What You Need To Know And How To Earn From Affiliate Marketing

Blogging or vlogging can be very satisfying, boost self-esteem and give you more confidence in your craft.

But did you know that your passion for content can help you earn money using your online channel?

Enter affiliate marketing.

When you don’t sell products or services,  an affiliate marketing program is a great way to monetize your content online.

You can earn more money by joining an affiliate marketing program and getting exclusive access to new content and special deals for your audience.

Is affiliate marketing a real money-maker?

By the end of 2022, affiliate marketing will be worth $12 billion from revenues spurred partly by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is estimated to be a multibillion-dollar industry.

Statista estimates that contributions from the US industry revenues alone will reach $8.2 billion in 2022, up from $7.4 billion in 2021.

Eight out of ten brands run many of the best affiliate marketing programs, according to Forrester Research.

Here are other vital statistics that you need to know;

• In Canada and the US, affiliate marketing drives 16% of eCommerce sales.
• An online affiliate marketing manager can earn an average of $58,000 annually.
• SaaS-based products typically pay affiliate partners between 20% and 70% commissions due to the effectiveness of affiliate programs.
• Affiliate marketing accounts for 31% of publishers’ top revenue sources.
• Over 100,000 affiliates belong to the top affiliate networks.
• The majority of affiliate marketers use blogs to increase traffic to their websites.

Affiliate programs: what are they?

As part of an affiliate program, a business pays a third party or influencer (the affiliate) a commission for referring traffic and sales.

Integrating social media, web content, and products can all be used to achieve this goal.

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to promote a product or service. It’s cost-effective, low-risk, innovative, performance-driven, resilient, and fun to work with.

Finding out what is the best affiliate marketing program for you requires careful consideration and finding out what meets your needs and preferences, especially those that are tied to your particular niche or areas of expertise.

 Although the objectives may seem different, most advertisers are primarily concerned with reaching new audiences and selling more products and services to raise revenue. Taking advantage of new partnerships, saving time, and becoming more efficient can help you achieve this.

An affiliate program can be anything from an online course to a website builder, a marketing program, or a business affiliate program.

We aim to ensure you can make money off your content by exploring the best affiliate programs with the most earning potential.

In what ways do affiliates make money?

Affiliates receive a unique link (called an affiliate link) that you can use to track clicks – generally by using cookies.

After the cookie is set, the affiliate can determine whether the user has made a purchase. The affiliate receives payment if a product or service is purchased within the allotted period.

Cookies have a “life” or “length,” which refers to how long they can track the user’s activities online.

It is important to note that if a cookie has a 30-day life, your referral must purchase within 30 days of clicking your affiliate link to earn a commission. Otherwise, the lead becomes untraceable.

It’s crucial to pick the affiliate program best suited for your business if you’re interested in starting one. So let’s look at the types of affiliate programs next.

Affiliate Program Types

Consider affiliate programs if you are interested in promoting products or services.

It’s essential to keep in mind where your audience spends the most time when choosing an affiliate program.

What are the typical ways your buyer persona researches new products? For example, do they read blog posts, browse Facebook, or search engines?

If your buyer persona is always searching for a good deal, a coupon site may be helpful to them.

Is your promotion effort more worthwhile on a review site if they are more interested in researching before purchasing?

Those are questions you’ll need to answer for yourself, but here are some general types of affiliate programs so you can start brainstorming your marketing strategies:

Influencer Programs

Consider partnering with a company whose products appeal to your specific audience if you’re a blogger or social media influencer.

Food bloggers or YouTube influencers who create recipe content might consider partnering with companies that sell kitchen appliances for a commission when products are sold through your affiliate links.

The goal is to increase revenue if your promoting products are popular with your target audience.

Affiliates for Search

Marketers participate in this program by purchasing advertising on search engines such as Google or Facebook.

This is an excellent option if you’re an SEO marketer who wants to see which ads generate the most referral traffic and ROI.

Email Marketing

Sending small emails with low response rates is best when promoting a product or service. You do not want to send bulk emails to an audience not interested in what you are offering.

It is possible to use this method effectively if you keep in mind who will receive the email.

If you work for a marketing agency, consider partnering with a company that sells design tools and incorporating an affiliate link into emails you send to potential clients.

You can help your clients produce higher-quality content and generate additional revenue.

Review Sites

Consumers may find it intimidating to buy products online blind, so they visit review sites during the buying process to conduct research before committing to a purchase.

Companies and affiliate networks partner with review sites to provide product and service reviews in exchange for a commission.

