Affiliating with online merchants has become an important part of any successful business strategy. The popularity of affiliate programs means that there's always plenty to choose from if you want to make money on the side or as a full-time income stream. But how does one decide which affiliate network to join and where to start looking?
The first thing you need to understand about these networks is that they all have different structures and commission rates. Some offer higher commissions than others, but it can be hard to compare them when you don't know exactly what they mean. So let’s take this simple example - say I want to promote a product called ‘Fancy Pants’. Fancy Pants is sold through Amazon.com so we'll use Amazon as our example here.
If I go into my favorite affiliate dashboard like CJ Affiliate, I will see that the base rate for new signups is $25 per sale. This is also known as the 'earnings share' because it gives me 25% of every dollar earned by the merchant. If I wanted to get started promoting Fancy Pants right away, would I just add the item to my cart and then click 'Add To Cart'? That might seem pretty straightforward, but unfortunately not many people actually do that! It turns out that most people prefer to buy products directly from Amazon instead of going through their affiliate links.
So why should I bother using Amazon at all if they only give me 25% of the revenue? Well, this is where things get more complicated. When someone buys something from Amazon, they usually end up buying other products too. And since those purchases happen via Amazon's own website, Amazon gets its cut off the top. What happens next depends on whether the product was purchased directly or through a link provided by an affiliate. In the case of direct sales, the affiliate receives nothing extra besides his/her 25% earnings share. But if the purchase happened via an affiliate link, the affiliate gets a bonus percentage of whatever else was bought along with the original product.
This additional bonus is referred to as a'referral fee', and it varies depending on the type of referral used. For instance, if the customer bought a digital download, the affiliate makes no money. However, if she signed up for a free trial account or subscribed to some sort of newsletter, he may receive 10%, 15%, 20% or even 30% of her total bill. These fees are calculated based on the value of the goods that were purchased.
In order to earn these bonuses, the affiliate needs to provide his customers with unique information before they make their final decision to buy. An easy way to achieve this is by providing them with an opt-in form somewhere on the site. Once they've filled it out, the affiliate sends the data over to the retailer who pays him accordingly. There are several ways to accomplish this task with various tools, including software apps and third party services.
When the affiliate signs up with the retailer, he becomes qualified to participate in the affiliate program. He now earns 'points' whenever someone completes a transaction with the retailer. Every time an affiliate signs up a new user, he collects points until he reaches a certain threshold. At this point, he either qualifies for a payout or moves onto another level within the program.
As previously mentioned, the affiliate doesn't necessarily have to sell anything himself. Instead, he can refer clients to other companies such as advertisers or publishers who are willing to pay him a small amount of cash for each person he brings in. These types of referrals are often used to attract traffic for websites, blogs, videos, ebooks, etc. They're also commonly found in PPC campaigns or Facebook ad groups.
You might wonder what the difference between CPC and CPA stands for. While both acronyms stand for "cost per action", they serve two very different purposes. A CPA campaign allows you to generate leads while paying a fixed rate regardless of whether the prospect decides to follow through on the offer. On the other hand, CPC campaigns guarantee you a minimum number of conversions for a set price.
Another common question relates to the term CPL. Many people assume that CPL refers to the same concept as CPA, but they aren't quite correct. CPL stands for Cost Per Lead whereas CPA stands for Cost Per Acquisition. Both terms represent the exact opposite of each other. In fact, the only similarity between the two lies in the fact that they both involve paying a fixed rate for a given goal.
Now that you have an idea of what CPL is and how it works, you probably have lots of questions about specific aspects like how much you'd be able to make. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to accurately predict the average earnings potential without knowing the specifics of your own situation. You could spend hours trying to find the perfect fit for your skillset and interests, but unless you already have experience selling similar items on the web, you won't likely succeed.
There are several resources available that can help you determine your earning potential. One good place to start is with a comparison chart offered by MaxBounty. Here, you can view all the major affiliate networks and pick the ones that best suit your skill set and budget. Another option is to check out PayDotCom which offers a detailed breakdown of the benefits and drawbacks associated with each network. Once you've decided upon which company suits your needs the best, you can head back to your chosen affiliate dashboard and begin setting up your account.
