No products to sell?No problem.
Fortunately, in the 21st century, you can earn a lot even if you don't have your own product.As an affiliate, you can make money simply by referring to other products and make a commission when they buy someone else's product.
Now it becomes your job to find the best affiliate programs to promote as a blogger.
So, what is an affiliate program?
In affiliate marketing, you simply refer people through your affiliate link to a different website, and when that person makes a purchase, you can make money.It's as easy as that.
If you're reading this article, I suspect you already know what affiliate marketing is, you just want to get some new ideas on where to find some unique or better-paid affiliate programs.
Well, today you are lucky!I've been in the affiliate marketing game for over 10 years now and so I have some ideas to share.Also, I searched the internet (so you don't have to) in order to find some hidden gem affiliate offers that can help you line your pockets a little more.
Let's jump in!
HOW TO CHOOSE A PRODUCT TO PROMOTE?
I don't want to scare you, but I suspect there are over a million different affiliate programs in the world.Think about how many millions of companies there are today in the world … Now consider that many of these companies offer their own affiliate structure (public or private).
As an affiliate marketer and blogger, you can choose one of these programs!But having so many choices can be overwhelming, and therein lies the problem.
With the choice can come uncertainty as to whether you are selecting the right affiliate marketing program for you.As a result, I want to spend just a short amount of time sharing how I think bloggers and other website builders should choose an affiliate program that suits them best.
First, you need to select your niche.If you already have a website and know what your niche is, go ahead and skip this section.
However, if you're just starting out as an affiliate marketer, you could still decide what kind of audience you want to attract and what niche you want to operate in.
I have written extensively about how to proceed by selecting a niche here.
However, what it boils down to is 4 things:
- Is there money in the niche?
- Do you have knowledge or experience in the niche?
- Are you interested (even just a little) in the niche?
- Are there low opportunities for competition in the niche?(In particular, there are low-competition keywords for which you can rank your site on Google.)
When I personally analyze things, I think that the first and last points are the most important: money in the niche and low opportunities for competition. I am less concerned about my level of interest and experience.However, if you have both interest and experience, this could be a great way to narrow down the niche you should target and could give you an edge over the competition.
HOW TO PROMOTE PRODUCTS AS AN AFFILIATE
Now, one last point before I dive into revealing some of the best affiliate marketing programs on the planet.How should you promote products as an affiliate?
In fact, there are several ways you can make money as an affiliate:
Ranking on Google for certain keywords,
- and consult the links on your website.(my favorite)
- Build an e-mail list and promote products through your email list (my second favorite).
- Build a large audience on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) And drive your social networks by following your website or make them click on affiliate links directly from your social channels.
- Youtube.Create unique videos for product review and leave your links below the video or in the video itself.
- On the phone.Route traffic through any of the above means or through paid sources, call people on the phone and close the "sale" through a voice call.
- Personally.You may need to be creative here, but sitting down one-on-one with someone and helping them make a purchase decision via the affiliate link can absolutely work.
- Paid traffic.Google Adwords, Facebook, and about a thousand other sources exist to drive traffic to your site.Find a way to pay less money in ads than you earn in commissions, and you have a money machine.
- Podcasting. Podcasting is great for building an audience; However, it can be difficult to trick people into "clicking" on affiliate links while listening.Don't expect high conversion rates, but expect your audience and influence to grow with a podcast.
You can decide to promote simply through one of these methods or all methods.The options and opportunities are truly endless.
Now that we've laid the groundwork, let's dive into some of the best affiliate marketing programs out there!
BEST AFFILIATE MARKETING PROGRAMS FOR BLOGGERS
The truth is that there is no specific affiliate program that is more suitable for all bloggers.As discussed earlier, you need to figure out which niche you intend to enter and then make the selection of the affiliate program based on that.
As a result, I will share some general affiliate programs for bloggers (and others) that will work in a variety of niches.Then "niche down" and I will share some great affiliate programs for specific niches such as: travel, hosting, online marketing software and much more.
GENERAL AFFILIATE MARKETING PROGRAMS
AMAZON ASSOCIATES
Amazon is the big one.If you're talking about any type of physical product on your site, Amazon probably sells it.This is the affiliate program I mainly use on my niche sites.
