Make money with ShareASale – affiliate marketing
What is affiliate marketing?
We looked at Escalate previously and I described them as an advertising network. You can certainly earn some money this way and many of you already have done. But today we will look at signing up with ShareASale which is different – I would describe them as an affiliate network.
Escalate features banner adverts which you display and can be paid for in a number of ways, primarily Pay per Click and Pay per Conversion – email sign ups. The advertisers aren’t necessarily selling anything. You might try out several adverts to see what you readers are interested in, and perhaps change these out frequently as new offers are published. These tend to be more temporary in nature.
But ShareASale adverts primarily promote online stores where you will be paid a generous commission for any sales referred by your site. I’ve seen commissions of up to 80% but more typically they will be around 10-30%. These referrals can be by way of a display banner advert in your sidebar, but can also be by text links, sponsored posts, product reviews and social media – and more.
A sidebar banner can still work, and bring you sales if targeted correctly. The really big earnings from Affiliate Sales comes from careful targeting of your merchants to your readers interests, along with personal recommendation and promotion which encourages your readers to BUY. If done correctly, affiliate marketing can be a big earner. But if there are no sales – you earn nothing.
If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, you will find this post very useful – How to Earn with Affiliate Marketing – a Case Study.
Make Money with ShareASale
Take a look at this first video where I’ll talk you through:
- signing up at ShareASale
- how to find and select the best vendors to work with
- how to pick relevant products to feature
- looking at vendor stats, commission rates and agreements
- and applying for their programs.
Do go over to ShareASale and sign up if you haven’t already done so. By the way, this is an affiliate link, so I’ll get $1 if you sign up with them, place an advert and generate a click on your advert. I hope you don’t mind! A girl has to buy blogging fuel in the way of strong coffee…
And in response to a Reader’s Question about ShareASale, take a look at my suggested list of vendors that might be worth signing up with – large and small. Some of them even offer freebies for their affiliates or auto-approval.
Adding banners, making recommendations and Deep Linking
Affiliate marketing may be more direct and personal to your readers than the advertising banners we have added before. As an affiliate, you are only paid on SALES, so you may chose to take a more active approach in promoting your offers. By offering your readers real value, you will receive value in return.
Your readers value your opinions, trust your content and want to hear more about what you have to say. If you have a company or product you love – tell them about it, recommend it. But don’t lose the trust of your readers. Recommend only products you have used or would use yourself. You should never jeopardize the long-term standing of your site and reputation in the hope of making a quick buck.
Be genuine.
If you are already used to advertising banners and have recently been adding in banners from Escalate, then adding your affiliate links will be easy. Your probably even already know how to do it. But I will still review adding in a banner to your sidebar and post in case this is your first time.
Most affiliate sales come from ‘Deep Linking‘. That is where you recommend and link to a particular product or range of products. So rather than direct your banner to the front page and leave your reader to do all of the work, I will show you how to set up your own custom affiliate link to any page or product for the best possible sales results.
In this second video, how to:
- add a banner to your side bar
- add a banner to your post
- add a more subtle text link
- create a custom link to products or pages – essential for the best sales. This is known as Deep Linking.
Reporting on your clicks, sales and commissions
So how did you do – did anyone click? Did you make any sales? The ShareASale reporting system is easy. Let’s take a quick look.
You should now be up and running with ShareASale and know how to apply for programs, place your adverts, promote products with Deep Linking, and then report on your results. If you have any questions – do let me know. I’m happy to help.
Affiliate marketing and ShareASale – further reading list:
How to make money with Affiliate Sales – A Case Study
Readers Questions – Which ShareASale vendors should I sign up with
August 19, 2013 @ 8:42 pm
Hi Deby,
Thank you so much for making the videos. Big Big help for me as I am trying very hard to earn thru Share a Sale but my earnings are low as of now. But we all have to start somewhere right? 🙂
August 19, 2013 @ 10:25 pm
It can be a bit hit and miss until you find the right products, services and companies that really resonate well with your readers. Every time you create a new project, just think about what tool, materials or other things you could link to and look for appropriate companies. You don’t have to sell, just help people, and they will buy if they want to.
