It can be challenging to make a living as a freelance artist. For that reason, it makes sense that freelance creative professionals might look for other sources of income. If you have a blog or a strong social media presence, you might have considered affiliate marketing.
There are two possible ways for creative professionals to use affiliate marketing:
- Join affiliate programs and promote third party products (the focus of this article)
- Join as a merchant to receive traffic and sales from affiliates promoting your creations
In this article, I’ll tell you about why I think affiliate marketing is a great option for freelance artists. We’ll then explore some of the best affiliate marketing programs you can join.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a form of revenue sharing. You (the affiliate) promote products or services to your audience on behalf of a retailer (the merchant). You get a reward, in the form of a commission, for every customer or sale that your recommendations trigger.
In recent years, affiliate marketing’s reputation has suffered. This is due to unethical practices by a minority of affiliates and retailers. Part of my mission as the founder of Anytrack, an affiliate tracking software, is to discuss the reputation of affiliate marketing as a legitimate source of revenue that benefits all members of the affiliate marketing ecosystem: affiliates, merchants, and consumers.
When it works well, affiliate marketing is simply a way of sharing products and services you believe in. If you love a product, you’re likely to tell people about it. Affiliate marketing is simply a way to include getting paid into that process. In other words, your word-of-mouth recommendations will be rewarded.
Why should freelance artists do affiliate marketing?
It is always a good idea for freelancers to have multiple sources of revenue. Client work will naturally ebb and flow over time. Therefore, creating different sources of income will help you maximize your business’s earning potential.
If you have a large and loyal audience and know how to promote products effectively, affiliate marketing can be highly lucrative. While I never make any specific promises about earnings, I personally know people who make a good full-time living from affiliate marketing alone. Even if that is not your goal, it can be a fantastic secondary source of income.
Many freelance artists and creative professionals run blogs, vlogs, active social media channels, and so on. These channels can be monetized, and affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to do it.
In short, affiliate marketing will boost your income, giving you more freedom to do the things you love and are good at.
What to look for in a good affiliate program
When people first start getting into affiliate marketing, they often do not know what they should be looking for in a program. Here are a few things you should consider as you choose an affiliate program:
Products or Services You Love
Affiliate marketing works best when you recommend products or services that you use, love, and that you can easily incorporate with your “creations”. While you might have some success promoting random things you haven’t tried, authenticity and harmony goes a long way in marketing.
Therefore, aim to partner with companies whose products you believe in. This will mean you feel good about promoting them, and your audience will trust your recommendations.
Technical Considerations
Before you join a program, check what affiliate tracking software the company uses. There are certain aspects of functionality that you should look for. In particular, aim for programs that offer the following:
- Deeplinking, or the ability to create a custom affiliate link to any page on the merchant’s site.
- Cookieless tracking. This utilizes scripts instead of cookies to monitor site visits. It is increasingly relevant as more people use browsers with tracking protection.
- Postback tracking. This tracking method stores data on the advertiser’s server directly instead of using a tracking pixel.
- API (Application Program Interface). This allows various platforms to work seamlessly together, which streamlines the process for both merchants and affiliates.
- Product feed, or a list of all the merchant’s products with essential data about each.
While the API and product feeds are mostly used for advanced marketing, knowing these functions are available are likely to indicate that the program is a good one.
Commission Rates
It goes without saying that you want to maximize the commissions you earn. Each merchant offers different commission rates. These can range from as low as 4% to as much as 100%. Generally, you can expect a commission of around 15%-20%.
Affiliate marketing requires time and effort if you want to be successful. Aim for high commission rates to ensure it is worth your time.
You can also use SalesBlink’s Free Sales Commission Calculator to calculate how much revenue you’ll make upon every sale.
Long Cookie Lifespan
ePrivacy Directive and Regulation often referred to as the ‘Cookie Law’ set up standards for websites to gain consent from consumers to use non-essential cookies.
Cookies are small pieces of data that your computer stores when you visit a website. Businesses use cookies to track users’ actions, and then use this data for marketing and monitoring purposes. However, cookies have an expiration date.
How does this relate to affiliate marketing? Well, people often don’t buy on a first website visit. Cookies ensure you get the commission if they click your affiliate link and then buy later. For example, if the program has a 30-day cookie lifespan, you’ll get the commission as long as a visitor buys within 30 days of clicking your affiliate link.
In order to keep your business’s use of internet cookies compliant with directives, adopt the help of existing tools such as a cookie consent manager to help ease the work and let it scan sites, build list, policy, banner, and consent log for you.
Cookie lifespans range from a day to a year, and occasionally longer. I consider 30 days to be the minimum acceptable lifespan.
Brand Reputation
If you want people to buy through your links, you need to partner with trustworthy brands. There is an advantage to working with newer brands with innovative products, but you must also ensure the companies you work with have a strong reputation.
Here are some ways you can determine brand reputation:
- How many customers does the merchant have, and how do its figures compare to its competitors?
- Are customer reviews or testimonials favorable?
- What level of social media engagement does the company get, and is it mostly positive?
Working with companies that have a recognizable brand and good reputation will go a long way towards ensuring that customers will feel safe purchasing through your affiliate links.