Of course, choosing an affiliate network isn't enough. Even though you've taken advantage of all the tools that come bundled with the platform, you still need to keep track of everything yourself. Luckily, there are several excellent tracking solutions available today designed specifically to simplify the process. Just search online for "affiliate tracker" and you'll find dozens of options ranging from basic dashboards to robust analytics suites.
One last note regarding the above scenario - if you ever feel uncomfortable signing up for an affiliate program, remember that it's completely legal to decline to accept payments. As long as you provide accurate feedback and disclose your affiliation upfront, you shouldn't face any problems. Also, consider joining an alternate affiliate program that requires less overhead. Finally, try to think outside the box and look beyond traditional methods of generating leads. Perhaps you have a knack for writing articles or making YouTube videos that relate to your niche market. If you develop a following, you could easily find sponsorships or partnerships that allow you to monetize your content.
To calculate your CPL, simply multiply the base rate times the number of units sold. Let's say you're working with Amazon again for simplicity sake. Assume you're offering your readers a free eBook worth 100 pages. Your base rate is $25, meaning you're entitled to 25 cents per page. Now imagine that 50 people read your eBook and complete the registration forms required to access the download. Since you received 50 registrations, you've made $1250.00 ($250 x 50). Of course, you didn't have to physically ship any physical books to anyone. All you did was send them a link that contained a valid code.
It's a well-known fact that internet marketers love getting paid for bringing in new prospects. Whether it's via email lists, banners, pop ups, squeeze pages, social media ads, video tutorials, landing pages, free reports, etc., everyone wants to make money from the efforts they put forth. However, with the sheer volume of choices available, it can be difficult to figure out which approach works best for you.
The easiest way around this dilemma is to focus on one particular method and experiment with several variations. Then once you learn which strategies yield better results, you can scale up the numbers involved according to your personal goals. It's recommended that you stick with one method for at least 6 months before jumping to another one. By doing this, you'll gain valuable insight into your target audience and improve your chances of success.
Most affiliate programs reward you after a specified period of time. After completing a defined number of transactions, you're automatically considered eligible for a payout. Payments vary depending on the size of the network, but they typically range anywhere from 5%-30%.
Some networks require you to meet certain criteria before qualifying for a payout. Others simply distribute funds randomly throughout the month.
Regardless of the structure, all affiliate programs operate under the same principle - they compensate their affiliates for bringing in new leads. The main differences lie in the nature of the compensation itself.
Cost-per-lead (CPL) is a popular affiliate marketing model. Basically speaking, it involves a payment plan where affiliates are compensated for each lead brought in by the advertiser.
Cost-per-lead models represent one way to pay affiliates based on their performance and how much traffic they drive to merchants' websites. The most common version of this type of program is known as "cost-per-click" or "pay-for-performance." These programs allow you to create campaigns that reward specific actions taken by visitors who click on your links. The idea behind these types of programs is simple: If someone clicks through from a link you place on another website, then you get rewarded with some sort of cash bonus. This can be used to either directly support the site's content or to help it grow.
In many cases, the person clicking will have no interest in anything other than simply getting to the point where he can buy something — but there may also be people reading articles about the product. In those cases, having them visit more pages might make sense for both parties. So if the advertiser wants to send users deeper into his site, paying out every time they do so could be beneficial.
Let’s say we want to advertise a new video game called “Space Game Tycoon 2” and we choose to use CJ Affiliate. As part of our campaign, we would like to offer a percentage of the sales made within 30 days of purchase to our affiliates. We set up two different campaigns using the same URL for each – one targeting males between 18 and 24 years old while the second targets all ages. Below is an image of the landing page created for each campaign. We call the first campaign Space Game Tycoon 2 - 1st Edition and the second Space Game Tycoon 2 - Complete Pack.
Here are the steps involved in setting up our campaigns:
Step 1: Create a Campaign Link
To begin, we go to the CJ Affiliate dashboard. From here, select New Campaign and fill out the form.
Name & Tagline: Here, we enter the name and tagline of our campaign. For our campaigns, we chose "Get Your Hands On Space Game Tycoon 2!" and "All Ages Welcome". We can change names at any point during the campaign, though changing the name midcampaign isn't recommended because it'll take several hours to update everything.
