Learning how to get approved with Commission Junction can help you as an affiliate marketer. Commission Junction is also known as CJ for short has over 3,000 merchants you can partner with.
All these merchants have multiple affiliate offers you can promote in a variety of categories. No matter what niche you are interested in CJ probably has offers you can use to make money.
You can get approved to be a publisher with Commission Junction by being over the age of 18 and owning a website. Each merchant has their own requirements, which they will review your website manually or sometimes automatically.
Keep reading and I’ll share some tips on how to improve your chances of getting approved. How you can get approved without a website. What you should do if you get rejected. Plus how to find the best programs to be promoting.
Step 1
The first step to getting approved for Commission Junction is to figure out how you’re going to get traffic. Here are a few ideas that can help you.
- Blogging
- Youtube
- TikTok
- Paid Ads
- Podcasting
- Other Social Media
- Offline
I’ve gotten website traffic using ALL these methods. What I recommend is to start with Blogging. The reason why is because you can turn your written posts into videos. You can also turn your videos into a podcast.
Plus you OWN a blog and can earn more money from ads than Youtube. I recommend starting HERE, he is one of the best marketers I’ve seen.
It does help to be getting traffic first before signing up to promote offers.
Some merchants may deactivate your ability to promote their products if you don’t get results within 6 months.
It doesn’t hurt to have a few ideas on what you’re going to promote before getting traffic. The reason why is because there is NO point in getting traffic if there is NO way for you to make money from it.
Plus, putting the pieces together on how you’re going to get paid, could help motivate you.
Step 2
The next step for you to do is to sign up for CJ.
Next, sign all the terms that CJ wants you to sign. You do have to click on the blue link and scroll to the bottom before you can click on the accept agreement button.
Then go to continue to account and login with your username and password. Now you have to fill out more fun forms.
These forms are things such as how you’re going to get paid, tax forms, information about how you’re going to promote offers.
CJ offers 3 ways for you to get paid. You can get paid with a check, direct deposit, or with Payoneer.
The catch is you have to meet the minimum payment threshold to get your first payment.
For direct deposit and Payoneer, the minimum balance is $50. If you choose to get paid with a check the minimum amount is $100.
Now that you have filled out all this information the next step for you to do is to view different merchant’s affiliate programs.
Step 3
Here comes the fun part of viewing offers. All you have to do is go to the top menu and click on Advertisers
You can narrow your search with categories or keywords. To the right of each merchant is a button that says apply to the program.
Simply click on that button and follow the steps of each program.
Improve Your Chances of Getting Approved
It’s frustrating to apply for a program only to be stuck in pending or denied. Here are some ideas to improve your chances.
Your profile description is a great place to sell yourself. The way to sell yourself is to give the merchant what it wants. What does the merchant want? It wants traffic.
If you have a blog and it’s getting (this much____) page views you should say this in your profile. If you have a Youtube channel that has (this much ___) subscribers and views you should mention this.
If you have a Twitter account or Facebook Page with (this much ___) followers then you should mention this.
If you can ethically get traffic then this will improve your chances of getting approved.
Getting Approved
Some merchants automatically reject applications. This means you should send an email after you get rejected and explain why they should choose you.
If you don’t have a website you can still get approved if you have a solid marketing plan.
A great idea is to send a personal video explaining how you will make the merchant money. By making this video you already are proving to do what most people “will not do.”
This sets you above the competition.
Plus, a video makes you seem personal and helps you build a relationship with whoever is in charge of getting you approved.
If You Get Rejected
If you still get rejected now it’s time to bring out the big guns. Yea, you can ask CJ to pitch on your behalf.
Most affiliates have access to a recruitment service. This is where CJ pitches our account on your half. All you have to do is send an email to pubdev@cj.com.
Another idea is to just keep asking the merchant if you can promote their offers. This reminds me of a great book called “I’ll stop talking when I’m dead.”
The author Jerry Weintraub wanted to take Elvis the musician on tour and so he called his manager at 6 AM. The first time he called the manager he was told No.
Jerry didn’t give up but continued to call the manager every day for a year (yea, a whole year). After a year the manager let him take Elvis on tour.
Yea, don’t give up after 1 attempt if you want to get approved just keep trying.
Another thing to think about is to ONLY apply for programs you are going to promote. Merchants see TONS and TONS of applications in a week.
If you don’t plan on promoting an affiliate offer then don’t apply. This helps save everyone’s time, which is valuable.
How to Find the Right Affiliate Offer?
When it comes to finding the right offer I’m a fan of promoting products you have experience in. It’s best if you can purchase the product and use it yourself.
This way your enthusiasm for the product can transmit to your product. It also helps you market the product, and you know the product doesn’t suck.
Of course, you don’t have to use a product to market it. If you haven’t used the product you can always be honest and tell your prospect this.
I’m sure your prospect will appreciate your honesty.
You could explain why you would purchase the item and what you do like about it.
Another thing to look at is how popular the offer is selling. CJ uses something known as Earnings Per Click or EPC for short.
EPC stands for earnings per click per 100 clicks. If you send 100 clicks to the merchant’s website and you $100 in commissions, it would be $100 EPC.
CJ also uses 7 day EPC and 3 month EPC. The 7 days EPC is created by taking information starting yesterday and going back 7 days. CJ takes the sum of all clicks for the same 7 days then multiple this by 100.
The 7 day EPC gives you a good idea of the average EPC recently.
The 3 month EPC is also good to know. This data is created and updated every day. Using information beginning 5 months previous to 3 months.
An EPC rating in June is created using data from January, February, and March. The reason CJ creates the data 5 months previous is so they can account for refunds.
There must be 1000 clicks for the 3 month EPC and at least 100 clicks for the 7 days EPC. If not enough clicks are reached then the amount will be N/A.
When looking at the EPC, the 3 month is a more accurate number to look at. Ideally, you want this number to be as high as possible.
Also, look at the sales page, would you be proud of promoting this offer? If you have experience using the product then that is even better.
If you like the product and EPC is good and you like the sales page then ask to get approved to promote it. Again, there are thousands of offers you can promote, so it’s ok to pass on something if you’re unsure.
If you want to get better at affiliate marketing I would recommend starting HERE.
I hope this post on how to get approved with Commission Junction was helpful. Have a nice day.