Finding the perfect affiliate program really can make or break your online business. No matter what kind of blog or website you have there is probably an affiliate program you can tag along with it, and it would be crazy to have a website and not promote at least one company that will pay you for any sales generated through your links.
Not only are you helping out yourself and getting a nice little bonus check every once in a while but you are also informing your readers of some valuable information.
So if you want to find the perfect affiliate program check out some of these steps you can take.
1. Do a Google keyword search with “affiliate program” in quotes
You will also get all kinds of other websites listed that do not have affiliate programs but I have found some great affiliate programs that I otherwise would have never found had I not first checked out what Google had to offer me. Say for instance the market you want to target is flowers. Say you have a blog that’s all about flowers and making flower arrangements. Having an affiliate program to make money off of just makes sense.
So go to Google and type in “floral arrangements” [affiliate program]. Make sure those two phrases are both in separate quotes because you want the Google bots to search those pages on a website having to do with flowers for the exact phrase [affiliate program]. You can also put it in quotes, but I find this method is much more exact.
Results. One of the first websites I see is one called www.pickupflowers.com. I read through the website and find they have their own affiliate program and pay 15% commission per sale and $.50 per lead and the cookies last for 60 days. Hmm.. not bad. I see that there is another website called iflorist.com as well and they have an affiliate program.
You see, the whole point of this little exercise is to show you that Clickbank and Commission Junction are not the only places to check out affiliate programs. Be original and promote a website or service that is amazing and yet not many others are promoting. Finding an affiliate program like this is a great way of getting out of the same old mold of every other fly by night affiliate marketer.
2. Check out an Affiliate directory to find an affiliate program
These are directories that are dedicated to searching out affiliate programs online. Some are better than others but it can be a useful tool because they will often give you affiliate programs across a wider variety of affiliate networks.
AssociatePrograms.com - This site has a program directory tab you can click on that will allow you to use a keyword to search through the programs offered for your niche. This site is run by Allan Gardyne and he has written a lot of very useful articles on there as well. There are some good training guides to affiliate marketing and where to get started and all that there. I regularly visit this site as it has some great info.
AffiliateMatch.com- This is kind of a cheesy website but it does have SOME use. You will want to click on the programs directory link and then scroll down to enter your search keywords. They have about 1,300 or more programs available to check out here.
Affiliatefirst.com- Affiliatefirst has directories, articles, and merchant resources to help you out. Their directory has over 7,000 affiliate programs to search from, so you want to enter a rather specific keyword to find the right program for your niche. I have found some really great affiliate programs using affiliatefirst.com and highly recommend checking it out.
Affiliateguide.com – Has a pretty basic website but you may be able to find some programs on here for your blog. I found the directory a little difficult to navigate so I don’t really recommend using this site, but thought I would mention it anyway.
Affiliate tips.com – I really like this site a lot and have found it extremely useful in affiliate marketing endeavors. Not only do they provide an easy to use directory but they also give you their reviews of the different programs. They have a top ten list that they keep updated as well so you can see which programs are out performing all the others. I could go on but check it out yourself and you will see how useful this site can be.
3. Check out an Affiliate Network
This is where most people start but you can always go to places like Clickbank, Commission Junction, Linkshare, and even Clixgalore if you want to offer more international products. Just determine what type of product you want to promote. Clickbank has all data products like ebooks and software, and Commission Junction and Linkshare have more of the common physical products we are used to seeing advertised, as well as a bunch you may have never heard of.
Just make sure you always check out the sales page before you start promoting a website. If you wouldn’t buy from the company yourself then chances are you arr not going to find anyone else to. Make sure it looks legit and professional.
4. Join EPN or Amazon affiliate program
And if you really can’t find any products that fit your website or blog you can always join EPN (ebay partner network) or Amazon’s affiliate program. Since they offer millions of different products you should be able to find a very specific product to promote in your niche. I personally have done very well with Ebay’s affiliate program and consistently earn good money. I wish the cookies lasted longer than 7 days but I get better sales than from Amazon. Although, I have heard of people doing very well with Amazon too. Especially if you want to promote books on your site, Amazon would be a great choice.
5. Use the Micro Niche Finder Tool
I have been using Micro Niche Finder for a while now and it is great for finding new niches AND the affiliate programs you can use for them as well, and it is all integrated into the one program. You do a search for a keyword, and the program will give you a list of up to 200 related popular keywords that are being searched for. Then you can see how much competition there is with those keywords and find an untapped niche. But here is the cool part. You can right click a keyword and it will give you options for using clickbank, commission junction and a few others for finding an affiliate program to go along with your niche. A pretty cool tool that you should have in your arsenal. Check out Micro Niche Finder Here.
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