August 20, 2013 @ 1:34 pm
I’ve spent some time reading different posts on your Blog thanks to Sverve featuring you! To date i’m registered with SAS, Linkshare, CJ, Clickbank & Amazon, I have a tab on my Blog for Affiliate Links (although I haven’t updated them in awhile), my only issue with marketing the coupons is taking time to modify the code to add the “rel-nofollow”, so that they won’t pull my google rankings down. My highest source of income comes from Google thanks to my YouTube channel which sends a lot of traffic to my blog, Amazon is second thanks to my Wigmaking Blog and products I sell on Amazon. I’m still searching for ways to market, i’m totally into fitness so i’m thinking of trying that route. I also receive quite a bit of Lifestyle products for review from brands and now i’m starting to get linkbacks which is great. Okay thanks for sharing and keep in touch!
August 20, 2013 @ 5:42 pm
I’ve been using ShareaSale for a while. I think that all bloggers (no matter their niche) should sign up for the photo programs since there’s always a way to fit that into your posts.
August 20, 2013 @ 9:05 pm
Do you mean the photo books like Blurb and MixBook programs, and cards and photo products like TINYPRINTS? I agree that these can be promoted in lots of ways across all sorts of sites and by all sorts of bloggers. Anyone with a family can share these sorts of promotions. Blurb even lets you design a free book for yourself when you sign up which you can then show on your site to bring in sales.
August 20, 2013 @ 6:20 pm
Visiting from Brag About It Tuesday. I haven’t tried making money with my blog yet. I have difficulty with giving these companies my personal information. I’m concerned that my identity might be stolen. Any advice on this?
Annamaria
August 20, 2013 @ 9:16 pm
Well it is good to be cautious online with your private info, but you are only giving them info which is publicly available anyway such as your name and address, plus your email address and website. I don’t believe there is any risk of identity fraud from signing up to ShareASale and the other larger networks. More of an issue for you would be that you blog at a WordPress.com site which does not allow advertising or affiliate links anyway. If its a newish site and you are keen about blogging long term, it might be wise to move over to your own site and hosting.
August 21, 2013 @ 7:44 am
Thanks for sharing. This is exactly what I’m researching right now. As a newbie I’ve been a little overwhelmed with all the options and not sure of what to do. Pinning for reference 🙂
August 21, 2013 @ 2:36 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this info and walking me through with videos! Very helpful!
August 21, 2013 @ 8:34 pm
Great tips. I belong to share-a-sale but don’t use it enough. What I do have hasn’t made me any money. I guess I have to be more aggressive.
August 22, 2013 @ 7:29 am
It will just be a case of finding the right products and companies and then either being direct about posting about them with a review or being subtle and including text links in your regular writing. There may be some trial and error until you find what works best with your readers.
August 22, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve been wanting to learn how to earn money through affiliates. This has helped me so much! Thank you!
August 23, 2013 @ 10:12 am
This is awesome for those of us that aren’t quite sure how to go about these things! Thanks for sharing and making our road to learning a bit easier!
Kristy @ Cup Of Jo
August 23, 2013 @ 11:20 pm
This is super helpful! I use ShareASale already, but have mostly been using their banners and I’ve done a few posts about products. I could obviously do more! Thanks for sharing!
August 26, 2013 @ 9:27 pm
I’ve had 12.50 banked at share a sales for two years…Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop xo
August 27, 2013 @ 10:40 am
Oh dear. You have a great site, I’m sure its just a case of picking the right products to fit with your readers interests Katherine. It can be hard to switch from blogging to blogging with money in mind for your posts. Not very post has to be about money, but if you can slip in some kind of link or recommendation in 50% of them, then magic will happen.
