Find information here on how to set up an account and complete the approval process.
General Overview:
This is the general getting started process.
Click each box below to see more details:
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Getting started general overview
How do I sign up for an account?
How do I add sites to my account?
How do I install Commerce on my site/page?
What is the approval process for Commerce?
How do I know if my site is approved?
Why don't I see clicks on my dashboard yet?
What is Sovrn Commerce?
At the end of 2018, Sovrn purchased VigLink and created Sovrn Commerce, an affiliate marketing tool.
Sovrn Commerce aims to create a better web by making every link intelligent and valuable. We deliver revenue to publishers through content-driven-commerce with leverage, insight, and automation. As a publisher, your audience relies on your content to make valuable purchase decisions. Whether you’re a blogger, editorial site or social influencer, our range of products and reporting work in tandem to capture revenue while delivering powerful insights about your content.
Sovrn Commerce, formerly VigLink, does two main things: we affiliate existing Merchant links on a Publisher's site (which can be a website, mobile app, etc.), and we help publishers create new affiliate links that can be placed anywhere (website, social media, email, etc.).
Our Publishers drive traffic to our Merchants and their products in exchange for commissions. Commissions can be earned on a cost per action (CPA) basis, which pays a commission on any eligible sales, or a cost per click (CPC) basis, which pays a flat rate for clicks sent to eligible product links. Learn more about CPA and CPC in this article.
How do I sign up for an account?
Sign up for a free account here.
You can use an email and password, or opt to use your Google account to sign up.
Find out more about terms and conditions/policies here and upon account creation.
How do I create an account if I represent other sites/social media accounts that are using affiliate links?
Sovrn has a few different options if you are an intermediary and represent/manage other affiliate accounts. Please reach out to Sovrn Support at commercesupport@sovrn.com with any questions and we can help to build your specific onboarding plan.
How do I add sites to my account?
You will need to add and every each site through which you intend to promote our merchants. No need to create multiple accounts: you can manage multiple sites with one account!
📄 Note: each and every site will need to undergo the onboarding process:
Submit your site > Install Commerce > Generate Clicks > Get Approved.
Submit your sites under the "Site Configuration" tab on your platform.You can add a blog, forum, personal website, social media account, mobile app, or browser extension. Click the +Site button in the top right hand corner, add the domain to your platform, and your site will appear under your "My Sites" tab.
Submitting each site is required, helps our merchants, and you! Learn more about why traffic segmentation is important here.
What is Sovrn's approval process for Commerce?
We put each and every new site through an approval process before allowing affiliation to ensure that our publishers abide by our and our merchants' terms of service. This also allows us to evaluate the traffic you send to ensure it's a good fit for our affiliate programs and that you'll be successful using Commerce. It may seem like more up-front work but it's worth it in the long run: once you're approved, you'll be accepted into tens of thousands of merchant programs without need for any additional approval!
📄 Note: each and every site will need to undergo the onboarding/approval process. Make sure to have Commerce installed and to generate some clicks in order to get approved.
Submit your site > Install Commerce > Generate Clicks > Get Approved.
How do I know if my site is approved?
There's two ways to know if you're approved for Commerce:
- In your "Site Configuration" tab on your platform, your site will be listed under "Approved", "Pending", or "Denied".
- You should receive an email notifying you of your site's approval status a few days after you've completed the entire onboarding process.
Once approved, you will also see clicks and sales begin to track in your analytics dashboard. If you are not seeing activity in your dashboard, review this FAQ.
How do I install Commerce on my site/page?
Once you have created an account and submitted each site you intend to monetize with, the next step towards monetizing is installing Commerce on each site. This will be needed to generate clicks and is required to be present at time of evaluation (which is coming up in the following steps of the process and done by our Network Quality team).
Options for installation (only one is required):
- Sovrn Commerce JavaScript
- Create Link feature (manual link): Best option for Social Media accounts
- API integration
- A completed disclosure
After installation is complete and you've generated some clicks, your site will be reviewed by our Network Quality team. Once approved, you can begin affiliating with available merchants!
Generating Clicks
Once you've implemented Sovrn Commerce in one of the methods above, we will need to see a few clicks routing through. This allows us to check on your installation and ensure that we are receiving traffic successfully and that your traffic is a good fit for our network and likely to affiliate successfully. We recommend sending a few test clicks through these links, or having your users click on the links that you created.
📄 Note:
You won't be able to monetize on this traffic yet - so don't send through too many clicks!
You won't see this traffic on your Sovrn dashboard. Clicks, Sales and Revenue will only begin to appear if you are approved.
Here are some tips on how to drive high quality traffic to your site/page.
Getting Approved
To get approved, make sure to have completed the steps here:
Submit your site > Install Commerce > Generate Clicks > Get Approved.
Once you've done this, your site will have been automatically added to our team's list to review. We'll review this site as quickly as we can, but it may take 5 business days before you receive an email with your approval status.
If you have not received an email with your site's approval status, your site is still under "Pending" on the "Site Configuration" tab on the platform, and you are not seeing clicks in your Sovrn dashboard after 5 business days, please reach out to CommerceSupport@sovrn.com.
Why don't I see clicks on my dashboard yet?
Until your sites (or channels of promotion) have been fully approved for our Commerce network via the approval process above, you will not be eligible to earn a commission with any of our available Merchants, and you will not see any clicks on your dashboard yet.
📄 Note:
Check the approval status under the Site configuration tab in the Platform.
You are likely not seeing clicks because you are still waiting to be approved. Review Using the Sovrn Commerce Dashboard to ensure you're using it correctly and reach out to support if you're approved but still not seeing activity you expect.
In the meantime, if you're still waiting to be approved, feel free to explore the Approved Merchants tab which shows merchant programs that you will have access to, including potential rates, once your site is approved. You may find additional information on our merchant programs here.
I got approved! Now what?
You'll want to make sure the rest of your account is set up so we can start paying you! Make sure to complete these items as next steps:
Set up Payments and fill out your tax information
Visit our blog for additional content to help get you started, including:
- Sharing Links on Social Media
- How to write Great Commerce Content
- 3 Ways to Create Commerce-Driven Content
- Monetizing Search Traffic
Review the Commerce Knowledge Base and know how to get support. We're here and happy to help you along your journey with Commerce.
I still need help.
If you still need help, our Onboarding Guides provide more step-by-step details for getting started with:
- Websites and Blogs
- Social Media
- Coupon Sites
- Mobile and Software Apps
- API
- Email Newsletters, SMS Campaigns, and Discord groups
As always, if you still need help, have questions, or need clarification, please reach out to our support team. We're here and happy to help you along your journey with Commerce.