I have been asked many times why I prefer ShareASale affiliate program. I think ShareASale affiliate program is one of the best options out there. Many bloggers rely only on Google Adsense or other ad networks to earn income from their blogs. Except for Google Adsense, all ad networks pay the only penny to you and keep maximum share. That’s why I insist on using affiliate marketing for every blogger. Affiliate marketing pays you more commission. If you have not started affiliate marketing yet, read why you should start affiliate marketing today. I hope you are familiar with what is an affiliate marketing & how it works. I will not explain this as part of this article.
Now coming to the main point, why I prefer ShareASale Affiliate Program. Other bloggers might have a different opinion about ShareASale affiliate program and they might be using other Affiliate programs. I will love to know your opinion too 😀
Also Read: How To Use Infolinks To Earn Money
Caution: This article is going to be a very long article :p I am breaking this article into the following topics and will try to brief everything about the ShareASale affiliate program that you should know.
- What is ShareASale Affiliate Program?
- Network Breakdown of ShareASale Affiliate Program
- How To Sign Up For ShareASale Affiliate Program?
- How to Find Merchants to Promote On your Blog?
- What Kind of ShareASale Merchants Should You Promote On Your Blog?
- How to get Affiliate Links/Banners to Put on your Blog?
- How does a ShareASale affiliate link work?
- How To Promote Affiliate Products to Get Maximum Sales?
- Payment Threshold and Paying Methods of ShareASale Affiliate Program
- Why is ShareASale Affiliate Program Best?
Also Read: 10 Best Two-Tier Affiliate Programs For You
1. What is ShareASale Affiliate Program?
ShareASale was founded by Brian Litleton 15 years back. Thus, it is not a new affiliate program. ShareASale, part of Awin, works as an intermediate between Merchants and Affiliates. There are more than 2500+ merchants who offer a product or service and want to spread the word by paying bloggers to review and promote them through ShareASale. On the other hand, there are thousands of ShareASale affiliates who are promoting merchants’ products and earning commissions through it. Affiliates write about and review products and get paid if their readers click on the links (affiliate link) and buy the product or service.
Here, affiliates send requests to Merchants to join their program. Though your ShareASale account provides all the details to merchants that they need to know, there is also an option to write a personalized request Affiliates provide certain information e.g. Blog URL, Blog Niche, affiliate blog, or other information on why they want to promote their products. On the basis of this, ShareASale merchants choose to approve or reject the affiliates’ requests. In the later section, you will learn how to use ShareASale.
Also Read: 10+ Best Paying Affiliate Programs in ShareASale To Join
2. Network Breakdown of ShareASale Affiliate Program
ShareASale mainly provides two types of promotions. Only selling the products is not the way to get rewarded. Different affiliate programs can use different payment terms such as:
Pay per Lead: In this, the advertiser pays you (terms affiliate) based on the conversion of leads, such as a file or software download, completion of a sign-up form for a newsletter, trial offer sign-up, or other desired action. If a customer follows an affiliate link to the advertiser’s site and completes the required action in accordance with the affiliate agreement, the affiliate is paid. This PPL is also known as CPA (Cost Per Action). Here is CPA Marketing Guide For Beginners
Pay per Sale: In this, the advertiser pays the affiliate based on the conversion of sales. If a customer follows an affiliate link to the advertiser’s site and makes a purchase in accordance with the affiliate agreement, the affiliate is paid. Affiliates can earn a higher commission through pay-per-sale affiliate programs, however, these types of programs usually have the lowest conversion rate.
Also Read: Adversal CPM ad Network Reviews – Best Alternative to Google Adsense
3. How To Sign Up For ShareASale Affiliate Program?
Signing up for ShareASale Affiliate Program is free and very easy. ShareASale sign up requirements are very minimal. Just follow steps –
- Go to ShareASale
- Choose if you want to join ShareASale as an Affiliate (to earn commission by promoting products) or Merchant (to sell/promote your products).
- Click on ‘Affiliate Sign Up’ to join as an affiliate and ‘Merchant Join Here’ to join as a Merchant.
- Complete the Sign Up Form.
- Wait for 1-2 days to get a confirmation mail from regarding ShareASale login.
4. How to Find ShareASale Merchants to Promote On your Blog?
Once you have joined ShareASale affiliate program successfully, the next step is to find the merchants for your blog. Follow the below steps –
- Go to ShareASale page and log in.
- Hover your mouse over “Merchants” and click “Search for Merchants” as shown below:
- Enter the name of the merchant you are looking for, and click “Search”.
- Alternatively, you can use ‘Advance Search’ option (as shown below) or browse merchant through categories.
- Once you have found the merchant, click “Join Program”.
- Now, wait for the email notifying you of your approval.
- Once you got approval, you are good to go.
5. What Kind of Merchants Should You Promote On Your Blog?
Affiliate Marketing is all about choosing merchants (or products to be more specific) wisely. Choose the merchants or products that come under your niche. For instance, I am writing articles on Blogging or WordPress and I am an affiliate for Premium WordPress Themes and hosting companies. You can browse by category to see all merchants related to your topics or niche. When you find a company you recognize, you can see the general payout for a sale, plus read the details of the affiliate program. The name of the company is on the left. Underneath will be a link to JOIN PROGRAM. Since I have already joined the StudioPress by Copyblogger Media you will be seeing ‘ENROLLED IN PROGRAM’ rather than ‘JOIN PROGRAM’.
