ShareASale Review: What’s Good (& What’s Not) in 2021

If you want a ShareASale review that doesn’t skimp on details, you’re in the right place.

Today, we’ll investigate ShareASale from top-to-bottom (and even side-to-side!)

First, you’ll learn how it works, and then we’ll dive into the details, covering:

• How you make money with ShareASale
• The pros and cons of the platform
• And how it compares to other affiliate marketing services

Ready to see if ShareASale is the affiliate network for you?

Let’s get started.

What Is ShareASale?

ShareASale is one of the largest and most popular affiliate marketing programs and has been around since 2000. They partner with over 16,500 merchants in a wide variety of markets and niches.

What is affiliate marketing?

In case you’re new to the concept, affiliate marketing is a popular monetization method for bloggers and online marketers. Basically, different merchants pay you a commission for referring sales to them through your affiliate links.

Let’s say, for example, you write a blog post teaching your readers about your award-winning time management system.

In the post, you mention that you love the ABC Daily Planner because it helps you stay on schedule. You link to the ABC Daily Planner with your affiliate link and the ABC Daily Planner company pays you a small commission for each person who visits their site through your link and makes a purchase.

Easy-peasy, right?

But seriously, affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to make money writing.

So, if you’re a budding blogger dreaming of swollen bank balance, signing up for ShareASale might be the choice that changes everything.

How Does ShareASale Work?

It would be time-consuming to ask businesses one by one about the individual affiliate programs they offer.

Using ShareASale is much more convenient. Its network has over 16,500 businesses in multiple markets and niches that are primed and ready to work with affiliates.

With such an extensive selection of different affiliate programs, ShareASale makes it super easy to find the right products or services to fit your readers’ needs and interests.

One way to start is by searching ShareASale for products you already use and love. Or you can research new products you think will appeal to your audience.

Remember to look for genuinely helpful goods. Nothing will turn your readers off faster than abusing their trust and linking to products solely to make a commission.

How Do You Earn Money with ShareASale?

You earn money through the ShareASale affiliate network by referring your readers and site visitors to any of the high-quality businesses that partner with ShareASale.

There are two ways for you to make money:

1. Pay Per Lead: Each time a reader clicks your affiliate link and visits the vendor’s page and fills out a form, you get paid.
2. Pay Per Sale: You earn a commission when a reader follows your custom link to a product and makes a purchase.

ShareASale Overview

Joining ShareASale is an easy, five-step process.

Signing Up For ShareASale

Start by going to ShareASale website and select Affiliate Sign-Up under the menu option Sign-Up on the right side of the page.

1. Create your login details. You’ll choose a username and password and give your country of residence. Then you can move on to Step 2.

2. Next, you’ll enter your website URL and answer a few simple questions about your site. Click the button for Step 3.

3. Here, you’ll enter your email address.

Tip: If you have an email address that ends with your domain name, like yourname@yourbusinessname.com, the approval process will be faster than if you use a generic Gmail address, like yourbusinessname@gmail.com.

When you’re done, you’re ready for Step 4.

4. The next step is to give your contact information. They need these details for the payout process.

Fill out the requested information and you can move on to Step 5.

5. Last, you’ll choose how you want to receive your payouts.

You can request a check or a direct deposit into your bank account. If needed, you can choose a different option at a later date.

Hit the Complete Sign-Up button.

After you complete the sign-up process, you’ll need to agree to ShareASale’s Terms Of Use and submit your application.

Submit your application and ShareASale will send you an email with instructions to confirm your ShareASale account. Complete those …

… and you’ll see this confirmation message.

Now you just wait for their approval of your affiliate account.

While the approval process can take 24 to 72 business hours, most people hear back within 24 hours.

ShareASale Affiliate Programs

Once you’re approved as an affiliate of the ShareASale network, it’s time to find affiliate programs that’ll suit your audience.

Now, ShareASale has thousands of merchants in its network. Some of these are bigger brands like Minted, Rebook, and Etsy, but ShareASale also hosts a variety of smaller companies you can promote for too.

Of course, this wide variety of brands is a huge bonus for newer bloggers or those with a smaller online presence.

You see, some networks, like CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction), showcase bigger brands. But the requirements for those brands are often out of reach for bloggers and content marketers with less traffic.

And to sweeten the pot, ShareASale’s advanced search and filtering features are miles ahead of what other affiliate networking programs offer, making it easier to find the best brands for your niche.

Just remember when you start your search, affiliate marketing isn’t just an opportunity for you to make money. It’s also a way for you to serve your audience by recommending products you believe are useful.

So, here’s how to find relevant products to promote to your audience.

Use the drop-down menu under Merchants in the top menu bar to start your search.

You can search by an individual merchant name or by merchant status. You can also find merchants who are offering coupons or deals.

You can also search by category on the left sidebar menu. You can find products in:

• Accessories
• Art/Music/Photography
• Auction Services
• Automotive
• Books and Media
• Business
• Career/Jobs/Employment
• Clothing
• Commerce/Classifieds
• Computers/Electronics
• Domain Names
• Education
• Family
• Financial
• Food/Drink
• Freebies/Free Stuff/Rewards Programs
• Games/Toys
• Gaming/Lotto
• General Web Services
• Gifts
• Gourmet
• Green
• Health
• Home and Garden
• Insurance
• Legal
• Marketing
• Military
• Moving/Moving Supplies
• Online Dating Services
• Real Estate
• Recreation
• Search Engine Submission
• Shopping Malls
• Sports and Fitness
• Travel
• Web Hosting
• Webmaster Tools
• Weddings

Another way to search is by featured categories, like New Programs or Power Ranking vendors.

