The Ultimate Guide on How to Start Affiliate Marketing in Canada

If you’ve been thinking about getting into affiliate marketing in Canada, now is the time. Canada has one of the fastest-growing affiliate marketing industries in the world.

There are new players entering the game every day, and that means there are plenty of opportunities for you to make some money by recommending products you love on your website or social media.

Whether you’re a brand new blogger trying to monetize your blog, or an established business attempting to expand your company through new partnerships, this article will provide you with everything you need to know about getting started with affiliate marketing in Canada.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a partnership between a merchant who owns a product or service and a promoter who recommends the product to their audience. In exchange for bringing new customers or sales to the merchant’s site, the affiliate is given a commission.

For example, if you sign up to be an Amazon Affiliate and recommend a product from Amazon, you will receive a percentage of the sale price for every product purchased through your affiliate link. When you consider that most businesses rely on word-of-mouth marketing to attract new customers, affiliate marketing is a cost-effective way for businesses to build their online presence and increase revenue.

Affiliate marketing can also be used as a way to monetize your existing blog or social media following. Affiliate marketing is often referred to as “Network Marketing”, as affiliates market products and services offered by other companies.

What is Required to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business in Canada?

There are no set rules when it comes to affiliate marketing, but there are a few items that are required for success. First and foremost, you will need a website or social media account that you can use to promote products.

If you have been successful in using social media to build your brand, you can continue to use it to promote affiliate products. If you are just getting started, it’s a good idea to use a blog as it will allow you to be more creative with your content and build trust with your audience.

Next, you will need to sign up for an affiliate network. Affiliate networks are the platforms where merchants post their products and affiliates can link to them and earn commissions. The networks have been in the industry for many years, and they have strict guidelines in place to protect both affiliates and merchants.

Difference Between Affiliate Program and Affiliate Network

Affiliate programs are platforms that compensate publishers or advertisers for each sale made via their affiliate links. HostGator affiliate program is a good example of an affiliate program in which you promote the platform and receive a commission for every sale made through your link. Here you will be promoting the company for a commission.

Affiliate networks, on the other hand, are platforms that connect product owners and advertisers. Unlike affiliate programs, advertisers or affiliates will promote other people’s products rather than the company’s.

One distinction between an affiliate program and an affiliate network is that an affiliate program will provide you with a single unique affiliate URL, whereas an affiliate network will provide you with a different URL for each product.

How to Find the Right Affiliate Program in Canada

If you are a new affiliate marketer, you may be wondering how to find the right affiliate program for you. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Research Your Niche: Before you start signing up for affiliates, you should take some time to research what affiliate programs are out there and what products are offered.
   
   
2. Pay Attention to the Type of Products: You want to make sure that the products you recommend are relevant to your target audience. If they aren’t, you won’t be successful.
   
   
3. Pay Attention to the Commission Structure: Commission structures vary from program to program. Some will offer a fixed rate per sale, while others will pay you a percentage of the sale. Pay close attention to each so that you can choose the programs that will produce the best results for your audience.

When picking an affiliate program to promote, don’t pick programs due to their high commission rate but pick products that’s related to your niche and will be off help to your audience so they don’t jump off your mailing list.

Top 7 Best Affiliate Programs (Networks) in Canada

1. ClickBank: This is the World’s most popular affiliate network with numerous products to promote from any niche at all, though is restricted in other countries but if you live in Canada, then you’re an opportunist because is available for you. This affiliate program has been existing for over 20 years, and still be among the bests.
   
   It has very broad categories and sub-categories which makes it easier for the affiliate to choose their preferred products easily. Also, it does not require much information or steps to be an affiliate on ClickBank.
   
   
2. CJ Affiliate: This is known as the “Commission Junction” affiliate program. It is one of the world’s most used affiliate programs. One of the interesting things about this platform is that you won’t just be promoting individual products only, but the company’s products as well.
   
   Since they partner with big brands and companies like Priceline, Overstock, J.Crew, and Barnes & Noble, it makes it easier for the affiliates to promote multiple brands’ products on one platform.
   
   
3. ShareAsale: This is another best and free-to-use affiliate program. ShareAsale has thousands of merchants and a high list of production in each category. However, the commission is based on what the customer decides. And you will also need a blog/website to sign up for the program.
   
   
   
4. Amazon Associate: Amazon is the world’s leading digital marketplace with varieties of products. Amazon associate is an affiliate marketing program for amazon products. This program is one of the best affiliate marketing platforms for those who want to promote e-commerce products.
   
   Since Amazon has a long list of products, it makes it easier for the affiliates to choose their preferred products with ease. Also, it is easy and free to use, not much information or steps are required.
   
   
5. Jvzoo: This is a popular affiliate marketing program with many categories of digital products, such as software, ebooks, course, and others. If you are interested in promoting digital products like the ones mentioned earlier, Jvzoo will help you get those products with ease.
   
   The product commissions range from 25% to 100%. It is always based on the seller, but the common commission rate in Jvzoo are 50% and 75%.
   
   
6. Bluehost: Bluehost is a hosting company that offers an affiliate program. It is one of the best hosting companies on the internet. As an affiliate on the platform, you will be given a unique URL to promote the company. Each time someone purchases any of their hosting plans, you will earn a commission base on the plan purchased through your link.
   
   
7. Semrush: Semrush is an SEO tools website used by many SEO experts. It also offers an affiliate program that allows people to promote the website and earn a commission for each sale made through the given URL.

