Whether you’re joining affiliate networks as a publisher to make money from your website or newsletter, or considering an affiliate program manager for your own products or services, there is an overwhelming number of choices. Knowing which networks are most popular with affiliate marketers allows you to quickly narrow down your options.
The 2012 Affiliate Summit AffStat report includes survey results from over 1400 affiliates. These affiliates were some of over 5000 attendees from around the world (including Canada).
The following 11 affiliate networks were voted most popular:
Commission Junction 75.9%
Share-a-Sale Affiliate Network 67.1%
Linkshare 63.3%
Clickbank 54.4%
Google Affiliate Network 53.2%
LinkConnector Affiliate Network
29.1%
Pepperjam Network 26.6%
Affiliate Window 24.1% (European. Charges £5 refundable fee to join.)
Digital River – One Network Direct 15.2%
AvantLink
12.7%
Impact Radius 12.7%
The list may not reflect your preferences or requirements (we use MaxBounty (Canadian) and Share-a-Sale Affiliate Network quite often), but it’s a great place to start your venture into affiliate marketing in Canada. Look for features that will make your life easier as well, like affiliate program listings that indicate the program’s country of origin. Pepperjam, for example, has country flags so you can quickly tell if the program is based in Canada.
Newbie Note: Entering the world of affiliate marketing can be intimidating. There are so many networks, each with their own terms and conditions, and many affiliate programs dictate their own rules on top of that. Some have higher payout thresholds or require a minimum number of transactions within a certain time period (like Clickbank). Others may have special rules for Canadians.
It’s important to read the terms and conditions of each network or you may lose some of your hard earned money. Yes, it’s unfair and it shouldn’t be legal for some networks to not pay you out before closing your account for infrequent sales, but some get around that with ‘dormancy fees’. Luckily, most networks understand that building relationships with new affiliates and gaining their loyalty is far more lucrative at the end of the day. Even the most successful super-affiliates started at zero.
INSIDER TIPS!
- Free, extensive affiliate training and affiliate marketing tools can be had through the masterminds at Affilorama.
- Free affiliate marketing courses, community and more from The Wealthy Affiliate.
- If you’re ready to advance to high-end/high-commission sales, My Top Tier Business provides the training, ads, and opportunities to some of affiliate marketing’s top earners.
- To automatically embed an affiliate store in your WordPress blog, try Datafeedr.
- To easily manage affiliate links in WordPress blogs (auto-link, cloaking, etc.), check out the Affilink plugin that top bloggers are raving about.
- The link management choice of super-affiliates (like Armand Morin and John Chow) for websites or WordPress blogs is LinkTrackr.
- WordBay Plugin – Bring niche-targeted eBay products into your website or blog post with this easy plugin. Supports the eBay Partner Network, Skimlinks and Viglink.
- If you’re looking for a profitable niche that isn’t too saturated, start with keyword research and competitive intelligence using the acclaimed Long Tail Pro tool that “super affiliates” love.
What’s your favorite affiliate network?
✔ You may also be interested in reading:
Affiliate Marketing Benchmarks
Top Two-Tier Affiliate Programs for Canadians
How to Start an Affiliate Program for a Canadian Business
10 Hot Product Niches to Sell or Drop Ship Online in Canada
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Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.
Melody has worked with many businesses & brands in a multitude of capacities. She can often be found on CanadianDigitalMedia.com, CanadiansInternet.com, CanadianFamily.net, and AllNaturalPetCare.com, as well as other quality digital publications. Her content has earned reference links from highly-respected websites, magazines and university textbooks.
I use linkshare and clickbank most.
I wouldn’t run an affiliate program on cj if I had one because they’re so restrictive our company would be missing out on a lot of fantastic affiliations. I’d probably go with linkshare or shareasale.
Not too many surprises here but I’d like to see a list of their favorite networks.
I staarted with DJ but I use linkshare more now. CJ is way too full of itself.
I’ve cut way back on the number of networks I participate in and I don’t deal with the ones that use ANY excuse to steal my commissions.
Most people use more than one network so that influences the numbers.
I agree networks that slap affiliates with commission stealing inactivity penalties are being shortsighted. Their big numbers were built on the back of new affiliates and eventually they’ll see a decline in revenue even with the money they steal from people who earned it. If they think those marketers who were cut off and ripped off will forgive all and come running back when they’re making more money…they’re dreaming.