Affiliate commissions are how many bloggers earn considerable income.
In this post, I will go over several affiliate platforms you can easily sign up for.
This site contains affiliate links
Affiliate income is 1 of 6 side hustles I have, but it is my lowest in order of revenue generated as of July 2019. My website and YouTube channel do not generate a lot of traffic, which is a requirement to earning a lot of money through affiliate income.
I like the idea of affiliate income simply because it is the most passive. I earn the most from a commercial cleaning business, but it is one of the least passive.
The eBooks I have written are passive now, but take much more time to write than a blog post.
The platforms I have signed up to be an affiliate are as follows:
- Amazon
- Pepperjam
- bluehost
AMAZON
Amazon was the first I joined. You can see my affiliate link on the sidebar. I also insert banners in many of my posts. Product reviews posts are great, as you can insert product links.
It is very easy for you to set up your own affiliate program with Amazon.
- Go to affiliate-program.amazon.com.
- Click to join and login with your Amazon account
- Follow the steps:
- add account information
- input your website or mobile app URL and confirm whether target age is under 13 or not
- fill in your profile (information about your website)
- give your phone number and wait for the verification code & agree to the terms
After that, you are done with the first part and an affiliate. You must refer a sale within 180 days, or your account will be cancelled. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.
In order to be paid, you need to also choose your payment method and enter your tax information. That process takes about 5 minutes.
Within 15 minutes you can become an Amazon affiliate and start earning some side money from your website. My referral rate starts at 4% for general products.
While you may think that’s not the best, Amazon is a HUGE marketplace and take all the inventory and storage risk. I don’t make much, but I have not spent a lot of time marketing Amazon. I have a few items on YouTube and several books on this blog.
The link that performs the best is for a tax eBook I have written and is advertised on YouTube and this blog.
How I Use My Amazon Affiliate Account
- The first thing I did was book reviews on this blog. Since this is a business blog, most of the books are in the self-help and business categories. Some that I reviewed or wrote about are in my book review section. I also have other books linked into various posts.
- The second thing I did was post a product review on YouTube. I created an affiliate link in the first comment and description. So far I have only done one, I’m not the best at YouTube yet. I plan on doing many more.
- The third thing I have done is add product links for items I have used in various posts. I have a goal post that I included a link to a Veridesk I use since research states sitting 9 hours per day is unhealthy.
- The final thing I have done is link my own Amazon eBook. So I can get sales from the Amazon KDP program and 4% commission.
The current commission schedule that Amazon pays can be found at affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/schedule.
I personally do not make a lot of money from this, but it’s a tool in my tool-belt. If you have a large following, you could do very well.
PEPPERJAM ASCEND
The next affiliate network I joined was Pepperjam Ascend. I specifically wanted to be a Legalzoom affiliate and pepperjam managed their affiliates.
Pepperjam Ascend is a HUGE affiliate marketplace. While I started with Legalzoom, I also requested to join LogoMaker. xSuit sent me an invite. After reviewing their website, I thought it would be fine for my site, even though it’s not my specific market.
Signing up is easy. I was approved within a couple of days. You just need to fill out some information about you and your website, and payment info.
Once you are in, you have to apply to affiliates individually. It can take a while to be approved, LegalZoom took about a month to approve me, but LogoMaker took 1 day.
Commissions vary from 1% and up or fixed fees, depending on the affiliate. My advertisers range from 10-15% commission.
As of July 2019, there are 968 different advertisers on the Pepperjam Ascend platform. You can find something that relates to about any niche, categories from adult to web services.
I like the metrics on Pepperjam, they break down how many clicks you get for each advertiser, commissions earned and pending.
bluehost
Finally, I joined bluehost.com. bluehost (yes, the “b” is lowercase) is the web hosting platform I use for this website. I am happy with it, so I do not think I can go wrong with recommending it to others.
Joining their affiliate program is probably the fastest and easiest to join. They pay $65 per signup, but sometimes offer extra comps.
If you have heard Pat Flynn’s podcast, this is the web host he recommends and earns considerable affiliate income from. I had an old travel blog that I used GoDaddy for, but was not happy. When I started this website, I chose bluehost solely based on Pat Flynn’s recommendation.
I know there are many other networks out there (i.e. Clickbank and others), but I do not want to just join hundreds of random programs. Some may offer great money, but I want programs that offer an excellent value.
I want this website to continue to grow and educate others, the last thing I want is to turn off potential readers.
Getting Started
Get a platform. I recommend a blog (bluehost) or YouTube. These two platforms allow you to get started earning immediately. YouTube is great due to the potential reach and the fact you can share in advertising revenue, but the competition is fierce and you need to produce regular, high quality videos. As you can see from my videos, I am not a professional.
Blogging also has a huge reach through search engines. Google accounts for most of my traffic, but I only have two posts that are on page 1 of Google’s search results. The more content you produce, the more eyeballs that will eventually reach you. I have been doubling my traffic annually with very little effort.
You can also use social media to call attention. I get a little traffic from Twitter and Facebook. Probably the best way to reach viewers is through an email list, but I have not done much to build my list yet.
YouTube is free, but blogging costs about a hundred dollars per year for the website and hosting through bluehost. YouTube is better for physical product reviews, but blogging is wide open and you can use both together. To start a blog:
- Head to bluehost and register your domain name. It’s best to pick a niche, go for a dot.com extension and have a descriptive name in that niche.
- I recommend WordPress for your content management. You can install a free theme if you are just starting out.
- Create content. Make a schedule and write consistently. Share your posts on social media and email to your list. One thing I have not been good at is blogging regularly. I post sporadically and have been all over the place with my subjects. I am now trying to limit what I write about and have been updating and deleting some unrelated content.
In summary, if you have something to say, affiliate income is one of the best ways to monetize your website. Write great content for your readers and they will come.
