The 5 Best Affiliate Networks for Realtors®

Are you turning your real estate blog into its own independent income stream?

If so, you need to take advantage of affiliate marketing! Affiliate marketing is the best way to organically earn money from your blog. No in-your-face ads, no pushing your own products, just useful recommendations to your audience.

In this post we’ll talk about:

• how you can earn money from affiliate marketing
• the best posts to naturally insert affiliate links
• the rules of using affiliate marketing responsibly
• the 5 best affiliate networks for Realtors®

Let’s jump in!

The Basics of Affiliate Marketing for Real Estate Agents

Affiliate marketing is simple. You include a link to a product or service in your blog post, and whenever one of your readers purchases that product or service through your link, you earn a commission.

It’s a win-win-win. Your clients get a solid recommendation for a product or service they can really use. The vendor gets a sale. And you earn your commission!

You just have to take 3 steps to get your links up and running:

1. Apply to a few affiliate networks (like the 5 we’ll list shortly). Criteria for acceptance varies by network, but don’t assume that you can’t get approved just because you’re new to blogging. Some networks happily work with new bloggers.
2. Copy the custom link the network gives you to promote a specific product or service.
3. Paste that link into your blog post where it naturally fits the conversation.

But affiliate marketing isn’t easy. First, you need to drive traffic to your site so people can see your links. Then you need to compel them to click the link and make a purchase. And the commissions are often small, so it takes a fair volume of readers to make a sizeable income.

Here’s the thing: the primary goals of your blog are to 1) serve your clients (past, present, and future) and 2) bring you more leads. Those are the reasons you should be blogging regardless of affiliate income.

And if you can strategically add some affiliate links to your posts to earn an extra few hundred dollars each month, why not?! You’re already writing the posts anyway. Let’s make a little extra cash from them, shall we?

Types of Posts with Income Potential

To maximize your affiliate income potential, consider writing posts in these 3 broad categories: home maintenance and improvement, real estate investing, and other real estate services.

Home Maintenance and Improvement

Posts on home maintenance and improvement are a great way to stay top-of-mind with your buyer clients long after the transaction.

And offering local tips on home maintenance and improvement (“How to Winter-proof your Minneapolis Home” or “Home Renovations to Add Value in the Competitive Denver Market”) will give your Google ranking a boost when buyers and sellers are searching for a local agent.

Plus, icing on the cake: these posts offer an opportunity for you to promote products that will really benefit your audience. Maybe Lowe’s has an inexpensive, but durable, flooring option for busy families. Or Target has some festive patio decorations for the perfect 4th of July BBQ.

Real Estate Investing

Posts on real estate investing are ideal for demonstrating your market expertise and positioning yourself as the local agent for savvy real estate investors.

You could write a post summarizing your top take-away’s from a popular real estate investing book, and link to the book on Amazon.

Or you could promote a specific subscription service for finding hidden gems. Or even a course on how to invest in real estate that helped you get started.

Other Real Estate Services

Then consider other real estate services that would be natural for you to include in a high-value post.

Examples include:

• shorter-term housing solutions for people not yet ready to buy
• reputable foreclosure services for those who find themselves with limited options
• and rental services for those looking to rent out their homes (like Airbnb).

The Rules of Affiliate Marketing for Real Estate Agents

Before we get to the best affiliate networks for Realtors®, we need to discuss a few ground rules for affiliate marketing.

1. Never promote a product or service you’re not 100% behind.

Linking to a product or service is akin to a professional recommendation. If the product or service is a bust, you instantly lose credibility with your audience. Only promote things you would recommend to your friends and family.

2. Disclose your affiliate relationship and earnings opportunity.

The FTC requires that you disclose to your readers that you use affiliate links and earn commissions on those links.

To be compliant, you just need a disclosure statement at the beginning of each post. I use the free FMTC Affiliate Disclosure plug-in on this site to automatically insert my disclosure statement on each post:

This post may contain affiliate links which allow us to earn a small commission on the products and services we use and recommend.

If you’re using affiliate links elsewhere (on a web page, email, or social media post, for example), make sure you include a quick statement to notify your audience that the link is an affiliate link.

3. Read and follow the policies for each affiliate network.

Each affiliate network will have their own policies regarding use of their links.

Amazon, for example, prohibits the use of affiliate links in pdfs. This is important to note if you’re writing an eBook or downloadable freebie for your audience. Including Amazon links in your pdf could result in your expulsion from the affiliate program.

And nearly every program prohibits clicking on your own links to buy products for yourself. Yes, the networks can tell if you use your own links to make a purchase, and yes, they will penalize you or even deactivate your account.