As you can see the commission structure is 35%. I will be paid a 35% commission if anyone buys any of StudioPress products from my affiliate link. The cookie is set for 60 days. Now, what does that mean? Let us say a user has clicked on StudioPress through your affiliate link, the user only sees all the premium themes available but does not buy any theme. Now the cookie is stored in the user’s browser. If the same user again opens StudioPress (not necessarily from your affiliate link) and buys any theme, you will still be getting the commission. It will use the same cookie stored in your browser (for 60 days). But cookies are usually browser-specific, which means that you could click an affiliate link in the Internet Explorer browser, but it would not apply to a purchase made in the Chrome browser or Firefox browser.
The reason why I am promoting the StudioPress products is, I am also using Genesis Framework by StudioPress for my blog and I am happy with it. You will love to read the following articles-
6. How to get Affiliate Links/Banners to Put on your Blog
- Go to ShareASale and login
- Hover your mouse over “Links” and click “Get a Link/Banner”.
- You will see a list of all Merchants you have joined. I am using ‘StudioPress By CopyBlogger Media’ for the demo.
- Click on ‘Get Links’.
- You will see the ‘Text Links’, ‘Banners’ or other options as mentioned below:
- Click “Get HTML Code”.
- You will get the code to copy on your blog.
- Similarly get ‘Banners’ for your blog. You can switch to the Banners tab and follow the same.
- You can copy the code and insert it into your blog. That is your affiliate banner. Alternatively, you can also copy only the affiliate link and use your custom text.
- Great! You have successfully added affiliate link 🙂
You can also create Product showcase to showcase products in different designs to look more appealing and attract customers. You can choose different layouts, color combinations, product pop out etc. Below is the sample product showcase I created.
Alternatively, You can create Page or Gallery for your Merchant’s Products. You can customize it however you want. Isn’t it great?
Also Read: Cuelinks Review
Below are the sample gallery and page created for one of my merchant’s products.
Gallery Preview
Page Preview:
7. How does a ShareASale affiliate link work?
The affiliate link works as mentioned below:
- An Affiliate link is clicked.
- Browser visits ShareASale.com.
- ShareASale.com installs a tracking cookie on the web browser, associating any sales at the final destination with the affiliate identified in the affiliate link
- Browser redirects to the final destination, any sales that visitor makes at the affiliate site will result in a commission to you. So simple right 🙂
8. How To Promote Affiliate Products to Get Maximum Sales?
As mentioned earlier, choose merchant/products wisely. Promote only the products that you have used or for which you are confident about and which will help or benefit your users in some way. Your readers value your opinions and trust your content. You must convince people that the product or service is a solution to a problem. You can write a review article on your products where you can explain all the benefits of products to your readers. This will definitely help in maximizing your sales. If you’re reviewing actual products, and not just digital merchandise, it’s best to either buy it first or at least go to a store and review it. As you gain credibility with your writing, you’ll be able to make most out of it.
Below is one of the commissions I got from one sale –
Below are the highest paying affiliate programs in ShareASale that you should definitely join to earn huge commissions:
- OptinMonster Affiliate Program
- LinkTrackr Affiliate Program
- Grammarly Affiliate Program
- WP Engine Affiliate Program
9. Payment Threshold and Paying Methods of ShareASale Affiliate Program
ShareASale makes payment via direct deposit or check. The default payment threshold is $50. Once you reach $50 you will be paid by your preferred payment method. You can check/update your payment setting by clicking Account –> Edit Settings.)
Payments are made on the 20th of every month for the previous month’s commissions. If you make $20 in one month and $30 in 2nd, you will receive $50 in the 3rd month.
Snapshot of ShareASale Payment Proof :
10. Why is ShareASale Affiliate Program Best?
There are many great marketplaces like Commission Junction, Clickbank, etc. that you can join. But there are different reasons why I recommend using ShareASale.
- ShareASale has a very user-friendly and easy-to-use interface.
- You can find almost any product in your niche. There are more than thousands of products available in ShareASale to promote.
- Pay Per Sale and Pay Per Lead both types of programs are available there. Few programs pay 2 Tier commission too.
- Share a Sale has downtime and history reports on the merchants. You can see how often the Merchant has gone offline
- ShareASale offers real-time reporting. You can see how your campaigns are performing in real-time. Both unique and non-unique clicks and everything broke out by the merchant.
- You can find many Renowned Companies offering their services that you can promote.
- The payout threshold is very low (i.e. 50$) as compared to other affiliate programs. It is one of the best paying affiliate programs.
- ShareASale doesn’t hold you to a contract. You can leave at any time and not have to deal with any penalty etc.
- Share a Sale offers easy to create, manage, and modify widgets for your Affiliates so you can always make sure there are up to date products and best sellers showing where you want them to.
