How To Find Affiliate Programs For Any Niche [The Facts You Need To Know]

Before I dive into how to find affiliate programs that you can promote within any niche let’s just go through exactly why you would be even thinking of looking for affiliate programs in the first place.

Why You Need Affiliate Programs

If you are looking to start an online business then affiliate marketing is a very popular way of creating some extra monthly cash or even a full-time income. In order to create this income, you will need to find products or services that you can promote. These are called affiliate programs and loads of companies have them.

Shortly I will be showing you a few methods to find these programs and how to join them.

Affiliate programs allow you to promote products and services through a unique link that is created when you sign up and join their affiliate program. This link is then used to promote the products and is tracked back to you. If a customer purchases through clicking on your link you will get a commission.

These are normally a pre-agreed percentage of the selling price or a set amount. Commission percentages can vary from a few percents to 100% but the average is around 40-50%.

One of the most popular places to have your affiliate links set up is on a blog, blogging and affiliate marketing are a great match and easy to do.

Using Google To Find Affiliate Programs

There are many ways to find affiliate programs but let’s show how to do this using Google. Google is, of course, the largest search engine on the internet so why not utilize it.

Okay, let’s choose dog training as a niche, and I need to locate some products to promote so I can start to make some money.

If I head over to Google and then type in “dog training affiliate program” you will then get back some results. In fact, Google has got me over 19,000,000 in just a few seconds.

Do you think you could find some affiliate programs to join? You bet!

Well, how simple was that… but…

Which Programs Should You Join

Now there is no limit to the number of programs you can join, however, there are a few points to bear in mind to help you make your decision easier.

• Is the Program Free to Join – I would never pay to join an affiliate program
• What Is The commissions – Take a look at the commission structure, what is the percentage you will get. But beware you may only have a small percentage but the product itself may be expensive so a good commission could still be had per sale.
• Check out the Companies Reviews – What are other affiliates saying about this company. Good, Bad you need to know.
• Do They Pay Out On Time – Most companies will have a time scale to payout their affiliates stay clear of bad paying companies, there is no point putting all the effort in if you are not going to be paid. Next!
• Are Their Products Good – There is nothing worse than sending someone to buy a product that then sucks! The customer will not only be annoyed but they will probably never buy through you again. Trust is a great thing and something that you can lose very quickly.
• Do They Offer a Range of Products – With most companies, you will find that if your customer buys other products you could get the commissions for those too? If they offer a range then this could be good for you.
• Are They A Well Known Brand – Let’s face it we are all guilty of making buying decisions associated with brand recognition take Pepsi and Coke a Cola you will have a favorite even though both will be a good solution for the problem you have. You are thirsty!

Research & Join

Once, you have scrolled down the page in Google, click through to some results and start to do some research. I scrolled down and found Karen Pryor Click Training I clicked through and found loads of useful information including that the program was free to join, FAQ’s, how to join, and how to be a successful affiliate.

On clicking to join it takes me to Share-a-sale which is an affiliate network. I will talk more about these shortly!

What I did find is that the commission by sale is only 8% which could be a downside so maybe more investigation is needed. Make notes and compare different programs before joining.

Another great way to research is to check out the website of your competition even sign up to their email list. You can discover what are they promoting and look for the same programs to join.

Affiliate Networks How Do They Work

Affiliate networks are basically a website portal that has loads of different affiliate programs in all niches that you can join directly from their platform. This can save you the leg work of doing bags of research.

There are many networks around some that are easier to join than others. A few to check out are:-

• Clickbank
• Awin
• Offervault
• Share a Sale
• Amazon
• CJ Affiliate
• JV Zoo

Yes Amazon does have an affiliate program, and you can definitely make money recommending Amazon products

A Closer Look At Share A Sale

Straight from the home page, you are asked whether you want to be an affiliate or a merchant, just click the affiliate button or affiliate login if you already have an account.

Some simple information is required in step one. You need to create a username and password. Simple!

 

More information required in step two such as website URL and primary language used along with a few other questions which you can tick yes or no.

A simple email address needed here. You will probably need an email associated with your website. A Gmail address may not be acceptable.

Next, you need to fill in all your details including domain ownership so if you have not got your website up and running then do this first before joining this type of network. If you are looking for a network that doesn’t require you to have a website then join Clickbank.

Anyway back to share a sale we are nearly there.

The final step is your payment details, some affiliate programs will pay through to PayPal or similar but with affiliate networks tend to pay by check or direct deposit to your bank. So this is filling in all these details. If you feel uncomfortable giving bank details then simply find a different program to join.

This step complete you can process application… You will then get emailed with a confirmation link click this and you are done. Your application will be reviewed and hopefully accepted with one business day.

YEAH!

Before I move on I just want to say that you can now search for affiliate programs directly inside the Wealthy Affiliate members area (starter member is free too). From the dashboard just search for affiliate programs on the left-hand sidebar. Then search the niche or product you are looking for.

Okay so you have signed up for an affiliate program and have your link, what do you do now? Where can you place your link? Let’s run through some ideas for you.

Where, Do You Place Your Links

Your Website

If you have a website then there are a few places where you can place your links. Within the content such as product reviews.

Note;- Don’t add affiliate links to every post and page on your website especially if you try to rank in the search engines too. You don’t want to come across desperate or even spammy. Great content will always get your readers coming back. As you can see I have no affiliate links in this post it’s all just content. There is, of course, no reason why I can’t link to another post which may have affiliate links like a product review like Thrive Leads, which is a great tool for building your email list on your WordPress blog.

Hey, did you see what I did there, hell I am affiliate marketer too and Thrive is an amazing product go check it out 🙂

That seamlessly links to the next place where you can add your links and that is your emails. Once, you have built an email list you can set up what are called follow up campaigns that email your list members automatically pre-written emails. This is where you can promote relevant products and services.

To build your list you generally giveaway a free ebook, report, checklist or even e-course, there is nothing stopping you adding affiliate links within these giveaways too.

You can also add promotional banners and images to your website sidebar or even within posts and pages.

If you have a YouTube channel then you can add links in the description on the video which always works well.

Side note:- If you haven’t already click the YouTube icon on the right-hand side here and subscribe to my channel there are loads of great information on there. Okay back to the post!

You can use ad networks to post ads with direct links but Google, Facebook and others are not keen on these links and will probably decline your ads.

Some social media networks are the same and you can’t post links directly to affiliate offers so check there terms and conditions before posting so you don’t get your account suspended.

Rounding Up

As you can see from this article finding and signing up to affiliate programs is a simple step by step process that just takes a bit of research and time.