Best affiliate programs in India
Are you a blogger looking for the best affiliate programs in India to monetize your blogs and other online content? In this article, I am reviewing some of the top earning affiliate programs in India.
Affiliate programs help bloggers make revenue by referring visitors to other websites, services and online shops. When the referred visitor makes a purchase or sign up for a service, the website which referred the customer gets a commission from the provider.
For example, a blogger who write reviews of Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone can provide a link to the product sale page at Flipkart online shopping page. If the visitor who follow the link visit Flipkart and make a purchase within certain time period, the online shop will pay a commission to the site which referred the customer to them. Typically, the customer will never know the link he clicked was an affiliate link and there was an affiliate commission paid to the site which referred him to Flipkart.
Most bloggers make money by putting advertisements in their blogs. The smarter ones go for affiliate marketing and various other monetization techniques. Affiliate marketing is not really the cup of tea for beginners since it requires a lot more skills to write appealing content that could actually convert in to sales.
Affiliate marketing in India
Affiliate marketing is still in its infant stages in India and only some of the premium bloggers really make money out of it. I have seen several bloggers using affiliate links in their websites but I rarely see optimal use of affiliate programs that really convert in to revenue.
Affiliate programs can be classified in to 2 major categories:
1. Affiliate Networks - you will join one or more affiliate networks and they will give you some scripts to use in your blog. They will take care of marketing and finding deals for you.
2. Direct Affiliate Programs - you will sign up for affiliate programs offered by various online shops and service providers and you will use their affiliate links in your blogs.
In this article, I will discuss some of the most popular affiliate programs in India, that works best for bloggers and publishers from India.Top Affiliate programs for Indian Bloggers
Here is a list of most effective affiliate programs:1. Flipkart
Flipkart is the most popular affiliate program in India, which is very easy to get started. They being the most popular online shop, the conversion rate is very high and you can make good money provided you have a niche blog that offers coupons, deals, discounts, product reviews, gadget news etc. 
Signing up with Flipkart is very easy and takes less than a minute to get started. There is no formal approval process before you can start using it. I am not very impressed with the commission structure of Flipkart Affiliate program but they have the best conversions in India. Most bloggers I spoke with are pretty happy with their earnings from this program.
Learn how to get started with Flipkart Affiliate Program.2. Tradus.com
Tradus.com is an online shopping portal, operated by ibibo Web Pvt Ltd and has started becoming popular online shops in India. Tradus.com has an affiliate program, however, the details are not available online. I had some discussions directly with Tradus management and received some additional information.
If you look at the commission structure, Tradus.com offer much better commission rates to affiliates compared to Flipkart. However, Tradus affiliate program is not very popular among the Indian bloggers since they are as popular as Flipkart as an online shop. Also, Flipkart has much better deals and offers, which means most users will prefer to buy from Flipkart leaving the affiliates with less chances of making money.
If you like to monetize through Tradus Affiliate Program, I suggest you pay attention to various deals and offers appear in Tradus.com online shop and be smart to use the links to the best deals.
Tradus.com affiliate program is relatively tough to get started. You first need to apply for their program and then wait for follow up emails from them. If they find your blog worth having in their affiliate program, they will send you a bunch of documents to fill and submit.
Tradus offers 30 days cookie tracking, just like most other affiliate programs.
Read more about Tradus.com affiliate program
Join Tradus Affiliate3. IndiaTimes Shopping
IndiaTimes affiliate program is managed by Shoogloo Network, one of the leading affiliate networks. IndiaTimes Shopping, part of the Times of India Group, is one of the oldest online shops in India, which has established good credibility in Indian market. They have a wide range of products including gadgets, books, apparels and a lot more. They do have a lot of special deals and offers, which will make it easy for you to convert in to sales.
Just like Tradus.com, IndiaTimes Affiliate program also require prior approval before you can get started.
Join IndiaTimes Shopping Affiliate4. IndiaPlaza
IndiaPlaza is another online shop which offers an attractive affiliate program. Being in business since 1999, they do have lot of great deals for customers which will increase the conversion rates but unfortunately their commission structure is very disappointing for small publishers. If your total sale volume per month is less than Rs 5 lakhs, then your commission will be a flat 1% for all products. Event though many other affiliate programs offer only 1% for electronic devices, other items like apparels come with commission rates up to 10%. If you have above 5 lakhs sales volume, you will get a higher commission rates from IndiaPlaza but if you are a publisher with such a high sales volume, you have a lot more options than going for IndiaTimes Affiliate program.