Campaign Type: Selecting this option allows us to target our ads towards certain demographics. While we won’t necessarily need to target anyone specifically in order to succeed, sometimes advertisers look at demographic information when deciding whether to run a particular campaign. For instance, if I was planning a campaign selling weight loss products, I'd probably not pick a male audience. But if I were planning a campaign promoting exercise equipment, I'd definitely try to focus my adverts toward men. It doesn't really matter which gender sells better, just that you know the best strategy for your own niche market.
Click Target Audience: Once you've selected a category, you're given a list of options for selecting a subset of the population. You can choose age groups, countries, locations, income brackets, etc., depending on your needs.
Ad Group: Next, we must decide how many times our advert should display. We usually opt for a single banner across the top of the web page. However, you can choose to show multiple banners instead, allowing you to reach more potential customers.
Payout Method: After choosing your payout method, you'll see how much revenue your campaign will generate. Some methods yield higher revenues than others, but they're all calculated differently. Payouts vary widely depending on the amount of work done to promote your product. For instance, an affiliate selling a $50 item might receive only $2 in commissions, whereas an affiliate selling a $500 item receives a commission rate closer to 10%. The important thing to remember is that the goal of advertising is to increase profits -- and therefore, payout rates.
Step 2: Set Up Landing Pages
Next, we head over to the CJ Affiliate Dashboard once again. First, we need to choose the landing pages that will house our advertisements. To save ourselves some effort later, we recommend creating separate pages for each variation of our campaign. By doing so, we can easily add variations without needing to edit too many things.
Once you've chosen the landing pages, you're ready to configure your ads!
Step 3: Configure Ads
After finishing step two, we return to the CJ Affiliate dashboard and head back to Ads Manager. At this stage, you'll be able to customize the advertisement itself. There are numerous ways to display text, images, videos, audio files, and even interactive elements such as popups. Each component has its own settings, making it easy to control exactly what appears on the webpage.
For now, let's keep things simple and stick to creating static ads. When configuring your ads, you can specify various dimensions. Here, we'll use an 800x600 pixel size (which works well for desktop browsers).
You can also define how long you think the user will spend looking at your ad before moving onto the next piece of content. Since we want to maximize conversions, we'll leave this value blank.
In addition to specifying the appearance of your ad, you'll also need to supply the URL of the landing page where the ad will appear. Click Add Ad and give your ad a title and description. Finally, you'll need to select the keywords you wish to optimize for.
When finished, hit Preview to view your ad. Make sure it looks great and that it matches whatever design scheme you've specified. Then, publish your ad.
Now that your ad is live, you're ready to start driving traffic to your webpage.
Step 4: Start Driving Traffic
Once your ad goes live, you'll notice it automatically redirects visitors to the landing page associated with the ad. Now, you're ready to start driving traffic to your page!
There are many ways to accomplish this task. One popular approach involves placing your affiliate code in front of a search engine result box. Doing so will ensure that whenever a visitor performs a keyword search related to your product, your ad will appear near the top of the results. Another approach is to write blog posts related to your topic, submit them to article directories, and include a short snippet of your affiliate code along with the post. Both techniques require minimal maintenance, as you don't have to worry about updating the URLs of your landing pages or posting new material.
But there are plenty of other ways to drive traffic to your webpage. Perhaps you prefer email marketing software like Aweber or MailChimp. Or perhaps you enjoy writing guest posts for sites like EzineArticles. Whatever your preference, you'll find tons of free tools online that enable you to spread the word about your brand.
As mentioned above, when running a CPL campaign, you're essentially rewarding people for visiting your webpage. That's why it's often referred to as "rewarded e-mail," since it rewards readers for taking action. Ultimately, however, the concept boils down to giving money away for performing a specific activity. And that brings me nicely to the last question...
That depends entirely upon your goals. If you're hoping to generate tons of leads, then a high CPL is going to be key. If you're trying to build a loyal customer base, then a low CPL is likely ideal. Either way, though, the general rule is that the lower the price, the more effective the incentive. So, for example, offering a 5% discount off the regular price is obviously going to attract less attention than offering a 25% discount. Of course, the reverse is true, too. Offering a 50% discount means you're basically throwing money away.
