As a blogger it can be tough to monetize your traffic, especially managing relationships with multiple networks and vendors. But chances are you know this and it’s why you’re going through several Skimlinks reviews to know determine if they can help you easily monetize your traffic.

If you want to know the real truth, then this Skimlinks review has it all. Sorry to say this, but some of what we found is really shocking, so you may want to read along carefully.

Who Is Skimlinks?

Skimlinks.com is a content monetization network that allows content creators and publishers monetize content on their site. Skimlinks was launched in 2007 by Australian co-founders Joe Stepniewski and Alicia Navarro in London, UK.

How Does Skimlinks Work?

If you own a blog or website that contains product-related information and links to the product itself, Skimlinks can help you monetize the content easily. It does that by turning these product links, brand mentions or even merchant links to affiliate links that earn you a commission once a customer follows the link and makes a purchase.

To understand better how Skimlinks works, here are all the parties involved in the system.

There’s The Merchant who is selling the actual product. It could be a skincare multinational, a shoe brand, an online store like Amazon, etc. Then there’s The Networks that give Skimlinks access to merchants. Skimlinks says they’ve partnered with over 50 networks who give them access to over 48,000 different merchants.

The publisher who could be a Blogger who publishes content about a product to potential customers.

And last but not least is the customer – This is basically the blogger’s website audience or visitor who may end up being a customer who eventually makes a purchase from the merchant

So as a publisher, all you need to do is create normal content that discusses various products, brands, etc. Then, you’ll need to sign up and enable Skimlinks on your website. So depending on your website’s CMS, here are your options.

Any website – Skimlinks will give you a JavaScript that you’ll add to your website’s footer.
Forum owners – They’ll give you a dedicated vBulletin plugin to use
Self-hosted WordPress sites – They’ll also give you a plugin for that
Social media publishers – they’ll show you how to enable their extension on your website

Skimlinks will then automatically convert any product mentions or links to affiliate links. So when a reader clicks on any of these affiliate links and makes a purchase on the merchant’s website, you earn a commission on the sale. Skimlinks will of course take their cut and send you the balance.

That said, unless the sight of more money turns you off, you can always use more visitors to your website. These visitors may, of course, turn out to be customers that earn your commissions from the purchases they make. So you may want to consider joining Wealthy Affiliate which has incredible strategies that help you get tons of FREE organic traffic from Google. It’s FREE to get started, so you have no fees or obligations to worry about.

SkimLinks Features

Skimlinks has additional unique features that you may want to know about which are as follows:

Publisher Insights – Useful information and insights about your platform’s performance that enable you monetize your content better.
Referral Program – When you share the love, you’ll earn 35% of what Skimlinks earns from your referrals in their first year with Skimlinks.
Social Media Monetization – You don’t need a website to monetize with Skimlinks. If you have a big enough audience on social media, you can also earn from there.
Preferred Partner or VIP programs – Some merchants sign up as VIPs or preferred partners. These merchants offer up to double the amount Skimlinks offers as commissions from normal merchants.

Other features

Price comparison app

Shopping galleries
Publishers’ content editorial assistance

That said, there are several ways to monetize your website’s content. So it only makes sense to explore other options as well, rather than limiting yourself to just one company. If you feel the same way, you can check out Maxbounty.com, Traffic Jam Media, or iGain.com as additional ways to monetize your site.

How Much Money Can You Make With Skimlinks?

Different merchants offer different commission rates. You can view the full list of merchants here, and when you sign up and get approved you’ll be able to see their commission rates.

Either way, just keep in mind Skimlinks will take a 25% cut of the commissions you earn from the merchants.

Ultimately how much you earn depends on a few factors; including the amount and nature of your content, how appealing the content is to your readers and what you’re actually advertising.

But the bottom line is, you need tons of search engine traffic to stand any chance of making commissions from the products you feature on your website. That’s why it may be smart to join Wealthy Affiliate and get the training, strategies and tools you need to increase your website’s traffic.

How & When Does Skimlinks Pay Publishers?

At the time of this review, Skimlinks issues payments at the end of every month via either PayPal or direct deposit to US or UK bank accounts. If you’re from any other country, they pay exclusively via PayPal. You’ll need at least $65/€55/£50 to qualify for pay.

But it’s not that simple folks. Here’s the deal. Skimlinks will only pay you when they receive your commissions from merchants. They say reason for this is that merchants may cancel commissions for reasons such as refund requests by customers, errors in transactions and in extreme cases, fraud or network quality issues.

So it may take 60 days for merchants to verify commissions and send them to Skimlinks. When that seamlessly happens, you’ll be able to make a withdrawal request once you hit the minimum payment threshold. Needless to say you’ll be waiting for a long time for your first payment.

Skimlinks Requirements

In a nutshell, Skimlinks just wants you to use their services if you publish original content that mention products and merchants in a way that adds value to your readers. That said, here’s a list of requirements you need to meet.

No sensitive or illegal content
They don’t allow sites with religious, political or content that’s too ‘contentious’ to monetize
Adult-themed content
Sites that use a merchant’s name as their own brand name

Another requirement is your location since Skimlinks may not approve you based on your country. So if any of these requirements disqualify your site, you can check out other monetization options like Maxbounty.com, Traffic Jam Media, or iGain.com as options.

How To Login Into Skimlinks

If you’re a publisher, you can go here and submit an approval request. They’ll review your site or platform and get back to you in a day or two. Once approved, you can start using monetizing your site. You can read more about the approval process here.

Skimlinks Support

You can reach out to them on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. They’re physically located at: Skimbit Ltd, 2nd Floor, 52 Bevenden Street, London N1 6BL, United Kingdom.

Skimlinks Complaints

You don’t want to waste your time on something that won’t make you money as the two go hand in hand. So, read the complaints about Skimlinks and decide for yourself whether it is worthwhile.

You’re limited to Skimlinks merchants only

Remember, Skimlinks is just a middleman connecting merchants to publishers via other affiliate networks. So if the vendor or merchant you’re focusing on is not in the network, you can’t monetize with this company.

Slow customer support

Publishers have a problem with how slow Skimlinks’ customer service can be, especially during peak times. They don’t have live support, you can only send them an email and we all know how slow it can be to communicate that way.

No BBB Profile

I know some of ya’ll don’t like working with companies that are not listed with the Better Business Bureau. If that’s the case, well Skimlinks is not listed. Deal breaker? That’s up to you.

Should you the Skimlinks Network?

If you have a website that covers a lot of products or brands, Skimlinks simplifies your monetization efforts, so it may be worth it. Furthermore you don’t even need a website to use the service if you have a strong social media following.

The reality is skimlinks makes it much easier to monetize your website because you don’t have to chase down or deal with multiple networks or companies to be an affiliate with. But this convenience comes at a price of 25% of your commissions you may earn from the merchants. That may be too rich for your blood. It’s up to you either way. But all in all Skimlinks is legit.

That said, you’ll need high amount of traffic to convert well with Skimlinks. So if you’re looking to increase your site’s traffic, Wealthy Affiliate has the proven strategies, training and tools to help you get tons of FREE traffic from Google. The beauty of all that is it’s FREE to get started.

And if for any reason you feel Skimlinks may not be a right fit for you, feel free to check out other networks such as Maxbounty.com, Traffic Jam Media, or iGain.com that can help you monetize your website’s traffic as well.

Well, that’s my Skimlinks review. If you need more answers about the company, check out their FAQs page here. And don’t be a stranger. I would love to know what you guys think about this or any other affiliate network you’ve had an experience with.

Until next time

Eddy “with a Y”