Yes, you can make decent money with Commission Junction. There are a few keys you must have to turn the money engines on. The trick is to stick to main product and be useful with it. If you truly believe in a product it HELPS when you can actually write about the product and offer tips, tools, and more to go with it. The site should inspire people to buy the product which means don't take a dump on their screen with loads of salesmen junk. Be REAL.
Having a useful website for the product you promote can put you in the top 5 of all the top Search Engines. You can actually outrank the company in the SE's and be 100% legit without any dirty deeds. The trick is to be useful!
- 1. Quality Traffic (estimate 500 unique visits a day and they get the content they were looking for) You will not get quality traffic from those click schemes. It only makes your visit stats show pretty numbers.
- 2. Quality Content (helpful-useful content with regards using the product) Be unique because you're not the only person trying to make a sale on that product. If you know the product well then take control of that market. If you don't someone else will. Again remember the no bull rule.
- 3. Decent Search Engine Optimization - respect the Search Engines! Relevant Page titles - descriptions, keywords, and content without spam. It pays off!
- 4. Do NOT fill your pages up with mixed affiliate products. That means do not mix cat toys, BBQ sauce, and shoes on your page. The top search engines know junk when they scan it.
- 5. Do not use illegal blackhat tactics. Sincere work goes a long way ... yes, it takes longer, but in the end it does work.
- 6. If you are into blackhat - quick sales, and willing to take the risks then do everything opposite of what I said, but it will only last a short time. If you want things to continue on follow the rules.
My estimated income from CJ on one product averages anywhere from $150.00 to $390.00 a month. That is with a %15 commission on the one product. My CR isn't spectacular as it averages 1.56%, but I attribute that to what my site is about, and the other offerings I have that goes with the product I'm promoting. What this means is that I offer several other things that can be used with the software I promote so not only do I get traffic to buy, I get traffic to my site for the usefulness of it.
It may not sound like anything wonderful at this point, but I estimate a 10 to 15% increase in quality traffic each month. Quality traffic = low bounce rate, longer visits, more page views per visit, returning visits, and of course visits that turn into buyers. The point here is it will grow and at a rate of even %5 each month it is STILL GROWING. One wrong dirty move could send it all crashing down so that is why I play by the rules.
The same company offers multiple other products that can be used along side of the main product I promote. I get income from those products too. That is another important thing to consider ... what other products - niches fall into your main product category? Map out your ideas on paper, and when you feel confident set up the site on your testing server at home (If you have one) and have family - friends surf your test site to see if they felt comfy with it. 
That is one important aspect people forget to try before they go live!
Some of you may totally shoot this down - some of you will learn from it. I do not claim to be an expert or even an advanced user of the affiliate program. What I do know is that it works for me.
