Audible’s Affiliate Program, A Sneak Peek

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Not so long ago, I have written a post about how to find products for those who are into affiliate marketing. Part of the method I recommend to pinpoint opportunities is by looking at trending products. Rather than going directly for those products which in many occasions are highly competitive, I instead use the reverse order, and that is to locate “related” products that will fit nicely with those trending items. Let me give you an example.

One particular (sub)niche that I got involved in last year was audio books. Closely looking at the trend and sales of devices such as the Kindle, Nook, Playbook, Tablets, eReaders, etc, I noticed that diving right into that niche would be highly competitive. Despite that, I was pretty sure that there was something there and it was just a matter of time until such devices would go red hot, as they did. So instead of going right out selling devices, I created an audio book niche site, which to my surprise did not have that much of a competition, and continues to be that way. Audio books are growing popular as more devices and services are made available to the public. While they do not replace the enjoyment of reading an actual book, they do have many advantages, which I won’t really go into further details right now.

So, decided to launch an “audio book” related site, the next obvious step was to find the right partner to work with.

Enter Audible.com’s Affiliate Program

Audible.com (not aff link) is an Amazon.com company, so if you are skeptic about credibility and all that, I think that we can safely eliminate that issue right off the bat. If you are already an associate, you may notice that most of the audio books (not books on CD) offered on Amazon are from Audible’s vast collection of 100K+ titles. From Business, Classic, History, Kids, Mysteries & Thrillers, Romance, Science & Technology, Sci-Fi, Self Development, to my favorite (audio with synchronized images for kids), it is almost guaranteed that there is “something” in Audible’s collection for everyone’s taste. Cool!

When considering an affiliate program, some of the factors that you should be looking at include, but not limited to are, the commission structure, the tools they provide you to market the products, the support, and most importantly what they offer their customers (products, discounts, benefits, etc). Audible’s affiliate Program, has highly appealing incentives for affiliates, in comparison to “other” similar programs.

Some of Audible’s Affiliate Program Highlights

• Highly competitive payouts to affiliates – $25 per membership, $10 per free trial, 10% for each individual sales.
• Proven high converting landing pages – Landing pages are packed with information, from editorial reviews, links to authors and narrators, user feedback, review, related audio books, etc.. In addition, Audible is now converting even better since potential customers can login with their existing Amazon credentials.
• Affiliate Tools  – Linking tools, banners, text links, interactive search box banners, data feeds, product links and Audible.com custom page link generator.
• Great affiliate support – A highly dedicated affiliate management team. Audible affiliate program is managed by NetX, a company with over 10 years affiliate industry experience. In my own personal experience, I am very satisfied with them. They not only answer to your questions promptly, they “work with you”. Now that’s awesome!
• Affiliate Cookie – rocking 60 days (hint: not 24 hours)

Not enough? More Affiliate Incentives

• Bonuses and sales contests
• Exclusive promotions for top performers
• Coupons and discount offers for your users
• Monthly email newsletter with special features

NOTE: One downside of Audible’s program is that residents from certain states (USA) are not able to qualify due to the affiliate tax nexus laws. Please check first. Other than that, you are good to go .

Highlights Of Membership Benefits:

• 1 audiobook per month
• Save 50% for 3 months at $7.49/month ($14.95/mo thereafter)
• Members save 30% on additional purchases
• Free previews, chapters and excerpts
• Free digital subscription to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal
• Invitations to exclusive member-only special sales and promotions
• Free daily audio newspaper subscriptions
• Over 100,000 titles to choose from
• Compatible with iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry and over 500 mp3 devices

Is Audible An Affiliate Program For You?

If you are an affiliate marketer or looking into getting started, in my opinion, you really don’t need to have a specific audio book site to make this program work for you. There are so many categories (and choices) in the collection, that at a certain point, and depending on your creativity (e.g. generating leads for trial memberships), you can easily squeeze in an audio book on just about any site or post. Do you have a travel related site? Squeeze in some Guided Tours audio books. Do you have a technology blog? Squeeze in some technology related audio books. Business? No problem.. Take, How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives (4.5/5 overall rating from 1000 plus users). And more…

Audible’s affiliate program are tracked via CJ (Commission Junction), so if you are already part of the network, all you have to do is apply for the program. If not, just head over to Audible.com affiliate sign up page (not aff link), and you are good to go.

In conclusion, I think that the program is definitely worth a shot if you find a way to “blend in” these type of products in your site. Really, what have you got to loose? Just like anything else, some programs may work for one and some won’t work for another. Do some more research and make your decision. At the end of the day, you won’t know if it will work if you don’t go for it.

That’s it! What are your thoughts about audio books? Have you, your kids or anyone you know, listened to one before? How was your experience?

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