The Best Free Tools for Working with Affiliate Networks

For most people, one of the biggest draws of working with affiliate networks is that you can start earning online without first investing serious money. If you already have a functioning website or blog, you’re pretty much good to go. But that’s not to say that you can get by without any investment at all. And if you’re working on a shoestring, every cent counts. So, how do you really keep the costs down without burning yourself out doing every task manually? You use free internet tools, of course!

The internet is awash with tools that can be really useful when working with affiliate programs. Some, you have to pay for. Others deliver virtually the same functionality, for free – or offer worthwhile free trials. The trick is knowing where to look. These are some of the most useful tools that we’ve come across for working with pay per sale affiliate networks.

5 Free Tools to Enhance Your Success When Working with Affiliate Networks

1. WordPress

Practically everyone has heard of WordPress. And it’s the most famous website, blog, and app publisher in the world for a reason. It’s easy to use, flexible, well designed and as simple or involved as you wish it to be. It’s also completely free to use.

2. BeMob

When you start building your online affiliate program portfolio it won’t take you long to realise the importance of tracking. You’ll want to understand why someone came to your site, what made them decide click your links, and how you can use that information to make them come again. BeMob is a tracking and optimization platform that helps you to do all that. It’s not completely free, but all new users receive ‘1,000,000 free promo events’ when they sign up. And when you’re just starting out, that is plenty enough to get you to a place where you’ll be earning enough to pay for the regular service.

3. Buzzsumo

One of the most important aspects when trying to earn money through an affiliate partnership program is staying up to date with your demographic. Buzzsumo is a research and marketing tool. It was created to help you track marketing trends, assess the power of your keywords and identify the kind of content that your intended audience is sharing. There is an enhanced paid-for version, but the free platform has enough oomph to get you started.

4. Buffer

Have you ever thought about how much time it takes to cover all the bases on social media? A month’s worth of Facebook posts can easily eat up half a day. Then you’ve got to do it all over again on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Buffer allows you to not just cover all bases in one go, but to schedule posts across all platforms. Quick, easy, and free.

5. Adcomparator

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know just how often we mention the importance of testing your ads. Whether you’re working with email marketing or social media, testing is vital if you want to find success. The problem is that testing can be complicated and feel overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. Adcomparator uses the Taguchi method of statistical analysis to assess up to 15 different variables of your ad campaigns at once. This is another app that you will need to pay for eventually, but a free trial period is available. And that could be just enough to get you started and show you what you need to be looking at in order to progress independently.

Working with affiliate networks can be an incredible way to earn money online. But when you’re first starting out, it’s easy to feel daunted by all the things you don’t know how to do. The thing to remember is that no matter what it is that’s causing you problems, there will be a free tool available to help you find your feet. These are just five of our favourites. A little bit of research could help you find yours.