The internet is ripe with opportunities to make money – and everybody knows it. The world is heading in an increasingly digitized direction, and this trend creates plenty of opportunities to make money.
One of the most popular ways of making money off the internet is through affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a legitimate and sustainable business idea. It doesn't matter if you don't have the expertise or experience to run an affiliate marketing website; there are many ways to get what you need to succeed.
The problem is there are tons of affiliate marketing programs out there, all with their own requirements, advantages, and disadvantages.
To help you in your affiliate marketing journey, we're going to talk about what affiliate marketing is, and which affiliate programs are best for you.
What Are Affiliate Programs and How Do They Work
Affiliate marketing is a modern arrangement between people who want to sell and those with the audience for it.
The internet is a big place, with millions of people online at any moment in time. It's not easy to reach those people, so if you have products that you want to sell, you'll have to spend money to advertise your product and position it above your competitors.
However, this isn't the most efficient arrangement.
Often, manufacturers and retailers want to pour their efforts into creating and selling their products, so they outsource the job of publicity to other people – people who might already have a willing audience.
This is how affiliate marketing works. Sellers form an agreement with creators, influencers, publishers, or any people with an audience, so they can showcase the seller's product to their audience.
In exchange, the publishers get a commission every time their audience buys from their link.
An affiliate program is a term for this individual arrangement. Every seller will have different products to sell, requirements for selling them, and incentives for successful purchases. This plan, in its entirety, is an affiliate program.
Creators, publishers, and anyone that can help these sellers reach new customers can then choose between these programs to figure out which is the most profitable for them.
The Benefits of Using an Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is relatively new, but there are already tried-and-tested benefits. Today, the affiliate marketing economy is worth approximately $13 billion this year, which is set to expand to $15.7 billion by 2024. These massive numbers show that affiliate marketing is finding economic success, and it's not difficult to see why.
Source: InfluencerMarketingHub
Minimal Startup and Operational Costs
The startup and operational costs are one of the main things that you should consider in an investment strategy. You need to know whether you have the capacity to pay what needs to be paid and then continue shelling out money to keep that income stream operational until it starts to earn you what you need.
One of the most well-known benefits of affiliate marketing is that it doesn't cost a lot to establish and maintain.
In some affiliate programs, you don't even have to shell out anything. As long as you pass the requirements and submit the correct information, you can proceed with an affiliate program and earn from it without paying a penny to your partner merchants or companies.
The expense would come from maintaining your audience, creating new content, improving your quality, and interacting with your audience – all activities you already do as part of the routine maintenance.
Lucrative conversion rate
Affiliate marketing allows you to maximize the profits that you will receive from your audience. When done properly, affiliate marketing is very lucrative for both marketers and publishers, directing new customers to the affiliate brand's products.
One of the most effective benchmarks for your affiliate marketing program's success is your conversion rates: the percentage of the audience that turns into paying customers. In the case of affiliate marketing, the conversion rate varies widely depending on multiple factors, but averages at about 0.5% to 1%.
For example, out of 500 daily visits to a successful blog post, both the publisher and the seller can expect 2.5 to 5 of those will buy the product. Not a bad deal, considering neither party is doing anything extra to gain those customers.
Flexibility
Another benefit of an affiliate program is that it isn't labor intensive. This means it can become a very flexible way to earn money.
Sellers can earn from affiliate marketing as long as they have high-quality publisher partners. On the other hand, since their payment is commission-based, publishers have the freedom to work however they want.
Publishers can decide to create entirely new content based on the affiliate product, such as product reviews. Or they could selectively insert the affiliate link to relevant existing content, whether it's a blog, video, or some other form of online media that their audience will see.
This way, publishers can choose to work on an affiliate program freelance, part-time, or even full-time.
As long as you fulfill your affiliate partner requirements, affiliate programs offer a very flexible and convenient income stream.
The 8 Best Affiliate Programs in 2022
Now that we've talked about the benefits that affiliate programs have, you might be eager to get your slice of the pie and sign up for an affiliate program.
But before you do that, you need to determine the best affiliate program for your needs. Remember, there are tons of them out there, and these programs are all different. Some will suit your brand, and some will need more requirements than you're ready to comply with.
Each one is different, so you need to know which affiliate marketing program is right for you. That's why in this section, we'll talk about the top 8 affiliate programs you can sign up with today.