August 27, 2013 @ 7:31 pm
I just signed up for Share a Sale. Looking forward to some great results!
Thanks for sharing this post on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. It one of our most viewed posts on last week’s hop and it is featured on this week’s
Blessings,
Sinea
September 14, 2013 @ 6:15 pm
Thank you so much for making the videos. I recently signed up for Share a Sale. The one thing I am not clear on however is do I have to write a post and include the link or can I just have an advertisement in my sidebar and leave it there? Thank you for all your valuable help! Your tutorials are amazing!
September 14, 2013 @ 8:11 pm
You can do either Susan. Putting a highly targeted advert in your sidebar might work and get you some sales, but taking a more proactive approach will give you better results for affiliate sales. Personal recommendation is always the best way to go. Do look through the other posts about affiliate sales for more info – especially the case study post.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:40 pm
I just watched all of your videos and I now feel totally prepared to sign up. I’ve heard about these programs for awhile but just never got around to signing up. Look for a commission from my sign up as soon as I get my first sale!
January 8, 2014 @ 11:00 pm
Hey! I am a little confused… PLEASE ADVISE!!
I signed up for share a sale…. I don’t understand something… I am using wordpress and when I go to widgets it says that “This sidebar is no longer available and does not show anywhere on your site” Do you have any idea why that could be? I don’t have so many widget options either. Do you think it’s because I am using the free version? I am just starting out and am very confused… If you could give me any light or point me where to look I’d be forever thankful! 🙂 Thanks for all your posts by the way…. they are very helpful and clear!
January 9, 2014 @ 8:07 am
Sadly you cannot post affiliate links or adverts anywhere on your site including in your sidebar if you are using the free version of WordPress -it’s part of their terms and conditions, no advertising. That’s why you are getting this message. If you are serious about your site and want to use it to earn money, you’ll need to get your own domain name and hosting and use the other version of WordPress. I have a free site set up service you might be interested in, I’ll even pay your fees for the first year to get you going. You can read more at http://bloggertowordpress.com. If the site is quite new, we can probably copy all the content etc over to the new site and you can make a new start on the right foot. Just let me know if I can help you with the new site, Deby
January 9, 2014 @ 9:42 am
Hy Deby! If you could help me set mine up with the free set up service you mentioned… that would be absolutely perfect!! I just have one problem, though! I clicked on that link and my browser won’t open it. It says Google Chrome hasn’t found the address. I would love more info on the process. Thank you so much for the quick response. If you prefer, send me an email [email protected]
January 9, 2014 @ 9:55 am
Oops, I mistyped my own site address – corrected now.
I’ll send you an email later today….Deb
April 2, 2014 @ 10:42 am
Hi Deby, Thank you so much for your really informative videos on SAS!! I have to confess that I just sat staring at my SAS dashboard with no clue where to start so it was great to discover your tutorials. Off to apply to some programs!! Thanks again. V
April 17, 2014 @ 2:09 am
I was thinking that a better way to circumvent the problem of not being able to find fitting suitable industries and sectors to promote and conduct marketing programs of all the companies listed on shareasale.com, we would go for the highest percentage returns and better profitability margins products,and reposition our individual websites and blogs to cater to the unique market trends and demographics appeal for all companies offering affiliate programs. In other words, come up with many blogs to capture all the marketplace and increase the chances of success as we no longer put our eggs in one basket to get the performance we are looking for.
What you guys think of this plan, have an all-enveloping and covering strategy, so bigger markets to potentially profit from, will not be inadvertently missed out.
April 20, 2014 @ 7:30 am
There are certainly a lot of online entrepreneurs who think this way. Decide on a product or merchant to push and set up a website specifically around that topic. It works really well for a lot of people, who make a good living and work full time promoting and positioning these sites for profit. However the Moms Make Money advice tends to me more geared at those small bloggers who have just the one site, established and writing about what they love, looking to earn money from that. That is coming at the subject from the entirely opposite angle.. Both are legitimate ways to earn money online.
