There are so many great ways for bloggers to make money these days! I know bloggers that earn $2,000 a month and bloggers that earn $200,000 a month. After just one year of hard work, I was making more money from my own blog than I ever made from my day job as an online business manager. And in this article, I’m going to show you exactly how I made that happen.
We’re going to talk about two things: making money through affiliate marketing and the top reasons why every blogger needs to join the AWIN affiliate network.
Let’s get to it!
WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING?
Affiliate marketing is essentially promoting products/services for a company that you’re associated with. You can find and join almost any affiliate program that fits into your blogging category/niche. You’ll apply to the program that you want to join and then wait for approval by email.
When you get approved, you’ll get access to your own affiliate dashboard. This is where you can access your sale stats, personal profile, payouts, and affiliate links.
Your affiliate links are special trackable links that you can share with your audience. When someone clicks on that affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
This is one of the best ways for bloggers to make money!
** Note: not every affiliate program will approve every blogger. While most programs are easy to join, some have strict rules and requirements. But it still never hurts to apply!
WHAT IS AWIN?
AWIN is an affiliate marketing network. Formerly known as Affiliate Window, AWIN is a platform that contains thousands of affiliate programs that you can join and earn money from.
All affiliate networks act as the bridge between you and the affiliate programs that you join. They are basically connecting you to a huge pool of affiliate programs in various niche/categories.
I love affiliate networks because they make everything so easy: you can access a ton of programs in one place, apply to those programs, find out how much they pay, get your affiliate links, and get paid…all right there in your affiliate dashboard.
AWIN is easy to join and easy to use, and it has thousands of high-paying affiliate programs for bloggers.
HOW CAN YOU GET APPROVED BY AWIN?
Some newer bloggers worry that AWIN won’t approve them to join their network. But the good news is: I talked to AWIN directly and asked them about their specific requirements!
To join AWIN, you need to have an active website, quality content, and a legal affiliate disclosure on your site. Once you have those few things in place, you can apply to AWIN here. There is a simple 4-step sign up process and a $5 screening fee. The fee is refunded to you after approval.
STEP ONE: ACCOUNT SETUP
You’ll set up your AWIN account here. If you have an established company and business name, you will enter that under the “Company Name” section. Otherwise, just use the name of your blog. Then enter your first name, last name, email, and the password that you want to use for your account. Hit NEXT!
STEP TWO: PROMOTIONAL TYPE
In this step, you will tell AWIN how you plan to promote their programs. There are four categories (content, display, email, search) and the drop down menu for each category has multiple boxes you can check. You must check AT LEAST one box, but you can check more than that if you want.
STEP THREE: PROMOTIONAL SPACE
In this step, you’ll add your website address and a description of your content. Remember how I said that you’re required to have a live site and quality content? This is your chance to let them know that you have all your ducks in a row! In a brief summary, explain what your site is about and how you provide value to your audience.
STEP FOUR: VERIFICATION
You’ll enter your address and contact information here. Then hit “Join Our Network”. This whole process shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.
Then you’ll submit your $5 screening fee and wait for approval confirmation via email. It usually takes a few days to get approved, but I have heard of it taking up to one week.
Once you get approved, you’re ready to start earning from AWIN. And this is the exciting part!
Why do most bloggers love the AWIN affiliate network? I’m going to let you in on allll the secrets!
WHY EVERY BLOGGER SHOULD JOIN THE AWIN AFFILIATE NETWORK
1) AWIN has over 100,000 affiliate programs in 180 countries. You can find great affiliate programs no matter what your blog is about. Check out my extensive lists of affiliate programs for fashion bloggers, travel bloggers, beauty bloggers, mom bloggers, and business bloggers.
2) Many of the affiliate programs in the AWIN network pay up to 50% commissions or more. AWIN does an excellent job of screening companies to make sure that they have a quality affiliate program and clear instructions to join and earn money.
3) The AWIN platform is easy to join, easy to use, and they provide excellent tutorials and affiliate managers to help you get the most out of their service. To put this in perspective, I spent $5 to join AWIN and earned $480 within one month. They definitely give you the tools to succeed!
HOW TO EARN MONEY FROM THE AWIN AFFILIATE NETWORK
You’ll earn money from AWIN like you do from any affiliate network or affiliate program: by promoting products and services for the companies that you’re associated with.
Here’s a straight-forward example: Let’s say you’re a travel blogger and you want to write an article about the Hard Rock Hotel. You can sign up for AWIN and join the Hard Rock Hotel affiliate program from your AWIN dashboard. Then you’ll go here to your “Links & Tools” tab and click on Link Builder to access your main affiliate link.
Write your article about the Hard Rock Hotel and include your affiliate links in the article. When someone books a room through your link, you earn 6.5% of that sale. Boom, baby! Money earned 😊
Of course, there is strategic effort involved in this process, but the system and the principles are the same, no matter what niche you are in! For a detailed guide to earning money through affiliate marketing, check out this comprehensive blogging course.
I hope these AWIN tips were helpful! If you enjoyed this article, pin it for later!!
Cate, I so need this right now. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I made an account and then got confused so thank you for clarifying.
Cate, I had joined the fb community you started and enjoy it. However, I have questions that I cannot seem to get straight answers on. First, I’ll admit that blogging is newer for me to do. I do it on my website and business fb page, and have looked into AWIN, but before I go any further I’d like answers. First, I am an affiliate for several companies and yes receive commissions…but its sure not much or often. I’d love to make a little income with blogging and would REALLY like the know the best place, and how to go about this. Getting started I guess you could say. Doing blogs is fine, but getting paid on them is totally different. My blogs are a little more random and geared to different target audiences. I’d really appreciate your input.
This is a great blog! So helpful. I’ve wondered about affiliate networks but never been how to find one/get started. I’m going to check out this one. Thank you!
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve joined Awin recently and look forward to finding great brands for my upcoming shop.
Thanks for sharing so many specifics in this post. This is the first I’ve heard of this program and now I’m eager to get approved.
I’m sure you’ll get approved, it’s a great network with so many amazing programs! Thanks for reading 🙂
Congrats on joining AWIN, I love them!
Thank you so much for reading!
To make good income from affiliate marketing, you’ll need to be solving a very specific problem for a specific audience. Your audience needs to come to you as the expert with the solution to their problems, and then when you recommend something with an affiliate link, they’ll be more likely to buy. Random content and broad audiences make your job so much harder. Focus on specific content that will be helpful to a specific audience. I hope that’s helpful!
You’re so welcome, I’m glad this article clarified things for you!
Hi Cate,
Thanks for sharing. I’ve signed up with AWIN but I was wondering, do you have any specific affiliates programs that you really like and could recommend?
What is your niche?
Hi Cate!
What if you have signed up for various affiliate programs before joining this affiliate network? Anyway I’m Fad 😀
You can be in as many networks and programs as you’d like 🙂
hi, i have tried several time to be accepted on the awin network but my application keeps being rejected and the refund my £5 (im in the uk). At the moment i only have a couple of blogs set up. What do you suggest to help me get approval. Any advice would be appreciated
You might need a little more content and a little more traffic (sometimes they slow down approvals if there is a large influx of applicants). Do you have legal disclaimers on your blog, because that is a requirement as well. If you have issue again, be sure to contact them and ask for more details.
Hello, I’m a frensh blogger and I’d like to join Awin affiliare programm, I’m wondering if the payment can be sent to paypal. Thanks in advance !
I believe it needs to be an official debit/credit card, but you’ll have to confirm on the checkout page through AWIN.