Sovrn Commerce: Monetize Your Blog in Any Niche (Review and Payment Proof)

I've installed Sovrn Commerce on my site for a couple of months and I did nothing to it. I just left it there.

In the beginning, I only managed to earn a few cents here and there so I wanted to give up on it and delete it from my site until I see this:

Sovrn Commerce: Monetize Your Blog in Any Niche (Review and Payment Proof)


I couldn't believe my eyes when I receive this PayPal notification from Sovrn Commerce!

So, Sovrn Commerce works but it takes time and some luck 

Read my full review below for more info...

{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

What is Sovrn Commerce?

There are many ways to describe Sovrn Commerce. Some say it's an in-text advertising network. Some say it's a hands-off affiliate marketing toolWikipedia describes it as an outbound-traffic monetization service. None of them are wrong.

Basically, Sovrn Commerce is a tool to connect advertisers (bloggers, affiliate marketers, publishers, website owners) and merchants' affiliate programs to create a win-win situation for both parties.

It is similar to affiliate networks like ShareASale. However, Sovrn Commerce can do a lot more than what normal affiliate networks can do.

I know this sounds vague. Let me explain...

How Does Sovrn Commerce Work?

Sovrn Commerce is working with more than 30,000 merchants so they have tons of affiliate programs in their database.

By signing up with them, their technology will automatically scan your website and help you insert suitable & profitable affiliate links into your content.

This content can be anything, from a simple blog post to an informative guide to product review posts.

When your reader clicks through the link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. If the links are Pay Per Click links, you make a commission whenever somebody clicks on the link.

So basically, you'll have access to tons of affiliate programs just by signing up with Sovrn Commerce. You don't have to apply for different affiliate programs individually.

What's more powerful is that Sovrn Commerce will automatically help you hyperlink suitable keywords and link them to the best affiliate programs.

So, this creates a win-win situation for both marketers and merchants.

Here's the catch...

Sovrn Commerce allows you to join them for FREE because they'll take 25% of all your commission and you'll get 75%. That makes sense, right?

In my opinion, this is still better than directly joining individual affiliate programs because firstly, you get access to a lot more affiliate programs all in one place. Secondly, Sovrn Commerce can bargain for a higher commission rate sometimes because they have a large group of marketers.

Below are the 3 main tools Sovrn Commerce has:

1. Sovrn Commerce Convert

Sovrn Commerce Convert will automatically help you convert any non-affiliated links on your site into affiliate links to maximize your profit.

This doesn't mean all the links you have will be turned into affiliate links. Their technology will scan your site and their affiliate program database to see which link has the potential to make money. Then they'll convert those potential links into affiliate links.

Rest assured that they won't touch your existing affiliate links.

2. Sovrn Commerce Insert

Sovrn Commerce Insert will scan your content for keywords that could be potentially profitable. They'll then hyperlink the keyword to the most profitable affiliate program they have from their database.

3. Sovrn Commerce Anywhere

Sovrn Commerce is not limited to just making money from your website. You can also use Sovrn Commerce to make money on social media or Emails.

Sovrn Commerce Anywhere is the tool for you to create custom merchant links for you to promote it anywhere, be it Facebook, Twitter, or your email list.

All you need to do is to copy the page URL you want to share into Sovrn Commerce Anywhere and they'll build a custom Sovrn Commerce for you to share and monetize.

How to Make Money with Sovrn Commerce?

I'm a Publisher...

By "publisher", I mean anyone who wants to make money online from affiliate programs. You can be a blogger, an affiliate marketer, or a website owner.

All you need to do is to follow the Sign Up instructions below. But you need to have a website in order to be approved by Sovrn Commerce. 

I'm a Merchant...

If you have something to sell online, you can leverage Sovrn Commerce's 60,000+ advertisers to increase your sales.

If you have a company with an existing affiliate program, that will be even better.

To get started, go to Sovrn Commerce's Merchant page and Email them at merchants@sovrn.com

Sovrn Commerce Referral Program

Another way to make money with Sovrn Commerce is to leverage its referral program.

