It happens to the best of us. You absolutely love a product. You can’t wait to promote it on your website or blog. You dig and dig for their affiliate program. You apply…DECLINED! But, I need that! Don’t they know how much I love that product? Don’t they know my readers will love it, too?
Your previous options included:
- Going back and forth with the merchant begging for acceptance, which won’t likely happen unless you have Super Affiliate status. Most of us don’t at this point.
- Promoting it anyway without the link and reapplying at 3 month intervals until your traffic or domain age is to their standards. Then, going back and plugging in your links.
Enter VigLink. Here’s the skinny:
VigLink is what we will consider a Super Affiliate for this post. You can sign up for their program for free. This allows you to work in essence as a Sub-Affiliate under their established affiliation with 12,500 merchants. Rather than paying an upfront or monthly fee, they get 25% of any commissions you generate. For me, this is a no-brainer. My options are earn $0, earn $0.25 or earn $18.75 on that program that I can’t get into. Which one would you choose?
Why We Like This:
1. I know some of you haven’t gotten into monetization of your blogs because you don’t have the time to go digging through numerous affiliate networks or searching out individual programs. You no longer have to. If you are signed up for VigLink, they already have those relationships established. All you have to do is insert the code once on your blog and then link to the merchant as you would anyway. No special link necessary. If it sees you linking to iPage when someone clicks that it will send them through their affiliate link.
2. I hate tracking down money. I’m only using a few networks at this time due to that. There are thousands of programs out there. If you promote only one product from each and each has a $25 payment threshold, you may be waiting for awhile. Not a problem any longer. If you are going through VigLink, you only need to meet their $25 threshold no matter how many individual networks that is spread across.
3. It doesn’t mess with your current affiliate status. There are certain programs that are big earners for me and I promote often. I don’t want to give up my 25% on those. I don’t have to. If it sees a link is already affiliated, it skips it. Yay!
4. You want to promote something TODAY. If you apply to programs often, you know the deal. You dig and dig finding the program. You apply. Sometimes you wait for days, weeks or months to find out if you are approved. Get that post published today. If you want to go apply to the program also, do that. Then go update your post later if you are approved. You can still make money in the interim.
5. No messy links. This is clean and seamless to your readers. You don’t even need to setup redirects for a pretty link. Readers see www.ipage.com when they hover the link. Nothing changes unless there is an established affiliate relationship with VigLink and someone clicks that link. It takes care of the affiliation during those few seconds of loading the page.
6. You can link to a specific product. Most affiliate programs provide you with a link to their homepage or checkout. Rarely do they provide individual links to the thousands of products they carry. If you are blogging about your favorite day planner from such-and-such, you can link straight to the page. The link gets affiliated, regardless.
7. Automatic Link Insertion – This is an optional feature, but you can opt to have VigLink locate and automatically linkup affiliate opportunities. This makes the entire process hands-off. The program will insert links for applicable brand names, products, etc.
Things to Note:
1. When you register, use your PayPal email address. They pay via PayPal at that $25 threshold. Get signed up correctly straight out of the gate.
2. You still have to apply for approval to use their eBay affiliation. Such is life. We can’t win them all.
I love this thing! Can’t ya tell? I haven’t written a post this long in quite a while. I can earn from those guys that won’t let me in. I can earn even though sometimes I’m too lazy to go grab a link, especially with those products that I know are going to be a one-off promotion. If you are still struggling to earn from your blog due to time or traffic constraints, get signed up for VigLink. You’ll be glad you did. Heck! I’ll be glad you did. Some of you have big money earners right under your fingertips just waiting for a link. I want to see you make money with them. You deserve it.
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About Angie
Twitter: ChrystalMahan
says:
Thank you, thank you! You know I value your honest opinion and this post could not have come at a better time. I am one of those that just can’t seem to find the time to go through countless programs trying to find something to promote. I am signing up for this program now. It sounds like it has a tons of benefits and I don’t have to search much anymore.
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
Chrystal, I love it! I finished setting it up on all of my sites this morning. A few were really suffering in the monetization department because I just didn’t have the time (or patience) to find programs for them. (Or, get accepted) I’m willing to give up 25% for the ease of use. It is well worth it in my book!
This sounds wonderful. I will have to look into it as you mentioned all my issues.