Or search via the Marketing Calendar, which shows you upcoming holidays and events where you’ll find relevant affiliate offers.

Finding Products To Promote

Finding specific products to promote is easy, too.

You can search for a keyword, like office chair.

Then filter your returned search results by merchants — businesses who sell office chairs, or you can filter results by products — actual office chairs.

As you can see, if you search for office chair, there are 7834 product results. That’s too many office chairs to sift through.

So, to narrow down your results further, use the Modify Search option on the left-hand menu bar. Modify Search lets you choose from affiliate programs that have auto-approval, are exclusive to ShareASale, and more.

A note on auto-approval: auto-approval is a convenient feature since you don’t need to hear from a merchant program before you become their affiliate.

There’s yet another filtering option to the right.

Here, you sort results by:

• 7-Day Epc (earnings per click)
• 30-Day Epc
• Sale Commission
• Lead Commission
• Hit/Click Commission
• Cookie Length

And more.

Setting Up Affiliate Links

ShareASale also makes it easy to insert affiliate links into your content.

Start by using the drop-down menu under Links to select the kind of hyperlink you want (banner, coupon, page link, etc.)

Alternatively, once you’ve been approved by some merchants, select from your list of approved merchant programs.

Start by typing in the merchant name in the search bar or simply select from the list of vendors you’re working with.

Click on the vendor’s name …

… and you’ll be taken to a page with their available products and links. Look for the Get HTML Code. Click on it.

Copy the code and paste it into your document.

ShareASale Payment Details

Choosing your ShareASale payment method is also straightforward.

Payment Option

When you signed up with ShareASale, you picked a payment option. Your choices were direct deposit, a mailed check, or Payoneer.

If you do ever change your mind and wish to receive payments another way, simply change the settings under Payment Settings.

Payment Timeframes

ShareASale does payouts on the 20th of each month. Payouts are for the previous month.

For example, you’d get paid on October 20 for the sales you made between August 21 and September 20.

Payment Minimums

ShareASale has a minimum payout policy (when you reach a balance of $50). However, waiting for a larger amount is possible. Simply make the changes under Payment Trigger.

ShareASale Pros and Cons

Pros

There are many pros to using ShareASale.

• Easy sign-up process.
• Excellent search & filtering options.
• Customizable affiliate links.
• Transaction fee paid by the ShareASale merchant.
• Reporting and tracking features.
• Reliable payout of affiliate commission.
• Excellent reputation with their affiliates.
• Easy to use with multiple websites.
• Wide variety of merchants.
• Efficient customer support.
• High acceptance rate.
• Speedy approval.

Cons

Users do have a few complaints about ShareASale. They include:

• Outdated website design.
• Special characters in affiliate links that cause coding problems.
• Payout threshold is higher than many other affiliate networks.
• Eliminated merchant programs without warning or notification.
• No Paypal option.

As you can see, overall the pros to using ShareASale outweigh the cons.

ShareASale Alternatives

Clickbank

ClickBank is one of the original affiliate networks. With 276 categories and 21,562 product listings, they have a lot to offer. It’s useful for those who want to try their hand at affiliate marketing.

One word of warning with Clickbank:

If you join and don’t make any sales, ClickBank will charge you for a dormant account. Charges are $1—$50 a day, depending on how long it’s been since your last sale. So be sure your site has a steady stream of traffic before you register.

Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is a popular affiliate platform and for good reason. With the wide variety of products available on Amazon, it’s easy to find promotable products that make sense for your niche.

The Amazon Associates program has a lower commission rate than many other affiliate programs. But, on the other hand, people are already comfortable ordering from Amazon. And Amazon knows how to convert customers once they’re on their website. That means there’s a high likelihood your link as an Amazon associate will result in a purchase.

CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction)

CJ Affiliate, formerly known as Commission Junction, is another affiliate network option.

Started in 1998, CJ Affiliate is known for its analytics and reporting. Analytic data is crucial information to have as an affiliate marketer when you’re evaluating what’s working and what’s not in your affiliate marketing strategy.

Another plus is that CJ Affiliate has access to some of the big brands not available on other networks, like Overstock.com or IHG Hotels & Resorts.

Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Advertising has been around for more than 25 years and has over 150,000 publishers using their network.

They have a simple sign-up process and 24/7 support available via live chat or phone if you run into any problems.

But, as far as payout, be aware that Rakuten has a reputation for delayed payments. Just to be fair though, Rakuten has a 60-day net payout plan, so what can seem like a delayed payment may be more of a miscalculation. The deal is that you won’t be paid until  60 days after the sale.

Final Verdict On ShareASale

ShareASale is a great option for bloggers, content creators, writers, social media marketers, and others in the online marketing space who want to make some extra money recommending their favorite products.

The convenience of having a one-stop-shop for your affiliate needs as a marketer is unbeatable. And with the uncomplicated sign-up process and excellent filtering options, it’s hard to beat the ease of the ShareASale network.

The key to making money with any of the high-paying affiliate programs is having the patience to build the necessary traffic or email list. Your ShareASale links won’t make you any money if no one sees them.

Beyond the ShareASale Review: Is It the Right Affiliate Network for You?

Now that you’ve read the ShareASale review and know its strengths, weaknesses, features, and benefits, it’s time to get started.

You’ve learned the details of how to join, how to pick your affiliates, and how it stacks up against the competition.

You have all the tools you need to succeed in your affiliate marketing endeavors.

With all that said, only one question remains:

Are you signing up for ShareASale?

The post ShareASale Review: What’s Good (& What’s Not) in 2021 appeared first on Smart Blogger.