Earning with Commission Junction
Commission Junction is one of several large affiliate networks that can be an important part of your money-earning strategy. A network like this is great because it pools all your income from multiple affiliates, meaning you get paid faster and more often. Commission Junction is the network that I use, so that is the one I know the most about (hence this article). Linkshare is another big one that you could try.
The basic premise of Commission Junction (which henceforth I will simply call CJ), is that you can browse through their collection of hundreds of affiliates and combine your advertising potential all in once place. I guess that is the premise of any affiliate network, so I will try to focus on CJ specifically.
Their sign-up procedure is simple enough, and once your account is opened, you are able to connect several different websites to it. This is a very handy feature and one of the reasons why I work with CJ. I have about 10 websites that all run various affiliate ads, and I can manage all my links and income from one CJ account. Very nice.
You can browse through all the affiliates that are part of the network, arranged be topic or by earning statistics. Knowing which programs earn the most can help you decide which ads to run, though I don’t recommend choosing JUST on earning potential. Ads that have nothing to do with your topic won’t earn you very much at all.
Some of the larger advertisers that are part of CJ include:
- Monster.com career resources
- Staples business supplies
- Ebay auction website
- Dell computers
- Best Buy stores
When you find an affiliate that you like, you have to apply for it (which is a separate process than applying for your CJ account in the first place). There is no guarantee that an affiliate will accept you, which can be frustrating. Many will accept anyone who applies, but some companies are more picky. You could be rejected because your website: is too new, poorly designed, off-topic or simply because the company is limiting the number of affiliates that they want to work with (and pay).
Once you have been accepted by your affiliate choices, you can see what kinds of ads they have to choose from. Most affiliates will have a collection of graphic ads in various sizes, that you can use by cutting and pasting their code into your website. Many also have specific product links that are particularly helpful if you want to promote a specific item rather than just the company’s website.
CJ has a minimum of $35 before any payments are made, and you can get either a cheque, or arrange for a direct deposit into a bank account. The minimum is the same either way.
There are loads of reports that can show you which affiliates are being clicked on, and how many times their ads are being displayed. You can sort your progress by affiliate or by website (if you are running campaigns on more than one site).
One downfall of Commission Junction is that they may deactivate your account if you have not earned anything in 6 months. But to be honest, if you are running ads for 6 months with no positive activity than maybe affiliate sales aren’t the way to go for your website.
