Affiliate marketing is growing consistently and it is attracting several new players into the market every month. With so many apps that need to be integrated, it is becoming quite diverse from a technology point of view. There are several challenges in the integration of diverse apps. Application Programming Interface (API) is offering an ideal solution to this problem in affiliate marketing. API is nothing but a set of diverse tools and protocols which allows different apps to connect with each other through JSON or XML. APIs are widely used all across the internet and you can’t even notice it. The primary benefit of using API is to send information from an in-house tool to the cloud and do the reverse.
Affiliate marketing is one of the highly recognized and reliable techniques for earning money online by promoting products or services of different companies. Go through the following guide to know how to use API in affiliate marketing to reap maximum benefits out of it:
Enhanced Connectivity:
Affiliate networks can take the help of popular APIs that allow them to work directly with advertisers. It not only reduces manual work but also makes sure that the integration is being done with utmost smoothness.
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Real-time Data and Analytics:
Affiliate APIs are known for offering highly precise data and users can rely on them without having any second thought in mind. Application Programming Interface processes gathers and displays data on a real-time basis this helps advertisers to make an informed decision on a timely basis. You can also fetch reports in the format of your choice for a selected period of time. Besides this, you are allowed to make few customizations by selecting a specific currency or any other statistical parameter.
Quick Data Access:
APIs allow affiliates to access an unlimited amount of data within a quick time. They only need to send a command to the system and the required statistical data is displayed within a matter of seconds.
Safety & Transparency:
Managing the data of users involves a lot of risks as affiliates need to make sure that their customer data is not compromised anywhere. This is where API comes into picture which makes sure that all the data of users is rightly protected. It facilitates the safe exchange of data amongst advertisers, affiliates and diverse networks. Besides this, the API follows the utmost transparency that lets users know exactly where the data has been shared.
Auto-updates:
Before the advent of API, any changes that needed to be done in advertisement information were only processed manually. But API has made things convenient as you can easily synchronize websites with applications without any trouble. The process demands you to alter data manually only once. After that, it gets updated across all ad networks automatically. This saves a significant amount of time and cost as you don’t need to do any manual work; you can give entire focus on improving the quality of your ad content on a regular basis.
Precision in Identifying Targeted Audience:
Online advertising heavily relies on personalization as they need to identify their targeted audience and display relevant ads to them. This is exactly where API is offering a strong helping hand to affiliates as it can search websites that visitors find interesting. Eventually, it acts as a perfect distribution tool to show specific ads to the audience thereby boosting the conversion rate.
Preformatted Links:
Preformatted links are one of the USP of API which allows them to add affiliate ID automatically. This process makes sure that affiliates make commission once click is done and the transaction is conducted.
Low dependency on manual labor:
APIs are recognized for their automatic update process and that requires hardly any manual labor work. This lets affiliates and advertisers to utilize their resources in an effective way. They can experiment with something creative to get the best out of their efforts.
Smoother Integration:
Smoother integration across all platforms is one of the key advantages you will get with APIs. Most of the bigger platforms are taking the help of them to capitalize on the manner different programs interact thereby achieving smoother integration into the system. Developers can also create new API to leverage their existing APIs to utilize the core functionality of their old application in new ones.
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Control Access:
APIs can be used to limit access to certain users. You can limit the access of a particular product, service, software or data to a specific group of people through an API key. Besides this, they can be utilized to standardize the access regardless of device or OS. A user can get similar access to different operating systems or devices using the same API key.
Other benefits:
- API helps businesses to get wider reach by making information easily available to different types of users. API also lets third-party developers come with apps that demonstrate similar data but in a more customized manner.
- APIs are extremely helpful if you want to integrate affiliate business delivering multiple services. They also help companies to maintain varied things at a single interface rather than creating diverse systems for each of the services.
- Using API, you can control the time required for diverse integrations by developing a dedicated platform. With such an outstanding tool in hand, you will be never overloaded with the task of doing variations of third-party systems.
- If you want to execute a certain code on your website that will allow visitors to book appointments and note them in the calendar then API will get it done for you. Affiliate marketers can streamline the request and process it on selected platforms. Thereby, it is saving a significant amount of work and time on programming.
- Companies are also using APIs as a gateway medium that provides access to only those users who have proper credentials. This covers everything from customers to employees who have got a dedicated username and password to access particular resources.
- APIs are extremely beneficial for affiliate markers as they offer standard methods of programs to connect with multiple platforms. Rather than processing multiple requests in unique styles, API creates a common plug for varied requests that can be executed on limitless platforms.
- APIs also offer an enhanced security measure that any website owner looks for. It tracks suspicious traffic and safeguards your server from getting compromised or breaking down.
Some Popular APIs:
Most of the big technology companies and social networking channels have released dedicated APIs. It helps to assist third parties to gather data, get connected with users and enhance their products or services. There are many popular APIs available for your use. Here is a list of few common APIs you will come across:
- Google API: It is one of the fabulous products of Google which lets you integrate different services of Google with diverse kinds of platforms.
- YouTube API: Though it also comes under the product basket of Google, YouTube API lets you derive key statistics from video streaming data.
- Facebook API: It is also recognized as a Graph IPA that lets you extract data from Facebook. Besides this, you get access to different kinds of tasks that come under the guidelines of Facebook API.
- Amazon API: It is also known as Amazon Product Advertising API. This lets you access the entire catalog of the world’s biggest e-commerce platform. Using API, third party companies can promote products through other applications.
- Snapchat API: This API lets you get into the network of Snapchat and publish ads in a variety of formats. It is one of the most popular APIs. It has become the preferred choice of advertisers to promote their products or services to the targeted audience.
Future of Affiliate marketing with API:
Whether you are a publisher or an advertiser, Application Programming Interface (API) is essential for the smooth functioning of an affiliate marketing procedure. API will not only make the entire process very simple but it will also keep things well organized. It achieves better communication amongst diverse platforms and offers a superior experience for both publishers as well as advertisers. APIs have become an integral part of affiliate marketing; it will be hard for companies to achieve marketing success without them. As the API technology continues to grow, you may witness more apps for APIs being released in the industry of Affiliate marketing. In the next few years, if API comes with developer free executions then there are enormous publishers in the industry who are eagerly looking for such a crucial advancement.
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The Bottom Line:
On the virtue of its amazing system, Application Programming Interface (API) offers a diverse range of benefits to affiliate marketers. APIs facilitates the smooth connection between devices, database, and applications. It is difficult to get such an incredible digital experience without deploying the functionality of APIs into affiliate marketing. Considering the rising importance of personalization in digital marketing, releasing an API for affiliate marketing is a vital step every business should take to promote their web-based products in the most effective way.
Web Developer & SEO Specialist with 15+ years of experience in Open Source Web Development specialized in Joomla & WordPress development. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions".