Influencer marketing is big business. From Oprah’s Favorite Things to Kylie Jenner’s Instagram account, influencer marketing grew to an estimated $9.7 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach nearly $14 billion this year.
Working in the industry as the founder of an influencer monetization platform, I find that many of today’s savvy brands understand the power of influencers and are rewarding them with a percentage of every sale generated from their online promotional efforts. This is affiliate marketing, and it is helping to drive e-commerce sales globally—it also provides a source of significant income for individuals who can successfully tap into this industry.
Of course, fortune doesn’t happen overnight. To be a successful affiliate marketer, you must build your influence, drive traffic to the affiliate links you share, and convert these clicks into sales.
If you see a future as an influencer and want to monetize your influence, here are six ways to ensure affiliate marketing success.
1.Focus on quality leads, not quantity.
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One of the biggest mistakes that aspiring affiliate marketers make is ignoring the quality of the clicks, or "leads," they receive in favour of quantity. In a bid to generate thousands of clicks and a potential commission, one tactic I often see is the use of automated bots (available from traffic-buying services) to inflate the number of clicks on their links.
Remember, brands pay affiliates based on conversions (the percentage of traffic a brand receives that converts to a sale). A bot will never make you money because it doesn’t purchase anything. Instead, concentrate on getting quality, targeted clicks. This leads to my next point.
2. Prioritize your audience.
If you’re starting out in affiliate marketing, focus on targeted outreach among communities that are most likely to convert. Engage with audiences that have similar interests to you or have problems that can be solved by your expertise.
Pay attention to discussions on Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Nextdoor, Reddit and other social media platforms and forums. What are people asking about and responding to?
When you’re ready to respond, share your viewpoint and post an affiliate link that points to a solution that can save them time and money.
For instance, if you’re passionate about the outdoors, you probably hang out online with fellow outdoorsy types, sharing experiences and answering questions. People pay attention to you—you’re an influencer! When someone’s looking for a recommendation for new camping gear, you can monetize that status by sharing what worked for you and including an affiliate link to an Orvis or Cabela’s deal page with the brand’s current coupon codes and deals.
Think of your actions as word-of-mouth marketing: "You have a problem." Here’s what worked for me! "
3. It’s about conversion rates, not commissions.
The most successful affiliate marketers don’t chase high commission rates; they focus on promoting brands with strong conversion rates. For instance, an affiliate programme that pays $1,000 per sale may sound appealing, but if the conversion rate is a mere 0.02%, it would require a huge number of clicks to make any money.
You’re more likely to generate a steady revenue stream by choosing an affiliate programme that pays $1 per conversion but converts at 20%. Couple this approach with consistent efforts to grow your circle of followers, and you have the potential for big payouts.
4.Build a subscriber list.
Once you begin to gain traction, look for ways to build your own brand and a loyal following. Create a website and/or blog where you can share deals (in a 2018 report, affiliate sites with content and bloggers ranked highest in terms of ad spend by affiliate type, at 39%). Stay connected with followers and grow your revenues further by issuing a weekly or daily newsletter. Give people an incentive to opt in. For example, send out "deal of the day" emails, and add value with tips on how you or others are using the products you promote.
5. Keep track of your progress.
To be successful in any marketing program, you need to know what’s working and what isn’t.
To understand the performance of your affiliate links, use the tools offered by your affiliate network or influencer monetization platform to see what your followers are responding to. As you get more sophisticated, your website, email marketing platform, social media channels, and site analytics can also provide insights into how effective your other influencer activities are.
Follow the rules.
Be sure to play by the rules. The companies you promote have worked hard to build their brands and are sensitive to how their affiliates promote them online. Don’t make claims about a brand that are untrue and don’t register domain names or build social media landing pages using their trademark names. Another red flag is the use of paid search advertising to promote your affiliate links. Unless you have a direct relationship with a brand and permission to run ads in its name, this is a traffic-generating tactic to avoid.
You must also respect a forum or website’s guidelines when posting affiliate links. If you work through an affiliate network or influencer monetization platform, stick to the established terms and conditions.
Commit to the long haul — it’s worth it.
Affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes commitment and consistency to earn trust and build an affiliate business. The beauty of becoming an affiliate is that the rewards are incremental. Once shared, an affiliate link can continue to perform and earn commissions over time. As search engines index your content and your links are shared, their value will also grow, especially if the link doesn’t expire.
The key is to start small. As you get to know your audience and bring value to the conversation, you’ll earn trust and add to your circle of followers — and your ability to generate revenue will grow.
