Learning how to do affiliate marketing can be essential to your success as an online entrepreneur. But even if you’ve got your website, ad, or social media platform set up perfectly, you still need a company to partner with. That’s where affiliate programs bridge the gap.
In this post, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about affiliate marketing programs. You’ll learn why they’re needed and read more about some of the best-paying affiliate programs available to you as a newcomer.
But first, you need to know what they are and how they work.
What Are Affiliate Programs?
Affiliate programs, also called associate programs, offer a third-party platform that allows individuals and brands to find and work with each other.
Both parties sign up for the platform, discuss a collaboration, and start to work together.
But behind the scenes, these affiliate programs are complex behemoths that do much more than help merchants and affiliate companies. They also provide some very essential services to both parties.
How do affiliate programs work?
Affiliate programs work by letting individuals or businesses create a profile on their platform and choose the brand they want to promote.
The programs generate a unique link that affiliates can share with their site visitors, customers, and social media followers. When someone clicks the link and purchases from the brand, the affiliate receives a commission.
Companies use affiliate programs to improve their sales. The programs are built on platforms that boast tracking technology to keep track of the affiliates.
The 12 best affiliate programs for beginners
1. Adsterra Affiliate Program
Adsterra’s affiliate program helps affiliate marketers earn a commission for each publisher they refer to the platform. Since Adsterra is a popular ad network, many people are willing to join it and monetize the website traffic.
So, promoting Adsterra using your unique affiliate link would be one of the best ways to make money from the platform.
The affiliate partner will make a 5% commission from their partner. Plus, since the tool has multiple payment withdrawal options, you can withdraw your affiliate commission whenever you need.
Considering these facts, the Adsterra affiliate program is an excellent way to make money online.
Benefits Of Adsterra’s Affiliate Program
The Adsterra referral program offers several benefits to its partners, including the opportunity to earn additional revenue by referring publishers to the Adsterra network.
- Partners can earn 5% of the referred publishers’ earnings for any referred publisher accepted into the program. The program also provides partners a unique “invite” link, allowing accurate tracking, reporting, and commission fee accrual.
- Additionally, the Adsterra referral program offers a comprehensive range of tools and resources to help partners maximize their profits, including a powerful dashboard that provides real-time statistics and detailed reports on referral performance.
- The program is open to partners of all sizes, with no minimum traffic requirement to join.
2. Amazon Associates
Potential affiliates go through an application review process to become an Amazon Associate. According to their website, “if you’re a passionate reviewer, stylist, content creator, or curator who would like to refer your audience to products on Amazon, you may be the right fit.” They require you to make at least three sales during your first 180 days. Amazon also requires that the sites where you promote their products must have robust original content (even when advertising is removed). Their rule of thumb is that you have at least ten posts. You aren’t restricted to operating a blog or traditional website, however. Amazon is happy for you to sell using mobile apps and social networks pages as well – as long as there are sufficient content and engagement.
Amazon sells a vast range of products, and associates can promote virtually anything in its stock. They also recognize all purchases made by people referred by Associates, not just the specific product advertised on the associate’s site. This means, for example, that if somebody clicks on a link on your website leading to a particular book, but ends up buying an expensive television on Amazon instead, then you still gain the commission for that television sale.
The downside of Amazon Associates, however, is that the commission fees are comparatively small. The percentages vary by the type of products, but many are as low as 4 or 5%. In fact, the payout on physical video games and video game consoles is only 1%, and televisions are only 2%
3. eBay Partner Network
eBay is well known as one of the world’s largest online marketplaces. It has 1.4 billion listings at any one time. Perhaps surprisingly, 80% of all merchandise sold is new.
eBay operates its Partner Program to encourage people to send potential purchasers to the platform. eBay’s partners send their users to shop at the eBay global marketplace. A percentage of those users will likely buy something after being referred to the site. And, once they do, the referring partner gets credit for that sale. eBay manages its own affiliate network, so they provide partners with the tools, reports, and resources they need to succeed.