Best for Beginners: Amazon Associates
Amazon is one of the most successful e-commerce platforms on the internet, with millions of customers all around the country and beyond. They're also the most extensive online marketplace, selling almost anything you can think of.
This makes it easier to suggest relevant products to your audience, regardless of your niche. You can gain a commission as high as 20%, depending on the category of the item you're selling. Games pay out the highest commission, at roughly 20%. Luxury products pay 10%, while music and videos pay 5%.
Best of all, the potential for this affiliate marketing program is nearly limitless. You can sell as many products as you want, and there are no minimum sales requirements.
Additionally, thousands of companies and sellers are still joining Amazon every year, so your growth is practically assured.
What's more, Amazon also has a great reputation for customer service and easy returns. So if your audience is hesitant about buying something from a smaller company, suggesting they buy from Amazon can ease their minds and increase your chances of making a sale.
To get started with the Amazon Associates program, you just need to create an Amazon seller account. From there, you can start promoting products on your website or blog right away.
Pros:
● Great affiliate partner support
● Plenty of products for any publisher or creator niche
● Largest online marketplace with millions of consumer base
● Significant potential for growth from thousands of companies are still signing up
Cons:
● Relatively small commission
● The payment cycle takes a very long time (60 days after the current month)
Most Convenient: eBay Partner Network
eBay is another platform similar to Amazon, though it's more focused on auctioning off products rather than selling them outright. In fact, eBay is best known to be a consumer-to-consumer and auctioning platform where people can score great deals on anything that they see online. From used equipment to collector's edition items, you can find almost everything on eBay,
eBay has an extensive knowledge base that supports the eBay Partner Network setup, as well as great customer service for those with more serious problems. This is very valuable for affiliate partners who might want guidance.
The eBay Partner Network is a great way for bloggers and site owners to monetize their traffic. You can earn up to 50% of the final value fee that an auction item sells for, making it one of the more lucrative affiliate programs on this list.
In terms of profitability, eBay is also a great contender. It has one of the highest commission rates around, hovering at about 50% to 70% per sale.
That said, keep in mind that this percentage is cut only from eBay's net profits. Even if the item sold is $500, if the profit is only $50, you'll only get a cut from that amount. This translates to anywhere from $25 to $35 – still a better percentage compared to Amazon Affiliates depending on the value of the item.
Additionally, eBay doesn't require its partners to be exclusive. You can also promote other affiliate links as well as your own products on your site. This flexibility makes it easier to integrate eBay into an existing website or blog, rather than having to start from scratch.
eBay is a great way to monetize a website or blog that's already getting good traffic. With high commission rates and no minimum sales requirements, it's definitely worth considering for any affiliate marketer.
Pros:
● Good partner support
● Relatively high commission rate
● No minimum sales requirements
● Offers plenty of products that suit all demographics and niches
● Doesn't require exclusivity so you're free to work with other affiliate programs
Cons:
● Short cookie duration at only 24 hours
● Only pays commission on eBay's profit on the sale
Best for Accurate Matching: Rakuten Affiliate
Rakuten is a website and online platform that offers cashback to users that buy from their website.
Formerly known as Ebates, Rakuten offers anywhere from 1% to 40% cash back on items they purchase through their website, or through their browser extension. It's the third-largest affiliate network platform in terms of market share size, owning about 7.83% of the market.
One of the more unique aspects of a Rakuten partnership is that the individual companies on their platform are more involved with their partners.
Rather than simply providing a link and some basic information about their products, Rakuten provides their partners with creative resources, such as banner ads and product links, to help them promote their products in a more effective way.
This is one of the many reasons why Rakuten has such a high success rate – over 90% of their advertisers are satisfied with their partnership.
The downside is that you have to apply for a partnership with the company individually, and it's up to them to decide whether the partnership is a good fit. That said, with over 2500 retailers in various niches such as fashion to software services, it's likely that you'll be able to find a company that's a good match for your blog or website.
Also, due to the involvement of their partner brands, Rakuten implements multiple commissioning schemes. Every brand will have different commission systems, but it will be one of the three types of commissioning: dynamic, coupon, and multi-touch.
Pros:
● Dynamic commission helps incentivize partners
● Offers plenty of opportunities to work with popular brands
● Works with thousands of well-known and massive brands
● Gives affiliates more control over what products they market
Cons:
● High minimum cash out
● Long payment cycles
● Commission rates can be small
● Can have strict application requirements
Best Affiliate Support: GiddyUp
If you want to be supported every step of the way in your affiliate program journey, GiddyUp Marketing might be what you're looking for.