Are you an entrepreneur who is looking for yet another source of revenue? Are you ready to step up your freelancing game and start earning thousands of dollars more each year as an affiliate marketer?
Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest methods of making money for online marketers. Even before the internet started, and people called it affiliate marketing, you could offer discounts or rewards to people who sent their friends, family, or other interested parties to your business (hello, referrals!) The great thing is, you don’t have to deal with customer service or creating new product ideas.
Today, affiliate marketing has expanded into a multi-billion dollar industry on which marketers all over the world capitalize every day. In this article, we will find out all about the basics and benefits of affiliate marketing, how you can get in on the action, the best way to protect yourself in this tricky world, and which tools you may find useful to your work.
How to be an Online Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is a tool for you to make money for companies to get their products and services into the hands and lives of others.The days of cold advertising on television and in pop-ups are beginning to fade away and are being replaced by "helpful advertising" in the form of online affiliate marketing.
As an affiliate marketer, you create content.Maybe it’s blog content or a full informative website.Perhaps it’s a lively Facebook or Twitter feed.Either way, your content is helpful to people who go online and search for things.Maybe these people want to hear someone else’s thoughts on a particular product.Maybe they want to know what types of products they need to achieve their goals.
Your job, as an affiliate marketer, is to set yourself up as an authority on some sort of topic – beauty, fashion, electronics, automotive repair, et cetera.
Once you have established – on your website, blog, or social media feed – that you know what you are talking about you can start making recommendations to your readers.The recommendations you make lead to sales for other companies and those companies, in turn, pay you a cut of their profits for the help you gave.
The Single Biggest Pro & Con of Being an Affiliate Marketer
Working as an affiliate marketer isn’t really working much at all, once you get into the swing of things.Although the work is front-end heavy (you have to do a lot before you will see any income) you will eventually find that you don’t need to do much work at all and that you will literally make money as you sleep.
Let’s take a look at the biggest pros and cons of affiliate work.
Pro – You can make money while you sleep.
Once you set up your website, get your content flowing and schedule all relevant social media your web traffic will begin to pick up. You can make good passive income money online with affiliate marketing. If you’ve done everything properly you will find that money from purchases and click-throughs comes into your account when you aren’t even looking.
Con – It takes a while to get started.
Getting your feet off the ground and flying through the online affiliate marketing world may get a little frustrating at first. It takes time to build an online presence and really begin competing with other major websites. As long as you don’t give up and continually create helpful content you will come out on top in the end.
How to Start an Online Affiliate Marketing Business from Scratch
So, getting started can take some time but you are still willing to see this through because, well, you could end up making money while you sleep! What’s a little extra work now in order to make more money and work less, right?
There are 3 key parts of the "getting started" process you need to know:
Finding affiliate partners and affiliate programs
Setting up affiliate partnerships (yes, this is a step all on its own!)
Setting up affiliate advertisements
You’ve probably heard about people who use e-commerce websites and large online stores or affiliate marketing networks as their affiliate partners. Usually, these people get a very small cut of the profits and have to compete with all of the other thousands of people out there, who are also trying to see bicycles and computers using websites like Amazon.
Instead of doing what everyone else is doing and making peanuts while doing it, set yourself apart by partnering with mid-sized businesses, who sell products and services which will be highly useful to your readers.
Think about the typical person who visits your website and then ask yourself, "What does this person need to make his or her life easier or more enjoyable?" Then, go out and find those products and services. This is how to start your own digital affiliate program.
Setting Up Affiliate Partnerships
You may be lucky and find companies which already have online affiliate programs in place or are part of a larger affiliate marketing network. In that case, all you will have to do is get yourself connected to the program, follow the rules, and invoice your partner as necessary.
You may, however, find just the right product or service only to see that the business does not have an affiliate program set up.
You will have to work with some companies to create a unique affiliate program just for you. In these cases, follow these steps:
Take the time to connect with this company
Explain the potential benefit for both of you if a partnership is formed
Create a clear and concise contract outlining the payment you will receive for advertising, click-throughs, and/or purchases
Set up a billing and payment method and schedule
Setting Up Affiliate Advertising
After you have connected yourself to one or more companies in an online affiliate marketing partnership you can begin to set up the affiliate advertising. Basic banner ads and sidebar ads can be helpful to generate some income but you should focus your advertisements on helpfulness.
Your reader wants to know something. Maybe the reader wants to know which laptop to buy for her new graphics career. In that case, she is probably looking for someone who will give her reviews of top-selling laptops and how each one can or cannot be beneficial to someone in her industry.
