply different for EVERYONE. There
is no set affiliate program or system out there that can be construed as a definitive
program. As many have already explained, it all depends on the type(s) of offers you
wish to display, which then depends on the types of sites you're displaying ads on.

I used to LOVE the RAP system (anyone else remember RAP). Unfortunately, they
were merely a fad, but none the less, it was nice while it lasted, LOL.

 

[Miguelito203]

Miguelito203

It's really easy to get the people at Amazon on the phone. If you are one of the states that got the ban lifted (can kind of tell when you go into your account and it's not gray or whatever), I think you still have to re-activate your account and provide updated info. and all that. The more and more I use JVZoo, the more I'm liking it. I only promote products by a few marketers for now (only started using it last year). I heard of RAP way back when but never actually used it.

Joey

 

[Developer]

Developer

I wasn't too worried about "re-activating" an older affiliate account.
I had to take a year long hiatus from everything internet related as
my wife had a slew of medical issues I had to tend to, so, forgotten
username and passwords were the least of my worries when I recently
finally got to come back online full time. I simply created a new account
and was approved. Seeing as my address was a CT address, I assume
all is well.

 

[Ron Killian]

Ron Killian

Just checked their site a few days ago, they are gone for good now. Sadly. Was a pretty nice program. Though, did not seem like they kept up with it well enough. Maybe why it died off.

 

[florahelen]

The best one is JVZoo and WarriorPlus and Clickbank would end up as third

It pretty much depends on what you would like to sell.

If you're more in to shipable products, then Amazon or Ebay is the best choice, otherwise the 3 above