Commission Junction’s "Program Performance"

Last month I started adding eBay listings to some of my web sites, and since then I’ve seen an increase in the number and frequency of my commissions from Commission Junction. I’m not earning very much from CJ; I still make a lot more from AdSense. But it’s nice seeing those commissions come in on a regular basis.

Suddenly, this month, the “Program Performance” report on my account home page in CJ is showing 3 green bars (out of 5) for “Network Earnings.” According to CJ’s help pages, this means that my earnings are in the 60th-79th percentile of the entire CJ network. I’m not a math whiz, but I’m pretty sure that means that I’m earning more (in CJ) than at least 60 percent of the other CJ affiliates.

I’ll repeat what I said in the first paragraph: I’m not earning very much from CJ. Not enough to pay my mortgage payment. Not even enough to cover my grocery bill. Based on this month’s commissions so far, it looks like I’ll make enough this month to pay my electric bill. That’s not impressive — and yet, it’s more than what 60% of CJ’s affiliates are making. Commission Junction doesn’t include affiliates with zero earnings in this computation, either. Clearly, there are a whole lot of affiliate marketers in CJ’s program who aren’t even earning enough to pay their electric bill.

I understand the really successful affiliates (Super Affiliates, they’re sometimes called) make a lot of money, and I hope to join them eventually.

I imagine moving up into the “4 green bars” Program Performance slot will require a lot more earnings, and hitting on all 5 bars may well be an impossible goal. Affiliate marketing is certainly making a few people rich — but most of us poor slobs are doing well if we can cover our electric bills.