Affiliate Networks Used by the guru

Affiliate Networks 

In this lesson you'll learn about the Affiliate Networks used by Professional PPC Gurus - the affiliate networks they consider best to use to find profitable programs for pay-per-click.

Affiliate networks are databases of affiliate programs. They provide a safe and trusted transaction system, track sales and provide statistics and reporting. The advantage of using networks is that you can compare programs very easily to find the highest quality programs to promote.

We suggest that pay-per-click marketers use affiliate networks to look for products that pay between 60 to 75% for digital products or around 40 to 50% for a physical or a recurring billing product.

(Learn the secrets of choosing a great affiliate program in our lesson on How to Choose an Affiliate Program)

The difference between finding programs to promote via PPC, rather than SEO, is that the stakes are much higher. Now that you are spending money on getting traffic, you've not only got to make that money back again, but also make a profit.

ClickBank

It's no secret that ClickBank is our favorite affiliate network and for a simple reason: it contains a lot of programs offering commissions of 60% or more; this is due to the fact that ClickBank contains a huge number of digital products, which don't incur all the overheads of physical products - thus merchants can afford to be more generous.

ClickBank is very easy to sign up to and use, so if you consider yourself a newbie, this is a particularly good network to start with. They also have a very good reputation for customer service and we have used them ourselves for years.

Commission Junction

Commission Junction is one of the largest affiliate networks on the Internet. Its reputation is such that it has attracted some of the most well-known affiliate programs in the world, such as Yahoo, Sony, eBay, WeightWatchers, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. That said, a name brand is not a guarantee of making money - although these programs have the power of name recognition, not all of them pay out very high commissions.

ShareASale.com

ShareASale is kind of like your friendly local pub around the corner - although it doesn't have the big name attractions of Commission Junction, it does have exceptional customer service and a user-friendly site. ShareASale has won a number of awards for the way their business is run and they have a staunch following of loyal supporters.

In-house Affiliate Programs

Don't forget that many merchants run their affiliate programs in-house. Affiliate networks make it really easy to find good programs but there are a lot of excellent programs that don't join networks for various reasons.

It can take a bit more work to find in-house affiliate programs — often you'll need to look at the sitemap to find the affiliate page as not all site owners want to too overtly advertise for affiliates.

If you are considering joining an in-house affiliate program, then there are a few things you need to consider:

• Are they offering good commission payouts that are within the criteria mentioned at the beginning of this lesson?
• What's the reputation of the company like? How long has it been around?
• Do they offer secure and easy payment?
• Are customers able to get refunds — and if so, how?
• And finally, do they have a good sales page?

Lesson Summary

In this lesson we've looked at the Affiliate Networks used by Professional PPC Gurus including:

• ClickBank - large commissions and lots of products
• Commission Junction - used by many big name brands
• ShareASale - excellent customer support

We've also taken a brief look at what you should consider when using inhouse affiliate programs

Learn something new? Share it with your friends!