Where to find what you want to promote

There are places that you can got to look for a product that you want to sell or “promote”.  When you find a product to promote you will get something called an affiliate link that identifies you as the person who referred the customer to the product.  When that customer buys that product through your link you will earn your commission on that sale.

A large number of Internet Marketers assume the Affiliate role when getting started.  This basically means that you are going to promote a product that does not belong to you.  When you make a sale on that product you can earn a commission anywhere between 10%-70%.

There are two types of places you can find affiliate products.  An Affiliate Network is a place where thousands of products are listed all under one roof.  Or there are Independent Affiliate programs, where the merchant has his own affiliate program you can join.

Affiliate Networks

You need a product to promote to start to make money online as an Internet marketer.  There are many different factors involved in making a good choice as far as which product you are going to promote.  Some of the thing to look at would be commission%, density, conversion rate, refund%, etc.  But we’re not going to get into that right now.

A good place to  start looking for a product is some of the larger Affiliate Networks.  You will find thousands of merchants that have their affiliate program listed on these networks.  You can go to these networks and have access to all these programs all in one place.

Almost all successful Internet marketers have used affiliate networks at one time or another.  Most likely when they started out, and some of them probably still do. The following networks are some of the ones I like and recommend where to get started.

Clickbank

LinkShare

Commission Junction

Google Affiliate Network

ShareASale

Independent Affiliate Programs

Many companies serve their affiliate programs “in-house”, meaning that they do not submit their programs to Affiliate networks such as ClickBank.  A common question regarding independent affiliate programs is “Are they safe to use?”  Absolutely they are, and  in fact some of the Independent programs I  have found have very good Affiliate resources for me to use. There are a lot of  really good Independent Affiliate programs out there, and you would be cutting yourself short if you did not utilize them along with Affiliate networks.

Here is how you can go about finding affiliate programs within any industry using  one of  the search engines.  Lets consider if you were looking to  promote  some thing like a HD TV made by XYZ electronics.  You would do a search of  “XYZ electronics affiliate program”.  Your search results would come back  with affiliate programs related to that product. Then all you have to do is go through the programs and find the one that is best for you.

Useful Terminology

There is some terminology that you need be familiar with when using these networks.

Pay-Per-Sale is the most common payment structure and is used within all networks.  Basically, pay-per-sale is just like it sounds.  You earn commissions based on “sales” that you can drive to merchant websites.  These commissions will either be paid as a percentage of the overall sale or as a flat-fee.  Commission percentages range from 1% – 90%, and up to $500 for the flat-fee structure (depending on the program).  This can easily amount to huge commissions!

Pay-Per-Action is becoming very common way for affiliates to earn money online.  Many affiliate networks are dedicated purely to pay-per-action programs.  These programs pay based on a pre-determined action by the merchant company.  This could be a free trial, a lead acquisition, or any desired action to be triggered. This is also know as “cost per action” or “cost per acquisition”.

Pay-Per-Lead is less common, but is a common payment structure used by many networks.  A lead is an action that takes place and is predefined by the merchant.  For example, a lead could be a free trial sign-up or a completed application form. These will vary based on the company.


One of the main Affiliate networks that I use because of its simplicity is Clickbank.  It  has the largest network of digital info products, and you will find everything from dog training manuals, to e-books on how to make money online.  Most Internet marketers will start here.