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How to Get Approved for Affiliate Programs

How to Get Approved for Affiliate Programs

Are you wondering how to get approved for affiliate programs?

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online. However, the first step is actually getting approved for the affiliate programs you apply to.

It is not too difficult to get approved for affiliate programs.

But there are several things that you can do to ensure that you get approved to every affiliate program that you want without any delay.

Here’s what to know to get approved for any affiliate program!

 

What is Affiliate Marketing?

First things first, here’s a quick explanation of what affiliate marketing it.

Simply put, it’s a marketing arrangement where a company gives an affiliate (that’s you!) a unique affiliate links, and pays you a commission for every sale that you generate through your link. It’s a win for the company and the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online, because you don’t have to create your own product to sell. As an affiliate, you can recommend products that you already use and love, and get paid for doing it.

There are affiliate programs for almost everything you can think of.

For example, the Amazon affiliate program is one of the largest out there.

The affiliate network Skimlinks is another big one because signing up gives you access to thousands of affiliate programs all in one place.

You can also join affiliate programs for smaller companies, and you can find affiliate programs for every niche: fashion, travel, food, health, finance, and so on.

To find the best affiliate programs that you can join and start making money from, download my free list of 250+ affiliate programs for bloggers.

 

How to Get Approved for Affiliate Programs

If you download my free list of affiliate programs, you will find the link to apply to 250+ affiliate programs and affiliate networks.

You can also Google “Company Name Affiliate Program” to find the page on their website with details about joining a company’s affiliate program.

Usually, applying for an affiliate program just requires filling out a short form.

 

1. Have a blog created already.

Many affiliate programs require that you have your own website to be approved.

While it’s possible to make money from sharing affiliate links on social media, at the end of the day, having a blog is the best way to make money from affiliate marketing. Luckily, starting a blog is actually really easy.

It only costs $2.95 a month for web hosting from Bluehost.

With that, you get a free .com domain name and a self-hosted WordPress blog.

This is something you can easily set up in under an hour. I wrote a full guide on how to start a blog that walks you through it step by step with screenshots.

If you want to be successful with affiliate marketing, this is a must!

 

2. Make sure your blog looks professional.

Once you have created your blog, you also want to make sure it looks professional to improve your chances of getting approved for affiliate programs.

This is pretty easy to do with a few small tweaks, even if you are a brand-new blogger. One thing you will want to do is get a nice WordPress theme instead of using the basic default theme that your blog will come with.

Here are my favorite WordPress themes for bloggers. If you’re on a budget, you can also get a nice free WordPress theme for your blog.

If you are looking for more ways to make your new blog look as polished as possible, I have a whole guide on how to make your blog look professional.

 

3. Have some content already published.

One more thing you should do with your blog before applying to affiliate programs is to make sure you already have some content published.

Applying when your website is totally blank makes it look like you aren’t serious about blogging and won’t actually make any affiliate sales.

However, taking the time to go ahead and publish some content first improves your chances of being approved for an affiliate program. Contrary to what some bloggers might say, you don’t have to wait long to apply for affiliate programs.

I personally applied after just a few weeks of blogging, and started making affiliate sales after one month! But I did have some content on my blog already.

A good amount to aim for is having 5 to 10 blog posts already published.

You can read about the best types of blog posts for new bloggers to write and how to come up with blog post ideas for more inspiration on this.

 

4. Use your blog email address.

When you apply for an affiliate program, be sure you are using your professional blog email address instead of your personal email address.

When you sign up for web hosting with Bluehost you will be able to get a free .com domain name and create a custom email address for it.

For example, you can create the email address [email protected].

This is a small thing, but it looks a lot more professional than applying for an affiliate program using your own personal Gmail or Hotmail email account.

 

5. Apply to relevant affiliate programs.

To improve your chances of getting approved for an affiliate program, be sure you are applying to relevant programs and be mindful about it.

For example, if you have started a food blog, it’s not going to make sense if you are applying to travel and finance affiliate programs. Whoever reviews your affiliate application is probably going to find that confusing.

Instead, make sure you are choosing relevant affiliate programs to apply to.

I also recommend being mindful in which affiliates you promote, instead of just applying to a bunch of different affiliate programs for products you have never actually used. It’s very obvious if you are promoting something just because you’re trying to make a quick buck, and that will hurt you in the long term.

You’ll have better results joining affiliate programs for products you actually use and love. It’s easier to share your honest experience and recommendations.

 

6. Read the affiliate program terms and conditions.

Terms and conditions are one of those things that most of us skip through without actually reading. I admit, I’m guilty of doing this too!

However, it’s important to read the terms and conditions of an affiliate program before you join. Many of them outline important rules for affiliates.

For example, some affiliate programs don’t allow coupon sites to join. If you are running a coupon site then you don’t want to waste your time applying.

Another thing you might come across is that the affiliate program is only open to affiliate from particular countries. While this can be frustrating, it also saves you time in applying if the program is not available in your country.

 

7. Describe your affiliate promotion plan.

One final thing you can do to make sure you get approved for an affiliate program is to describe exactly what you will do as an affiliate.

Most affiliate program applications have a section where you can briefly describe the promotional activities you intend to carry out.

Even if you are a new blogger, you can outline what you plan to do to show that you are serious about the affiliate program and generating sales.

For example, you can say something like: “I plan to promote Company Name through writing detailed and helpful content on my blog. I also plan to share Company Name on my social media channels and with my email list.”

This shows you’re serious and dedicated about the affiliate partnerships.

 

8. Be patient, but don’t be afraid to reach out.

Many affiliate programs have a quick approval process, and you will receive an email that you are approved with information on how to access your affiliate links and set up your affiliate account within a couple days.

However, it can also take longer to hear back from an affiliate program.

I recommend waiting one full week, but if you still haven’t heard back by then, you can contact the affiliate program and follow up about your application.

Many affiliate programs will have the contact information for the affiliate manager available, and you can reach out to them directly.

 

How to Get Approved for Affiliate Programs

Following these tips will help you get approved for any affiliate program fast.

For more affiliate marketing tips, you may be interested in…

If you are serious about making money from affiliate marketing, I highly recommend enrolling in Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing

This is an online course created by Michelle, who makes over $50,000 a month from affiliate marketing on her personal finance blog Making Sense of Cents.

Her online course teaches everything you need to know to be successful with affiliate marketing. I took it as a new blogger and it helped me more than double my affiliate income in just one month after taking it!

She also has a free affiliate marketing ebook to help you get started.

Click here to download the free affiliate marketing ebook.