Here is the current fee structure for the Amazon Associates program:
| PRODUCT CATEGORY | STANDARD PROGRAM FIXED RATES |
|---|---|
| Amazon Fashion Woman, Men's & Kids Private Label, Luxury Beauty, Amazon Coins | 10.00% |
| Furniture, Home, Home improvements, Lawn and garden, Pet Products, Pantry | 8,00% |
| Apparel, Amazon Cloud Cam devices, Amazon Element Smart TVs (with Fire TV), Amazon Fire TV devices, Amazon Echo devices, Ring devices, watches, jewelry, luggage, shoes, bags, and accessories | 7,00% |
| Headphones, beauty, musical instruments, business and industrial supplies | 6,00% |
| Outdoor, tools | 5,50% |
| Digital music, grocery, physical music, handmade and digital videos | 5,00% |
| Physical Books, Health & Personal Care, Sports, Cooking, Automotive, Children's Products | 4,50% |
| Amazon Fire tablet devices, Dash buttons, Amazon Kindle devices | 4,00% |
| Amazon Fresh, Toys | 3,00% |
| PCs, PC, DVD and Blu-Ray components | 2,50% |
| Televisions, digital video games | 2,00% |
| Physical video games and video game consoles | 1,00% |
| Gift cards; Wireless service plans; Alcoholic beverages; Digital Kindle products purchased as a subscription; Food prepared and delivered by a restaurant; Purchases on Amazon Appstore, Prime Now, Amazon Pay Places or Prime Wardrobe | 0,00% |
| All other categories | 4,00% |
WALMART.COM
Like Amazon, WalMart sells all sorts of physical items, so you have plenty of products to choose from when you're looking to promote.In my experience, WalMart doesn't convert quite as high as Amazon, but you may be able to find some unique products or better deals on WalMart depending on your niche.
| DEPARTMENT | BASIC OFFER |
|---|---|
| Child | 4% |
| beauty | 4% |
| Books | 1% |
| Corporate and personal controls | 18% |
| Clothing | 4% |
| Contact lenses | 10% |
| Electronics | 1% |
| Gifts and register | 4% |
| Bless you | 4% |
| Home | 4% |
| Jewelry shop | 4% |
| Film | 1% |
| Music | 1% |
| Patio and garden | 4% |
| Photos | 1% |
| Sport & Leisure | 4% |
| toys | 4% |
| Video games | 1% |
| All others * | 4% |
EBAY PARTNER NETWORK
I have used eBay's affiliate program in the past… Long ago.eBay can be a great option if you're looking to sell collectibles, unique items, or used items.Yes, eBay sells new items, but for most of those I would recommend using the Amazon associates program.
How much can you pull up?
You earn 50% + of the revenue eBay receives.So, it's a bit tricky to calculate how much money you could actually make.In general, eBay charges about 10% to sellers when selling items on eBay.As a result, your commission would be roughly half of that 10% eBay does.
Here is eBay's legal language and more details.
For any Qualifying Transaction, you receive a percentage of the revenue eBay Inc. earns from that purchase, based on the category-level fees shown below.Note that there are some items and categories for which eBay Inc. earns low or no revenue; In such cases, therefore, you will earn a low or no share of revenue.These items and categories may include, but are not limited to, gift cards, items sold by charities, and special promotional offers.
| REVENUE PROGRAM SHARE BY CATEGORY (EFFECTIVE MARCH 1, 2017) | |
| PARTS AND ACCESSORIES | 70% |
| FASHION | 70% |
| HOME & GARDEN | 60% |
| LIFESTYLE | 60% |
| COLLECTING | 50% |
| ELECTRONICS | 50% |
| BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL | 50% |
Average
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50% |
| VEHICLES | 50% |
| ALL OTHERS | 50% |
| NEW OR REACTIVATED BUYER BONUS (as % of base earnings) | + 100% |
JET.COM
Jet.com focuses mainly on the sale of food and household items.You can find everything from snacks to electronics.So while it's a general market, you won't find the selection big enough like Amazon or Walmart.
The commission for Jet is 2.5% and the affiliate program is managed by Rakuten.
AliExpress
AliExpress is a fantastic market!You can find all kinds of items directly from manufacturers for CHEAP!The reason why the items are so cheap is due to the fact that they come directly from China.
As a result, I wouldn't refer to typical "retail" shoppers here.Most items are shipped from China and can take 2 to 4 weeks to arrive.So, if you use the affiliate program for AliExpress, you need to make sure that you direct visitors aware of this waiting time.
However, if you want really cheap items, AliExpress is a huge marketplace that has pretty much everything.Many people use AliExpress in some way for dropship or to test dropshipping ideas.
In fact, here's a great WordPress plugin called AliPlugin that will automatically create a "store" with your AliExpress affiliate ID built into where you can quickly start selling thousands of products. Check out AliPlugin here.(<—Yep, this is my affiliate link! I told you I know how to do these things 🙂).
