Take Note: This website is mostly geared towards newbie’s, thus we keep it simple without using terms that are too complicated to grasp.
Are you familiar with ShareASale and have some experience with the platform? Help me to refrain from making this review one-sided by leaving a comment with your valuable experience, it would be much appreciated!
Now, let’s get started…
Website
shareasale.com
Year Established
2000
What is ShareASale?
They are one of the largest affiliate marketing networks around that bring merchants and affiliates together. In simple terms, if you are an affiliate marketer looking for products/services to promote, this is one of the places you can find lots of products/services.
For Newbies – Affiliate marketing is when you promote products of other people and earn a commission when you make a sale or complete an action. ShareASale is basically an all-in-one marketplace where you can find thousands of products to promote and get paid in one place.
What Does It Cost to Join?
It is free to join as an Affiliate.
Scam or Legit?
Okay, let’s get down to the question that you are brewing on first.
ShareASale has been around for a long time, meaning, they will most likely not go anywhere soon. In addition, it is a reputable company that is directly connected with Awin, which also has a reputable history. The changes of them going belly up is VERY slim.
Payouts are ALWAYS on time! No issues with transfers unless obviously, you have entered the wrong payment details.
Yes, a few hiccups here and there, but there is no such thing as perfect in the online world and ShareASale is one of those nice ones that is pleasant to work with most of the time.
User Interface and Ease of Use
The site is easy to navigate and like super newbie-friendly. It looks a bit outdated by some but; I love the term “simplistic” and thus feel right at home.
Support and Tutorials
Affiliate marketers will receive a “welcome kit” to help them get familiar with affiliate marketing upon signup. In addition, you will also find a FAQ section that will provide answers to most questions. Training webinars are also available to improve marketing skills.
Customer support is average. They provide an email address and telephone number as a direct contact method. Some days, feedback is quick and other days it is a bit slower.
How Do You Earn Money with ShareASale as an Affiliate?
Pay Per Sale – You will earn a commission if someone uses your affiliate link that leads to a product and makes a purchase.
Pay Per Lead – When someone clicks on your affiliate link, visits the page and fills out a form, or completes an action, you will receive payment.
What about Getting Paid?
Payouts are on the 20th of each month. For example, you will get paid on April 20 for the sales that you made up to March 20.
Payment methods are Mailed Check, Payoneer, and Direct Deposit. Sorry folks, no PayPal or Crypto option available.
A payment threshold of $50 or more before you can receive payment. You can also change the setting to a higher amount if you wish.
Do I Need a Website to Sign Up?
Yes, or at least a Social media page that is active. You must control and own the website that you apply with and it should be active, content-rich, and free of adult content, hate speech, or content that has age restrictions.
How Many Affiliate Programs can I Join?
As many as you like. ShareASale has no limits which makes this perfect if you have multiple websites and Social pages in different niches.
How to Get Approved as a ShareASale Affiliate
Use a custom email address upon signing up for example, “name@yourdomain.com. Avoid using free email addresses like @yahoo.com, @hotmail, or @gmail as this will make it likely to be rejected.
Enter a website that you own and use the top-level domain instead of a sub-domain. Make sure your URL leads to a live website that loads relatively fast without too many pop-up ads. English content is preferred above other languages as the affiliate programs are all English.
Before applying to become a ShareASale Affiliate, make sure your website/Social Page is worth visiting by doing a bit of cleanup, SEO, and adding content. If your website is in a poor state, you will not make sales anyhow, thus no rush to slap on affiliate links anyway right?
Note: Account approval will normally take between 1 – 3 days, excluding weekends.
Why Did ShareASale Reject Your Application?
The most likely reasons could be a free email or a website that is “doggy”. Many other reasons as well but since I do not work for ShareASale, it is impossible to tell.
Sites that have the following will MOST LIKELY not be approved.
- Adult content – Your website might not have actual adult content but display adult advertising like banners and so forth.
- Websites that promote illegal activities.
- Sites with content around hatred, racism, violence, and so forth are also a big no.
So, your website is sharp and your email on spot but you still get denied access to one of the best marketplaces around? Yeah, might be your place of residence (Sorry). They will sometimes decline applications from regions where there is a high risk of affiliate fraud, which is understandable. However, you can still email them with your details and ask them to reconsider. If your content is good and your traffic is targeted, there is a good chance that you will be approved.
How to Get Approved by ShareASale Merchants
So, you got approved by ShareASale to become an Affiliate, now you will have to be approved by the Merchants to promote their products. (Yeah, I know it is a hard road).
Basically, the same rules as mentioned above with a little added extra:
Merchants will review your site before they approve you, make sure it is clean, fast-loading and most of all, it is niche-specific. In short, if you say, for example, have a website about “dog care”, only apply for products/services around dog care. Yes, some affiliate programs are not too picky about the niche and will be flexible but most are obviously niche specific.
Make your affiliate profile on ShareASale stand out by;
Add a description of your marketing skills and niche. Do not be shy to list your marketing skills by mentioning your methods of driving traffic and marketing strategies.