Coupon Sites

Coupon sites operate similarly to review sites, offering discounts to buyers in exchange for a commission.

What are the best affiliate networks?

If you are having trouble deciding which affiliate program to join first, consider joining an affiliate network. Since affiliate networks act as a marketplace instead of offering products from only one company, they can offer a more extensive selection of brands and offers for you to choose from.

A beginner affiliate marketer may love this option as it does not require them to manage a lot of partnerships at once, and you can join as many affiliate networks as you want, so there are no limitations on what you can do.

There are a lot of affiliate programs that you can join if you want to generate income as a blogger or small business. Below, we will go over some of the best affiliate marketing programs that you can choose from.

Amazon Associates

Amazon Affiliates, also known as Amazon Associates, is a project introduced by Amazon to facilitate affiliate marketing activities.

You can become an Amazon Associates partner by creating links on your site to Amazon.com products. It’s absolutely free.

Customers who buy products from Amazon via the links earn referral fees.

With Amazon being one of the best online shopping platforms, you will likely find what you’re looking for there.

Depending on the category of the product purchased, Amazon Associates receive commissions between 1% and 10%.

Clothing and luxury beauty products are the best to promote since they earn you a 10% discount.

With Amazon affiliate marketing, you’ll have an easier time selling since people already know the company and enjoy shopping there.

Due to the company’s wide range of products, it is a good fit for most types of businesses. In particular, the company’s conversion rate is very high during the holidays.

For instance, recommend cat treats or dog toys if your audience is interested in pets.

Moreover, if someone visits Amazon through your link and purchases something other than what your content links to, you still receive a commission on their entire order.

However, some categories, such as video games and electronics, have particularly low commissions.

In response to the growing number of businesses with large audiences, Amazon recently launched the Amazon Influencer Program in addition to its Associates program for social media influencers.

As an Amazon Associates member, you receive similar benefits and a unique URL for your own Amazon page to showcase the products you recommend.

For now, you must have an account on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to be eligible for this program. Amazon calculates eligibility based on your social media account’s number of followers and engagement metrics.

Awin

The Awin affiliate network is a leading provider of marketing solutions for advertisers, agencies, and publishers worldwide.

By using a trusted and risk-free commercial model, it is able to reach the targeted audience, i.e., it provides access to a wide range of publisher partners.

Over 100,000 publishers and 15,000 advertisers are partnered with the platform worldwide.

Each day, around 230 new affiliates join this network, making it the largest affiliate network with the most publisher links in the world.

With its performance-based business model, Awin partners with advertisers and publishers. As part of its agreement with an advertiser, Awin negotiates a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) commission payment that the advertiser pays for completing an action, which is usually a sale to a customer.

This publishers’ referral program also pays $30 for every successful referral that leads to a publisher receiving their first payment. It yields an average CPA commission of 5% as well as a conversion rate of 4%.

You can make monetizing your blog easier with Awin’s suite of tools. For example, Convert-A-Link for publishers will automatically convert your product links into affiliate links that are trackable, while Tracking Optimization will track and report on sales to make it easier for you to do so.

Awin’s platform also offers a number of reporting tools that publishers can use to keep track of their performance over time using the platform’s reporting features.

eBay Partner Network

With over a billion listings spanning a wide range of product categories, eBay’s affiliate program has many of the same advantages as Amazon’s – a well-known brand, high conversion rates, and a variety of products for affiliates to choose from.

Commissions range from 1% to 4% for affiliates.

You can earn a percentage of eBay’s revenue from the sale, depending on the product category you sell. In addition, the eBay Partner Network earns a commission of 1% to 4%.

This program offers a comprehensive rate card for all the high-ticket items, either part of the Parts & Accessories category or the Fashion category. However, this program has a downside – it has a cap for each category, and most of them fall well below $1,000. Therefore, you could improve your earning potential.

Rakuten Advertising

There is no doubt that Rakuten, known initially as Linkshare, is one of the oldest affiliate networks in the world.

As a result of the fact that Rakuten has been a trusted name in affiliate marketing for so many years, it has been able to establish partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world such as Sephora, New Balance, and JetBlue, among others.

It is important to note that Rakuten only has partnerships with around 1,000 merchants, which is much fewer than other competing networks, despite its impressive partner roster. 

In spite of this, if you’re a small business or brand new to affiliate marketing, it is advantageous to sign up with Rakuten in order to have access to affiliate offers from brands your audience will recognize.