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
It covers a lot of those things that hold me up, too.
I will definitely have to check this one out. I get irritated when i appl to a program and 3 months later it is still pending. I also have one that has denied me several times saying my site is not a fit for them but yet I see their links on other sites like mine. UGH-it ticks me off. Thanks so mcuh for the info! You rock as always!
Mia@ Freebies and Cheapies recently posted ..Get Into Bed With Google- Free Kindle Book
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
I hear ya, Mia. When I checked yesterday, I had 12 that are still pending through one network. And getting declined is kind of a kick in the pants.
Thanks! What an amazing find! This will come in very helpful with my future plans.
Miranda Grimm recently posted ..Burned Out Re-Gear and Get Back to Work!!
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
This was a new one to me, Miranda. I like to think I keep on things. Guess not!
I can’t wait to check this out! Anything that could save me time and aggravation is a good thing in my book!
Carrie recently posted ..Fatigue
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
For sure, Carrie!
This does look awesome. I have put some monetary links on my blogs but I may just have to go back through and stick this up too LOL (Never can have too many ways of making money) Thanks
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
And you can never have to many automatic ways to make money.
Wow, that sounds like a really clever little program there for all the affiliate workers.
Thanks for this insight. Great info to learn at this early juncture in my ‘affiliate’ experience. I’ll pass this post along to others I know who are more active.
Cindy
Cindy Caldwell recently posted ..Know You Are Enough- and You Will Know Authentic Happiness
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
Thanks, Cindy.
Twitter: freelancertoday
says:
Very interesting and another nice little avenue to monetize with. Never heard of this before, but definitely going to check it out. Thanks for the great review. Always nice to find monetization programs that flow seamlessly.
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
I really like it, Ken.
Sounds great! I will definitely sign up as my goal this month was to start getting some affiliate links up on my various blogs.
Sharon recently posted ..Outrageous Advertising – Bill Glazer
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
I went to look at reports for the first time today. No sales yet, but I am getting more data about blog traffic which was helpful.
Based on the clicks registered I discovered a vendor I never thought would be covered.
The only way I have found to search is by URL is there a better way to search or has anyone started a list somewhere that we can add to as we discover new vendors?
Bailey recently posted ..Battle of the Labyrinth
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
Oh! Bailey, I didn’t even know about the stats until yesterday either. Amazing! I also saw a link I didn’t know had an affiliate program.
As for now, searching by URL is the only way that I know. I believe I read in there the majority of their programs are through CJ and Google Affiliate Network right now. Which makes sense. Those two networks cover most of the high-quality big merchants.
I’ll keep this in mind. Thank you. Thus far I haven’t tangled with affiliate programs at all.
blueviolet @ A Nut in a Nutshell recently posted ..He Ran Yep
Stopping by from SITS. This sounds like a really interesting option. I’ll have to look into it when I get a chance. Thanks!
Laura recently posted ..Lovely Weekend- Truly Inspiring
Hi Angie,
This is a nice catch! My first application to Adsense was denied (sooo long ago) and it took many months to get approved. I remember trying to fill that gap with Chitika but never earned much from that. Something like Viglink would have been great then.
You’re probably familiar with the Amazon vs. States situation. I live in one of those states where Amazon dropped all its affiliates. Ouch! I’ve replaced a tiny percentage of that revenue by creating Squidoo lens because they are one of those Super Affiliates who share Amazon revenue with lensmasters.
Thanks to you, another revenue stream! I’ll be sure to pass this along.
Vernessa Taylor recently posted ..No Hardhats Allowed – Online Project Management For The Rest of Us
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
Oh, I forgot to mention Amazon! They are covered, so this is a way around that. And, you can earn on your own site rather than having to rely on Squidoo.
That’s even better!
Vernessa Taylor recently posted ..No Hardhats Allowed – Online Project Management For The Rest of Us
Hi Angie, thanks for sharing this information. I don’t plan to use affiliate marketing on this particular blog but there a hobby one which may work. I am based outside the US and have heard that it can be difficult to get applications approved. This will resolve that issue and like you said, better a small amount than no amount at all! The fact that they payout to your paypal accoutnt also makes it an added benefit! Thanks
Diana Simon recently posted ..Blogging for Beginners- Friday Favs