After you've signed up with Sovrn Commerce, you'll be provided with a custom Sovrn Commerce URL which you can share on social media or your website.

When people sign up with Sovrn Commerce using your referral link, you'll earn 35% of Sovrn Commerce's share from the referral for the entire first year.

Pros & Cons

The Good

1. Simplicity

Sovrn Commerce makes affiliate marketer's life a lot easier by combining all the affiliate programs together in one place.

You don't have to individually apply for each affiliate program, neither do you have to manage them separately.

Another advantage of this feature is that it helps pool all commissions together so you'll get paid more frequently with no threshold amount.

2. Automation

The most unique feature of Sovrn Commerce is its automation. They'll automatically convert your non-affiliated links into profitable affiliate links wherever appropriate. They'll also insert potentially profitable hyperlinks into suitable product keywords.

So, you'll not miss out on any opportunities and you don't have to do it manually yourself.

3. Higher Commission Rate

Sovrn Commerce has a large group of marketers (more than 60,000). So, they can bargain with merchants for a higher commission rate sometimes.

By joining affiliate programs via Sovrn Commerce, you can potentially get a higher commission rate per sale.

(Note that Sovrn Commerce will take a cut of 25% for every commission.)

4. Good Alternative for Amazon Associates

Firstly, Sovrn Commerce works with more than 30,000 merchants so you can leverage Sovrn Commerce to monetize things that Amazon doesn't sell.

Secondly, Amazon is not available everywhere. There are certain regions that Amazon does not support due to tax law issues. So, Sovrn Commerce can be a good affiliate opportunity for advertisers who have no access to Amazon.

Definitely, this is good for those who got rejected by Amazon as well.

5. A Lot More Affiliate Opportunities

Normally, whenever you want to be affiliated with certain products, you need to go through their application system and get approved before you can promote their products.

However, not all affiliate programs will accept you especially if you're still new to affiliate marketing.

Upon signing up with Sovrn Commerce, you'll get access to tons of affiliate opportunities immediately.

6. Supports Multiple Platforms

Sovrn Commerce can work with 6 different Content Management System (CMS):

  • Blogger
  • phpBB
  • Tumblr
  • Typepad
  • vBulletin
  • WordPress

Sovrn Commerce has detailed instructions on how to install onto each of the CMS on their website once you're logged in.

7. Search Engine Friendly

Some of you might be concerned with your website's SEO when Sovrn Commerce adds more affiliate links into your content.

Firstly, Sovrn Commerce automatically adds "no-follow" to all the affiliate links so they won't pass PageRank to the products page. They'll also include disclosure for the links to adhere to the FTC.

Secondly, you shouldn't be worried about having affiliate links on your website if your main goal is to provide value to your readers.

8. Pay Out Monthly with No Minimum Threshold

This requires no further explanation.

9. FREE

Sovrn Commerce is completely FREE to join. The only catch is that they'll take a 25% cut for all your affiliate commissions.

So, there's really nothing to lose with Sovrn Commerce!


The Bad

1. You Need a Developed & Quality Website

In order to be approved by Sovrn Commerce, you need to have a decent website first. And if you want to take full advantage of Sovrn Commerce, you need a developed and quality website with real traffic.

If you have a website with little traffic, you can be approved by Sovrn Commerce but you may not be making money because you don't have enough potential customers.

2. It's Not As Easy As It Sounds

I know Sovrn Commerce has made everything seems so simple and easy. To me, it seems even "magical" at first when everything is automated.

However, after some research and trying, I found out that it's not that easy to make money as it sounds.

It doesn't mean you can start making money just by joining Sovrn Commerce. You need some trial and error in order to find the most profitable type of content to write.

It is possible to have lots of clicks but no revenue. Your niche is also another factor that can affect the effectiveness of Sovrn Commerce on your site. So, this is definitely not an overnight success.

3. You Don't Have Control To Some of The Things

Firstly, you have no control over what hyperlink you want to insert into your content because Sovrn Commerce will scan your content and insert it automatically.

Secondly, you have no control over your anchor text (the exact words that are being hyperlinked) as well because Sovrn Commerce will do it automatically as well.