AliExpress doesn't make it very easy to find, but they pay commission rates starting at 8.5% and up to 10% depending on volume.
VIGLINK.COM
VigLink is a unique way to monetize your non-monetized content and more.VigLink has the technology to understand when you mentioned a product and will AUTOMATICALLY connect to the highest paying affiliate offer!
You can also manually create links and share them on your site or through other channels.The concept is pretty interesting, especially if you have a lot of content that you think can be monetized better.This makes VigLink a great affiliate program for bloggers.
SKIMLINKS.COM
An alternative to VigLink is SkimLinks.SkimLinks works similarly in that it turns your product mentions into affiliate links from which you can make commissions.
SkimLinks cooperates with thousands of merchants on the Internet and will do its best to get the highest commission rate possible.Since they are a preferred partner of many of these affiliate programs, you can sometimes earn more by using SkimLinks than by applying directly to the program.
OTHER AFFILIATE PROGRAMS OR AFFILIATE NETWORKS
HOW I BUILT A NICHE SITE THAT EARNS $2,985 PER MONTH
You want to start a niche site that can bring in $3,000 per month… or more?Here I discuss:
- The tools you'll need
- How to get started with a budget
- The best way to generate income quickly
Interested? Click here to learn how to start your own revenue-generating niche site.
| Affiliate Network | Notes |
| CJ.com | Commission Junction by Conversant is one of the oldest and most established affiliate networks.I personally registered with them probably around 2007. Commissions vary depending on the seller.But if you want to get in touch with some very established brands you may have to visit CJ.com. |
| ShareASale.com | ShareASale is another established affiliate network that has been around for a long time.They have offerings ranging from software tools (like Opt In Monster) to physical objects.A good network to find both generic products and software to promote. |
| Impact radius | Impact claims not to be an affiliate network.And it may not be all they do, but they admit that part of what they do is match partners with affiliates.Many established brands work with Impact, including Uber, AirBnB, TicketMaster and many more. |
| AvantLink Method | Avant Link works with thousands of brands you can choose from as an affiliate, including: REI and many more.You can see a full list of merchants who need to choose right here. |
| Pepperjam | PepperJam is another established player in the market.They work with large companies such as eBates, RetailMeNot, Groupon and many others.Commission fees vary by seller. |
| Rakuten | Rakuten must be one of the largest and arguably most established affiliate networks on the planet.Formerly called LinkShare, they are extremely reliable and reliable to provide great merchants to choose from.Some of the merchants for whom they run their affiliate programs are: Walmart.com, Guess, Macy's, Sephora, Spartan and MANY others. |
| twin | Awin is another established affiliate network that focuses on reputable resellers.With over 13,000 merchants to choose from, you can't go wrong. |
| Clickbank | Clickbank has been around for a long time, but they differ from many of the networks I mentioned earlier. Clickbank focuses primarily only on digital products.As a result, you get reliable and untrustworthy offers ranging from software to online courses.Trample carefully that you're promoting the things that are good for your audience here.You may have to wade through a lot of "poor" offers before you find the good ones (and there are good ones there). |
| PeerFly | PeerFly has over 2,700 offers to choose from.They are an affiliate network based on CPA (cost per action).In other words, they have a lot of offers that pay when generating leads or email addresses to merchants. |
| FlexOffers Property | Flex Deals has over 500 providers to choose from, many of which are CPA offerings.However, they also have many traditional retail offerings. |
| MaxBounty | Max Bounty is a dedicated CPA network that prides itself on maximum payouts .You can choose from brands like 99designs, CheapOair, and McAfee. |
| WideMarkets | WideMarkets is another CPA network that has many brands to choose from. |
| AffiBank Property | Affi Bank looks like Clickbank's younger brother.A quick glance shows that they have very few offers and look like spam to me.Personally I would avoid. |
| LeadBit Property | Lead Bit appears to be a high-quality CPA network based in the UK.Top-notch technology and reporting. |
| Affiliate partners pride themselves on being a high-paying CPA network that finds those offers unique or hard to find.Whether this is true or not, I'm not sure.However, they seem to be an established player. | |
| Crak Revenue claims to drive over $40 million in partner sales per year and has over 1,000 deals to choose from.However, they seem to primarily promote adult products and websites. | |
| Based in Australia, this affiliate network seems to focus primarily on retailers.Some companies they work with are: AirBNB, Lululemon and Virgin Australia. | |
| I haven't used Ad Combo in the past; however, this CPA network has a web design that looks a bit dated and the offerings they have may be prone to being "inaccurate."My intuition may be wrong here, but that's the sense I get by reviewing their website. | |
| Revi Media seems to have many lead generation or pay per call opportunities.These offerings range from mortgage and finance to solar and medical.It seems to be well-established and respectable. | |
| Revenue Wire happens to be both an affiliate network and a payment processor, which is pretty interesting.They mainly focus on CPA offers, including: cost-per-click, cost-per-lead, cost-per-sale, and more. | |
| Global Wide Media (which purchased NeverBlue Ads), has thousands of CPAs and other offers to choose from.With an international footprint, there's probably something you can find to promote there. | |
| Based in the UK, but also with an office in the US, this affiliate network focuses primarily on Health and Beaty products.This is a lucrative niche and More Niche seems to have a lot of deals available. |
Overall, this list above literally scratches the surface of all kinds of affiliate programs and networks available.If you haven't found your niche yet, browsing the list above can give you a general idea of what types of offerings are available and maybe even help you narrow down the level of your interst in working with some of these programs.
