How Many Affiliate Marketing Program Should You Join?
If you are like me are you not sure how many affiliate programs you should join?
Welcome to the club!
You’re confused between joining only one or two programs and missing out on tons of commissions…
…and joining a whole bunch of them and being unable to prioritize the ones that are most important to you.
So, is there a golden rule for how many affiliate marketing programs you should join?
Or is this thing just a hit and miss game?
Let’s find out.
This post may contain affiliate links which means we may receive a commission from purchases made through links. We only recommend products we rank as well rated and we can personally used: Learn more on our Private Policy Page
Is there a magic number for how many affiliate programs you can run on your website?
The answer is NO and this might be unfortunate for some people.
We are not going to tell you “three,” or “five,” or any such number.
What we’ll tell you instead: it depends on what you think we achieve your goal.
Honestly, you can promote as many affiliate programs as you like on a single site.
But hold on.
This doesn’t mean you should randomly join a ton of programs and stuff them into your website.
Before spamming hundreds of affiliate partners with requests, keep in mind these two golden rules.
1. Avoid Being Too Random
So, your blog is about cars and automobiles.
But you also promote toothpaste, a keyword research tool, and Men’s Fashion.
“WHAT???”
That’s what your audience will think as they browse through your blog. You are at risk of loosing your audience.
Try to avoid a one-stop- shopping approach for your affiliate marketing blog and focus on your strengths and niche.
Because really.
Which car and automobile enthusiast goes to a related topic blog site to buy toothpaste.
Note that when dealing with products that are not similar, it can actually get confusing to the potential buyer.
So before you promote any affiliate program on your site, ask yourself this one essential question:
“Does my audience need this?’’
If the answer is yes, go ahead and promote it.
If the answer is NO, don’t.
It’s that easy.
2. Avoid the Shady, Low-Quality Affiliate Programs
In other words, only promote quality affiliate programs.
But what are quality programs?
Keep in mind these three things when choosing:
I. Scheduled Payouts
Sure, affiliate marketing is only a side business to you (for now, at least).
But no one wants to wait months to get their first payout.
So, before you join any affiliate marketing program, first check how often they pay their partners.
For example, here’s how often Amazon Affiliates pays their partners
And here’s how often CJ Affiliate pays their partners:
II. Promote Products and Services You Love and Trust
The whole point of affiliate marketing is to tell your network and readers about the stuff you personally use, enjoy and love. Be A Trusted User!
Nevertheless, we all know tons of people promote products and services they have never tested and recommends that products that they can earn the most from in the affiliated programs.
And that’s OK.
You can do it too.
However, first make sure the stuff you promote is worthy and related to your audience search interest. Match Buyers/Sellers.
A simple way to know this is to read multiple reviews.
Like this (9.9 score):
Source:trustradius.com
If most people love the product or service you’re thinking of promoting…
…your audience will no doubt love it too.
III. Looks For Good Commission Rates
“I’ll join tons of affiliate programs and stuff them all into my blog. Anyway, who cares if some pay super low if the others pay well?”
Bad idea so Don’t!
Because the truth is, promoting a product or service takes time.
Hence, the more time you spend on low-quality promotions, the less you’ll have for the better ones.
You need to prioritize and make sure the affiliate programs pay you a decent rate.
By decent, we mean more than 10% in commissions. (You can find commission rates that go all the way up to 65%, but these are rare and are requires lots of underlined knowledge.) For example, not everyone can do a Finance Blog and start promoting loans and mortgage services.
Note: Amazon Affiliates is known for paying their partners relative small commission rates. (Think 2-5%.) However, since Amazon is a trusted platform and people on it tend to make frequent and big purchases of random items, you can still succeed by joining their program.
So How Many Affiliate Programs Should You Join?
Hmmm!
Can we say that the only rule about joining any affiliate programs is that they should be of high quality.
Yes, but also No.
Why? Because the truth is, there are cons to joining too many affiliate programs.
Here are two important cons.
1. You Don’t Have Unlimited Time
Chances are, this will be your side gig and your schedule is already sardine tight.
Bottom-line the more affiliate programs you join, the higher chances you’ll have of burning out.
Trust the experts and start with a manageable program size.
Having multiple sites with multiple affiliate programs entails a job fit for a workhorse.
So be smart.
Pick the affiliate programs that matter, and work hard to promote them well to gain traffic and converts.
2. Some Companies Might Not Like What You’re Doing
You might run into conflict of interest like trying to promote Coca Cola and you’re also promoting Pepsi.
Not A Smart Idea!
The underline truth is, not all businesses will like what you’re doing.
Some will even ban affiliate partners from promoting their competitors’ goods.
In short: sticking to a few awesome products is a great and better idea.
The Truth They Don’t Tell You About How Many Affiliate Program To Join.
Go online, and you might find tons of advice on how many affiliate programs you should join. There is no shortage of articles and advice here.
Some will say join as many as you can.
While some might give a random, unproven number like “3”
But is there really a limit to how many affiliate programs you can join?
No, No No.
Honestly, it’s up to you.
It’s up to how many quality programs you can find in your blog niche.
It’s up to how much time and energy you have to promote each program.
And finally It’s always up to the blog owner, to decide what fits best with their site(s).