Unlike the other websites on this list, GiddyUp is a platform built solely for the purpose of connecting brands to marketing partners (creators, publishers, influencers, and more) so they have proprietary tools, managers, data, and technology for brands and partners to grow together.
GiddyUp offers plenty of features that make scaling, performance matching, data analytics, and more. They also offer a wide variety of marketing programs to choose from, whether you're looking to do influencer marketing, content marketing, or even just basic social media promotion.
Currently, there are about 150 direct-to-consumer brands that range from lifestyle, health and wellness, electronics, travel, and more. Marketing partners get exclusive access to market these brands.
This platform offers various commission rates depending on the type of referral that an affiliate partner has achieved. Payouts are on the first and 15th day of every month, although you'll need to reach a minimum of $25 to withdraw your money.
Pros:
● Fairly fast payment cycle
● Exclusive access to many high-quality brands from different industries
● Streamlined tools and data analytics for affiliate marketing success
● Features affiliate managers that work with you to make your affiliate marketing a success
Cons:
● Doesn't have as many brands as others on this list
Best e-Commerce Affiliate: Shopify Affiliate Program
Shopify is one of the best resources to go to if you want to create an online store. It's a platform that helps you set up and manage your e-commerce website with ease, whether you're selling physical or digital products. You get everything you could possibly need for an online store: templates, payment processing, shipping partners, and even marketing solutions.
What's great about the Shopify affiliate program is that it offers a tiered commission structure, which means you can potentially earn a lot of money from referrals – up to $2,000 per customer.
The affiliate program is also quite straightforward. All you need to do is sign up for an affiliate account and start promoting Shopify. You'll get a custom affiliate link that you can use on your website or social media pages.
That said, the Shopify affiliate program is somewhat limited because you can't directly link to brands on the site. Instead, Shopify wants you to promote their platform to your audience in exchange for a commission. If someone subscribes to Shopify using your link, you'll get 100% of their payment for the first two months.
For instance, if a new member buys a $29-monthly Shopify plan using your link, you'll receive $29 for their first month, and then another $29 if your referral stays subscribed on the second month.
Shopify has three plans, all of which are eligible for a commission if availed through your link. The Basic account costs $29, the standard account costs $79, and the Advanced account costs $299. This means that you can earn up to $58, $158, and $598 in commission for each of the levels if your new customer stays for up to 2 months.
Pros:
● Simple affiliate programs
● Extremely high commission rate
● No need to work with different brands
Cons:
● Needs a specific kind of audience for effectiveness
● Limited options when it comes to marketing
Best Single-Product Affiliate: Urikar
If you think you can sell high-commission affiliates to your audience, try Urikar – a tech company that wants to improve your relaxation time with data-centric technology applications.
Urikar sells high-end health and wellness products, such as a handheld percussion massager with a touch-sensitive handle and hot compress function, exercise equipment that gathers your data and vitals, and more.
The best thing about Urikar is that they have a 10% basic commission for their verified affiliates, without any commission cap. They also sell expensive products, so the commission for these things can reach up to a thousand dollars.
Urikar's affiliate program is available worldwide, and they also have a two-tier affiliate system. This means you can get a commission not only from the sales you generate but also from the sales of people you refer to the affiliate program.
Payout happens every 1st and 15th of every month, with a minimum of $20 cashout. Their cookies last a long time and only need to be renewed every 90 days, which means that if someone clicks on your link, any purchase they make in the next three months will result in a commission for you. Lastly, they also offer a dedicated account manager to help you along.
Pros:
● Pays out quickly
● No commission caps
● Long cookie durations
● Extremely high commission rates
● Dedicated account managers for your convenience
Cons:
● Only one brand
● High-end products can be difficult to sell because
Best Software Product Affiliate: NordVPN
If you've watched enough Youtube videos, you've probably heard of NordVPN. NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services.
Like other VPNs, it encrypts your data and reroutes it through secure servers to protect your privacy. This makes it difficult for snoopers, hackers, and even your ISP to track your online activities. It's also useful for bypassing geo-restrictions, such as if you want to watch a Netflix show that's only available in the US.
NordVPN has an affiliate program that pays you every time someone subscribes to their service using your affiliate link. The commission depends on the specific subscription plan, but you can get anywhere from 40% to 100% of the sign-up price, and a 30% commission for every renewal.
