When I started my blog, I wanted to find a way to monetize the blog on day one even my website traffic was still small.  Many bloggers earn blog income from advertisement.

However, most of these blogs have over 100k page view and over 25k sessions to qualify for higher ad commission.  

As a new blogger, it is going to take a lot of time to reach that high amount of website traffic. Does it mean that a new blogger can’t earn money from blogging while the blog is new?

PS. If you haven’t started a blog yet, take a look at my Start A Blog Tutorial with steps by steps instructions to help you start a blog from scratch. ❤

Good news is that it is possible to make money online even if you don’t really have a ton of page views. One popular way to make money with a beginner blog is through affiliate marketing.

There are other ways to make money online such as creating your own products or services to sell. However, creating products can be time consuming and may not work for a new blogger.

In this post, I focus on how to start affiliate marketing, which affiliate networks to join and how to get approved by some high paying affiliate programs as a new blogger.

TIPS: Grab my FREE PRINTABLES to jump start your Affiliate Marketing Effort ❤

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is a marketing program where an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.

From a blogger’s perspective, what it means is that you write a blog post or send an email to your subscribers telling your audience about a product or service that you have used and loved, with a disclosure that you are affiliated with the company.

When your readers click on the affiliate links on the blog post or the email and purchase the product or service that you recommend, you will receive a commission from the advertiser.

Affiliate marketing is the best way for bloggers to earn money. We often share about our experience on a product or service with others anyhow. Why not earn some money from it?

Basically, you make the same recommendation as you would normally do, but this time add unique affiliate links from the advertisers so you also earn a commission when your referral makes a purchase.

How To Start Affiliate Marketing?

To start affiliate marketing, the first step is to apply for some affiliate programs. You can find affiliate programs by searching online, the brands of the products you like and then contact them individually.

An easier way to find affiliate programs is through affiliate networks. Each affiliate network offers thousands of affiliate programs for you to choose from. It is an one-stop shop for affiliate programs.

Every affiliate program has its own payout and commission rate. For a new blogger, I recommend focusing on the affiliate programs that have high paying commission. Find the affiliate program for a product you have used.

For example, look for the affiliate programs of your favorite web host, blog theme company, e-book or e-course.  Apply to those programs and promote the products in your blog posts and email list.

You may also like these posts:

• My Steps-By-Steps Tutorial To Start A Money Making Blog
• 5 Feminine WordPress Themes For Female Bloggers
• Avoid These 5 Mistakes That New Bloggers Made
• My 5 Minutes Tutorial To Create An About Page Video

Below I include 3 affiliate networks and more than 10 affiliate programs that I have successfully applied as a new blogger.

Best Affiliate Networks For New Bloggers

If you’re ready to invest in affiliate marketing, here are the best affiliate networks for new bloggers. These are the ones that are fairly easy to apply and get accepted to even your blog is new.

I list the best affiliate programs that offer high payment commission. If you still nervous about applying, I have included some tips near the end of the post to help you get accepted.

Shareasale

My all time favorite affiliate network for bloggers is Shareasale You can find affiliate programs of any niche from their thousands of advertisers. They are one of the biggest affiliate networks out there.

Click here to join Shareasale Affiliate Program! 

Some of the brands from Shareasale that have accepted me as a new blogger include:

• ThemeIsle WordPress Themes (55% commission)
• PicMonkey (50% commission),
• StudioPress (35% commission),
• Pretty Darn Cute Design (25% commission),
• HungryJPEG (20% commission),
• Craft Bundles (20% commission),
• MonsterInsights (20% commission),
• Animoto (20% commission),
• Minted.com (13% commission)

Ultimate Bundle

Ultimate Bundle is the best affiliate program to join for new bloggers. They offer a high commission rate of 40% for each bundle sale. Best of all, they provide a complete set of affiliate training, marketing materials, promo graphics, social media & email scripts and swipe files for you to use. Just copy and paste! Perfect for affiliate marketing beginners!

