To complete my affiliate tie-ups for now I wanted to add FlipKart to my list. I live in India so Amazon is great for all who read my blog abroad but in India Amazon doesn’t work so well as it costs a lot to ship stuff. But FlipKart is the big book seller here so I thought it worth my while. This way I can give readers two options to buy the book.

The FlipKart Affilate Program is very easy to join. Just click on the ‘Join Now For Free’ button and follow the instructions to fill in your details. Once you signed up you’ll see the home screen.

I haven’t used the FlipKart links much yet but the layout seems super easy to figure out and report useful. I did go to ‘My Account’ though and add in all my information.

The process of creating links seems very simple compared to others I’ve seen until now who generate the link. But that said its early days. I’m just starting out with it, so I’ll keep you posted on how it comes along.

Update as of 26th December 2012 – Until now I had only used my affiliate id for books I’ve reviewed. I didn’t gets clicks in the initial months it seems but in November and December I got 76 clicks however none of them converted. Maybe people in India aren’t buying so many books after reading reviews 🙂 I have to get more aggressive with my affiliate marketing I guess.

In my last post I was talking about trying out affiliate programs, (who can’t do with the extra money :D) and how I set-up the Amazon Associate Program for myself. But then I got thinking and reading – there are a lot of affiliate programs out there and its difficult to choose which ones I want to be a part of, especially since I’m just starting out.

Looking around I came across two programs – VigLink and SkimLinks. Out of the two however VigLinks seems to be doing better in reviews. So VigLink it is for me.

What is VigLink?
An affiliate program is a set-up that pays you a percentage for every sale you bring to the site. E.g. If someone reads a review by me of a book, clicks on the link I have provided to Amazon and buys the book or some other product, I get a percentage of the sale.
A lot of merchants offer payouts to affiliates but it would be impossible I think to join so many and keep track of it all. This is what I like about VigLink. VigLink ties up with an entire host of merchants so I just need to use VigLink and don’t have to bother with the individual merchants.

VigLink Payouts?
VigLink takes a 25% commission for any sales you make through them. Now that’s a lot but the way I see it, without them I wouldn’t have made anything, so something is better than nothing, eh… 😀
However if you have already put in an affiliate link in you article VigLink leaves it alone. From the earlier example of my book review – if someone clicks on the link I have provided to Amazon; I get paid from Amazon and VigLink stays out of it (I don’t lose the 25%). But if someone clicks on any other link and buys something, VigLink tracks it and pays me.
To me right now it definitely looks like it will increase the possibilities of earning. Also VigLink currently does not have a minimum requirement as a payout.

VigLink for WordPress?
Setting up VigLink is quite simple. Go to VigLink and sign-up. You’ll be sent an email for verification. Verify it and you’re done.
Then in WordPress go to the PlugIns section from the column on the left of your Dashboard. Choose the ‘Add New’ option.
Search for the VigLink plugin and click the Install Now button. Once its installed Activate the Plugin. There isn’t much you need to do after this. VigLink will start working for all non-affiliated links on your blog.
This is good because it would take time to add specific affiliate links to old blogs posts. So, while old posts get updated slowly I still make affiliate money on my links.

I’ve just started out on VigLink so I’ll keep you posted on how it works out. But before you go, if you are considering VigLink and sign-up to VigLink from here they pay me 30% of their commission for the first year. So please do 😀

Other Reviews:
My VigLink Review – Giving Affiliates a Second Chance
VigLink Review – from an Actual User