It’s not just publishers who are signing up for CMF Ads; advertisers are also welcome to join. Most of you may have nothing of your own to sell, so why not sell something for another company? It’s a lot simpler to run an ad on an existing blog than to create a new blog for a niche. Ads that earn you a commission when someone clicks on them and buys something are known as Affiliate Ads. Let’s look at the following tutorial on how to place one over the CMF Network.
1. The first step is to sign up with CMF Ads by joining the forum. Spamming is never tolerated, nor is promoting products in the forums.
2. Now sign up with an affiliate network if you don’t already belong to one. The three I currently use are Pepperjam, Share-A-Sale, and Commission junction, but there are many out there. Some are outright scams, but the following have all sent me checks in the past:
- Pepperjam Network:
While annoying me on occasion with their interface, Pepperjam has always paid me on time, responded to my inquiries, and corrected any errors.
- Share-A-Sale: An affiliate network that provides free data-feeds to low volume publishers. Known for actively listening to their members and to combat fraud.
- Commission Junction: One of the largest networks that has many big name products to promote.
3. Choose a product you want to sell. If the company already has a 125×125 ad, it makes your task that much simpler. For this example I am going to sell hair products from “Celebrity Silky Hair”. Download a 125×125 image from the ad network and copy the URL link for the ad. You do not need the entire code, only the http portion.
4. Now go to CMF Ads, click on “Control Panel” up top, and choose the “Add Non-Blog (Advertiser)” button.
Fill out all the info. Remember to use your Affiliate Link, and not the final merchant URL. The category refers to what product you are selling. After submitting the form below, your ad will be pending admin approval.
5. Now would be a good time to buy some credits. CMF Ads sells credits at the rate of 40 credits for $10. This is a bargain, since some blogs only charge 1cr to run an ad for 30 days. You can get your affiliate ad running on 40 blogs for only $10. All transactions are handled automatically through PayPal.
6. Once an admin has approved your ad, visit your control panel and upload your image. No animations allowed. Remember, bloggers always have the final say on what appears on their blogs. Try to use professional looking images.
7. Find a site in the CMF Ads Network to advertise on. Clicking on “Bargain Ads” is a quick way to start. Be sure to view the details of a blog. Look for “Accepts Non-Blog Ads Y ” in the profile.
8. Click “Advertise” in the blog’s profile that you want to advertise on. If you have several ads, you will now choose which ad to run.
And that’s It! The publisher has the final say on whether or not to approve this ad. I hope they do. Running a hair care ad on a site with “red heads” in the title seems perfect. As an affiliate, I make 30% of all sales. Do I expect to get rich on this ad? No, but it does have the potential for a few sales.
Thanks Turnip!
This is great, I had the question in my mind, but hadn’t asked it. I am going to look at my affiliates and see what works!
Thanks Turnip, I just loaded my non-blog advertiser ad onto CMF. Hope it gets approved!
Teasa: You submitted a non-blog, but didn’t include the URL. Either you pasted a non-url, or left it blank. Try submitting it again.
I think this is AMAZING… selling ad space on my blog is nice, and when i DO sell an add, its a decent amount of money, BUT the affiliates have been where I have made more money than ever..
This is really a neat program
Lindsayanng: I recognize your picture now, having just critiqued your blog in the CMF forums. Sure enough, here you are in my comments. Yes, affiliates make more money than selling ads unless you really have a lot of traffic. Once you get around 50k visitors a month, you can make more on ad sales. Give CMF ADS a try. I think you will find it offers advantages to both large and small blogs.
I should have done this before now. This is where CMF Ads is better than all the other blog ad networks.
You can use your credits earned from a publishing blog to pay for advertising your affiliate product.
Paul, I’d been shouting this idea into the wind for over a year and nobody would listen at other networks. The idea that you have to create some sham of a blog to participate in social marketing is asinine. Ironically, that is exactly what that other owner did, create bogus blogs to call themselves a blogger. “Wheee, look at me, I’m blogging. Ready for some Web 2.0 Advice?”
We are all adults. If you want to run an affiliate ad on my blog, pay me. Either $15 a month for the top spot, or $1.25 for the shared CMF spot. The choice is yours, and mine, as I do reject ads. So far the only issue with affilaite ads on CMF Ads has been an administrative one. We sure get some strange URL’s being submitted. All are tested to make sure they work properly. So far no issues. Just rememeber, there is no “exclusivity”. Someone else can run the exact same affiliate ads as you. I think I saw two people promoting OIO Publisher already.
Turnip,
Could I use this method to get paid for sign ups? For instance, run a today.com ad, where I get $5 for a referred blogger? Or is this somehow against the terms of service.
Kristine: Using this method on CMF Ads is not against the CMF Ads terms of service, in fact, it is encouraged. Advertisers are what keep the credits in circulation. As for other Tos, each affiliate company / Merchant has their own policy. When you join a merchant’s program, read their agreement. Normally they have nothing against running a banner ad on a website. If I run an ad on your site, isn’t that much better then using adwords and randomly having an ad appear on a site? To date I have never had an issue with any affiliate program. however, if you want to be 100% safe, use the following trick: http://turnipofpower.com/tutorial-how-to-run-affiliate-ads-on-ad-networks/
Thanks for the explanation Turnip. I plan on double checking today.com’s TOS, and looking into this soon. This has gotten my mind moving in a lot of possible directions. Great CMF Ads feature!
*Silly question alert*
I’m still confused. Once I copy the image from the ad network, where do I upload it for cmf ads?
Gargantua, You upload the image after admin approval. Your ad will appear in your control panel same as a blog. I just approved your ad, go ahead and check it out.