With this ShareASale review, I want to determine if it is worth joining or whether you would be better off going elsewhere. ShareASale is directed toward two groups of people, affiliates and vendors (Merchants), however, with this review, everything regarding the affiliate side of the program will be covered. With time being of such value, I aim not to waste time and as such will only go over what is most important, a basic overview, pros and cons, personal experiences, and such. If you are looking for more details, feature lists, and so forth, feel free to visit their website.
Please note – This site is mostly dedicated to beginners and thus I try to keep things as simple as possible without using terms that are complicated and hard to grasp.
If you have used or are currently using ShareASale, please consider leaving a comment and sharing your experience, as it will keep this review from being one-sided and help others as well. It would be greatly appreciated!
Website
When Was it Founded?
It was founded back in the year 2000.
What is Share a Sale About?
ShareASale is one of the larger affiliate marketing networks currently in existence and provides a platform where vendors and affiliates are brought together. It is a place where vendors sell their products/services and a place where affiliates go to find products/services to promote.
For beginners – Vendors (Merchants) are those who have products/services that need to be sold, and affiliates are those who promote these products/services and earn commissions by doing so. ShareASale is an all-in-one platform with thousands of products/services for affiliates to pick from and then get paid in the same place.
What Does it Cost to Join?
ShareASale is free to join for affiliates.
Is Sharesale Legit?
Right, now before we continue, let us answer the question that most want to be answered.
ShareASale has been around for a very long time, over 2 decades, and as such, we can with certainty say that they will most likely still be around for quite some time. In addition, the company is a reputable one, connected directly to Awin, which in and of itself has a very reputable history. The chances of them going belly-up, are very slim.
The payments are always on time, and there are no issues with transfers as long as you have entered the correct payment details.
Nonetheless, as nothing in this world is perfect, the company does experience a few glitches here and there, but they are still a pleasure to work with and try to solve problems as fast as possible.
User Interface and Ease of Use
The website is beginner-friendly and rather easy to navigate. To some, it might look outdated, but I prefer the term simplistic.
Support and Tutorials
All affiliate marketers receive a welcome kit upon sign-up that will help them get familiar with the site, and affiliate marketing itself. They also provide a FAQ page that can provide answers to any questions you may have, not to mention the training webinars that are also available to help individuals improve their marketing skills.
As for the customer support, it is average. Telephone and email are the direct means of support offered by ShareASale, and response times differ from day to day.
How to Earn Money with ShareASale as an Affiliate?
Pay Per Lead – You receive payment for every person who clicks on your affiliate link, redirects to the page, and completes a form or task.
Pay Per Sale – A commission is earned for every person redirected to a product with your link and then makes a purchase.
What About Getting Paid?
All payments are pending for thirty days before being paid out, and payouts are always on the 20th of each month. In summary, all the sales you make between 20th February and 20th March will be paid out on the 20th April.
ShareASale payment methods include Payoneer, Mailed Check, and Direct Deposit. Sorry people, but Crypto and PayPal are not options.
There is a payment threshold minimum of $50, which means you will have to earn $50+ to receive payments. The threshold can be made higher if you so choose.
Is a Website Needed to Sign-Up?
Yes, one is needed, or at the very least an active social media page. The website you use to apply must be content-rich, active, and free of any hate speech, adult content, or content with age restrictions.
How Many Affiliate Programs Can I Join?
ShareASale does not have any limits on how many programs you can join, so join as many as you like. This is great for those who have multiple sites or pages in different niches.
How to Get Approved as a ShareASale Affiliate?
When signing up use a custom email address such as name@yourdomain.com and avoid free ones such as “@Gmail” or “@Yahoo” as these are usually rejected.
Enter the top-level domain rather than the sub-level domain of the website that you own and use and make sure that the URL leads to a relatively fast-loading, live website that does not contain too many pop-up ads.
Before you start applying to become an affiliate, make sure your social page/website is worth the visit by doing SEO, adding content, and so forth. If you have a website in a poor state, then you will not be making sales anyway, so no need to rush to add affiliate links.
Please Note – Approval can take anywhere from 1 to 3 working days.
Why did ShareASale Reject Your Application?
There are many a reason for people to get rejected including using a free domain or a site that may appear dodgy. There are other reasons, but I do not work for ShareASale and as such can’t say for certain.
If the following content is included on your site it will most likely be rejected.
- Adult Content: The content does not have to be adult content, just a display of adult banners is enough for rejection.
- A website that promoted illegal activities.
- Websites that contain content regarding racism, hatred, violence, and so on are also a no.
- Have a great website with none of the above and a custom email, but still got rejected? Whelp, it may be your place of residence, sorry. Applications for regions that have a high risk for affiliate fraud are usually rejected. Nonetheless, an email with your details can be emailed to them and you can ask them to reconsider. If you have good, quality content, as well as targeted traffic, then you have a good chance of being approved.
How To Make Money Online – Popular Options
How To Get Approved By Merchants?
Once you have been approved as an affiliate for ShareASale, then you will have to start getting approvals from merchants to promote their products.