Commission rates vary with the product and which merchant the affiliate comes from, just as they do with many other affiliate networks.

CJ Affiliate

With a market share of 7.69%, the CJ Affiliate network (formerly known as Commission Junction) is one of the most popular affiliate networks available today.

Among the benefits of using CJ Affiliates is that it comes with a large selection of brand partnerships covering a wide range of verticals such as retail, travel, finance, and network and home services.

There are currently over 3,800 brands that CJ partners with, including household names like Barnes & Noble, Office Depot, J.Crew, and Blue Apron, to name a few.

ShareASale

The ShareASale affiliate network is owned, operated, and owned by Awin, which means it has thousands of merchants of all types partnered with it, making it a breeze to find the right affiliate product – no matter what niche you are in.

One of its most well-known brand partners is Etsy, as well as Reebok and Warby Parker are some of its most well-known brands.

On ShareASale’s dashboard, you can generate affiliate links and review sales stats once you have joined the network. Once you have entered the web, you must apply to the individual merchants you wish to use.

The commission rates for affiliate programs are subject to change due to the wide variety of products and merchants available.

FlexOffers

It is important to note that FlexOffers has an extensive affiliate database of over 10,000 players from over 65 networks. FlexOffers partners with some of the world’s biggest retailers, such as Samsung, Nike, Microsoft, and Macy’s, among many others.

With FlexOffers’ easy-to-use dashboard, you can easily access more than 650 million products, making it easy to find the best offer that best meets your needs. Once you have found the product you’re looking for, you can use FlexOffers’ automated affiliate links to take advantage of its affiliate network.

As the commission rates vary based on the merchant, publishers are paid every month on a NET 60 basis, meaning they are paid 60 days after the last day of the month rather than every week.

Highest Paying Affiliate Programs

Coursera: You can make up to 45% on every sale

Volusion: Offers a 200% sign-up bonus

Semrush: $200 per subscription

BigCommerce: Up to 200% commission per confirmed sale

Shift4Shop: $5 – $25 commission per sign-up

Flywheel: Up to 300% commission per Sign-up

TripAdvisor: Minimum 50% commission per Booking

Invoice Ninja: Up to 50% commission per Sign-up

Capitalist Exploits: 50% per sale

Coursera

You can earn a commission ranging from 10% to 45%, and it has a cookie life of 30 days.

There are over 1,000 courses available through Coursera, an online learning platform providing students with pre-recorded videos, quizzes, and assignments for each period. 

In addition, Coursera offers a variety of specializations, ranging from Digital Marketing to Applied Data Science and Personal Development.

As part of Coursera’s affiliate program, you can earn up to 45% commission and bonuses based on your performance.

Coursera’s courses and specializations typically range from $29 to $99.

As an affiliate with Coursera, you can use professionally designed banners and receive a monthly affiliate newsletter that includes curated content recommendations.

Volusion

Earn a commission of up to 200% per sign-up, with a cookie life of 45 days.

Providing small businesses with an easy and cost-effective way to set up, manage, and expand their online stores, Volusion offers customers options to assist them at every step, including support with domain purchase, web design, cart integration, and SEO.

An affiliate receives a 200% commission on their referred customer’s first monthly payment. 

In addition, as an affiliate, you get access to marketing materials to help you promote your business.

Semrush

Earn commissions of $200 per subscription, $10 per free trial, and $0.01 per new sign-up.

It has a long cookie life that lasts for ten years.

In addition to providing digital marketers with SEO and competitive analysis tools, Semrush is also a SaaS provider. 

A very generous 10-year cookie life is offered as part of the company’s affiliate program, which gives $200 per subscription, so if you refer ten people, you will generate $2,000 a month if you refer ten people.

Since Semrush’s affiliate program operates a first-cookie attribution system, which means that if a referral cancels their subscription and reconsiders in the future (within ten years), you would still be able to earn commissions on that new subscription.

In addition to the promotional materials offered in five different languages, all applicants who sign up for Semrush are automatically pre-approved. As a result, the sign-up process takes only a few minutes, allowing you to start immediately.

BigCommerce

Earn commissions of up to 200% or $1,500 per enterprise customer. Cookie life spans 90 days.

The company created the BigCommerce platform in 2009 and currently powers thousands of e-commerce stores in more than 150 countries. 

The platform serves various industries, such as fashion, automotive, manufacturing, food, and health.

You will earn 200% of the customer’s first monthly payment if you refer them to BigCommerce (up to $500 per referral) or $1,500 per referral if you refer enterprise customers to BigCommerce.