Ultimately, the decision comes down to personal preferences and/or business objectives. What works for one company might not work for yours. But hopefully, after learning about the basics, you understand enough to figure out what your best option is.
The cost per lead model is fairly straightforward. Let's take a look at an actual example. Say you sell a digital camera. You'd probably consider sending emails with offers to your existing clients. Those emails would typically contain discounts and special promotions. They wouldn't be limited to one subject line, though. Instead, you'd send several messages targeted to various categories of users.
One message might read:
Dear Customer Name,
I'm excited to tell you about a fantastic deal on a Canon EOS Rebel T3 Digital Camera. Today only, you can grab one for just $249.99 + shipping! Just click on the picture below to claim your savings today.
Best regards,
Your Friend
Another message might read:
Dear Customer Name,
Are you interested in purchasing a Canon EOS Rebel T3 Digital Camera? Don't miss this incredible deal on your favorite photographer's tool! Order immediately to avoid disappointment!
Regards,
Your Friend
In online advertising and marketing, you can earn money from your website visitors who click on an advertisement or link to another site that has been placed there with your permission. You do not need to spend any of your own money in order to make this happen. This type of advertising is called pay-per-click (PPC), which stands for "pay per click."
With PPC, advertisers bid against one another to have their ads shown at the top of search results when someone uses keywords related to the product being advertised. In other words, if you're selling shoes, you might bid on the word "shoes" as well as other related terms like "sneakers," "clogs," etc., so that when people use those key phrases in Google searches, your ad will appear at the top of the list. If they click through to your site, it's possible they'll end up buying something from you. The more popular your keyword phrase is, the higher your chances of appearing first are. It's also important to note that the price you pay to rank highly depends on how competitive your market is and whether or not you've already established yourself as an authority within the industry.
You get paid only after the visitor clicks through, but before he makes a purchase. For example, let's say you sell sneakers. Your advertisment may read:
Click here now for sale - $50 pair of Nike Air Jordan Vandals!
When your customer sees this advert, she's going to decide whether or not to click on it. She could choose to ignore it altogether, thinking it doesn't apply to her. However, you don't know until she actually comes to your page that she fits into the demographic category you were targeting with your ad. So you'd be paying all of that time, effort, and expense just for nothing. That's why marketers often opt for CPC instead of CPL models.
The Cost Per Click model was developed to address these issues. Instead of paying out immediately upon clicking, affiliates are given a specified amount of time to generate leads. These leads must then convert into sales, meaning they either buy something outright or sign up for a service or membership package. When this happens, the affiliate gets paid his fee based on the value of the items sold, plus a set commission percentage.
For example, suppose you run a blog about fashion accessories such as necklaces, earrings, belts, scarves, hats, gloves, and sunglasses. You write an article about jewelry trends for women, and include links to several vendors offering different styles. One vendor sells diamond rings, while another offers gold bangle bracelets. Let's assume you promote them both equally and offer them equal commissions. The jewelry company pays you a flat rate of $20 per item sold -- no matter where it came from. On the other hand, the bracelet seller pays you a fixed fee of 3% for every single sale made. Which would you prefer?
If you said the jewelry company, congratulations, because you understand exactly what CPL means in marketing. CPL simply refers to the dollar amount associated with the item sold. Since you earn $20 regardless of where the item comes from, you make a profit regardless of where the traffic originated. With the bracelet seller, however, you earn a small fraction of the total sale even though you provided the same level of exposure.
To answer this question, we need to look briefly at how CPL works in general. First, you create an account with an affiliate network. Then you submit content to them, usually articles written specifically for the purpose of promoting products. As mentioned above, you place a number of affiliate links throughout the text, directing readers to specific websites where they can purchase whatever you're trying to sell. Once again, you earn a certain amount of money for each person who buys something from one of the sites linked to in your article.
The most common method used today is Pay-Per-Lead (PPL). In this case, the affiliate earns a flat fee when a person buys anything from the partner website. But some networks offer more complex pricing schemes that allow you to specify how much you want to charge each buyer depending on various factors such as location, age group, income range, gender, etc. There are many other types of affiliate programs available, too, including revenue sharing, residual payments, tiered royalty fees, and others.