June 10, 2014 @ 8:43 am
I prefer the Moms Affiliate platform, its a lot clearer to use and easier to share affiliate links.
June 10, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
Is that an affiliate network like ShareASale? I searched for an age and couldn’t find an actual affiliate network called Moms Affiliate. Could you post a link? It’s not really the network that is important, you could join any network, or many. What is important are the merchants within the affiliate network – if these merchants fit your niche and sell products your users will buy, then those are the merchants to work with, no matter what the network. Can you give some examples of the merchants within the Moms Affiliate network?
September 13, 2014 @ 9:39 am
interesting! I market my own artwork on for sale zazzle and sometimes get referrals on there. As a artist I have lots of art on redbubble and noticed today they now have affiliate program linked with ShareASale. Still unsure if I should sign up, but as I promote my own work the extra income would be good, has anyone promoted redbubble products and are the results worth pursuing.
September 18, 2014 @ 5:55 pm
I am wanting to know if a 3d-digitized display for physical product(s) represent can be hosted in the shareasale site, per links front open then ‘404’ed to not come off page (and/or) that this strategy works with plugin. goal of what i’m desiring: to show a product for sale with opt-in code & liason with automate (heavenly? yes pls!) host that will take that code into CRM storage. CRM’s results would have availed-a hard copy (report) of who wanted what product. this “kaisen” of how to evidence interest of product (s)-then deliver the product-with include of drop ship pay of purchase by customer-would conclude the point-of-sale/shopping cart check out. customer’s contact confirms by phone that their product physically delivered . i’m looking toward being an affiliate to company-as a “ghost-hosting mediate” their real products to show buying audiences to those real products-without me directly holding physical inventory to deliver to them-via my means/circumstances.=hence for those close/p.o.s. of..i get a compensation-all pre-agreed to in a legal/binding wrtten contract.
do you understand what I’m asking for? thanks for your correspondence.
OR
can I ask specific category of vendors not yet in the network-to join the network, so in as to entice them the display/plugin demo their products-to in turn my gain of a commission from their being in the network-and I drive traffic through to the vendor(s) in the network?
do you understand what I’m asking for each of these queries? thanks for your correspondence.
janne
(of) watersmoothvape.com
September 18, 2014 @ 9:53 pm
I’m sorry Janne, I really don’t understand what you are saying. Do you speak a foreign language and have used some kind of translation tool? Maybe you are totally misunderstanding the ShareASale network. It’s not for selling your own products, it’s there for you to earn a commission promoting the products of the merchants who are in the network. There are no physical goods to worry about because you aren’t selling anything. You do not collect orders on behalf of the merchants, you only send people to their sites to buy. Sorry if I’m not answering your question.
September 30, 2014 @ 10:09 pm
Thank you so much for this post!
I just got accepted as an affiliate and I wasn’t sure where to start AT ALL. Up to this point I’ve had no ads on my website, so I’m trying to make sure I incorporate things I like and have used (as you suggest) and maybe actually make some money. Let’s face it, making cakes isn’t that lucrative, yet 😉
I live in one of those silly states with strict tax laws, so I have to be careful how I advertise. I need to find more info on that. :-/
Anyway, thanks again- now once I make a few things that can incorporate my links I know how to include them in my posts!
February 18, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
Hi Deby,
It’s very inspirational how much you make from shareasale. Where on your sewing blog does the most conversion come from? Is it ads in the sidebar or links in your posts? What Shareasale affiliate is your favorite? Sorry for all the questions 😉
March 4, 2015 @ 8:12 am
My best conversion comes from within post links, relevant to my content. I don’t want to give away all my secrets, but writing a blog topic with a sale in mind, promoting or reviewing a particular product seems to be the most successful.
March 2, 2016 @ 3:42 pm
Very helpful – thank you!