I've installed Sovrn Commerce on my site for a couple of months and I did nothing to it. I just left it there.
In the beginning, I only managed to earn a few cents here and there so I wanted to give up on it and delete it from my site until I see this:
I couldn't believe my eyes when I receive this PayPal notification
from Sovrn Commerce!
So, Sovrn Commerce works but it takes time and some luck
Read my full review below for more info...
{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}What is Sovrn Commerce?
There are many ways to describe Sovrn Commerce. Some say it's
an in-text advertising network. Some say it's a hands-off
affiliate marketing tool. Wikipedia describes
it as an outbound-traffic monetization service. None of them
are wrong.
Basically, Sovrn Commerce is a tool to connect advertisers
(bloggers, affiliate marketers, publishers, website owners) and merchants'
affiliate programs to create a win-win situation for
both parties.
It is similar to affiliate networks like ShareASale. However, Sovrn Commerce can do a lot more than what normal affiliate networks can do.
I know this sounds vague. Let me explain...
How Does Sovrn Commerce Work?
Sovrn Commerce is working with more than 30,000
merchants so they have tons of affiliate programs in their
database.
By signing up with them, their technology will automatically
scan your website and help you insert suitable & profitable affiliate links
into your content.
This content can be anything, from a simple blog post to an
informative guide to product review posts.
When your reader clicks through the link and makes a
purchase, you earn a commission. If the links are Pay Per Click links, you make a commission whenever somebody clicks on the link.
So basically, you'll have access to tons of affiliate programs
just by signing up with Sovrn Commerce. You don't have to apply for different
affiliate programs individually.
What's more powerful is that Sovrn Commerce will automatically help
you hyperlink suitable keywords and link them to the best affiliate programs.
So, this creates a win-win situation for both marketers and
merchants.
Here's the catch...
Sovrn Commerce allows you to join them for FREE because they'll
take 25% of all your commission and you'll get 75%. That makes sense, right?
In my opinion, this is still better than directly joining
individual affiliate programs because firstly, you get access to a lot more
affiliate programs all in one place. Secondly, Sovrn Commerce can bargain for a higher
commission rate sometimes because they have a large group of marketers.
Below are the 3 main tools Sovrn Commerce has:
1. Sovrn Commerce Convert
Sovrn Commerce Convert will automatically help you convert any
non-affiliated links on your site into affiliate links to maximize your profit.
This doesn't mean all the links you have will be turned into
affiliate links. Their technology will scan your site and their affiliate
program database to see which link has the potential to make money. Then
they'll convert those potential links into affiliate links.
Rest assured that they won't touch your existing affiliate
links.
2. Sovrn Commerce Insert
Sovrn Commerce Insert will scan your content for keywords that
could be potentially profitable. They'll then hyperlink the keyword to the most
profitable affiliate program they have from their database.
3. Sovrn Commerce Anywhere
Sovrn Commerce is not limited to just making money from your
website. You can also use Sovrn Commerce to make money on social media or Emails.
Sovrn Commerce Anywhere is the tool for you to create custom
merchant links for you to promote it anywhere, be it Facebook, Twitter, or your
email list.
All you need to do is to copy the page URL you want to share
into Sovrn Commerce Anywhere and they'll build a custom Sovrn Commerce for you to share and
monetize.
How to Make Money with Sovrn Commerce?
I'm a Publisher...
By "publisher", I mean anyone who wants to make
money online from affiliate programs. You can be a blogger, an affiliate
marketer, or a website owner.
All you need to do is to follow the Sign Up instructions below. But you need to have a website in order to be approved by Sovrn Commerce.
I'm a Merchant...
If you have something to sell online, you can leverage Sovrn Commerce's 60,000+ advertisers to increase your sales.
If you have a company with an existing affiliate program,
that will be even better.
To get started, go to Sovrn Commerce's Merchant page and Email them at merchants@sovrn.com
Sovrn Commerce Referral Program
Another way to make money with Sovrn Commerce is to leverage its
referral program.
After you've signed up with Sovrn Commerce, you'll be provided with a custom Sovrn Commerce URL which you can share on social media or your website.