So what does CPL mean in marketing? To put it simply, it means you get paid for generating new customers rather than getting paid for making existing ones happy.
Let's take a closer look at some real life situations involving CPL in marketing.
1. Affiliate programs that pay per lead (PPL). An affiliate receives a base payout when a prospect becomes a customer. This is known as a direct conversion.
2. Affiliate programs that pay per action (PAI). A PAI affiliate program requires the user to complete a form, download a file, or perform a task before earning a reward.
3. Affiliate programs that pay per impression (PPI). An affiliate earns compensation once a potential customer views his banner ad or landing page.
4. Affiliate programs that pay per call (PAC). Similar to PPIs, PAC affiliates receive compensation for sending out emails or phone calls.
5. Pay-for-performance (PFP) affiliate programs. A PFP affiliate program allows users to compete directly with each other to see whose campaign generates the highest ROI.
6. Cost per acquisition (CPA) affiliate programs. A CPA affiliate program rewards an individual for referring prospects to its partner businesses.
7. Cost per subscriber (CPS) affiliate programs. CPS affiliate programs pay out when subscribers join a particular email list.
8. Cost per view (CPV) affiliate programs. CPV affiliate programs provide compensation whenever a viewer watches a video, downloads a white paper, fills out a survey, or attends a webinar hosted by an affiliate.
9. Cost per registration (CPR) affiliate programs. CPR affiliate programs pay out when individuals register for an event, newsletter subscription, or other similar activity.
10. Cost per lead (CPL) affiliate programs. CPL affiliate programs compensate affiliates for bringing new customers to a business. They typically require prospective buyers to fill out forms or perform tasks before receiving compensation.
11. Cost per click (CPC) affiliate programs. A CPC affiliate program compensates affiliates when consumers click on advertisements or links posted on third party websites.
12. Cost per visit (CPV) affiliate programs. CPV affiliate programs give affiliates credit for driving traffic to a particular webpage or landing page.
13. Cost per entry (CPE) affiliate programs. CPE affiliate programs give affiliates credits for inviting friends or social contacts to participate in contests or promotions.
14. Cost per install (CPI) affiliate programs. CPI affiliate programs pay affiliates when people install software applications onto computers using their referral codes.
15. Cost per view (CPV) affiliate programs. CPV affiliate programs pay affiliates for every unique viewing session performed on a promotional video clip.
16. Cost per download (CPD) affiliate programs. CPD affiliate programs award affiliates for driving traffic to a downloadable resource, such as a PDF document, CD ROM, or ebook.
17. Cost per signup (CPSU) affiliate programs. CPSU affiliate programs reward affiliates for signing up for newsletters or registering for events offered by partners.
18. Cost per lead (CPL) affiliate programs. CPL affiliate programs pay affiliates for recruiting new customers to a variety of industries.
19. Cost per transaction (CPT) affiliate programs. CPT affiliate programs pay out when merchants successfully process transactions initiated by affiliates.
20. Cost per sale (CPS) affiliate programs. CPS affiliate programs reward affiliates for completing purchases initiated by clients brought to a partner store through referrals.
21. Cost per qualified lead (CQL) affiliate programs. CQL affiliate programs pay affiliates when recipients become qualified leads. Qualified leads are people who meet pre-determined criteria, such as having a certain job title or purchasing a certain minimum amount of inventory.
22. Cost per lead gen (CPLG) affiliate programs. CPLG affiliate programs pay affiliates for introducing potential customers to a partner business.
23. Cost per inquiry (CPI) affiliate programs. CPI affiliate programs pay affiliates when a client inquires about a particular product or service.
24. Cost per click (CPC) affiliate programs. CPC affiliate programs pay affiliates for every click received during sponsored campaigns.
25. Cost per display (CPD) affiliate programs. CPD affiliate programs pay affiliates for displaying banners containing affiliate links on external websites.
26. Cost per entry (CE) affiliate programs. CE affiliate programs pay affiliates for submitting contest entries.
27. Cost per installation (CPI) affiliate programs. CPI affiliate programs pay affiliates for installing applications created by partners onto computing devices.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.