Before diving into the ins and outs of using Shareasale, let’s pause for a moment.
First, let’s talk about what Shareasale even is and why it’s so important for your blogging life!
Or if you already know what affiliate marketing is and have already started a blog, then skip to #1 below.
What Sharesale is About and Why You Need It
By definition, it’s an affiliate marketing network. For those of you who are new bloggers, a solid understanding of affiliate marketing is vital.
Affiliate marketing is simply advertising that’s performance-based.
This means that affiliates aren’t just rewarded a set amount for agreeing to advertise a blog. Instead, the commission comes from the number of people who are actually brought to the blog because of the advertisement.
Sharesale provides an advanced and unparalleled platform for affiliate marketing. Through the network, you’ll be able to connect with merchants and start making your blog profitable for you.
Through advertising on your blog, you’ll earn a commission based on how efficiently you market a product or business.
With Shareasale, you’ll be able to make your dream a reality. You’ll be able to enjoy running a blog that also gives you money. So while you’re pursuing your passion, you can also make cash to pay the bills. Until now, you didn’t think it could be entirely possible, right?
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know exactly how to be a smart affiliate through Shareasale. And rest assured一you’re in excellent company!
Just a few merchants that use Shareasale are;
- Tailwind – social media automation for Pinterest and Instagram
- FreshBooks – best accounting software for entrepreneurs
- DesignEvo – 5-minute logo designer
- Grammarly – free grammar and spelling checker for everything you produce online
- Just Natural Products – 100% natural health products for your body
- Sudara – fashion line that supports women who escaped sex trafficking
- PicMonkey – masterful design software
- Gladli – marketing software
In-Depth How To On Navigating Shareasale
1. What You’ll Need to Submit an Application for Your Account
First thing’s first: before navigating Shareasale, you have to initiate an account that you can use. For the most part, it’s a simple process.
Here are a few things you’ll need:
- A website. Make sure to have the link to your blog at hand!
- A payment method.
- An email you wish to associate with your account and site.
- Time. Unless your email has the same domain as your blog site, you’ll have to go through the standard application process, which takes about one business day to review.
If you don’t have a website yet, get my exclusive discount with BlueHost!
2. How To Connect With Merchants and Become an Affiliate
1. Once you’ve been approved, log into your Shareasale affiliate account.
Shareasale is the easiest to get into over other affiliate sites such as MaxBounty or Etsy, especially if you’re a new blogger.
2. Up above, you’ll see different tabs: Reports, Merchants, Links, Tools, Account, and Payments. Click on Merchants -> Search For Merchants.
3. Search for a specific merchant, a keyword or simply look in one of the broader categories Shareasale has available.
The best thing about Shareasale is that they have loads of categories you can choose from.
Below are just a FEW of them!
4. Now that you’ve found a merchant for which you want to be an affiliate, click on Join Program.
5. From here, you’ll have to tell the merchant how you plan on promoting their products.
Keep this brief and straight-to-the-point. This can include what your blog’s niche is and how you plan to advertise such as;
- Email marketing
- Blog posts
- Social media
If you don’t have a profitable niche yet, take the quiz below and read this: 12 Most Profitable Niches For Making Money Online.
Example pitch to a merchant:
“Hello, I run LadyBossBlogger.com, a blog about women in business and blogging. I would love to promote your products by writing blog posts about them and then promoting it to my email list of 10K and my social media followers totaling 150K.”
6. Then wait for an email confirmation!
PRO TIP: As you find merchants, make sure the content of your blog relates to the merchant program you want to join.
Yes, there are MANY amazing merchants on Shareasale. Yes, it can be SO TEMPTING to just apply to any of the popular, big names you’re familiar with.
But by only applying to relevant programs, you’ll be sure that your content coincides with theirs. That way, you’ll be more likely to be accepted, AND when you mention the merchant on your blog, it won’t seem out of place.
Any blogger, no matter what niche you’re in, can apply to be an affiliate for Tailwind because it’s the ONLY auto scheduler that Pinterest has approved therefore 90% of people who use Pinterest use Tailwind.
Plus they pay PER LEAD not just PER SALE which means you get a commission just for signing people up! It’s the easiest program to talk about and make passive income from!
3. The More Technical Side… Getting Affiliate Links
Affiliate links enable you to keep track of the traffic that is sent to the merchant’s site because of you. Needless to say, these are SO important.
