Elance Affiliate Program FAQ

Sign Up Page: Elance Affiliate Program Sign-up

What is Elance?

Elance is the leading site for online work where businesses connect with independent professionals to get work done. On Elance, businesses find the experts they need plus the tools to manage online work from hiring to collaboration to making payment.

Elance offers companies flexibility, cost effectiveness and instant access to a vast pool of skilled and tested talent. Professionals use Elance to find work, deliver great results and get paid for doing what they do best.

How does the affiliate program work?

The main goal of the affiliate program is brining new employers to post jobs and hire providers on Elance. In essence you and your website become "sales agents" for Elance, and you will get paid a commission for every employer that you drive to the Elance website who posts a job and pays for work on Elance. While the main focus of the program is to bring work to the site by bringing employers, we also pay a commission for new service providers who purchase paid memberships. Visit the Elance Affiliate Program Overview page to view the commission payouts.

Once you join the Elance Affiliate Program, you will have access to text links, banners and widgets that you can put on your website to drive your visitors to join Elance. If customers click on those links, they will get directed to the Elance main site, and if they register as an employer or provider, you will be eligible to receive a commission for their transactions. The beauty of our affiliate program however, is that the employer does not have to post a job that same day for you to make your commission. If they return within 120 days of clicking on your link, or if they return to make subsequent postings, you will also receive a commission for those sales.

What is the difference between an employer and a provider?

Elance offers two ways to earn commissions. The first is by attracting employers to the site. Employers are businesses who are looking for help completing a job, task or project. They post the job and then hire and pay a provider to do the work. Employers can post their jobs for free or pay a premium to get enhanced visibility to the job post. A provider is a talented freelance professional who is hired to complete the job or task asked for by the employer. Providers can have free memberships on Elance or can pay for a membership which enables them to be more active submitting proposals on jobs while increasing their visibility. Attracting providers who purchase paid memberships is another way to earn commissions through Elance.

Does my site qualify for the program?

We are mainly looking for sites that have a business to business (B2B) focus. All sites are welcome however, as long as the website doesn't promote illegal activities or pornography, nor engage in any deceptive practices, spyware/malware or "cookie stuffing." There are no traffic minimums, so why not give it a try? We encourage anyone to sign up, be it someone just starting out in affiliate marketing, or the professional "super" affiliate.

How and when do I get paid?

The payment of your commission is handled by our system. For every employer or provider you refer, a lead will show in your account and a commission credited according to the Elance commission structure. You will be able to choose between 3 payment methods: wire, check or PayPal. Payment will occur on the 10th of the following month for the previous month commission. A $100 threshold will be required for a wire transfer or check.

What kind of support will I get from the AMWSO / Elance team?

The Elance partner program is run exclusively by AMWSO with a dedicated professional affiliate manager and uses the ShareResults Affiliate Network. The affiliate manager is available any time to answer questions, help with advice, or talk about any suggestions or comments you might have. A catalog of high quality banners and text links are available in a variety of styles for you to make use of on your site. Anytime we release new banners or announce any other program news, we publish this on our AMWSO affiliate program news feed. Through our affiliate support page, we also offer additional support tools for you to make use of, including key word suggestions, tips, and other special promotions.