Is Commission Junction Worth Your Time- Check out this review

Name: CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formally known as Commision Junction)

Website: cj.com

Price: Free to join (for Publishers)

Founders: Lex Sisney, Todd Crawford, Per Petterson

What is Commission Junction?

Commision Junction was founded in 1998. The company name had been officially changed to CJ Affiliate by Conversant in 2015 by its parent company. It is a platform where advertisers and publisher can meet in one central location to sell and promote products and services.

From here forward I will refer to the company as CJ.

CJ is one of the largest affiliate networks in the world. There are many well-branded Fortune 500 companies that use them to promote products and services. CJ affiliate service is based on a marketing platform in which publishers are not paid until their advertising efforts are able to translate into specified results. CJ handles all the tracking and payouts.

Payments made to the affiliates are made by check or direct deposit. The minimum amount of payout to an affiliate is $50.

Sign up with Commision Junction

You are known as a “publisher.” Publishers fill out a Network Profile. This profile tells Cj and its merchants about you and your company. The merchants are known as “advertisers”, are able to review your profile when you request to promote their products.

After you sign up, check out the various advertisers. Pick which products or services best fits with your website content you would like to promote. You can apply directly to those companies. They, in turn, will look at your network profile and make a decision to accept or reject your request.

Each advertiser has its own criteria they want you to meet in order to be accepted in their program. Your website needs to be established with content, looks attractive and have visitors.

Some of the categories include clothing/apparel, computer & electronics, marketing etc.

Once you sign up Cj sends you an email to inform you of the steps needed to step up your account.

Integrated Toolbox for Publishers

This toolbox has tools to track your earnings, oversee activities and increase conversion rates.

You will be able to see information on each advertiser and their performance on the site. This information helps you decide which products to promote.

After you start making sales there is a report containing your performance and commissions.

Pros

Over 35 categories of merchants offer including Pay-Per-Sale, Pay-Per-Lead or Pay-Per-Call offers.
Some of the categories include clothing/apparel, computer & electronics, marketing, health & wellness, game & toys, automotive, etc.
Cj has been in existence for 20 years
Many Fortune 500 companies use CJ such as Godaddy, Yahoo Affiliate, Liberty Mutual and other well-known names.

An assortment of promotional material such as:

Banner Ads
Flash links
Text links
Content links
Product links
Advanced (such as pop-ups) links
Some advertisers have coupon codes, sale/discount, hot products and free shipping links available to help increase your earnings.
You have the ability to manage many affiliate websites in one central location.
CJ Performer Program – When publishers earn over $10,000 per month they are eligible for the CJ Performer Program. They are seen as top affiliates which makes them more appealing to advertisers.

Cons

As an affiliate, you have to request to promote a product with a company but it’s up to the company if they except you.
Customer support is slow to respond unless you’re a part of the CJ Performer Program. You can only contact support through an online form or phone.
Paypal is not an option for payment. CJ pays by paper check or direct deposit or through Payoneer.

CJ closes inactive accounts. As a publisher, if you don’t generate commissions for six months straight your account can be deactivated without warning. This is why CJ wants publishers to have lots of traffic to their sites.

CJ worth your time?

CJ is definitely legit. If you are new to affiliate marketing and you may want to wait on joining CJ. Most advertisers are looking for a website that has a fair share of visitors. You should probably seek out other affiliate programs until your website has matured and you are getting a decent amount of traffic.

Not only do you have to have traffic but it has to click your affiliate links and purchase. This can be a trial and error thing. Picking which offers better converts with your audience takes time.

Without traffic, you can not make sales. And CJ will terminate your account if you’re not making sales over a certain amount of time. As I have mentioned above.

There are many affiliates making good money with CJ. Some are making over $10,000 a month.

So, therefore, we know CJ is not a scam. But is it right for you right now? Only you can decide that based on your circumstances. If you decide not, I would definitely recommend CJ for the future.

Learn how to do affiliate marketing the right way

Here are a few of the things you need to learn to be successful in affiliate marketing.

SEO (search engine optimization)
keyword research
ranking
writing content

When going joining any affiliate program you need to know how to create quality content and bring the targeted audience to your website. A targeted audience is a segment of people who are interested in what your website is all about. These are the people who are more likely convert into sales and commissions.

Have you heard of Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate is an online platform which teaches you how to make money with an online business. Wealthy Affiliate is free to join. No credit card is needed. WA has a community of like-minded people to help you any questions you have. Here is a list of what your free membership includes-

Live Help – First 7 Days
2 Websites
Website Backup
Beginner Training Course
Personal Affiliate Blog
Affiliate Bootcamp Training – Phase 1 Only
Video Walk-Throughs
Keyword Research Tool
Training Classrooms
Affiliate Program
1-on-1 Coaching – First 7 Days

It doesn’t matter if you are new to affiliate marketing or if you are experienced, Wealthy Affiliate shows you step by step how to create a successful online business. Once you learn this, you will not have to worry about being rejected by an advertiser.

WA teaches you how to pick a profitable niche website. How to get free targeted traffic to your website with valuable content. And also how to find other affiliate programs, in your chosen niche, besides CJ, to promote on your site.