If you have a website or blog, an effective way to earn an extra income is to monetize the page. One of the most profitable ways to achieve this is through affiliate marketing. While there are many independent affiliate marketing schemes available, an easier option may be to register with an agency such as Commission Junction. Here we look at the pros and cons such a technique.
What is Commission Junction?
Commission Junction acts as an intermediary between webmasters who are able to offer advertising space their websites and advertisers looking to market their products. The intermediary provides an array of marketing materials to the webmaster including, banners, text links and graphics. In addition, the intermediary also tracks and records, impressions, clicks and transactions, which are displayed in the webmasters account.
While the terms and conditions of each program are different, on the whole a webmaster will receive a revenue, when a reader clicks on a link and subsequently makes a purchase. The revenue will often represent a percentage of the completed transaction. Unlike the Google AdSense program, the webmaster will not receive a revenue for a click which is not followed by a sale.
Why Use Commission Junction: The Advantages of an Affiliate Marketing Portal
Here are a few reasons why a webmaster may want to consider using Commission Junction as the affiliate marketing agency of choice:
- Choice – As an agent, Commission Junction is able to offer webmasters instant access to a wide range of affiliate programs for almost every conceivable product of service.
- Payout – Managing multiple affiliate schemes through a single agent can mean that a webmaster reaches payout quicker than if each program had been managed independently.
- Reporting – Commission junction offers a comprehensive reporting system located on the dash board allowing webmaster to see impressions, clicks, click through rates (CTR) and earnings per click (EPC). Webmasters can also see the number of sales, leads and revenue for a given period in the relevant screen.
- Ease of Use – The system is extremely easy to use, banners, text links and graphics can all be copied and pasted in a variety of formats, including HTML.
Despite the advantages of using an agency, such as Commission Junction there are some drawbacks which are considered below:
- Manual Approval – Many programs still require manual approval from the affiliate partner, this can add delays and in some cases a website may be rejected from a program.
- Cost – As an agent, Commission Junction acts as an extra layer in the chain, it may be more profitable to seek out independent links directly with trading partners.
- Deactivation – Webmasters should note that accounts which do not generate a sale within 6 months can find their accounts being closed. This may be an issue to consider if the traffic to a website is low or the website is only in the early stages of development.
- Targeting – While Commission Junction has a wide range of partners, in order to find the best targeted products and services, an independent search may be a better option.
Frank Smith - Frank Smith currently works as an full time industry analyst for a well known construction company in Lincolnshire. In his spare time, ...