8 Great Affiliate Marketing Programs for Freelance Artists
Take your time and do your research before you join an affiliate marketing program. With that said, here are a few of my top recommendations for freelance artists and creative professionals:
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud is part of the Adobe suite, some of the world’s most popular creative software solutions. This versatile video editing tool allows users to make graphics, 2D animations, visual effects, video stories, and so on.
If your referred customer signs up for a rolling plan or an annual plan with monthly billing, you’ll earn 85% of the first month’s subscription fee. If they pay for a year upfront, you’ll receive 8.33% of annual subscription fee. The cookie lifespan is 30 days.
Affiliates get access to a range of ready-to-use creative assets, exclusive promotions, and up-to-date information on new product releases.
Pixpa
Pixpa is a platform that allows artists, photographers, and other creative professionals to build a beautiful portfolio website without significant coding knowledge. It makes it easy for artists to promote and sell their work.
Pixpa’s affiliate program offers 50% of the first year’s subscription fees paid by a referred customer who maintains an account for at least 30 days. That’s up to $150 per successful referral. Payouts are made monthly and there are no minimum amounts, so you’ll never be waiting long to get your money.
Pixpa’s cookie lifespan is 30 days. Affiliates have access to a comprehensive dashboard, reports, and creative assets.
Artists Network
Artists Network is a community for artists and creative professionals at every stage of their careers. It publishes three different art magazines – Artists Magazine, Watercolor Artist, and Pastel Journal – and also produces Artists TV, a leading online source of instructional art videos from leading practitioners.
The Artists Network affiliate program is run via Rakuten, one of the leading affiliate marketing networks. Affiliates can make a commission whenever their followers buy resources, books, subscriptions, courses, and more.
Commission rates are up to 12%, and affiliates get access to creative assets such as banners. Unfortunately, the cookie lifespan is not listed.
Arteza
Arteza is an online retailer of art supplies. It sells everything from pencils and paints to sketch pads, easels, brushes, and much more.
The Arteza affiliate program is hosted through the ShareASale network, one of the world’s biggest affiliate marketing networks. With a commission rate of 15% and average earnings per click (EPC) of over $75, artists and art bloggers can potentially earn a great income through Arteza’s affiliate program. The cookie duration is an impressive 90 days.
Affiliates get access to dedicated email support, a dashboard that tracks commissions, and custom text links.
CreativeBug
CreativeBug is an online hub hosting thousands of virtual arts and crafts classes. Subscribers get unlimited access to as many classes as they want for a flat subscription fee of $7.95 per month, or $9.95 to access some additional perks.
The CreativeBug affiliate program is hosted through Shareasale. Affiliates receive a $6 commission for the first month of each new subscriber’s membership. For multi-month packages and gift subscriptions, they receive 20%. Top referrers get access to higher commission rates.
CreativeBug provides creative assets, a regular newsletter with promotions and opportunities, and exclusive affiliate incentives. The cookie lifespan is 30 days.
CreativeLive
CreativeLive’s affiliate program is also hosted through Shareasale. It offers thousands of online classes for free, streamed live, as well as a paid “Creator Pass” which gives on-demand streaming access to the most popular classes.
CreativeLive offers 30% commission on all subscriptions, which range from $39 per month to $149 per year. Affiliates get access to a large variety of text links and creative banners. The cookie lifespan is 30 days.
Please note that CreativeLive does not allow affiliates from all US states due to legal tax restrictions.
Society6
Society6 is a platform for artists to promote and sell their wares. It sells a huge range of products, from phone cases to t-shirts to bedding, and much more, all featuring designs by artists globally.
The affiliate program offers a 10% commission on all sales. This program can be particularly beneficial if you’d like to use the site to sell your own work, but you can also earn from purchases of other artists’ work using your link.
Payouts are made monthly and the cookie lifespan is 30 days.
Saatchi
Saatchi Art is the world’s largest online artist community and art gallery. New art is added to the site daily, and customers can access the free “art advisory service”.
Saatchi’s affiliate program runs through CJ Affiliates, the world’s largest affiliate marketing network. We particularly like Saatchi because you can enjoy advanced tracking features through the CJ Affiliates integration with Anytrack!
The commission rate for Saatchi affiliates seems low at first glance, at 4 – 13% depending on the product sold. But with an average cart value of over $1,000, there’s plenty of opportunity to make impressive commissions. The cookie lifespan is 30 days.
Affiliates get access to a library of text links, banners, and other assets to support them in promoting the program.
Conclusion
This article represents just a small cross-section of the many fantastic affiliate programs that are available to freelance artists.
Consider the tools you use on a daily basis and the products you buy. Do any of those companies have affiliate programs? You may be surprised at how many do! While it can be tempting to join dozens of programs, quality not quantity is best. I recommend choosing just one or two programs to focus on initially. You can always scale your efforts later.
Good luck with your affiliate marketing efforts!
About the Author
Laurent Malka is the Co-Founder of Anytrack. He was born and raised in Switzerland, and now lives and works in Israel. He is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in marketing and business development. Laurent has been a panelist and speaker at numerous digital marketing events including SEMrush and IG Affiliates. He prides himself on his ability to connect the dots across disciplines, industries, and technologies to solve unique challenges.