4. Limited Advertising Materials

Since you are not directly working with merchants (Sovrn Commerce is the "middleman"), you'll not get their advertising materials such as banners, promotional emails, texts, etc.

This is something you will be missing by leveraging Sovrn Commerce.

However, the solution to this is that you can search for the particular merchant's advertising materials online if available. You can take those available materials without their permission because you're advertising for them.

5. Ad Blocker May Affect Automated Link Earning

Lastly, if your readers have AdBlocker on their end, your automated links/Ads may not show up. So, your earnings may be affected by AdBlockers.

How to Sign Up for Sovrn Commerce?

  1. Go to  Sovrn Commerce
  2. Enter Your Email Address
  3. Check your Sovrn Commerce Email in your inbox
  4. Click on the confirmation link
  5. Set up your account (password & contact information)
  6. Configure your campaign (Campaign name, type, category, and CMS you use)
  7. Sign up complete

Sovrn Commerce Install Page

You'll need to copy & paste their JavaScript code into your pages so that Sovrn Commerce can work on your site.

There are 2 methods to this. Since the majority of the people use WordPress, the demonstration below is using WordPress.

Other compatible Content Management Systems (CMS) include Blogger, phpBB, Tumblr, Typepad, and vBulletin.

(1) Directly copy the code and paste it into your website

Here's how you do it for WordPress:

All you need to do is go to WordPress Dashboard, click Appearance > Editor, and choose "Footer" or "Theme Footer at the right sidebar.

After that, copy the code given in your Sovrn Commerce install page and paste it just before the </body> tag.

(2) Install Sovrn Commerce Plugin

Here's how you do it for WordPress:

For WordPress Plugin, search for Sovrn Commerce plugin in the add plugin page or download it here.

After you've installed and activated the plugin, you can find Sovrn Commerce under "Settings" in your WP Dashboard.

The last step is to configure your Sovrn Commerce API Key. So copy your API Key from your Sovrn Commerce account to the settings page, click save and you're done!


After adding the code to your website, you just have to wait for them to approve you and give them some time to do the "magic" in the back end.

I would recommend you to use the first method as it allows you to have one less plugin to run on your site. The instructions in the video are easy-to-follow as well.

P.S. For more information on Sovrn Commerce Installation, please refer to their Help Center.

Common Questions for Sovrn Commerce

1. How Long Does The Affiliate Cookies Last?

Cookies last for anywhere between 1 to 60 days. It'll depend on the individual affiliate program's policy.

2. What is The Commission Rate?

Again, this will depend on the individual affiliate program. It is not decided by Sovrn Commerce. But sometimes Sovrn Commerce can get a better commission rate for its users as compared to people who apply for the affiliate program directly.

Check out Sovrn Commerce's Merchants page for more information.

3. What's The Difference If I Work Directly With The Merchant?

If you enroll in affiliate programs by yourself, it'll be time-consuming to apply them and manage them.

Sovrn Commerce offers you an opportunity to get access to tons of affiliate programs without spending a lot of time sending applications on your own and managing them all over the place.

4. What Happens To My Original Affiliate Links?

Sovrn Commerce will not touch your original affiliate links or affiliate links that you add manually.

They will only convert non-affiliated links or add into more links into your contents.

5. Can I Use Sovrn Commerce and Other Similar Services At The Same Time?

Yes, you can definitely use other similar services to maximize your earnings.

Other similar tools include Infolinks and Skimlinks. 

If you want, you can test the effectiveness of different tools on your site to see which one works the best for you.

6. How Does Sovrn Commerce Make Money?

Sovrn Commerce takes a cut of 25% for all commissions you make so you earn 75% from each commission.


If you have any more questions, please leave a comment below or visit Sovrn Commerce's Help Center.

Conclusion

Sovrn Commerce is a great opportunity for bloggers and affiliate marketers to make more money from their content. 

However, it may not be profitable for every niche and website. It takes some trial and error.

On the other hand, Sovrn Commerce is completely FREE to join and try. So, there's nothing to lose on your end.

I would recommend you to sign up for Sovrn Commerce and give it a shot.


Leave a Comment
Previous Post Next Post