- They offer training for everyone. ShareASale Merchants can go to webinars to learn about incentives for Affiliates, ways to motivate them, recruit them, and grow their programs. Affiliates can learn how to grow their own companies and use the tools they didn’t know existed to make more money.
There are many other reasons why I consider the ShareASale Affiliate program as the best affiliate program. So far, I do not have any ShareASale complaints and my experience is very good. Many Pro Bloggers have also shared very good ShareASale reviews. Do share your comments on the ShareASale affiliate program review.
So what are you waiting for? Join ShareASale today.
Share your feedback if you are using the ShareASale affiliate program about your experience so far. Do comments in the section below.
You can connect with me on Instagram Or Quora And Linkedin as well.
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Good platform and very useful informative article. The Money Fact Affiliate marketing is a referral arrangement in which an online retailer (advertiser) pays you a commission when users purchase their product
The information you have posted is very useful about shareasale affiliateprogram . Thank you for nice and wonderful Information.
I hope you’re having a great week.
Happy Blogging 🙂
Hey I started my own blog. I like your tips that will definitely help me to earn money through affiliate marketing.
This is a exquisite article, I entirely loved it and thanks for sharing. I followed your link through your post on LinkAssistant simply to let you know.
I certainly will be using some of the ideas shared in your post.
thanks again.
Hi Mohit,
Need your guidance as i got approved for the Shareasale account and now going to search for the Merchant. My Blog niche is ” Computer Networking” Need your suggestion which type of Merchant would I prefer. My Blogs are
http://www.routexp.com
Would appreciate if you guide me here or email me on networks.baseline@gmail.com
Hi Joshua,
Generally, we keep 1% – 5% conversion rate. But it is not a standatd rule. It depends on many factors. For few products, I am getting 20% – 40% conversion rate which is too high. That is because I have targetted customer base, have higher ranking in SERPs, targetted keywords such as coupons and all so they convert well.
I would recommend targetting right keywords, have a good call to action in the end of article to inspire readers to buy product etc. You will definitely see some good conversions.
You can also read this on how you can increase your conversion rate – https://catchupdates.com/tips-increase-conversion-rates/
Hope this helps!
Hi, I hae been using shareasale for around 15 days now and have had almost 200 clicks to the affiliate programs ‘Redshelf’, ‘Faithbox’ and ‘Dayspring.’ But so far I have had no sales. Is this normal or am I just overreacting? How many clicks would you expect to get before you get a sale? ps. These clicks are from my Christian blog.
Hi Elle,
I do not think you need to maintain $25/month commission. When I had started couple of years back, I hardly used to have $5-$10 commission per month and it used to carry forward until it reached minimum threshold (i.e. $50).
However, there is policy for abandoned/inactive accounts. As per ShareASale –
Affiliate accounts that are left inactive will be removed from our system if their balance is equal to or less than $25. If an abandoned affiliate account has a balance between $25 and $50, a $25 fee will be assesed once per calendar month, until the balance is equal to zero dollars – and is closed. At no time will an affiliate ever owe monies to Shareasale.com, Inc. based on fees – the account will simply be closed. An abandoned affiliate account is defined as any account that has not been logged in to for a period of 6 months, nor have any transactions been posted to that account. If one or the other of those conditions are true – the account will remain in an active state.
You can read more here – https://account.shareasale.com/agreement.cfm
Hope you will see good results with ShareASale and have good experience with them.
Do let me know if you have any other queries.
Thanks,
Mohit
Hi Mohit,
Thank you for this very informative post! I am just starting my affiliate journey and have only joined ShareASale so far, and it seems to be pretty good. I cannot get the galleries to work only the page layouts for some reason, but that might have something to do with my theme. Question for you, I have seen some mention that ShareASale requires a $25.00 a month minimum commission amount in your account or they will shut it down, do you know if this is true?
Thanks in advance!
Elle
If you’re a passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can’t find a way to do so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a blog doesn’t require extensive technical skills but it’s important that you have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other people’s products.
Thanks for sharing. It is very informative.
We are all trying to promote the products through these programs. As a service provider, I want to understand can the services be promoted through affiliate marketing program?
In my opinion, lead generation for services will be definitely less compared to lead generation for products. But the time spent will be well compensated with relatively better remuneration to service leads.
I would request Mohit to opine on this.
Thanks
I have read so many articles or reviews concerning the blogger lovers
except this post is really a good paragraph, keep it up.
You are a big help to me. I just made my blog and started doing affiliate marketing however I am struggling on the next step. I don’t know how will make people buy through my blog. It’s frustrating you know. What you said lifted up my spirit and I wish I can see sales next month or so. Cheers!
like ShareASale? good affiliate network
Really Nice post Mohit,
I look after the affiliate program at PureVPN. we are using shareasale and its working good but there are some technical issue like tracking issues.
Thank you for this great review and shareasale is one of the best affiliate networks to join for anyone who want to get started in affiliate marketing.
Hi Aarti,
Thanks for sharing your reviews. Yes, I have also been associated with ShareASale for past one year and so far my experience is good 😀
I like Shareasale. I am affiliate here from two years. Is good and trusted. I agree totally with your article.