Top 5 Resources for Affiliate Marketing and Referral Content

Marketers know that personalized content is key to successfully sending the right message to the right customers at the right time. But who actually has time to create a treasure trove of custom content?

Publishers are on the opposite side of the puzzle: they’ve got a treasure trove of great content, but do not always have a home for publishing this sponsored content. Referral content and affiliate marketing to the rescue!

These are my five favorite resources for creating and using personalized referral content and affiliate marketing:

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Zemanta

Need help driving impressions and traffic to your web properties? Zemanta can help. Zemanta starts by aggregating and indexing your content for multiple content ad formats, including promoted recommendations, in-stream ads, in-text ads and sponsored content. Next, Zemanta will test bids and test creative to make sure you meet the ROI for your content marketing goals. All reporting is centralized into one convenient dashboard. Zemanta’s reach includes up to 195 million monthly U.S. unique visitors, so you can maximize views and still only target the most relevant people. You’ll also get an unlimited supply of campaign reporting metrics through one centralized dashboard. And unlike many paid distribution solutions, bounce rates and time on site are virtually identical to organic traffic. But don’t take it from me: Rand Fishkin, the co-founder of Moz says, “I’m not just a fan, I’m a believer– Zemanta is a remarkable way to build great links.”

Revcontent

With over 100 billion recommendations per month, Revcontent is an undisputed leader in the native content advertising game. Revcontent offers geographic, demographic, contextual, channel, and site-specific targeting options. It also boasts some of the highest performing native ad networks for ecosystems like Forbes, NBC NEWS, CBS Local, E!, and Fantasypros. One key factor that makes Revcontent unique is its use of a fully responsive widget along with infinite scroll options and unlimited customization of the API. For brand advertisers, Revcontent also claims to be the only premium publisher with a closed native network, offering maximum transparency and control.

Clickbooth

With a network boasting more than 3,000 advertisers and over 2,000 active affiliates, Clickbooth is a serious powerhouse. The user-friendly interface keeps things simple and the network requires only a minimum payment of $50 to get started. Clickbooth can be picky about who they accept, however, so if you’re new to affiliate marketing you may have to wait an initial period before joining. And while networks like Maxbounty and Peerfly are both easier to get accepted into than Clickbooth, if you have an established track record, you can’t go wrong with Clickbooth.

ThirstyAffiliates

ThirstyAffiliates is a top affiliate marketing tool for WordPress that makes it easy to monetize your blog with a simple and effective affiliate marketing plugin. Monetize past and future content with Autolinker, cloak unsightly affiliate links using your website’s URL, and import affiliate links from Amazon and other programs. ThirstyAffiliates offers a host of bonus add-ons, including the useful autolinker, which automatically links up keywords to affiliate links throughout the blog. Geolocations geo-targets visitors with country-specific affiliate links. Google click tracking will automatically detect affiliate links and add Google Analytics Event tracking to these links. And the AZON add-on will search and import Amazon affiliate links into ThirstyAffiliates.

PeerFly

Rated the “#1 Affiliate Manger” and “#1 Affiliate Network” by mThink in 2015, PeerFly is a leader for its custom tracking program, lead generation, and flat-rate sales. Advertisers benefit from no monthly fees, dedicated account managers and a full-time compliance department. PeerFly has promoted popular brands including Netflix, BestBuy, Dell and Apple. For publishers, PeerFly includes guaranteed top payouts, accelerated payment options, and free training so you can get started using the platform right away.

Bottom Line

When selecting a content referral network, keep in mind that the best network can only take your business so far. If you’re on the publishing side of things, you will still need to spend time crafting compelling content that converts, tracking engagement and optimizing campaigns. And don’t bypass alternate ways to share your content, including guest posting and video marketing.

Have a favorite content referral or affiliate network that I missed? Share yours in the comments section below.

Image: Revcontent 5 Comments ▼

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