If you're into affiliate marketing, you'd know that managing affiliate links can be a hefty task. Here we're with these 2 powerful platforms that have good news for us - One Incubated by Google, while other is backed by the British Government and other prominent European investors.
I recently published Get Google AdSense Approval: 9 PROVEN Steps - Guaranteed! and then right after that, I posted Google AdSense Alternatives: HIGH Paying & Easy To Signup!. Among those Google AdSense alternatives, I shared Skimlinks and Viglinks.
What Do These Both Platforms Do?
At this point, you might be confused or really looking to find out fast as to how these two platforms can be AdSense alternatives.
Well, our goal is to make money with our blog, and one of the best ways to do it is by selling other people's products. It's easy, especially comparing it with the process of product creation and then it's marketing is a whole another story.
In affiliate marketing, we promote products that we believe are relevant to what our readers are looking for and the products we have tested and trust most importantly.
The Problem...
The problem is, that we might be using various types of affiliated platforms where we would find the products of our choice and the flavor of our readership. Imagine we're 1000 articles into our blogging journey, and all of them have our affiliate links.
What if a merchant plans to change the affiliate link? It's a disaster! We can't go back to all of those 1000 posts on our blog and update the links. That would crack our back literally!
Also, it's extremely hard to manage your income from all of the different affiliate platforms you're signed up with.
Imagine, those platforms might have 100$ benchmark before they release their payments. And you're upto 80$ mark with all of the platforms with each product you promote? You won't get a penny until you make above 100$ with each!
That's enough to overcome our patience as Blogger! That's cruel...
How Would These 2 Platforms Solve The Problem?
Well, Skimlinks and Viglinks are a huge deal in this regard! These tools help us manage all of our affiliate links, all across your blog.
You just signup with them, get a javascript code installed in your template, and that's all! You don't have to do a single thing extra!
With Skimlinks, we get access of over 20,000 affiliate programs and products and like wise a huge lot with Viglinks too (over 30,000 I believe).
Now you'd would think, then what? Well, what we do is that we add certain keywords in their dashboard or we could choose the products we wish to promote. We simply hit save and what they would do is that all of our links related to that product on our blog, would automatically be converted to an affiliate link, from you could earn.
Your actual link that you placed won't change, and the users would still see that original link, though when they would click it, you'd get referral reward.
For Example- The Magic
Just to make the idea clear, consider this: Let's say, I write a sentence about how we can get Bluehost web hosting at a super low rate. Notice how I inserted this Bluehost link in this sentence. It's a link to their homepage and is not my affiliate link.
Though if I would use Skimlinks or Viglink now, and choose Bluehost as a product from these platforms, they would automatically change this Bluehost link dynamically at the back end with my affiliate link. Meaning by, that when someone would now click this link, I would get paid the affiliate commission out of it.
Now, if in future, Bluehost wishes to change the structure of their affiliate link, I don't have to do anything! It would all be managed by their tool!
That is MAGIC I must say! <3
Advantages Of Using Skimlinks Or Viglinks
So, now that you're getting the idea, lets find more about these awesome platforms and what else they have to offer.
#1 Super Easy Management
We just have to insert normal hyper links in our blog posts as we generally do to link to another resource, and the link would be converted to an affiliate link at the back end.
#2 Hassle Free and Big Time Saver
We don't have to worry about links getting updated or broken from the merchants. They'll be for ever green and working! :> I'm excited about this. In fact, I've already signed up with Skimlinks and waiting to get started.
#3 Your Affiliate ID/Links Would Stay Secure
Many affiliate markers worry about hackers getting to know their affiliate IDs via the links. This way there is a possible chance of cyber attack. With affiliate links generated dynamically at the back end, no one can get to know the affiliate IDs.
#4 All Earnings Under One Hood
This is HUGE! No matter how many different affiliate programs you choose among over 20,000 platforms, all of your earnings would be accumulated under single account! Once that reaches about 20$, you can cashout!
This is really encouraging I believe.
I'm sure by now you'd be thinking how can I get started with this 😀
Skimlinks Vs Viglinks - Which To Go For?
Well, this can be a difficult decision though I'll try my best to gather facts and opinions about both of these companies so that it would be easier for you to get started with one. Just to mention, after all of my research up till now, I decided to go with Skimlinks and I'll InshaAllah share my experience with it after few months.
Introduction
Viglinks is incubated by Google and has over 30,000 affiliate programs. While Skimlinks is backed by British Government and other prominent European investors and has over 20,000 affiliate programs to choose from.
#1 Getting Approval & Setup
As far as what I read, getting approved by Viglinks doesn't takes time and is an instant process, while it takes about 1-2 days with Skimlinks. (1-2 business days is not much though I believe)
#2 Analytics
Viglinks is known to be superior in it's analytics and it can even provide in depth information on what products are being sold via what links on your blog. Skimlinks is shy on that. Analytics is generally the plus of Viglinks.
#3 Minimum Payout
With Viglinks, there is no minimum payout balance bar, so you can cashout even with 1$ in account. While, with Skimlinks, we have to have 20$ of sale in account.
#4 Getting Approval & Setup
As far as what I read, getting approved by Viglinks doesn't takes time and is an instant process, while it takes about 1-2 days with Skimlinks. (1-2 business days is not much though I believe)
#5 Design and User Experience
Skimlinks wins on this one as of many people online. Many believe that Skimlinks has a much easy to use layout which makes things pretty easy to handle.
#6 Customer Service
This is a tie I believe. I have read equal number of people saying positive and negative for both. I believe it depends upon personal experience generally.
#7 Getting Approval & Setup
As far as what I read, getting approved by Viglinks doesn't takes time and is an instant process, while it takes about 1-2 days with Skimlinks. (1-2 business days is not much though I believe)
#8 Terms of Service and Policies
Viglinks certainly doesn't have the most clear policies. With over 30,000 affiliate programs, it's not clear which platforms are active and would add up to your earnings. The reason being that some might be available in your country and some not. While Skimlinks merchants are 100% working and any link that is converted on your blog is actually going to add up to your earning.
#9 Getting Approval & Setup
As far as what I read, getting approved by Viglinks doesn't takes time and is an instant process, while it takes about 1-2 days with Skimlinks. (1-2 business days is not much though I believe)
As far as what I read, getting approved by Viglinks doesn't take time and is an instant process, while it takes about 1-2 days with Skimlinks. (1-2 business days is not much though I believe)
Hope these points would help you decide between the two companies.
You can Signup with both the platforms using the link below.