Welcome to my CJ Affiliate review. You may have heard of this affiliate network with the former name, Commission Junction. In this review, you can see some basic information about the company, how it works and if this is the right place to get started with affiliate marketing.
What Is CJ Affiliate?
CJ Affiliate is an affiliate network. It was founded in 1998, and it’s still one of the bigger companies in the industry. Affiliate networks run the affiliate programs of many companies, and if you are an affiliate, it is responsible for your links and payments.
CJ Affiliate is one of the top affiliate networks, and it has thousands of active members. There are a lot of companies that participate in this network. I am sure you can find top names almost in every niche. However, you are going to find unknown companies or vendors too.
Overall, it’s a legit company and a safe place for affiliate marketers. Of course, the results depend on your efforts, but if you make sales, you will get paid on time. There are some complaints on other issues like customer service or the process to get approved by the vendors that are mentioned below in this review, but there are no major complaints about the payments.
How Does CJ Affiliate Works?
CJ Affiliate is a free company to join as it should be to all the affiliate programs or networks. When you create an account, you add some information about you and your affiliate marketing business before start searching for products to promote.
Next, your job is to look for products in your niche, and when you find something you like, you must apply manually for approval. Each vendor has different requirements. It is not guaranteed that you will get approved for every product or service you want to promote. It depends on them if you are accepted. The more experienced marketer you are, the more likely is to get approved.
The top companies usually have strict rules or minimum traffic requirements. But you can always send them an email or try to contact the vendors in any way you want.
Is CJ Affiliate For Beginners?
The approval process makes your experience more complicated. Not for everyone, but if you do not know what you are doing, you will probably be rejected by many vendors. If you know what you are doing and you have a strategy to get traffic, there are better chances here to find what you are looking for.
CJ Affiliate was one of the first affiliate networks I joined. It was the time I joined Wealthy Affiliate as well, and I was looking for ideas to start my affiliate marketing business. I had a new website, and the good programs did not accept me. I did not want to apply for unknown or low-quality products, so my experience with CJ Affiliate ended at that point.
When I learned how to get traffic and make sales, I applied again for a few good programs and got approved, but still, I do not send a lot of traffic on them. If I mention in my articles a product that has an affiliate program on CJ Affiliate, I will apply for it. However, I am not going to browse products just to pick up something.
The fact is that there are affiliate networks and programs that are much easier to get started, and you can find quality products to promote too. For example, you can get started with Amazon Associates. A basic website would be good to get approved. Also, you can try Clickbank for digital products. It has not an approval process at all. I am an affiliate on both of them and work just fine.
How To Get Approved By A Specific Vendor On CJ Affiliate
You can find some really good opportunities on CJ Affiliate in every niche. If you want to promote a specific product because it’s the best for your audience, there are a few things you can do. I assume you have completed the profile information by adding your site and a few words about you.
First of all, you can contact them. Many times you can find an email when you check the information of the vendor. Explain to them why you are a good option for them. You are a marketer; just sell yourself!
The next step is to prove that you are an affiliate who is going to send traffic properly. If you have started a new website and you do not have traffic yet, just build your website before applying. Without traffic, you cannot earn money anyway. If you have some traffic, then find a way to get more traffic. There is always a way.
These guys want affiliates who are professional and can some traffic to them. To learn how you can get more traffic and make more sales as an affiliate, you can check this free course.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Legit affiliate network: It is online since 1998, and it has offered services to many affiliates and vendors. We can expect to keep helping people in the industry.
Top Vendors: There are many top names in every niche. It’s worth creating an account on CJ Affiliate because usually, you will find good products for your audience.
CPA Offers: There are some great CPA programs on the listings of the network.
Cons:
It is not beginner-friendly: It depends on the vendors and not on the CJ Affiliate to get approved and promote the products you want. It’s much easier to get started with other alternatives.
Support: There are many complaints from affiliates about not helping them with some issues or not responding to them at all.
My Final Opinion
I think that most affiliates who make some money online have checked at least once a few products on the listing of CJ Affiliate. It is not my favorite affiliate network, but it’s a good one.
In my opinion, an affiliate marketer must care about the products and not so much about the affiliate networks. If there is a product that can help my readers, I will recommend it no matter the affiliate network or the commissions.
However, some people recommend using these networks for your niche or product research. It’s on you how to use it. The important here is that you can find some top products in most niches, it’s legit, and if you can send (targetted) traffic, you will earn some money.
Thanks for reading my review on CJ Affiliate. I would like to hear your questions or any comments!