1. Place your mouse over the “LINKS” tab this time and choose “Get a Link/Banner”.
2. Find the merchant program whose affiliate link you’re seeking and click on the green “Get Links” button.
3. Click on “Get HTML Code” on the far right-hand corner.
Make sure to select the exact link that you want. Oftentimes merchants will have several for you to choose from which take people to different parts of their site.
4. Finally, click on “Select URL Only” to get your affiliate link instead of HTML code.
Select the link in the box, copy it and link it to relevant blog posts that you write!
4. Getting Banner Links
If used correctly, banners can be totally eye-catching! Just make sure you don’t overdo your use of banners.
1. Above where you got your affiliate link, you’ll see a bar like the one below. Click on “Banners.”
2. You’ll find banners of all sizes, select the size that best suits your needs.
For example, if the banner was for your sidebar, 300×300 would be a good size. For one that fits nicely within your blog post, select 728×90 would be better because it would stretch across the entire post like the Grammarly banners below.
By the way, Grammarly is a free Chrome extension that has saved me from embarrassing spelling mistakes a ton of times! Download it for free here.
3. Now here’s where we get down to the nitty-gritty details of putting it on your blog post. You have two options:
OPTION 1:
See below and find the part of the link that says “img src= ‘____________’”? Select that link in the space directly after “img src=”.
Open this link in a brand new tab and save the file on to your laptop. Add the media to your post and link your affiliate link to the image.
OPTION 2:
Copy and paste the HTML code of the banner directly into your blog post. However, you have to make sure that you’re on the TEXT version of your blog post in order for it to work.
Select the spot where you want your banner to go then click TEXT in the upper right-hand corner of your editing toolbar and paste the HTML code.
Then go back to the VISUAL version of your post and you’ll see the image below.
However, when you click on PREVIEW post, you’ll see that the image shows up like the banner below.
Pro Tip: Don’t clutter your blog with too many banners, it looks unprofessional and cluttered. Try to match the color scheme of your blog to the banners you select as well.
5. Make Sure To Take Advantage of Creatives
Creative tools provided by the merchant are always great if you utilize them well. The more you promote certain merchants, try checking out their various creative tools.
- Click on the “LINKS” tab.
- Explore the creatives you haven’t already tried, like “WIDGETS” and “VIDEOS.”
6. Know What’s Happening on Shareasale
This is one of the easiest parts of Shareasale but also one of the most important to make sure you stay on track as a successful affiliate. To do this, follow these steps:
- Click on the “TOOLS” tab.
- Select the last icon, “RSS Notifications.”
- You’ll have three options: Shareasale Blog, New Programs and Deals Database.
Pro Tip: All three will do you a good service. Shareasale blog gives you lots of great tips on affiliate marketing, and it’s always a great idea to stay up-to-date on the latest programs and coupons that arise on Shareasale!
7. Don’t Forget to Keep Track of Your Success
Check your Merchant Summary Report, often. It gives you lots of important info on commission, sales and merchants’ statuses.
Summary
And that’s how you navigate ShareASale!
These are the key pointers I have gathered from my time on the networking tool, but now it’s time for you to experiment, too. Follow my advice and have some fun exploring on your own!
Here’s one last pro tip: Focus on ONE merchant at a time and try to promote them in the best way possible, then move on to adding more merchants.
Having a good sales record will help you get approved by bigger and better merchants.
Now it’s one thing to know how to put in your affiliate links, it’s another to actually know how to create content that sells.
This graphic below is the foundation of what STRATEGIC CONTENT MARKETING is.
A blogger WITH a content marketing strategy MAKES MONEY.
A blogger WITHOUT a content marketing strategy, DOESN’T MAKE MONEY.
Learn how to become a STRATEGIC BLOGGER -> courses.ladybossblogger.com.
Giselle Gaytan is an intern at LadyBossBlogger and currently, a sophomore at Wheaton College (IL) studying English Writing and Journalism. For the past three years she has served as Marketer at Los Tres Manantiales, a restaurant in Wisconsin. Her creative nonfiction work has been published in two issues of the Kodon literary journal. She currently serves as Special News Reporter at the Wheaton Record.
Manilal Bahiram says
Lovely site! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am impressed by your writing abilities!