The eBay Partner Network works like Amazon’s program, in that it pays different rates for each type of product, and the percentages are all relatively low, compared to some of the more specialist affiliate programs and networks. However, you balance these lower rates against a potentially higher volume of sales.
eBay also offers a Premier Program for those who drive a high amount of traffic to eBay. This is an invite-only program for partners who send substantial business into eBay and offers them benefits like exclusive content to help them increase their earnings, early access to new tools, and other incentives.
4. FlexOffers
FlexOffers refer to their affiliate merchants as advertisers and affiliate salespeople as publishers.
They have recently begun their FlexOffers.com PublisherPro affiliate marketing network. They feature the latest products, promotions, and online-only offers on their network from top global brands and niche advertisers alike. Their affiliate marketing content can also easily integrate into any site as banner ads or text links, or as unique promotional copy created by their editorial staff.
FlexOffers informs publishers about enticing advertiser campaigns that they can promote on their website, via email campaigns, through social media, and by many other means. Publishers receive a commission each time the traffic they send to a source completes a commissionable action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or completing any other action for which the advertiser is willing to pay.
Over 12,000 advertiser programs are available on the FlexOffers.com network from nearly every retail category imaginable.
Advertisers generally pay a flat amount or a percentage of the sale as the commission. When those commissions reach a minimum amount ($25 in most cases, although $1,000 for wire transfers), a payment is issued to the Publisher. Those payments are generally issued monthly and on net 60 terms.
5. ClickBank
ClickBank acts as a marketplace where their affiliate members can find products to promote and market. They harness the power of their digital marketing partners (affiliates) combined with a vast library of over 6 million unique products to reach 200 million customers around the world.
One of the most significant advantages for affiliates on Clickbank is that some of the products offer commissions as high as 75%. Affiliates can select the digital products and offers they wish to promote from Clickbank’s online catalog. You can even choose to market products that offer customers upsell options as part of the purchase process. Upsells deliver more value to customers and put more money in your pocket.
Many of the products available on ClickBank sell on a recurring subscription basis. As long as the customer continues the subscription, you’ll continue earning money month after month, year after year, long after the original sale.
6. JVZoo
JVZoo describes itself as an all-in-one platform for digital commerce. They sell over 9.5 million products across 22 categories. JVZoo has a gigantic Digital Product Library made up of over 200 niches and categories.
JVZoo provides a newbie-friendly and easy-to-use network with the tools and solutions needed to run a successful and profitable online business. They offer a safe place for product creators and marketers from all over the world to meet and work together.
Affiliates have instant access to all of their affiliate tools and training. Potential affiliates can sign up for free and gain immediate access to JVZoo’s Marketplace to find the perfect products to promote to their audiences.
Commissions are paid to affiliates from the vendors, direct to a designated PayPal account.
One useful feature for affiliates is that they have one link for all products in a sales funnel. This includes one-time offers, upsells, downsells, cross-sells, etc. Affiliates can entice prospects to buy from their affiliate links by offering exclusive bonuses. They can upload a bonus product that is automatically delivered with the purchased product.
7. LinkConnector
LinkConnector (LC) enables brands to partner with top affiliate talent. LinkConnector provides affiliates with the opportunity to earn commissions from their website traffic. Affiliates agree to place merchant ads and links on their websites in exchange for a commission.
LinkConnector offers a dedicated team to help affiliates manage and grow their promotions. One useful feature it offers affiliates is the ability to apply for all campaigns that meet set criteria automatically (e.g., campaigns with a product feed or coupons).
LinkConnector only works with ethical, dedicated affiliates. Since 2004, their priority has been on quality, not quantity. By working with only serious affiliates, merchants can focus on efficiently growing their campaigns versus screening out fraud.
8. MaxBounty
MaxBounty gives access to a global network of marketing channels to increase sales, leads, sign-ups, app installs, or any other action businesses deem essential to evolving their brand.
MaxBounty also provides opportunities for affiliates to promote their clients’ products. Affiliates can promote high-converting cost-per-action campaigns from hundreds of advertisers seeking their blogging, media-buying, social media, and email marketing expertise.
Affiliates can select the verticals in which they promote products – the areas where they best specialize. They can earn money for their performance through CPA, CPS, CPL, and CPI pricing models.
