Top Paying Affiliate Programs
What is an online affiliate program?
Put simply, an online affiliate program is the bridge between an advertiser and a customer. The affiliate program connects the advertiser and the consumer through the publisher (you):
And if you’re new to the world of affiliate marketing, you may also be asking, what exactly is affiliate marketing. Here’s a quote from Pat Flynn over at Smart Passive Income:
As an example, if I write an article on affiliate marketing, I usually mention Affilorama since it’s helped me boost my earnings through affiliate marketing. Pssst, this is an affiliate link, but if you choose to click through and purchase one of their products, it comes at no additional cost to you.
More on affiliate marketing in our complete guide to becoming a successful affiliate marketer here.
1. eBay Affiliate Program
Cost per Click (CPC)
Sometimes, a brand will offer a commission based on the number of clicks or impressions that you generate. This is especially common in the travel and fashion industries.
CPC based affiliate programs can work well if you market the product or service well and can drive a solid number of clicks.
Cost per Lead (CPL)
When you start looking at different products to market, you may come across some affiliate programs that offer a commission based on Cost per Lead (CPL). A lead may be something as simple as an email, or it might be a form that needs to be completed.
The commissions for CPL are usually much lower than they are for Cost per Click or Cost per Sale (CPS).
With that being said, an email is much easier to acquire than a sale.
Cost per Sale (CPS)
Cost per Sale (CPS) is the most commonly used commission structure. Under the CPS model, you’re paid a commission when someone buys a product or service on the advertisers’ website after clicking through your affiliate link.
The amount you’re paid will vary depending on the advertiser, but generally speaking, CPS is the most profitable structure to follow.
When you’re doing your research, try to find advertisers that have great landing pages to help convert your users into a sale.
How to Choose the Best Affiliate Program for Beginners
There are thousands of online affiliate programs and it can be hard to decide which one to choose.
It’s important to understand the difference between affiliate programs offered through affiliate networks (third parties) and those offered directly by the brands themselves (the advertiser).
Affiliate networks will host hundreds or thousands of advertisers (brands) that you can choose to market.
If you choose to market products for an advertiser on an affiliate network, you will be dealing with the network e.g. commission junction, not the advertiser (brand).
Some brands, like eBay as an example, have their own online affiliate program. In this post, we’re going to refer to this as direct.
If you’re interested in marketing a specific brand’s products, simply head on over to their website and if they have a direct affiliate program, you’ll usually find a link to an application form in the website footer.
Some brands prefer not to advertise their affiliate programs, but if there’s a company that you really want to work with to market their products, send them an email and ask what they can do for you.
Whilst not always the case, some brands offer slightly higher commissions through their direct affiliate programs. This is because they’re not paying a fee to advertise on an affiliate network.
In this list of the best affiliate programs for beginners, we’ll highlight what type of affiliate program we’re talking to: direct or network.
We’ll also help you understand what fees there are to join (if any), what their commission structure is and the cookie duration.
These are all important factors to consider when choosing the best affiliate program, but hold on a second, why is cookie duration important?
In essence, the shorter the cookie duration, the less time you have to close the sale. If the cookie duration is longer, it allows your user to do some research and come back at a later stage.
When they return to the store within the cookie duration and purchase a product, you’ll get a commission. If they return outside the cookie duration, you won’t.
The Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners in 2020
As a newbie in the affiliate marketing world, choosing the best affiliate program in 2020is not an easy task. That’s why we’ve put together our list of the best affiliate programs for beginners in 2020:
With over 1 billion listings at any one time and 175 million buyers annually, eBay is a great option for affiliate marketing beginners. Their wide range of products means that, similar to Amazon, they’re able to cater to almost any niche.
Whilst eBay used to offer a 7-day cookie window, they’ve now instead introduced a 24-hour cookie.
With eBay estimating that 89% of items listed have a fixed price, this change in cookie duration mostly affects auctions.
And with auctions only accounting for 11% of all listings on Ebay.com, this still qualifies eBay as one of the best affiliate programs for beginners.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Merchant
Commission: Up to 50% – 70% of eBay revenue
Commission: CPS
Cookie duration: 24 hours
2. Amazon Associates Affiliate Program
Amazon Associates is one of the most popular online affiliate programs for beginners. Why? Because they have a huge range of stock that can service most affiliate niches.