This affiliate program is available worldwide, and you can withdraw anytime as long as you meet the $10 minimum amount. The payment cycle varies depending on which affiliate network you use for NordVPN.
Pros:
● High potential commission rates
● Simple and efficient commission scheme
● A very well-known brand with lots of potential business
● Great source for recurring commission as long as your member renews
Cons:
● Limited product choices
Best Wellness and Beauty Affiliate Programs: Sephora
The wellness, beauty, and cosmetics industry continues to climb upwards in 2022. Luckily for affiliate marketers everywhere, Sephora has always been at the top of this trend.
A leading lifestyle brand, Sephora has become a household name for many American families, trusted by millions to deliver high-quality products for skincare, makeup, fragrances, and more.
Sephora has the highest commission rate of all the other affiliate programs in the beauty and cosmetics industry. They offer a 5% commission on all sales made on your link – and since they have a wide variety of products, you have plenty of freedom to link Sephora items with your content niche.
Aside from that, they also have great affiliate support. With their affiliate program, you get access to creative assets that you can use for your marketing.
Pros:
● Very well-known brand
● Offers industry-leading affiliate commission rates
● Sells plenty of items for all beauty and cosmetics niches
Cons:
● Short cookie expiration at only 24 hours
How to Find the Best Affiliate Programs for You
The previous sections discussed in detail the eight best affiliate programs to consider, so you should now have a good idea of what the playing field looks like should you decide to join the affiliate marketing game.
But before you get started, there are still other things you might want to consider.
Just because your website qualifies for an affiliate program doesn't mean that this program will be a lucrative endeavor for you. Affiliate programs mostly pay through commissions, which means your audience will often have to buy something with your affiliate link. To increase your chances, you need to present something that your audience wants.
It may sound simple, but it's more complicated in practice. Let's dive deep into the things you should consider to find the best affiliate programs for you and your audience.
Consider your brand
The very first thing you have to do is to consider your brand and its identity This will help you determine which affiliate programs to join, as well as the affiliate products you'll be promoting.
Your affiliate program choices should always be in line with your brand identity, as this is what your audience knows and trusts. For example, if you're a beauty influencer, your audience probably doesn't go to you for digital safety advice. At the same time, readers don't go to beauty blogs for their internet protection.
This means that to pick the right affiliate partner, you need to understand what your brand is all about. From there, you can get an idea of what kind of audience you attract, what they care about, and how you can give it to them through affiliate marketing.
Think about what you love
Affiliate marketing is selling a product, and the trick to selling something is to only do it for things you truly like. You might not think that it would make a difference, but the audience that you've built your brand on will recognize what you're doing. If you're just out to make a quick buck, they'll know.
On the other hand, if you've made your name fairly and you have a body audience that trusts you, then knowing that you truly love and patronize what you're selling will reinforce your authority.
More than that, more of them might even be persuaded to buy if your recommendations are out of good faith.
Check the requirements
From those two steps, you should already have a rough idea of what affiliate marketing programs you want to try out. Make a list of all the affiliate programs you’re interested in, and then try to see what the requirements are to join.
Different programs will have different requirements.
While there are plenty of affiliate programs whose only requirement is an active website with decent traffic, there are some with stricter requirements. This is especially true when moving into the more lucrative affiliate partners.
Typical requirements are audience counts, daily or monthly visitors, follower counts, mailing list counts, and more.
You need to ensure that the affiliate partners you've chosen have requirements that you can comply with, or you might end up wasting your time in the long run.
Determine if the commission rate is worth it
Next, you also need to choose an affiliate program with the right amount of commission rate to be worth your time.
Just like requirements, different programs also have different rates. Typically, the easier it is to sell something in that affiliate program, the lower the commission. On the other hand, big-ticket items, luxury goods, and niche sales will require more effort on your part, so they pay more commission. One example of this is Amazon, who pays a higher commission for luxury products.
Keep in mind that although affiliate marketing has low startup and maintenance costs, you still have to pour time and energy into ensuring that your affiliate link earns. Make sure that the commissions are worth all the steps you took to direct some business into that link.
Consider exclusivity
Are you looking for an entire network or individual partners? Whatever your choice ends up being, always read the fine print, particularly policies about affiliate exclusivity.
