Table of Content:
1. Overview
2. What is CJ Affiliate?
3. Why choose CJ Affiliate?
4. How to sign up for CJ Affiliate?
5. Is CJ Affiliate legit?
6. How to find your preferred affiliate programs on CJ?
7. How to sign up for CJ
8. How to find your preferred affiliate programs on CJ?
9. How to generate affiliate links?
10. How to use CJ Affiliate coupon program?
11. How to earn on CJ Affiliate?
12. How to get paid on CJ?
13. What are the pros and cons of signing up on CJ Affiliate?
14. CJ Affiliate versus ShareASale.
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With the coming of the digital age, companies have had to rethink their traditional approaches to marketing. One of the new ways that many are opting to market their products is through affiliate marketing. And that is where you come in as an affiliate marketer. It involves you finding a product or service, you enjoy and promoting it to earn a commission on every commission action (sale, sign up, etc.) made from your promotion.
First, finding products that are the right fit for your website and niche is very tasking. It is even harder to find companies to partner with. That’s why affiliate networks like CJ exist to make the process a lot easier. On this platform you will find an array of companies under one roof that you can partner with. But before we go further, what is CJ Affiliate?
What is CJ Affiliate?
CJ Affiliate is short for Commission Junction and is one of the largest networks in the affiliate marketing industry worldwide. It provides a third-party platform where affiliate marketers can connect with companies listed on the platform and partner with them. It is also a platform where these said companies can find affiliate marketers whom they wish to work with.
This partnership aims to push for more sales for these brands by affiliate marketers, create traffic to the companies’ website giving them more exposure. If this exposure results in sales / clicks/ sign ups, then the companies pays the affiliate marketer a commission.
Why choose CJ Affiliate?
With over twenty years in the affiliate marketing business, Commission Junction has an extensive affiliate network. It hosts affiliate programs for worlds well-known brands that you would want to work with. It is absolutely free to sign up for CJ Affiliate and gain access to a list of advertisers. A great feature Commission Junction has is that it provides real-time analytics that help you know what products are the right fit for you.
Additionally, if you are an exceptional publisher who creates great content and gets high traffic on your social media you get the royal treatment. This means you automatically get access to over 600 brands without a need to request an approval (yes, some brands may deny your application).
To join CJ Affiliate is not hard. All you need to do is sign-up. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a Commission Junction account.
How to sign up for CJ Affiliate?
First and foremost, it is worth noting that for you to join CJ Affiliate, you must be at least 18 years old.
Go to Commission Junction official website cj.com. Two options will appear. Choose the publishers option and sign up as a publisher. You are going to fill a series of personal questions. Such as your country of residence, name, email address and your preferred language. Once done, click Next.
A confirmation message will be sent to your inbox via the email you used to verify your email. Open the email and Click on the green button ‘Create my CJ Publisher Account.’
You will be then directed to the Publishers Sing Up Form. Again, fill in your details (country, phone number, password, website category and preferred currency).
The next step is to read through the legal agreement and click ‘Accept Terms’ to complete your registration.
After you have successfully signed up, and your account has been approved, you’ll be directed to your CJ Account Manager. It houses all your important details like your network stats, performance summary and your messages.
The final step that will get you totally set up is to complete your Network Profile. Write a short bio of how you intend to push more traffic to the merchants. Why should brands choose you?
If you're a newbie in affiliate marketing we wrote a post for affiliate beginners
Will I get approved on CJ Affiliate?
For your application to be successful, you need a working website. Thankfully with no set amount of traffic. Unfortunately, social media accounts such as Facebook won’t be useful when signing up. It is also important to note that if your account fail to earn commission meaning that you didn't get any value to brands within six months from the time you signed up, your account will deactivated. Like that, CJ Affiliate is trying to maintain the network of publishers. They want to work not only with worlds best brands but also offer worlds best publishers on their platform.
Is CJ Affiliate legit?
Commission Junction has been in business since 1998. It is an established affiliate marketing network. It is so credible that it has twice as many companies working with it— most of which are leading brands— compared to its competitors in affiliate marketing. If you work with CJ Affiliate chances are high that you are going to earn pretty well. Last year alone, CJ generated a revenue of 188.8M. However, as a publisher it is still your responsibilities to carefully read through CJ terms and conditions.
How to find your preferred affiliate programs on CJ?
After your application gets the approval you're ready to start working with brands. Carefully search for affiliate programs that fit your website's audience to make money. Before getting started, you need to know where your interest lies.
To get started, you have two options.
Click on “Advertisers” tab at the top of your dashboard. From there an array of programs will appear because CJ has a broad selection of programs to choose from. They range from automotive and electronics to gardening and recycling. There is a big selection of brands. You can choose as many categories as you like and click on the search button. You will not be able to see the terms and conditions of the different programs. To find those you will have to click on individual companies. Before joining a program, read and understand the terms and conditions. Note, that commission is different for every brands. Clicking on individual brand to see how much you'll be to earning with the brand.
Click on the “keyword” section and type a search term, it can be a category, product, service. From there you can see related companies and their programs' details. If you agree to the terms, Click Join Program.