Shift4Shop

Earn a commission of $5 up to $25 per Sign-up, with a cookie life of 120 days.

In addition to being an e-commerce platform, Shift4Shop also strongly focuses on search engine optimization.

Using Shift4Shop, you can start a business, integrate a shopping cart into a working site, or replace the current shopping cart that you are using with a new one. 

Shift4Shop provides you with all the tools you need to start and run a successful online business.

Aside from earning a commission of $5 to $25 on each referred customer, affiliate marketers also have access to a wide variety of marketing tools and content, such as banners, affiliate marketing newsletters, and so much more.

Shift4Shop’s affiliate program runs on the ShareASale (Awin) network, and affiliates are also provided with a dedicated affiliate manager for guidance.

Flywheel

Earn a commission of 300% or up to $500 per referral. Cookie life lasts for 90 days.

Flywheel is another WordPress hosting solution that promises to take away all the hassle of web hosting for users to focus on what they do best – designing and creating websites – instead of worrying about web hosting.

Affiliates can earn 300% of the first month’s payment on any plan and up to $500 per referral source.

Flywheel offers affiliates many creative assets, from banners, co-branded landing pages and stylish social images. In addition, Flywheel is willing to work with affiliates to create custom images that can further boost their commissions.

It is important to note that there is no minimum threshold for receiving a payment and no limitations on receiving it.

TripAdvisor

Earn a minimum commission of 50% per confirmed booking. Cookie life lasts for 14 days.

Undoubtedly, TripAdvisor is regarded as one of the world’s largest travel websites. It helps people decide where they want to stay, how they would like to fly, what to do, and where to eat based on the wisdom of the crowds.

As a result of the site, you can compare prices from more than 200 hotel booking sites to find the cheapest hotel for you at the best price.

In the TripAdvisor affiliate program, powered by Commission Junction, you are eligible to earn a 50% commission on any revenue generated from users clicking on links, ads, or referral links that take them to a TripAdvisor partner site.

In other words, unlike most other affiliate programs on this list, you do not have to wait until your referral purchases to earn your commission. Instead, you are paid whenever someone clicks on one of the ads or links on TripAdvisor’s website that came from your website.

The average affiliate earns between $0.15 and $0.75 per click-out. While it may seem small, since your revenue is only dependent on clicks (and not purchases), it adds up quite nicely after a while.

Invoice Ninja

Earn commissions of up to 50% on all referrals for four years. Instead of a cookie, Invoice Ninja tracks performance by account creation from a referral URL that could last up to four years.

As an affiliate partner with Invoice Ninja, an open-source invoicing app for freelancers and businesses, you can make 50% on all referrals for the next four years on the Ninja Pro Plan, which costs just $10 a month. 

In other words, if you refer 100 Pro users, you get $5,000 yearly for the next four years.

Additionally, users can start with a free account and upgrade when they decide it’s worthwhile, so your site visitors can try it quickly.

Invoice Ninja gives access to logos and ads to make it easy for you to promote their tool, and you can provide their affiliate link in your email signature, blog post, or email newsletter.

If your social media community or site visitors are primarily online entrepreneurs or freelancers, this could be an excellent partnership to consider.

Capitalist Exploits

Earn a commission of up to 50% with a one-year cookie life.

By providing trade recommendations to their subscribers, Capitalist Exploits aims to help investors and anyone interested in outperforming the market by providing only the best opportunities that are low in risk and high in rewards.

Consider this program if your target audience is a group of investors, high-net-worth individuals interested in investing, financial advisors, or wealth managers.

Affiliates are paid a 50% commission on the sale of any referral that purchases Capitalist Exploits.

Their products range from $1,575 to $3,499, so each referral is worth a minimum of $787.50. Affiliates also have exclusive access to paid membership trials for their audiences.

Conclusion

So, is affiliate marketing a real money-maker? Absolutely. If you’re looking for a way to monetize your content and grow your audience while earning extra cash, joining an affiliate program is worthwhile.

When deciding which program to choose, you must consider several key factors. These include how well-established your online following is and how much you would like to make from your efforts.

It is also critical to know who your target audience is and what they are interested in.

Choose an affiliate marketing program that will allow you to promote products that support what your website visitors or social media followers need and could benefit from.

Find one that is based on those needs.

You will be well on your way to exponentially multiplying your affiliate income once you do this.

And as the industry continues to grow, there are plenty of opportunities for those willing to work.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today and start earning through your content.