Click here to join the Ultimate Bundle Affiliate Program 

These bundles sell like hot cakes! Because they’re such a great value, and on a range of topics that your readers are interested in, our bundles are a no-brainer purchase for many people.

For bloggers, Ultimate Bundle offers the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit for sale once a year for 6 days only. It includes 77 of blogging trainings for one low price of $97. This year’s 2018 Genius Blogger’s Toolkit is available for sale from October 10th, 2018 to October 15, 2018. If you have missed this sale, no worry, Click this link to sign up to the waiting list.

Awin

Awin is another large affiliate network and it has over 6,000 advertisers. The application process is a little bit more lengthy than Shareasale and it costs $5 verification fee to sign up. You will get back the $5 when you make your first affiliate payment. The main reason for me to sign up Awin is because I want to apply to Etsy affiliate program, which is only offered by Awin.

Click here to join Awin Affiliate Network

VigLink

VigLink is a unique affiliate network in that it has the ability to parse any product links on your website and convert them automatically to affiliate links for you. After you sign up, all you have to do is install their plugin on your blog. Then, VigLink will convert product links of brands that you have joined into affiliate links for you. I like the ease of use with this affiliate network.

Click here to join VigLink Affiliate Network

Skimlinks

Skimlinks is similar to VigLink. It has the ability to parse any product links on your website using a plugin and convert them automatically add affiliate links for you.

I use both VigLink and Skimlinks, but I have recently found Skimlinks website to be easier to navigate and find information for. It also offers more merchants than VigLink.

For example, I am able to create affiliate product links of Amazon products using Skimlinks without applying separately to become Amazon affiliate.

I’ve also found that Skimlinks offers exclusive commission for VIP merchants (e.g. Target). Thus, the commission rate through Skimlinks can be higher than the standard commission rate typically offered by VIP merchants, which is very nice.

Click here to join Skimlinks Affiliate Network

SendOwl

I found SendOwl through the application to Bluchic (25% commission) affiliate network and some e-course and e-book affiliate networks. SendOwl allows you to sell digital products online and create your own affiliate program for your brand.  It connects with the payment provider so you get paid and it automatically delivers the files to the buyers once payment has completed. It is a good program to consider when you start offering digital products for sale.

Click here to join SendOwl

BlueHost

Bluehost is the web host provider for all my websites and blogs. I have used them for over 6 years. They offer affordable, reliable and secured web service that I am still gladly hosting with them over all those years. Their affiliate program offers a generous $65 per signup commission. Therefore, if you have used Bluehost service and love them, consider joining their affiliate program.

How I Got Accepted Into Affiliate Programs With A Brand New Blog

Below are some tips about applying to the affiliate programs:

1. Have a professional selfhost website with your own domain name. This shows that you are a legitimate publisher. Most, if not all affiliate programs require you to have a website or blog to apply. They ask for your website URL in the application submission.
2. Have a professional email address with your own domain name. For example, I use sales@simplycouturedesigns.com email address to apply for all affiliate programs. From my experience, it takes less time to receive an approval from the advertisers than it would have taken if I use a free email account such as gmail.com or outlook.com.
3. Customize your blog with your logo and beautiful images. This makes your website look more appealing to the advertisers and show professionalism.
4. Have several posts written up on your new blog before you apply. The advertisers will look for content that is related to the brand of products you are applying to affiliate with.
5. In your application, write a few sentences on how you plan to promote the brands. For example, I put that I plan to promote the products and brands in blog posts, a resource page, banner, social media and emails to my subscribers.

Free Planner Printable Kit To Jump Start Your Affiliate Marketing Effort

Thank you for reading this post so far. Would you like some help to jump start your affiliate marketing effort? I have created three worksheets to help tracking my affiliate program applications, planning my affiliate marketing promotion and tracking my affiliate income each month. I have made these worksheets/planners available as FREE PRINTABLES for you.

Click here or the image below to see more detail and download for free >>

That’s it. Good luck to your application!

Now it’s your turn, what other affiliate programs I’m missing that are also high paying and accepting new bloggers? Please share in the comments. Look forward to hearing from you.