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How To Find Affiliate Programs
If you are thinking of becoming an affiliate, or have a product and are in need of affiliates to promote it, an affiliate program is a good place to start.
Today, joining an affiliate program is one of the most reliable ways you can make money online. This is because affiliate marketing is an effective marketing method that has been used and trusted by the e-commerce industry for decades.
Finding a suitable affiliate program though, can be challenging. Which is why in this article, we will be giving our best shortcuts to find profitable affiliate programs to promote.
You will find these tips useful, whether you are joining an affiliate program as a marketer or as a merchant.
And, here we go:
Table of Contents
Tactic #1: Type Company Name + ‘Affiliate Program’ Into Google
Google is the best starting point to find anything, including companies that have affiliate programs.
Why we recommend this is as the first tactic is because it’s such a straight forward process. What’s more, brands optimize for google when they want to be found.
So when you search for affiliate programs, you are likely to get the best programs on the first page of the search engines.
How should you word your search? Simply type ‘’affiliate marketing program’’ + ‘’your product’’. Like this Groovefunnels search…
You can also use industry or niche, instead of product.
Some things to look out for when as you consider which affiliate program to join include:
- The cookie life of the affiliate link.
- The conditions that come with that cookie. For instance, although the Amazon affiliates’ cookie life is 24 hours, it’s a universal cookie. This makes sense, because Amazon is a market place.
- The commissions. Here’s a quote from highpayingaffiliateprograms, that rings so true whatever niche you decide to sell in: “It takes the same amount of time & effort to promote a product that pays you $1,000 per sale as it does one that pays you only $19.00.”
Therefore, when choosing an affiliate program, choose a high paying one.
Tactic #2: Use Affiliate Networks To Find Companies With Affiliate Programs
When people decide to go into affiliate marketing, affiliate networks are more often than not their first stop. In fact, most people about affiliate marketing, and ClickBank or Commission Junction will probably be the first words to come out of their mouths.
One of the reasons why affiliate networks may be a preferable option for you is because
- They are established, hence trusted.
- They are highly likely to pay your commissions, no matter how long it takes.
- If you want people to promote your product, affiliate networks are a good option because they have a pool of affiliate marketers, all looking for products to promote.
One thing though, is that to be competitive on a network as a merchant, your commissions need to be attractive. Even if you offer slightly lower commissions, your offering should be competitive.
Tactic #3: Use Affiliate Program Directories
There are people out there who, (mostly out of the goodness of their hearts), have taken it upon themselves to compile whole lists of affiliate programs. The data bases they create are called affiliate program directories.
Think about it like the yellow pages for affiliate programs.
Like highpayingaffiliateprograms.
In this directory, they list, in one place, more than 1200 high-paying affiliate programs in over 100 categories. To make it even easier for you, the categories are further grouped in 12 market segments.
With google, you could entirely miss or gloss over a program that may be quite suitable for you because you have to check each result one by one to find companies that offer affiliate programs.
A directory gives you all programs in one place, making it harder to miss a one that’s good for you.
One upside of affiliate program directories is that they are also a wealth of resources, such as training and blog articles. These resources give tips on getting started and how to succeed as an affiliate marketer.
Tactic #4: Reach Out On LinkedIn To Affiliate Managers
Affiliate managers are always looking for quality affiliates to join their teams. Still, even if you are not accomplished but are willing to learn, reach out to a manager on LinkedIn. Use Inmail to pitch yourself and show them how trainable you are.
If you are a merchant, but are completely in the dark regarding where to start with getting affiliates, there are a number of reasons why working with an affiliate manager may be a great way to go.
Firstly, and most obviously, having someone else take the task of managing an affiliate program off your hands will give you ample time to focus on other areas of your business.
Secondly, optimizing your campaigns for results can be quite an uphill task. If you don’t know how to optimize affiliate campaigns, chances are that your campaign results may not be very lucrative.
When starting out, it’s always better to find someone accomplished in running successful affiliate programs. Like an affiliate manager. They know all about how to:
- Get quality traffic
- Optimize conversion rates
- When to use paid ads such as cpc or cpa
- How to monitor competitors and what to watch out for
More so, affiliate managers have access to software. As well, their networks are vast. Through their relationships, they can negotiate attractive paid placements for your products, saving costs. Developing those relationships on your own will take a lot of time and effort.
How can you find affiliate managers?
A simple google search will suffice here. For instance, I typed the words affiliate manager profiles on LinkedIn and these were the results.
When I clicked on the first result, I was directed to a page showing a list of all 10 affiliate manager profiles. You can read each profile and contact each of these people individually.
Tactic #5: Check Competitors Websites
Who are your competitors?
What are they promoting?
How are they promoting those products?
How have they structured their affiliate commissions? Can your commissions be more lucrative than theirs and is it worth it?
Will it serve you well to promote the same products, similar products or take a whole different tangent entirely?
If you don’t know who your competitors are, search on google. Also do a google search or check on social media to find out what they are promoting.
Check your competitors’ articles to see if the links in those articles are affiliate links. Affiliate links usually have an affiliate ID after the product ID. Some may appear like ‘’htm?id=112325’’.
From there, try to match your competitors’ tactics. If they have created comparison articles, create similar articles to those your competitors have created. If they are running banner ads, run your own banner ads, or maybe even video ads.
Tactic#6: Check Marketing Forums
Marketing forums will give you access to a bunch of experts in the marketing industry and other industries as well.
Some of these experts are affiliate marketing managers and agencies looking for new clients. In case you have products and are looking for affiliates, you need only ask. Many freelance marketers and agencies will pitch you their services.
As an affiliate, you can use forums to showcase your expertise. This is a great way to not only engage with people, but to also get hired by anyone looking for affiliates.
Tactic #7: Check Popular Affiliate Sites
The thing about most affiliate websites is that they are so focused on money, and they aren’t shy about showing it. But, as a marketer, you should know by now that people get put off by that sort of thing. Which is why most affiliate websites fail, because people want value.
That said, some affiliate websites focus on giving value to customers. Those are the websites we are recommending to you here. Like Nerdwallet, or Wire Cutter. You can even sign up to Dating Advice if relationships are your area.
Tactic#8: Look At Product Influencers Are Promoting
Influencers, from the big ones like the Kardashians to the micro influencers we never get to hear of, make money by endorsing products. Companies reach out to them (the influencers), and ask them to put their name behind a product, in the hope that their social media followers will buy.
It’s about trust, and the reasoning goes like this: Social media followers trust and like an influencer, and that is why they follow him or her. Hence they will trust a product endorsed by that influencer.
So where, as an affiliate, do you come in?
When an influencer endorses a product, they usually do most of the heavy lifting as far as creating a buzz around that product goes. Like the Old Spice Advert.
Instead of picking a product that is unheard of, you can piggy back on an influencer’s effort by promoting the same product they have endorsed.
To find suitable products to promote, look for the #ad next to an influencer’s posts on Instagram and twitter posts. Then join the affiliate program offered for that product.
Conclusion
Anyone (well, almost anyone), can launch an affiliate program. But do you know how to find quality affiliates? Do you know how to optimize your campaigns so that you get a positive return on your investment?
Probably not!
In the marketing world, it’s always safer to start off by joining companies that have affiliate programs. We have demonstrated that even if you decide to launch your own affiliate program, having an affiliate manager could define your success.
Finally, check out our helpful infographic below that sums up how to find affiliate programs. Make sure to share it with anyone in your network who may find it useful!