This means that regardless of whether your niche is gym leggings or dog leashes, you’ll probably find it on Amazon.
Another great thing about becoming an affiliate of Amazon is that you’ll make money from any sale, not just from the specific product that you’re marketing.
For example, you’re marketing a self-help book, and someone clicks your link to buy a TV – you get the commission for the TV.
Cost: Free to join
Direct or Network: Direct
Commission: Up to 10%
Commission structure: CPS
Cookie duration: 24 hours
3. Rakuten Affiliate Program
Rakuten’s affiliate program was voted the Blue Book’s #1 affiliate network for 7 years in a row. Working with advertisers like Ray-ban and Amex further cements their credibility as one of the best affiliate programs for beginners.
Boasting over 100 million orders (as of 2016), Rakuten is a great choice for beginner affiliate marketers that have a global reach.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: Varies with each brand
Commission structure: Varies with each brand
Cookie duration: Varies with each brand
4. Clickbank Affiliate Network
Clickbank has been in the game for over 17 years and is seen by many as having one of the best affiliate networks for beginners. Whilst many other affiliate networks attract big brands, Clickbank is known for working with the little guys.
When you’re looking at what products to market, you’ll want to focus on the gravity score. Gravity is the metric that Clickbank uses to show how well a product is selling.
Whilst a high gravity score means the product sells well, it also means more competition. Our recommendation is to consider products with a gravity score between 30 and 100.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: Up to 75%
Commission structure: Varies with each advertiser
Cookie duration: 60 days
5. AWeber Affiliate Program
AWeber is an awesome email marketing and automation tool that I’ve personally used.
They also have a pretty awesome affiliate program. Not only do they offer a 30% commission on sales, but they also offer 30% on recurring sales.
That means you get paid every time one of your referrals renew their plan. If they renew their plan 10 times, you get paid 10 times.
On top of everything else, they have a 365-day cookie duration. This means that when someone clicks your affiliate link and goes on to purchase, you earn a commission, even if it’s a year later.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Merchant
Commission: 30% (recurring)
Commission: CPS
Cookie duration: 365 days
6. Ali Express Affiliate Program
Similar to Amazon, Ali Express is a great platform to refer to because of its wide range of stock and millions of products listed. The majority of their stock comes from China, so you’ll find it often undercuts Amazon for many items.
High commission rates and an easy application process makes this online affiliate program hard to miss.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Merchant
Commission: Up to 50%
Commission: CPS
Cookie duration: 3 days
7. Commission Junction Affiliate Program
Commission Junction’s affiliate program is one of the largest and most established affiliate networks in the market. Paying out almost $2 billion USD per year to affiliate marketers is also pretty impressive.
Working with advertisers like Go Pro and Priceline means you have a broad range of big brands to work with.
Also, their support team is hands down one of the best, helping affiliate markets grow their commissions by 43% YOY. Wow.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: Varies with each merchant
Commission structure: Varies with each merchant
Cookie duration: 1-120 days (varies with each merchant)
8. Shopify Affiliate Program
Shopify is the platform of choice for a growing number of e-commerce brands.
It’s also very popular amongst entrepreneurs getting started in e-commerce. And with good reason, it’s a great platform.
I’ve used it personally and given its ease of use, it’s worth its weight in gold. This, in turn, makes it a great product to market.
With the average sale making you close to $60 in commission and a maximum of $2,000, keep this one top of the list when you’re considering which affiliate program to choose.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: 200%
Commission structure: CPS
Cookie duration: 30 days
9. Flexoffers Affiliate Program
With over 12,000 advertisers at any one time, and an award-winning affiliate marketing network, Flexoffers is one of the key players when it comes to choosing an affiliate network.
One of their key selling points is what they call their FlexRev-$hare program. The program allows you to refer other publishers to the network and earn up to 50% of Flexoffers profits.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: Varies with each merchant
Commission structure: Varies with each merchant
Cookie duration: Varies with each merchant
10. Peerfly Affiliate Network
Peerfly is one of our favorite affiliate networks. They were voted number one in 2015’s Blue Book and because of their small independent network, they’re able to offer very competitive commissions.
Don’t be put off by Peerfly’s rigorous application process, it’s worth it.
Cost: Free to join
Merchant or Network: Network
Commission: Varies with each merchant
Commission structure: Varies with each merchant
Cookie duration: Varies with each merchant
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