Include a photo or brand logo on your profile.
When you apply, be thorough. Mention how you plan to promote the product and integrate it into your niche.
Is there Other Options Around?
There is no shortage nowadays when it comes to affiliate marketplaces. If ShareASale is not for you, you can also have a look at:
Clickbank
CJ Affiliate or formally known as Commission Junction
Digistore24
ShareASale Pros
A wide variety of merchants/products, to suit any niche or marketing strategy.
High acceptance rate. Yeah, it takes a bit of hassle to get approved but nothing compared to other networks like CJ. If you cannot get accepted as an affiliate for ShareASale, you will most likely not get accepted by places like CJ.
Search and filtering options are awesome. You can find what you are looking for with just a few clicks without having to scroll thru pages of products to find something specific.
Reliable payouts each month.
Reporting and tracking features.
Additional tools for affiliates like customizable affiliate links, banner creator, and so forth.
Good variety of “reporting features” available. To be successful at affiliate marketing, it is crucial to keep an eye on your marketing efforts to be able to adjust strategies and methods. ShareASale allows you to do just that and have accurate real-time tracking of clicks and sales.
ShareASale keeps a balance between bigger brands and smaller companies, making it easy for top affiliates to find products to promote but, also providing products for newbies or marketers that are still in the beginning phase of their online career or with a small online presence. Networks like CJ Affiliate nowadays focus on providing for bigger brands. Nice for advanced marketers, not so nice for newbies as the requirements to promote are simply out of reach for beginners or even those who just prefer to keep their marketing strategies simple.
ShareASale is an awesome place for those who own several websites or promote a variety of niches. You can keep everything “under one roof” as a variety of affiliate products is not something you will encounter on this platform. You can list all the websites that you own and thus will not need to sign up multiple times for every merchant program that you apply for. Basically, you will apply once, and all your websites will then be active for that program. Cool right?
Cons
Merchants do not always stick around obviously, however, with ShareASale, there seems to be no notification when a merchant packs up and goes. Affiliate links will not redirect and thus be useless. Personally, I put in a lot of effort when promoting a link by sharing free content, guest blogging, social media marketing, and so forth. Days of hard work, only for a link not to work, is my top nightmare in the online marketing space. Time totally wasted! My marketing strategies are “long term” and I like to set up campaigns that are basically “set and forget” and do not need to be kept an eye on 24/7. With ShareASale, it feels like you have to be monitoring affiliate links to avoid this problem. It May work fine for those with only a few affiliate programs, does not work well for me with multiple websites, niches, and marketing strategies.
Affiliate links can cause problems, especially with WordPress. You HAVE TO check your links to make sure that characters stay the same when editing on WP for example. I did not have the chance to check on other platforms yet, however, since WP is the platform used by the majority, it is something to note.
ShareASale Features that I Find Awesome
The “Trending Merchants” feature. This will display the top 10 most popular programs on ShareASale.
ShareASale has some really cool search and filtering features to help you find the perfect product to promote. You can narrow it down to a specific product/service by using the filters provided. The modified search allows you to choose from programs that are ShareASale Exclusive, programs with auto-approval, power rank, joined status, and so forth. In addition, you can also filter results for Sale/Lead Commission, Click Commission, earnings per click, cookie length, and so forth. Very few Affiliate networks around with this kind of feature, definitely a huge bonus that comes with ShareASale!
Auto-Approval Feature – You can easily find merchants that will automatically approve your application.
Customized Linking – You can fully customize your affiliate links and create shortened URLs that are more appealing to potential customers. In addition, you also have “social tools” that allow you to share your affiliate links with others. The “Make a Page” feature let you create product galleries and the “product showcase” feature is for creating banners for a specific program.
Let’s Round this Up…
ShareASale has a few hiccups here and there, but I mean, don’t they all? Nothing too drastic to make it unbearable. I recommend the network for newbies because it is much easier to be accepted than many other networks around. Sure, some networks can be joined basically without even being approved, however, the products are mostly just garbage nowadays and not even worth the effort to promote. ShareASale has some junk as well but I have found that it is easier to find quality products than with some other networks.
The golden rule of making money online…
Provide quality content prior to making money. Some people are so desperate to start earning an income that they go into reverse; they look for the perfect program to promote before even thinking about creating quality content. You will find a crappy-looking website with rushed content and a bunch of affiliate links that scream out “I am desperate”. Sorry, but you aren't going to make much or be successful. Do this the right way, create an awesome website/Page that provides quality content, and ONLY THEN, find a product/service to promote that will compliment your site.
Got rejected by ShareASale? No problem, go back and spruce up that content of yours and re-apply again! Rejection only enables us to better ourselves and our efforts.
Are you a ShareASale Affiliate or worked with them in the past?
I absolutely hate a one-sided opinion and would love to add the knowledge of others to this review to help my readers make a better choice. Please be so kind to tell us about your experience with ShareASale, it would be much appreciated!
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