Click here to join IndiaPlaza affiliate.5. GoDaddy Affiliate Program
If your blog is targeting bloggers, webmasters, search engine optimization or internet marketing, GoDaddy affiliate program can be a good option. You can refer your visitors to GoDaddy website and if your referral visitors by any GoDaddy services like hosting, domains etc, you will get the referral commission. If you already have an account with GoDaddy for any of their services, that will double as an affiliate account.
Below is an example of my GoDaddy affiliate Ad. If you are planning to buy any hosting or domain related services, follow the below affilaite banner of mine and sign up! (Hope you got the point - I will get my commission if you click banner and sign up with GoDaddy)
GoDaddy offers very attractive commissions. For many services, you will earn upto 30% commission from the sale. See the detailed commission structure as of 12 Dec 2012:
Click here to join GoDaddy Affiliate program.IndiaMART Affiliate Program
IndiaMART.com was established in 1996 and has established themselves as one the leading B2B market place in India. Their affiliate program sounds attractive and claims to offer up to 50% commission for the business inquiries sold. This is not a typical product selling program. Instead, you will be integrating their inquiry form in your website and you will be paid commission for the business inquiries originating from your blog. The process involves:
1. Register as an affiliate.
2. Wait for the activation email.
3. Add your websites/blogs to your affiliate account.
4. Generate the widget
5. Place the enquiry widget in your website.
Here is a sample of how the enquiry form will appear in your website:
Since the IndiaMART affiliate program is targeting B2B, you will be able to have good conversions and revenue only if your blog is targeting business, manufacturers and B2B community.Other affiliate programs
Here are some other not so popular affiliate marketing programs offered by various online merchants and service providers:
1. Organic India - Earn by selling organic products or referring customers.Programs Indian Bloggers are waiting for
Here are some programs Indian bloggers are waiting for, which are expected to offer exciting opportunities. Be aware that these programs do not exist yet in India.eBay India Affiliate Program
eBay India is very popular in terms of online shopping but they do not have a dedicated affiliate program for India. However, Indian bloggers can join their global affiliate program and still monetize from their Indian visitors. eBay affiliate program is significantly different from other programs. eBay pays the affiliates per click that drive business and traffic to the site and not based on the sales or conversion. Now the interesting part is, the rate per click depends on the quality of the clicks, which indirectly means the conversion rates or sales made from the visitors you refer to them.Amazon India
Amazon affiliates, one of the most preferred affiliate program among bloggers in USA and many other countries, has not yet entered into the Indian market directly. They are using Junglee as their eCommerce wing to test the Indian market and are expected to launch its full eCommerce website early next year. Amazon India is expected to open a lot of opportunities for Indian bloggers.Junglee Affiliate Program
Junglee.com is an Amazon company, which is more like a market place and not a typical online shop. Junglee uses a simple concept - they list out the prices of products from various sellers in India. When you search for a product, Junglee will show you the best prices among various sellers. If you click on any of the listings in Junglee, you will be redirected to the seller website and if the sale happens, Junglee will get an affiliate commission from the seller. As of now, Junglee does not offer an affiliate commission to the online publishers. To monetize from Junglee, you will have to wait until they come up with some affiliate marketing programs or wait for their parent company Amazon.com to enter the online shopping market.Which is the best affiliate program
Each of the above mentioned affiliate programs have its own benefits and drawbacks. As an affiliate marketer, you should focus on the conversions rather than the commission percentage alone. What is the use in having the highest commission rate but no one will buy from that provider?
From time to time, various online shops will have various deals and offers. If you can keep track of all the offers that are going on, you can smartly switch between programs and use appropriate program that offers the best value for your visitors, which will significantly increase your conversions.
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Tony,
Does Junglee.com really has an affiliate program in India? Being an Amazon company, they can offer best commission but I could find no information about affiliate programs from Junglee. I am an affiliate market and would love to get started with Junglee if they have one.