Design Web Site Around Affiliate Programs

By Stephen Bucaro

When starting a Web business, most people choose a topic

for their Web site and then look for products and

affiliate programs related to that topic. In this article,

I suggest searching for a group of related affiliate

programs first, then designing your Web site around those

programs.

There are many affiliate directories and affiliate network

Web sites where you can search for the best programs. For

this example, I use Commission Junction http://www.jc.com

This affiliate network site provides a vast amount of

searchable information on over 1200 affiliate programs.

On Commission Junction’s front page, click on the link

“Search all advertisers”. This will take you to a page

with a drop down list where you can select a category. In

order to search the information on Commission Junction,

you must be a member, but membership is free. After you

login to Commission Junction, go to the bottom of the page

to “Find Advertisers & links”. Here you can get a list of

all advertisers, search advertisers by keyword, or browse

for advertisers.

Click on “Browse for advertisers”. This takes to to a

table where you can arrange the affiliate programs based

upon “EPC” or “Network Earnings”. EPC is the average

earnings per 100 clicks. It reflects the affiliate

programs ability to convert clicks into commissions.

Network Earnings is a rank, on a scale of one to five, of

an affiliate program based on the amount of commissions

paid. In the head of the table, click on the name of the

parameter you are interested in. This rearranges the

entries based upon that parameter.

After you arrange the entries, you have to page past all

the “New” programs. I guess Commission Junction puts the

new programs at the top of the list to help promote them.

As you analyze the data you will discover that the

programs that pay the highest earnings per click do not

necessarily provide the highest total earnings.

Some important points:

- Commission Junction is not the best affiliate network.

Their fees to advertisers are too high. Search Google for

other affiliate networks and affiliate programs.

- Join several good programs. You don’t want to build your

Web site around one program that may be discontinued.

- Don’t join too many programs. It takes time and work to

promote each program.

- Don’t be in a rush to join affiliate programs. Take your

time and select a profitable category and high quality

programs.

Most people get an idea for a Web site, and then look for

related affiliate products to sell. Why not research

affiliate programs first? Then you can learn what

categories of affiliate products and services are going

you earn you the most money. You can then design the topic

of your Web site around the most profitable product

categories and affiliate programs.

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