When people sign up with Sovrn Commerce using your referral link,
you'll earn 35% of Sovrn Commerce's share from the referral for the entire first year.
Pros & Cons
The Good
1. Simplicity
Sovrn Commerce makes affiliate marketer's life a lot easier by
combining all the affiliate programs together in one place.
You don't have to individually apply for each affiliate
program, neither do you have to manage them separately.
Another advantage of this feature is that it helps pool all
commissions together so you'll get paid more frequently with no threshold
amount.
2. Automation
The most unique feature of Sovrn Commerce is its automation. They'll
automatically convert your non-affiliated links into profitable affiliate links
wherever appropriate. They'll also insert potentially profitable hyperlinks
into suitable product keywords.
So, you'll not miss out on any opportunities and you don't have
to do it manually yourself.
3. Higher Commission Rate
Sovrn Commerce has a large group of marketers (more than 60,000).
So, they can bargain with merchants for a higher commission rate sometimes.
By joining affiliate programs via Sovrn Commerce, you can
potentially get a higher commission rate per sale.
(Note that Sovrn Commerce will take a cut of 25% for every commission.)
4. Good Alternative for Amazon Associates
Firstly, Sovrn Commerce works with more than 30,000 merchants so
you can leverage Sovrn Commerce to monetize things that Amazon doesn't sell.
Secondly, Amazon is not available everywhere. There are
certain regions that Amazon does not support due to tax law issues. So, Sovrn Commerce can be a good affiliate opportunity for advertisers who have no access to
Amazon.
Definitely, this is good for those who got rejected by Amazon as
well.
5. A Lot More Affiliate Opportunities
Normally, whenever you want to be affiliated with certain
products, you need to go through their application system and get approved
before you can promote their products.
However, not all affiliate programs will accept you
especially if you're still new to affiliate marketing.
Upon signing up with Sovrn Commerce, you'll get access to tons of
affiliate opportunities immediately.
6. Supports Multiple Platforms
Sovrn Commerce can work with 6 different Content
Management System (CMS):
- Blogger
- phpBB
- Tumblr
- Typepad
- vBulletin
- WordPress
Sovrn Commerce has detailed instructions on how to install onto
each of the CMS on their website once you're logged in.
7. Search Engine Friendly
Some of you might be concerned with your website's SEO when
Sovrn Commerce adds more affiliate links into your content.
Firstly, Sovrn Commerce automatically adds "no-follow" to
all the affiliate links so they won't pass PageRank to the products page.
They'll also include disclosure for the links to adhere to the FTC.
Secondly, you shouldn't be worried about having affiliate
links on your website if your main goal is to provide value to your readers.
8. Pay Out Monthly with No Minimum Threshold
This requires no further explanation.
9. FREE
Sovrn Commerce is completely FREE to join. The only catch is that
they'll take a 25% cut for all your affiliate commissions.
So, there's really nothing to lose with Sovrn Commerce!
The Bad
1. You Need a Developed & Quality Website
In order to be approved by Sovrn Commerce, you need to have a
decent website first. And if you want to take full advantage of Sovrn Commerce, you
need a developed and quality website with real traffic.
If you have a website with little traffic, you can be
approved by Sovrn Commerce but you may not be making money because you don't have
enough potential customers.
2. It's Not As Easy As It Sounds
I know Sovrn Commerce has made everything seems so simple and easy.
To me, it seems even "magical" at first when everything is automated.
However, after some research and trying, I found out that
it's not that easy to make money as it sounds.
It doesn't mean you can start making money just by joining
Sovrn Commerce. You need some trial and error in order to find the most profitable
type of content to write.
It is possible to have lots of clicks but no revenue. Your
niche is also another factor that can affect the effectiveness of Sovrn Commerce on
your site. So, this is definitely not an overnight success.
3. You Don't Have Control To Some of The Things
Firstly, you have no control over what hyperlink you want to
insert into your content because Sovrn Commerce will scan your content and insert it
automatically.
Secondly, you have no control over your anchor text (the exact words that are being hyperlinked) as well because Sovrn Commerce will do it automatically as well.