How to Find Niche-Specific Affiliate Programs

If you are new to affiliate marketing or you don’t know how to find the best and niche-specific affiliate programs in your niche, then follow the steps below. One of the easiest ways to find niche-specific affiliate programs is by utilizing Google, all you need to do is;

1. Head over to Google
2. Type in your niche with a colon in front then follows up with Affiliate programs.

For Example, if I’m looking for affiliate programs in the SEO niche, all I will do is type in “SEO:Affiliate Programs” on Google and Google will show all related affiliate programs.

Here is an epitome of it in the image below

Promotion Strategies for Successful Affiliate Marketing in Canada

Different people use different strategies to promote their affiliate links/products. However, there are some common and proven strategies that always guarantee success in affiliate marketing.

1. Review blog: One of the popular and proven strategies used by affiliate marketing experts is the review blog. A review blog is a kind of blog where you focus on writing about new products or the existing ones.
   
   Many people tend to check the review of a product before buying them. So, Having this kind of blog will help you target them and make them buy through your affiliate links.
   
   This strategy is very effective and less stressful. You only need to write the review once and insert your affiliate link in the post. With that, you will keep getting sales even in the next 20 years, so far people keep visiting the page.
   
   
2. Review youtube channel: This is just like a review blog but in video format. just like people are searching for a product review on google or other search engines, they are also searching for the same thing on youtube.
   
   You might have come across a youtube channel doing only review videos. And most of those channels are also monetized by Adsense. But when you check the video description, you will see their affiliate link to the product they are promoting.
   
   If the review is good, some of the viewers will click on the link and purchase the product. You can also use the same strategy to promote your affiliate links.
   
   
3. Email Leads: There’s no doubt that email marketing is and will still remain one of the best and easiest ways to make affiliate sales. This is because anyone who submits their emails to you is indirectly telling you that they need your assistance to grow so they trust all your recommendations.

Must Read: Build An Email List With These 14 Powerful Tactics [2022]

Related: How to Get Sales in Affiliate Marketing and Make More Money

How to Start a Blog for Affiliate Marketing in Canada

There are many ways to promote affiliate products, and one of the best ways is through blogging. However, many people don’t know how to start a blog for affiliate marketing.

If you are in Canada wishing to promote affiliate products through blogging, you should not worry anymore. You only need to follow simple steps to get everything done perfectly, and those steps are as follows;

1. Pick a less competitive niche: Every blog begins with a niche, it does not matter whether it is for an affiliate or not. But when it comes to affiliate marketing, you should choose a less competitive niche, especially if you are totally a beginner. This will help you get sales faster than the saturated niches.
   
2. purchase a domain and hosting: Now that you have already found a profitable and less competitive niche, it is time to send the blog live. And to do that, you need a domain and hosting.
   
   Both domain and hosting are not expensive. However, it depends on where you are buying from. It is recommended to choose a perfect name (Domain) for your blog and purchase hosting from a reliable company like Hostgator or NameCheap
   
   
3. Choose a perfect blogging platform: There are many platforms you can use for an affiliate marketing blog, but the most popular and widely used is WordPress. It is very easy and simple to design and use.
   
   
4. Keyword Research: Either you choose a less competitive or high competitive niche, keyword research is very important. This will help you choose a product that requires little or no promotion to sell or a product that requires much promotion with a high chance of sales.
   
   If you have money to spend on promotion, you should go for the one with the one that requires promotion and has a high chance of sales, Otherwise, you should go for the opposite.
   
   With proper keyword research, you can use the search volume and the difficulty to determine the best product base on your capital or your capacity.
   
   
5. Begin writing: This is where everything lies, writing for a normal blog is different from writing for affiliate marketing. Instead of writing for general topics or others, you should write about the product you are trying to promote.
   
   The best way to write a blog post for affiliate marketing is to write a review base on the product you are trying to promote and insert your affiliate link in the post naturally.

How to Promote Affiliate Links On Your Blog

Knowing how to promote affiliate links on your blog has a great advantage. It will help you generate more sales even when you sleep, especially if you are having a good amount of traffic every day.

Well, one of the best ways to promote an affiliate link on your blog is by writing greater content around the product or the company. It can either be a review post or a comparison post.

But when writing the post, highlight some keywords and insert your link, so it will look natural.

Network Basics: Earnings, Commissions and Fees

Affiliate networks will explain their commission structure and earnings when you sign up for the program.

If you are starting with a new affiliate program, you may not be able to access your earnings right away. Most networks have a 90-day waiting period during which they will track your sales and review your account before they deposit money into your account.

Before you sign up for any affiliate program, make sure you understand how much you will earn per sale and what fees are associated with the program.

In most cases, you will earn a percentage of the sale price for each product. For example, if you sign up for Amazon and recommend a product that sells for $100, you will earn $10 per sale.

The Bottom Line

Affiliate marketing may seem complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a very lucrative business.

Keep in mind that it can take some time to find the right program for you and build trust with your audience.

As with any business, it is important to treat affiliate marketing as a long-term relationship. Building a strong brand and promoting products that you truly believe in can help you create a sustainable business.

CPA marketing is also another alternative to affiliate marketing if don’t have much interest in affiliate marketing, you can give CPA marketing a try by following our complete guide on How to Start CPA Marketing For Beginners and Make Money The Ultimate Guide