The VigLink Affiliate Network

Many different affiliate programs online can help you monetize your content – VigLink is one of the more popular. Formed in 2009, VigLink is a content monetization company based in California that aims to make you money by turning all of your outgoing links in to affiliate links automatically. With several different programs offering a similar service – most notably Skimlinks – does VigLink have what it takes to stand out from the rest?

How does Viglink work?

Signing up for multiple affiliate programs and building links can often be a time consuming process – VigLink eliminates this problem by acting as an intermediate between you and the affiliate companies. Basically, you link to the merchant directly and let VigLink take care of the rest.
By inserting a small snippet of JavaScript code on your page, a VigLink-enabled website can check whether the link being clicked on by the visitor leads to a supported vendor. In the event that it does, VigLink will attach their affiliate code automatically without interfering with the user experience in anyway.
Now, I could easily tell you that VigLink is the best “super” affiliate marketing program on the internet, and there is no denying that it is indeed a fine service; however, this is affiliate marketing and no program can ever claim to be perfect. VigLink comes with its advantages and disadvantages; I have made it my job to cover both.

Advantages

When compared to the much used alternative of signing up to affiliate programs yourself, VigLink offers a number of excellent benefits:

• Time saving – As I mentioned earlier, building affiliate links takes a lot of time and, for anyone running a website, time is something generally at a premium. Rather than having to log in to member areas, find merchants, links and HTML code, VigLink only requires you to link to a store or product.
• Easy affiliate income management – Using multiple affiliate programs makes managing income a significant problem; VigLink puts all of these programs in one place and income on one control panel.
• Good-looking links – a direct link always looks better than an affiliate link – VigLink provides you with the former.
• Great affiliate tie-ups – VigLink has tie-ups with over 30,000 affiliate programs and a host of big-name merchants, many of which are notoriously hard for everyday websites owners to join, including eBay, Macys and Walmart.
• Detailed analytics – VigLink tracks your outgoing links and provides you with useful data, such as which pages are earning the most and which links are receiving the most clicks. You can then use these stats to your marketing advantage.
• Easy installation – VigLink is completely straightforward to install, even for someone new to affiliate marketing. All that is required is a bit of code copy and pasted on to your site. If your website is using a popula CMS platform like WordPress then you can install VigLink Plugin and start earning commissions right away. In any case you can visit

Disadvantages

VigLink does have several drawbacks that may put you off signing up:

• High commission – VigLink takes a 25% cut of earnings to cover their expenses unless it means you earning less. Obviously, this does not compare to joining an affiliate program yourself and earning 100% of revenue.
• Confusing dashboard – while it is great having everything you need in one place, the VigLink dashboard is not the most user-friendly and can take some getting used to.
• JavaScript blocking – VigLink is reliant on JavaScript and users browsing with it disabled will mean no affiliate commission for you. However, in this day and age, the number of people browsing without JS is minimal.

Payout amount

VigLink pays on a Net-60 basis, meaning revenue accrued in May would be paid 60 days later, in July. All payments are made at the end of the month and are delivered via PayPal. Getting a PayPal account is simple and the portal is very safe to use. Moreover, it prevents the dated check payment method.

Signing up

Signing up for VigLink is incredibly straightforward and, the great news is that everyone is accepted! Sometimes, non-US residents have trouble signing up to affiliate programs based in the country, with VigLink this is not a problem.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the good points of VigLink definitely outweigh the bad. While the commission percentage is high, the access to thousands of merchants means that you are still likely to earn far more than would be possible by going it alone. Overall, VigLink is a simple to use, effective program that is definitely worth trying.