Australian Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are designed so savvy bloggers and marketers can promote other peoples products and earn commissions from each sale they refer. It works by using a unique affiliate link to identify the person who referred the potential customer.

It can be a very cost effective way for businesses to market online as it can be setup to be a commission from each sale. The more people that join the affiliate program, the better reach and visibility the ad has online.

Most hubbers would be familiar with affiliate programs. Hubpages uses three affiliate programs, all very different to each other.

Google Adsense is the main one and unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade you would have heard of it. How it works is by displaying relevant ads based on the content on the page. So, if you are writing about Star Wars on your hubs, you may see ads on Star Wars merchandise on your page. This can be quite effective as your readers are more likely to click on ads that are relevant to your content.

The second one has been around for a long time, called Amazon. This one can be set up to display products such as books or DVD's. If your reader clicks on them and purchases a product, you get a commission from that sale.

The last one is called Kontera, where words in your content become advertisements when your reader hovers over them.

If you also dabble in a little blogging, like myself, you would possibly also use these fantastic affiliate programs in your blogs.

But there are other options. What I want to focus on in this hub are Australian affiliate programs. Being an Australian, I found it was much harder to find suitable Australian Affiliate programs compared to the American ones online.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good ones out there, they are just a lot harder to find. I found more luck searching for Australian affiliate networks, which are a collection of affiliate programs. Affiliate networks can be ideal if your blog focuses on a particular niche, such as sports or online gaming. These types of ads can be very effective when used well. I try to work around seasonal events on the calendar such as Christmas to get the best result.

While Google Adsense is fantastic, you are limited to how many ads you can display on the page. That's why I look for local affiliate programs also.

Advertising an offer that is located outside of Australia when your content is Australian can have damaging effects. If they click on the ad, fill out a heap of information and then find the item can not be delivered to Australia they will be frustrated.

You will have no doubt missed out on a sale and possibly a returning visitor.

That's why it is best to source your ads locally.

Some pay incredibly well! For example, one campaign I ran the day before the Melbourne Cup. The ad displayed a $50 free bet for any Aussies that joined.

The great thing was that the ad paid over $100 for each successful sign-up. It took me less than 5 minutes to add the affiliate code and I made around $1,000 just from that one ad.

You may even decide to write the content of your blog post based on the ad. For example, imagine sharing a post about wining a trifecta at the horse races then at the bottom of the page your reader is greeted with an advertisement with a $50 free bet.

So, if you have a good strategy and a blog that is bringing in a bit of traffic, you can start to make some serious money online.