There are more than 2000 active campaigns. One advantage for affiliates is a quick payment period – with MaxBounty offering weekly payment. They also give the best affiliates additional earnings through numerous performance-based rewards.
9. LeadDyno
LeadDyno offers easy-to-use affiliate marketing software and gives users access to its affiliate network, E-CommerceAffiliates.com
LeadDyno offers everything you need to drive affiliate sales. Each new affiliate gets access to a customized Affiliate Dashboard. It’s unique to each referral partner, and it contains everything that he or she needs to promote a brand’s store and its products.
E-CommerceAffiliates.com is free for LeadDyno users to join. It is dedicated to e-commerce products. They are actively looking for great editorial websites to add to their network. Each product on the network has an affiliate program attached to it. Currently, it has more than 1800 affiliate programs, across 21 product categories.
10. Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is one of the more established affiliate networks. They are always looking for people who have loyal social media followers or consistent website visitors to become affiliate marketing publishers. As a publisher, you can partner with thousands of leading and emerging brands across a variety of industries to provide your visitors with a more personalized and organized advertising experience, with links to products they’ll care about.
They provide educational tools and training to help you develop and improve your affiliate marketing program and help jump-start your commissions. Platinum-status publishers receive consultations and early access to new technology.
Publishers can easily sign up as affiliates on Rakuten’s site. They set a two-step process for using affiliate marketing:
- Join the Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network.
- Apply to join specific advertisers’ affiliate programs.
Each advertiser has specific criteria that you need to meet to be approved into the program. Your website content must also be relevant to the advertiser’s products and meet brand guidelines.
11. Pepperjam
Pepperjam had the vision to create a transparent affiliate marketing platform that enabled easy relationship creation and connection building.
They have built their platform, calling it Ascend, designed to provide everything businesses need to manage their affiliate marketing.
Pepperjam also runs an affiliate network of their own, using Ascend as the core technology behind it. Successful marketers can apply to become a Pepperjam partner. Pepperjam is more selective than many of these networks, however, and are unlikely to select people without a proven track record.
Pepperjam pays its publishers (affiliates) on the 1st and 15th of each month.
12. Refersion
Refersion is an affiliate and influencer marketing network, making it an ideal fit for eCommerce brands. One of your first tasks is integrating it with your eCommerce solution, with ready-made apps integrating with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, Stripe, and Chargebee. Other eCommerce platforms require a custom integration with Refersions’s API. The specialist apps enable you to have Refersion up and running in minutes, although if you need to use the API solution, it will take longer to set up.
After setting up your eCommerce integration, the first thing you do is to enter any existing affiliates into the app. You can also integrate with influencer platforms Upfluence, #paid, and Cohley if you need influencer/affiliate discovery assistance.
You create Offers in the Refersion marketplace, where you state your specific requirements. For example, you can include trackable links, coupon codes, email addresses, and even product SKUs.
Refersion offers you much flexibility when setting payment details in your offer. For example, you can grant flat-rate commissions if you choose or set up very detailed performance-based commission structures.
You can set up your offers to ensure that affiliates meet specific requirements before they qualify for payment. Any sales that don’t meet these requirements are considered Unqualified. Refersion then uses links and codes to track sales and check that your affiliate’s sales qualify for payment. You can make payments via PayPal or integrate with Payment Rails for ACH payments. You can issue digital gift cards or indeed pay with virtually any method you like.
Summary:
Now that you know a bit more about some of the top affiliate programs for beginners, take some time to explore them for yourself. Discovering the best affiliate program and brand for your niche may take time, but it will be worth it. Just be sure to do your homework and avoid any potential scams.
In summary, here are the top 12 affiliate programs for beginners to make money in 2023:
- Adsterra Affiliate Program
- Amazon Associates
- eBay Partner Network
- FlexOffers
- ClickBank
- JVZoo
- LinkConnector
- MaxBounty
- LeadDyno
- Rakuten Advertising
- Pepperjam
- Refersion
Once you’ve picked an affiliate marketing program, you’ll have completed your journey into affiliate marketing. You’ll officially have your dream side hustle, which may one day take you to new heights.
Were you aware of these affiliate marketing programs? What does your approach look like? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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