So make sure you read, understand, and follow the policies for each affiliate network.

4. Don’t spam.

This should go without saying, but please don’t spam your readers. It’s really annoying, and it reflects poorly on you and your business.

Don’t Tweet a bunch of affiliate links with no context or value to your followers. Don’t write a blog post simply listing a bunch of products for your audience to buy with no explanation for why you recommend those specific products. And for goodness’ sake, don’t email your mailing list to tell everyone to buy something. Access to your audience via email is a privilege and a responsibility. Respect their inboxes!

5. Know your real-estate-industry-specific laws.

Is it a “commission” or a “kickback”?

You can’t, for example, legally accept a commission for recommending a mortgage lender. There’s too much at stake for borrowers and too much room for unscrupulous dealings.

If you have any doubts about what products and services might be off-limits, check with your broker or, even better, an attorney.

The 5 Best Affiliate Networks for Realtors®

Now that you understand the basics of affiliate marketing for real estate agents, we can talk specifically about the best affiliate networks for you to join.

1. Amazon.com

The Amazon Associates Program is an affiliate staple for many bloggers. Amazon has almost everything, and they are a recognizable and reliable brand. So your audience will be comfortable purchasing from them.

The commission structure varies by product category. Here are current rates for some of the categories you’re most likely to use as a real estate agent:

• Books: 4.5%
• Outdoors, Tools: 5.5%
• Furniture, Home, Home Improvement, Pet Products: 8%

2. Target

Target has many of the same benefits as Amazon. Their commissions vary by product type, but they also vary by sales volume. For Home and Outdoor Living, for example, you can earn between 5 and 8%, depending on sales volume.

3. ShareASale

Unlike the Amazon and Target affiliate programs, ShareASale is an affiliate network.

Affiliate networks allow you to apply to the network as a whole, then use the information from that single network application to apply to the individual program in the network.

For example, you can apply to the ShareASale Network. Once you’re approved, you can apply to the Wayfair program with just a couple clicks. Wayfair is the main reason for agents to join ShareASale because of their variety of products and 7% commission rate. But you’re not limited to just Wayfair. You can apply with a few clicks to any of the ShareASale programs (like Balsam Hill, Wisteria, and Brooklyn Bedding).

4. CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formerly Commission Junction)

CJ Affiliate by Conversant Network is another large affiliate network. The big draw for real estate agents considering CJ is Home Depot. Home Depot only offer a 3% commission on most items, which is obviously far less than the rates of the affiliates we’ve already discussed. But they also offer products homeowners can’t get through the other affiliates. So there may still be a place for Home Depot in your affiliate marketing strategy.

Side note: Lowe’s could be an option if you don’t have a local Home Depot or if you just prefer some of Lowe’s exclusive brands. Lowe’s is also part of the CJ Network, paying 2% commissions.

5. Awin

The Awin Affiliate Network rounds out our top 5, mostly because of Etsy. Etsy specializes in handmade items, which is perfect for finding unique home furnishings and gifts. Commission rates vary, but you can expect to earn around 4%.

Side note: Etsy is also an awesome resource for custom real estate marketing materials (and yes, that’s my affiliate link!).

These 5 networks are a great place to get started in affiliate marketing for real estate agents, but they are, by no means, the only networks.

If you have a product or service you regularly recommend, contact that company (or individual) and ask if they have an affiliate (or “referral”) program. The opportunities are truly limitless!

Ready to launch your blog?

We have lots of great resources to help you make your blog profitable in terms of business growth and side income.

If you don’t have a website of your own yet, that’s priority #1!

It’s absolutely possible to build your own real estate website. And it’s cheaper than you might think. With Bluehost, you can get web hosting for under $4/month (payable upfront for your selected term). They’ll even through in your domain name, free for the first year. Then you just need a design theme, which is just a one-time fee (usually around $50).

If you want to take the guesswork out of building your website, check out How to Build a Real Estate Website for completely free step-by-step instructions on building your own website. It’s easier than you might expect, and DYI-ing your site will save you thousands of dollars!

And if you’d rather have your website built for you, you don’t have to pay $2,000-$5,000 to a web developer. Just contact me! I’ve branched out into building real estate websites for agents, and I’d be happy to help you! Custom site builds start at just $999. Contact me today for more info.

If you have your website, but need some help writing consistent, high-quality posts, I can help with that too:

How to Crush Your First Blog Post

How to Write a Blog Post in 7 Easy Steps

5 Blog Topics to Boost Your Brand

Happy Blogging!