Finding affiliate programs are not that hard, but finding good ones can take a good amount of time. (Good fit for a clock picture)
This is especially true if you are really deep into a niche. Back in the day when I was making new websites there would be a few places I would go to find affiliate programs.
Keep in mind that I am very picky about what programs I would join. I choose to work with honest affiliate managers first and build sites around their programs. I come from a CPS background so if you are looking for CPA programs this list isn't for you.
I have a folder on my browser called “Affiliate Program Managers” In this folder is the clients pages for all the affiliate managers that I trust.
Some Trusted Affiliate Managers:
- GTO Management – Karen and Joel
- ebove & Beyond – Jennifer Myers Ward
- Snow Consulting – Roger Snow
- Affiliate Manager.com – Mike Nunez
- Andy Rodriguez Consulting – Andy Rodriguez
- Growthspurtmedia.com – Liz Gazer
I would also be on their email newsletter list so I am aware of any new programs they may start managing. You can get a good jump on your competition by knowing what programs they are running asap. Of course after you get in friendly with the affiliate managers odds are you have them on Skype so you can learn about new programs quickly.
I would also have the Shareasale Merchants bookmarked as well as the new programs on Shareasale. The reason for this would be to see if any merchants were leaving another network and coming to Shareasale. You can also put these into an rss reader and have it alert you when it updates.
Finding Affiliate Programs Through Search
Of course you can use Google to find affiliate programs. Odds are you can put the product that you are thinking about selling and add the word “Affiliate program” and you will get some ideas. As you go along you can just search the product and click on a few results in the search engines and see what programs the future competition is using to sell their products. This of course doesn't mean that the people they are using is a good affiliate program. You have to do your due diligence there.
You can also look to Affiliate forums to find affiliate programs. I would go to the Affiliate Summit forum and see who is active there and has a forum (Disclaimer I am active there). You can get a good feel from the merchants over there when it comes to who you want to work with.