However, if you are already established with your blog or business, Google will become your best friend in finding the best offer to promote.Search and find my friend!
Now that I've given you a quick overview of the most general shopping and affiliate programs and networks available, I'd like to highlight some affiliate programs available in some of the most popular categories such as travel, hosting, software, and more.
TRAVEL AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
If you have a blog or are thinking of starting a blog in the travel space, there are many different types of products you can promote as an affiliate.Starting a travel blog is a great way to go about it as people will ALWAYS be looking for more details about destinations and vacation ideas.
Here are just a few travel affiliate programs you can earn from:
| Travel Affiliate Program | Commission / Winnings | Revision |
| Booking.com | 10-25% | You can use booking.com to promote all kinds of hotels and other holiday accommodation.Well established and millions of properties.You get paid 10 to 25% of Booking.com's profit. |
| AirBNB.com | $25 – $75 | You can refer guests or new hosts (property owners) to AirBNB and earn a commission in either case.It seems that you are currently being paid a fixed cost of $25 for each listed guest and $75 for each new host. |
| Tripadvisor | 50% | With hotels, flights, restaurants, vacation rentals, cruises, and more as part of the Trip Advisors portal, you can earn money for any type of trip you can imagine.With an established brand, this is a great general travel affiliate program.(Managed by CJ.com). |
| Sandals Resort | 4% | Sandals Resort offers tons of resort resorts and is a great affiliate program if you have a travel blog or audience.This is also managed by CJ.com. |
| Travel credit cards | Varies | If you're talking about travel, airline miles or credit cards are also in high demand among travelers.Consider recommending credit cards that are suitable for your audience. |
BEST HOSTING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
If you're in the online marketing space, you know that hosting affiliate fees can get a big payout.However, not all web hosts are created equal.So, be sure to recommend quality hosting companies to your audience.
Here are just a few options; However, there are hundreds more:
| Hosting Affiliate Program | Commission / Winnings | Revision |
| BigScoots.com | 90% of the 1st month | I've recently switched all my sites (including the site you're on now) to BigScoots.com and I couldn't be happier.For this reason, I recommend their affiliate program.It may or may not pay the maximum, but their product is top-notch, so it's worth becoming an affiliate for that reason alone. |
| Kinsta.com | $50 – $500 + 10% monthly | Kinsta is a great hosting company.I was using Kinsta for all my sites until I discovered Big Scoots (which is cheaper and faster).However, Kinsta was definitely above the hosting company I was using earlier (which will remain unnamed).Kinsta is a great company with great customer service.You can join Kinsta here. |
| BlueHost.com | $90+ | Bluehost is widely promoted by affiliates because it is cheap and pays high commissions.(You can earn more than $90 per signup if you negotiate with an affiliate representative.)Bluehost was the first webhost I used and I still think it's fair to use it if you're just starting out.Test your ideas on BlueHost, and if your website starts to show some progress, switch to a better host like Big Scoots. |
| HostGator.com | Up to $125 | HostGator is another established and solid hosting company.They have plans of all sizes, so you can start small and grow with them.Their affiliate program is another high-value program that is quite popular among affiliates. |
| Hosting WPX | $70 to $100 | Do more based on a tiering system for the number of referrals.WPX is another great dedicated WordPress hosting platform worth recommending. |
INTERNET MARKETING SOFTWARE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
The niche I know best is the online marketing niche.This really ranges from keyword research tools to graphic design tools and services to WordPress plugins.There are many thousands of digital marketing software tools available, so it's impossible to list them all.
