As a micro-entrepreneurial business, you can earn extra revenue through affiliate marketing. Commission Junction is a major affiliate program for advertisers and publishers of websites and blogs. If you (the micro-entrepreneur and publisher) participate, then you can put links to participating merchants on your website and blog.
Affiliate marketing works like this: Every time someone clicks on the link and buys something, you get a percentage of the sale. If someone clicks on the link and fills out a form, you get a commission for attracting a sales lead. If that person comes back to the site and purchases something or fills out the form, you can still get a commission.
Many vendors put a tracking code (referred to as a cookie) on your computer to help track sales and identify you as the source of the referral. The cookie can be on as long as 90 days, which means than if anyone buys through your referral link for up to 90 days, you can still get paid.
If you want to make money as affiliates with large, big-name companies such as JP Morgan, Home Depot, and hundreds of other familiar companies, then Commission Junction is for you. Just follow these five steps:
Look for an advertiser that interests you
After you find an advertiser that interests you, click on the “Join program” button.
Even though these companies would love to have you help them get prospects and customers, you’re not automatically approved when you sign up. Merchants (advertisers) on Commission Junction expect you to have a website or blog to prove that you aren’t a fly-by-night company before you can be accepted. Make sure you first find out the requirements necessary for approval before you participate.
If and when you do get approved, you can choose from more than 1,000 advertisers (many are famous names). You can browse by category to see which would be a fit for the audience your blog or website is targeting. Make sure that you visit the company’s website to make sure that its offerings are good for your audience.
Agree to the terms and conditions after reading them carefully
Some programs approve you automatically, and some approve you manually, which takes time. After you’re approved for a program, Commission Junction adds it to a “link relationship list,” which is a list of all the advertisers that approved you to post their links on your website or blog.
Get the link for advertisers that have approved you
Click on the “Get links” tab from the home page of Commission Junction. A list of advertisers that have approved you appears.
If you choose to post a link from an advertiser that isn’t active or hasn’t approved you yet, you don’t collect a commission on any sales or leads.
Choose a link or banner
When you click on “View links,” a list pops up for all the links that you can post on your site or blog. When you find a link you like, click on it, and from there you can copy HTML or Java for that link and paste it to your website or blog.
Click “Publish” and the link appears
That’s it; you’re done. Now your site can make money with Commission Junction.