Some affiliate programs don’t allow their partners to work with other brands. For example, Amazon requires that you only have Amazon Affiliates on your website. If not, they can terminate your partnership.
Obviously, this may not be a big issue if you’re satisfied with just one program. However, some marketers want to maximize their earnings by managing multiple brand affiliate partnerships at the same time. If this is you, make sure you check your existing affiliate program’s policies.
Submit your application
The last step to becoming an affiliate marketer is to submit your application to your program of choice.
You can apply for as many programs as you want, but as discussed above, If applying for multiple partners at once, ensure that those affiliate partners are all compatible with each other.
Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Website and Increasing Sales
Affiliate marketing is a good way to earn money, but it only works if you already have a solid audience. Therefore, it’s within your best interests to drive more traffic to your website once you get affiliate partnership deals.
Here are some tips to earn more from affiliate marketing by driving more traffic to your website.
Keep it simple
You might assume that you need to cram as many links as possible in your website in order to get maximum earnings.
Unfortunately–or perhaps, fortunately–that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In fact, nothing will make your audience leave faster than the feeling that you’re only using them to earn money.
Not only does too many affiliate links on one page reduce your credibility, it can also turn off your audience – the very one that you’re trying to sway into purchasing from your links in the first place.
To avoid this, design your website to be simple and inviting. Think about what you could do to help your audience and not the other way around – you’ll get the results you want better this way.
Optimize your website
SEO is one of the most important factors when driving audiences to your website. Optimize both your back-end and front-end to make it easier for search engines to locate your pages and rank them higher on the results page.
Add rich media
Adding videos on high-conversion pages further increases conversion rates, at least according to Mashable. Videos deliver more information than text, and they engage people's attention more, allowing you to pitch your product better.
Build trust
Present social proof that your recommendations are of a high-quality, and always have your audience's best interests at heart. You can do this by adding things such as testimonials, reviews, case studies, statistics, and more.
Frequently post on social media
Another effective thing you can do is to frequently post on social media. These posts can be updates about articles, interesting content, announcements, industry-related things, and more.
Whatever it is, maintaining a regular presence on social media is a good way to gather an audience and encourage engagement.
Create quality content
Finally, ensure that you always have high-quality content for your audience.
The rule of thumb when it comes to gaining an audience is to create high-quality content as much as possible; something that adds value to the lives of your audience. They will then repay the time and effort you put in making your content with trust and patronage of affiliate links when they need to.
Making Money from Affiliate Programs for Beginners
Affiliate marketing is a booming industry, and it's not too late to capitalize on its inherent advantages. It presents a high-ROI, low-cost, and very flexible way of making money, with plenty of potential for growth in the years to come.
Aside from the programs that we mentioned, Z.com is also another good affiliate marketing network to try out. They have a great commission structure that lets you earn a 20% commission on how many clients you refer and the kind of plan they avail.
|
Your Earning (Based on number of clients your refer) |
Personal Hosting Plan |
Business Hosting Plan |
Enterprise Hosting Plan |
|
1x Client |
$3.40 |
$10.00 |
$18.80 |
|
5x Client |
$17.00 |
$50.00 |
$94.00 |
|
10x Client |
$34.00 |
$100.00 |
$188.00 |
While effective, affiliate marketing can also be dreadfully complicated. To help you make the most of your affiliate marketing journey, we made this ultimate guide that contains all the information you need.
Now you know what affiliate programs are, which affiliate programs to try out, how to pick which one is suited for your brand, and how to profit from your affiliate by driving more traffic to your pages.
With everything you need to know laid out, all that’s left for you to do now is to try it out yourself!
FAQ
What is an affiliate program and how does it work?
An affiliate program is a marketing arrangement by a seller and a publisher. The publisher will introduce the seller's products to their audience, and will then receive a commission if one of their audience buys from the seller's link. It's a convenient arrangement that benefits both parties.
Is affiliate marketing still profitable in 2022?
Yes, affiliate marketing can still be highly profitable in 2022. Many blogs, influencers, media personalities, and other websites still host affiliate links, and many sellers are using affiliate partnership arrangements to reach new customers and increase conversion.
Is affiliate marketing hard?
Affiliate marketing may not be a walk in the park, but it’s certainly doable, especially if you already have a large audience. This could be followers on social media or subscribers on other platforms. If you’re starting from scratch, though, it can be a bit time-consuming in the beginning, albeit rewarding once you hit it off.