4. Limited Advertising Materials
Since you are not directly working with merchants (Sovrn Commerce
is the "middleman"), you'll not get their advertising materials such
as banners, promotional emails, texts, etc.
This is something you will be missing by leveraging
Sovrn Commerce.
However, the solution to this is that you can search for the
particular merchant's advertising materials online if available. You can take
those available materials without their permission because you're advertising
for them.
5. Ad Blocker May Affect Automated Link Earning
Lastly, if your readers have AdBlocker on their end, your
automated links/Ads may not show up. So, your earnings may be affected by AdBlockers.
How to Sign Up for Sovrn Commerce?
- Go
to Sovrn Commerce
- Enter
Your Email Address
- Check
your Sovrn Commerce Email in your inbox
- Click
on the confirmation link
- Set up
your account (password & contact information)
- Configure
your campaign (Campaign name, type, category, and CMS you use)
- Sign
up complete
Sovrn Commerce Install Page
You'll need to copy &
paste their JavaScript code into your pages so that Sovrn Commerce can work on your
site.
There are 2 methods to this. Since the majority of the people
use WordPress, the demonstration below is using WordPress.
Other compatible Content Management Systems (CMS) include
Blogger, phpBB, Tumblr, Typepad, and vBulletin.
(1) Directly copy the code and paste it into your website
Here's how you do it for WordPress:
All you need to do is go to WordPress Dashboard, click
Appearance > Editor, and choose "Footer" or "Theme Footer at
the right sidebar.
After that, copy the code given in your Sovrn Commerce install page
and paste it just before the </body> tag.
(2) Install Sovrn Commerce Plugin
Here's how you do it for WordPress:
For WordPress Plugin, search for Sovrn Commerce plugin in the add
plugin page or download it here.
After you've installed and activated the plugin, you can
find Sovrn Commerce under "Settings" in your WP Dashboard.
The last step is to configure your Sovrn Commerce API Key. So copy
your API Key from your Sovrn Commerce account to the settings page, click save and
you're done!
After adding the code to your website, you just have to
wait for them to approve you and give them some time to do the
"magic" in the back end.
I would recommend you to use the first method as it allows
you to have one less plugin to run on your site. The instructions in the video
are easy-to-follow as well.
P.S. For more information on Sovrn Commerce Installation, please refer to their Help Center.
Common Questions for
1. How Long Does The Affiliate Cookies Last?
Cookies last for anywhere between 1 to 60 days. It'll depend
on the individual affiliate program's policy.
2. What is The Commission Rate?
Again, this will depend on the individual affiliate program.
It is not decided by Sovrn Commerce. But sometimes Sovrn Commerce can get a better commission
rate for its users as compared to people who apply for the affiliate program
directly.
Check out Sovrn Commerce's Merchants page for more information.
3. What's The Difference If I Work Directly With The
Merchant?
If you enroll in affiliate programs by yourself, it'll be
time-consuming to apply them and manage them.
Sovrn Commerce offers you an opportunity to get access to tons of
affiliate programs without spending a lot of time sending applications on your
own and managing them all over the place.
4. What Happens To My Original Affiliate Links?
Sovrn Commerce will not touch your original affiliate links or affiliate
links that you add manually.
They will only convert non-affiliated links or add into more
links into your contents.
5. Can I Use Sovrn Commerce and Other Similar Services At The
Same Time?
Yes, you can definitely use other similar services to
maximize your earnings.
Other similar tools include Infolinks and Skimlinks.
If you want, you can test the effectiveness of different
tools on your site to see which one works the best for you.
6. How Does Sovrn Commerce Make Money?
Sovrn Commerce takes a cut of 25% for all commissions you make so
you earn 75% from each commission.
If you have any more questions, please leave a comment
below or visit Sovrn Commerce's Help Center.
Conclusion
Sovrn Commerce is a great opportunity for bloggers and affiliate
marketers to make more money from their content.
However, it may not be profitable for every niche and
website. It takes some trial and error.
On the other hand, Sovrn Commerce is completely FREE to join and
try. So, there's nothing to lose on your end.
I would recommend you to sign up for Sovrn Commerce and give it a shot.