Different companies have different approval times. Some are automated while others are not. Having said that, it is key to note, you may not qualify for some of the programs. This really depends on a brand. some look for set volume of traffic or particular blog styles and content. If you're declined, do not hesitate to contact the advertiser and explain why partnering with you will benefit them. A lot of brands just don't pay much attention when approving publishers, so they may have just judged your profile by looking at a few factors. Let them know how amazing you are!
How to generate affiliate links?
If your application is approved, the next step is to get links that you will use on your website to send traffic to an advertiser's site. Click Links -> Search in the dashboard and click on the brands program from the list of your partners. on the right site you'll see an icon </>. Click on it to get code and your affiliate URL.
If you'd like to drive traffic to a page that your brand doesn't have the affiliate link for, CJ Affiliate has a feature that generates links for you. It is called the CJ Deep Link Generator.
From your dashboard, go to the Links tab. A drop menu will appear. Click ‘Link Tools’
An instructional page will appear for CJ Affiliate’s Deep Link Generator. Drag the Deep Link Generator to your bookmarks toolbar on your browser.
Click on the page you want to create the deep link for. On your bookmarks bar, click on the CJ Deep Link Tab.
A window will appear with different links. (HTML, JavaScript and URL). Select the URL option.
Copy this link to your post.
How to use CJ Affiliate coupon program?
CJ Affiliate Coupon Program helps publishers, like yourself, find and promote coupon-related deals. You can use these coupons to get your visitors excited and generate more traffic and sales for the brand . To find this coupon code:
Click on the links in the navigation bar at the top and a drop menu will appear.
Click on the search option and type the name of the brand in the Advertiser(s) field.
In the promotion type, Check Coupon.
Click on the search tab to get a full list of the available coupons of the month.
To get more information about the coupon code and an affiliate code and your affiliate ID click on the particular coupon you are interested in.
How to earn on CJ Affiliate?
Publishers on CJ Affiliate can make money in three ways: cost per sale, cost per lead, cost per call.
Pay Per Sale.
This method is pretty easy. The companies pay you as per the total sales you generate for them.
Pay Per Lead.
There are brands who pay publishers for their lead from a promotion. A lead can be a sign-up, form submission, really anything that is not a direct sale.
Pay Per Call.
You as a publisher earn a commission when your promotion generates calls.
How to get paid on CJ?
CJ Affiliate pays its publishers via bank wires, or Payoneer (for international publishers). CJ does not pay through PayPal or credit cards. In 2020, CJ Affiliate discontinued making payments via check.
To get paid you need to complete your bank details on the platform and submit your tax documents.
Now that you know the how, the next thing to know is the when. CJ pays within 20 days of the end of the month from the sale as long as you have reached the minimum amount of US $50. CJ Affiliate has a maximum of $1000 for withdrawals. If you have more than one affiliate program, the money will be aggregated to one account.
Reasons why you might not get payed.
The advertiser blocked your payment.
There have been reports of suspicious activities on your account.
You haven’t reached the minimum threshold.
What are the pros of signing up on CJ Affiliate?
CJ Affiliate has an extensive list of reputable advertisers. You as a publisher have a variety to choose from.
Signing up on CJ Affiliate is free of charge and easy. It doesn’t even require a publisher to have a minimum traffic to earn money
CJ Affiliate has been in business for more than two decades, making it a credible trustworthy company.
CJ affiliate has intuitive search tools that will help you find programs that will be better suited for your website.
It is possible for you as a publisher to manage multiple websites.
CJ has one of the best reporting dashboards in the affiliate industry with real-time transaction monitoring.
It is easy to create deep affiliate links on CJ.
CJ Affiliate has a relatively minimum threshold of just $50.
What are the cons of singing up on CJ Affiliate?
Your publisher account will be deactivated if you don't generate commission within 6 months. While you can always create a new account, the downside will be to get approved with your advertisers again. Reach out to CJ support for help.
Unfortunately, CJ Affiliate doesn’t make payments via PayPal.
CJ Affiliate is very selective on the affiliates it deals with, your application may not be approved. And if you get the approval, you may still be declined by a brand.
CJ Affiliate versus ShareASale.
CJ Affiliate has a wider reach, leading with Top 10K Sites, Top 1M Sites and the entire web.
Commission covers more websites categories such as Computer Electronic and Technology, Arts and Entertainment and 18 other categories. Affiliates can therefore get exactly what they are looking for. ShareASale leads in the Food&Drink and Home&Garden, CBD.
CJ Affiliate is available in over 143 countries. Their affiliate network is therefore very extensive.
CJ Affiliate is very selective with whom they work with; you therefore get to work with the best in affiliate marketing.
Read full review about ShareASale affiliate platform here.
Final thoughts on CJ Affiliate.
Despite some disadvantages that CJ Affiliate has, it is one of the best affiliate networks to apply for if you're in affiliate marketing. It is free and easy to sign-up. It opens up a world of high-end companies you could work with. Their platform offers a set of tools that will help you boost your commission with your brands. Take the leap!