However, not all Internet marketing programs are created equally.Below I have listed just a few of the programs that I think are worth promoting as an affiliate: KDP Rocket
| Software tool | Commission / Winnings | Revision |
| Long Tail Pro | 30% recurring | Full Disclosure: I am the creator of Long Tail Pro .However, I sold the company 3 years ago.You can make big commissions by promoting this keyword research tool that both beginners and marketers need. |
| SEMrush | 40% recurring | SEMrush is a great tool.You can see my full review here.I love the affiliate program because it pays a recurring commission… Forever.To sign up for the affiliate program, go to BeRush.com. |
| Jungle Scout | Varies by product | While Jungle Scout isn't a tool that all online retailers will want or need, it appeals to Amazon sellers.So, if your audience consists of someone who could sell products on Amazon (as a seller, not as an affiliate), Jungle Scout is a great tool that you should promote. |
| Merch Informer | 25% recurring | Merch Informer is another niche software tool that marketers won't find useful.However, among the people who create and sell T-shirts through the Amazon Merch program, Merch Informer is the ideal tool.The best part is that it pays recurring fees and the plans start really cheap, so it converts well. |
| Design Pickle | 15% recurring | Design Pickle isn't technically a software tool, but I hope you don't mind pushing it here.Design Pickle is a great affiliate program with recurring monthly commissions.Users pay monthly to make unlimited graphic designs.I wrote a whole review right here. |
| Helium 10 | 25% recurring | Helium 10 is another software tool created for Amazon sellers.This tool is very useful for Amazon keyword research and product research.You can read my full Helium 10 review here.This is a nice recurring commission product to promote as an affiliate. |
| ClickFunnels | 40% recurring | Clickfunnels has a great affiliate program that pays recurring commissions.This tool also has wide reach for any potential small business doing online marketing.Create landing pages, build funnels, sell products or courses, and you can potentially abandon your entire website for Clickfunnels (this is their claim). Read my ClickFunnels review here. |
| Could | 30% recurring | Podia is an online teaching platform where you can host your course.Selling a course is one of the easiest ways to start making money online (assuming you have something valuable to teach).The Podia affiliate program pays to get course creators on their platform. |
| Thrive Themes / Architect / Leads | 50% recurring | What started as Thrive Themes has evolved over the years into an entire "Thrive" business.You can now promote (and earn recurring commissions) not only on themes, but on Thrive Architect, Thrive Leads, and Thrive Apprentice. |
| KDP Rocket | 50% | It only pays a one-time fee, but the conversion rate of visitors to buyers is quite high for this niche-specific software tool.The publisher Rocket (as it's now called) serves the audience of potential authors doing keyword research for the Amazon Kindle marketplace and more. |
| Elegant themes | 50% | If you have an audience of internet sellers or small business owners, then you know that everyone needs a website.The stylish themes look great and are an established company. |
Again, I could easily add another 100 affiliate software programs, but I think this is a good example.
OTHER NICHES TO CONSIDER
Based on Google trends and other search criteria I've studied, there are many other niche affiliate programs that are popular.Rather than going through each niche and listing different options, as I've done before, I'll simply list the niche and teach you how to find the best affiliate programs.
The easiest way to find products to promote as an affiliate in a certain niche is to search on Google.The best Google search query that will help you find the best affiliate programs is simply:
- "Niche/Keyword" + Affiliate Program
The more focused you are, the better.So, if you are in the financial space, you can search for "financial + affiliate programs".However, a better search query would be to consider which specific products you might promote and look for those:
- "Credit Cards" + Affiliate Program
- "Airline Mileage Credit Cards" + Affiliate Program
- "Online savings account" + affiliate program
This should reveal a bunch of affiliate programs that you can start using to monetize your blog.
Find a list of potential niche markets and affiliate programs you could promote:
- Finance & Investment
- Animals
- Camping & Leisure
- Sporting goods and clothing
- Health & Fitness
- Computers and electronics
- Fashion
- Food Blogging
- Online dating
- Furniture and household items
- Pregnancy and child / parenting
- Real estate
- Mortgages and credit cards
- Golf
- Supplements
- Weight loss
- Teeth whitening
- Insurance
CREATE YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM
Now, if you have a product to sell, you should definitely create your own affiliate program!You can use an affiliate network like ClickBank, ShareASale, Rakuten, or many others I mentioned above to help you manage and execute your affiliate program.
Then you can start recruiting your army of affiliates to start selling your products for you.
If you want someone to help you create and, most importantly, grow your affiliate program, you should take a look at AffiliateManager.com
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the list above?Do you think there are other affiliate programs or networks I should include?Overall, I hope you've found this information useful in your search to find the best possible product to promote for your niche blog or site.