The same rules apply as before, but with a bit added. Merchants review the websites of those applying to promote their products, so keep them clean, fast-loading, and niche-specific. Promote products within your niche to have better chances as some will not care about the niche, but most do and only approve those who are in their niche. Have a website about dog care, then apply for dog care products.
Make sure your ShareASale profile stands out above the rest.
Make sure to add descriptions of your skills and niche, and don’t be shy about it. Add all your marketing skills, and make sure to mention the methods of driving traffic that you use.
Include a brand logo or photo on your profile.
When applying, be as thorough as possible. Mention marketing plans and how you plan to integrate the product into your niche.
Are There Other Options Around?
Digistore24 – Great for complete newbies who find it impossible to get approved with CJ, ShareASale, or Clicbank.
ShareASale Review – Pros
- They have a large variety of products that can suit any marketing strategy or niche.
- There is a high acceptance rate. Sure it can be a hassle to apply and get approved, but it is nothing compared to other networks such as CJ Affiliate. If acceptance eludes you with ShareASale, then it will be a fantasy with other programs such as CJ.
- The search and filter tools are great, and with just a few clicks you can easily find what it is you are looking for.
- Payouts are reliable and on time each month.
- They offer tracking and reporting features.
- Additional tools are provided to affiliates such as banner creator, customizable affiliate links, and so forth.
- ShareASale provides affiliates with a good variety of analytic features that are very important for the success of affiliate marketers as these tools allow one to keep an eye on marketing efforts and then adjust strategies accordingly. It gives you real-time, accurate tracking of sales and clicks.
- The ShareASale marketplace keeps a balance between big-time brands and small businesses ensuring there is something for pro affiliates to promote, but also something for the beginners who are just starting. These days networks such as CJ Affiliate cater only to the pros, the top-dog affiliates by providing only big brand products, which is great for the advanced and experienced, but not so great for people who are still finding their footing as they do not meet the requirements for promoting such products.
- For those who have multiple websites and or niches, ShareASale is great, as the platform allows you to keep everything nice and tidy under a single roof. The program does not offer a very large variety of affiliate products allowing you to keep things simple and in one location. Signing up for more than one merchant’s products can also be easily done as you can just list all your websites and so forth in a single place. In summary, you apply once with all site/social media pages, and all of them will be active for that single program.
Cons
Merchants do not always stick around, some leave over time, and so on, and ShareASale does not send out notifications when this happens, so you can still be promoting a product that is no longer being sold. Affiliate links will no longer redirect and become useless. When it comes to promoting, I put a lot of effort into marketing a link, with free giveaways, social media, blogging, free content, and so forth, only to then find out the link no longer works and that I have wasted all my time and effort.
I always focus on the long term, create campaigns and such that are set and forget and don’t need babysitting 24/7, but with ShareASale, you have to be constantly monitoring to avoid this problem. Perfectly fine if you only have a few affiliate programs/links, but not so much if you have multiple links, websites, programs, and niches.
There are some glitches and problems with the affiliate links, especially with WordPress. When copying a link into WP you have to check that the characters stay the same when editing. I haven’t checked with other platforms yet, but a majority of people use WordPress so it felt worth noting.
Features That I Find Awesome
The trending merchants’ feature displays the top 10 most popular products trending on ShareASale.
They provide some great search and filter features to help make finding the perfect product much easier. The provided filters allow you to narrow everything down to only the specific products you are looking for. There is of course also the modified search which allows you to choose from products that are ShareASale exclusive, products that have auto-approval, joined status, power rank, and so on. In addition to all of this, you can also filter results for Click Commissions, cookie length, sale/lead commission, earnings per click, and so forth. Not that many programs around with this handy feature.
Auto-Approval, allows you to easily find merchants that automatically approve applications.
With customized linking, you can completely customize your affiliate links, shorten them to make them more appealing to the eye, and so forth. They also provide social tools which allow for sharing links with others. Products showcase is a handy feature that helps you create banners, and the “make a page tool” lets you create entire galleries.
Conclusion
ShareASale is not perfect and has a hiccup now and then, but don’t all programs have them? It isn’t anything drastic that makes it unbearable. I do recommend the network for beginners, as it is much easier to join and for applications to be accepted. Sure other programs are easier to get into, but their products are garbage and just not worth promoting. With ShareASale, you still get some junk, but with some time and effort you can find something worth promoting and it is easier than with other networks to do so.
The golden rule of making money online
Before making money, you have to provide quality content. Most people are just so desperate to start earning that they do everything in reverse, finding the good quality program first and then trying to create the content. This always results in a crappy-looking website, just plastered with affiliate links screaming I am desperate. Sorry but this will not be making you any money, much less an income. Do it the right way, first a website/page that is filled with quality content on your choice of niche, then find the perfect product/s that fits in with your site.
If you get rejected, well if at first, you don’t succeed, spruce up your site and try again.
What it Takes to Work Online and be Successful at it?
Well, this is it for this ShareaSale review, thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated!
Do you use ShareASale or used it in the past?
Please do not forget to give your opinion in the comment box as this will help others to make a more informed decision.
Thank you and have yourself an awesome day!