Maybe your reader wants advice about creating a healthy lifestyle. In this case, he might want to know about basic lifestyle changes he could make to create a healthier lifestyle. In the midst of giving that advice, you can also suggest a product or two that he may find useful.
The purpose of this type of marketing is not to shove things down your readers’ throats and hope that they will become so annoyed by your advertisements that they’ll click them. The purpose is to convince your reader that you are a trustworthy source of information and then to suggest ways they can improve their lives with the products and services offered by your affiliate partners.
Dos and Don’ts of Setting Up an Affiliate Marketing Website
Do – Make use of your blog
Your blog is a great way to make things personal. You can show your personality more on blog posts than on individual informational website pages. You can also focus each post on a particular topic, niche, or reader. It is also a great way to utilize SEO strategies to pull readers from search engines. Remember to make all posts focused on being helpful.
Don’t – Try to do it all yourself
Unless you have a ton of spare time or are willing to take years to get things started it can be helpful to elicit the help of others in the creation of your website. Allow guest bloggers to offer content to your website, hire someone to create the website layout, use a simple program for sending invoices – whatever saves you time without costing tons of money.
Do – Take advantage of Social Media
Many people who create affiliate marketing websites think that the website will just run itself. Though good content and proper SEO practices will bring in readers from search engines, social media can also be a very helpful tool for filtering people to your website. Try to make your social media posts related to your website content and helpful tips more so than the actual products. The point here is to get people to your page and then present them with the product after creating a connection with them.
Don’t – Create fake content
Trust is one of the most important parts of the inbound affiliate marketing approach. Your reader needs to trust that you have helpful information and that you are suggesting a particular product because you actually care about his or her needs.
Some affiliate marketers boast about using products they’ve never actually even seen in person. Your readers will eventually catch on that there is no way you’ve actually used every one of the 25 hair dryers you advertise on your website. Instead of implying that you have experience with things you do not, tell your readers your opinion of those products based on your research and what other people are saying.
Tips to Improve Your Affiliate Marketing ROI & Success
Whether you’re new to the world of freelancing or you’ve been at it for years there is always more you can learn. Online affiliate marketing programs are a rich source of online income, but getting started can be a tricky process. Whether you are looking to establish an ongoing business or just need some extra money, there are some important tips you need to create your perfect affiliate marketing campaign this year.
Make Mobile Part Of Your Strategy
As you already know, mobile marketing is all the rage. More and more people are using their phones to purchase, opt in, and get their daily dose of content. In fact, Affiliate World Asia 2016, concluded that mobile use would be the future in affiliate marketing trends and that has proven true in 2019.
There’s still a place for even more affiliate marketers who need to get started with their mobile marketing strategy. You can do this by investing in getting traffic through mobile devices and placing advertisements on mobile apps.
Don’t Forget About Relationships
Build relationships. This is a key feature in affiliate marketing. You have found your audience, you know what they want and need, now the only thing to do is to find who they look up to. Who do they share the most, or talk about with others? These are the influencers in your industry and they will have the most impact on the people in which you are trying to place your product in front of.
Relationship marketing and influencer marketing are essential to affiliate marketing. It’s important to have great working relationships with influencers in your niche, so they can talk about your product to people who will find it relevant.
Engage with the influencer and begin to create conversation (if you don’t know them yet). If you do this consistently, after a bit, you can approach them with an offer to promote your product to their followers. This usually comes at a price, but think of it as an advertising strategy.
Sell Products that Deliver Value to the User
One of the mistakes many new affiliate marketers make when starting out is to sell anything and everything. You need to make sure the product you’re about to present to your audience is a product which will be valuable and helpful to your target market.
Remember, you have a reputation to uphold. And if any of these people are going to come back and buy from you again and again, you need to be the go-to source for recommending and selling the best products in your niche.
Providing value to the buyer is really the key. You don’t want a one-off sales strategy where you pick a product blindly and then pray to God (or spend money on A/B testing after the fact) it works. Take some time and research valuable products which will benefit your users.
Affiliate marketing is a tried-and-true business model that works extremely well in the internet era. When implemented correctly, affiliate marketers can make money in their sleep, earning a chunk of change for every sale and referral that they facilitate.
However, setting up an affiliate marketing program requires a fair bit of initial effort, and plenty of patience. Many people are eager to jump in, but fall short because they don’t have the right road map or willpower to blast through barriers.
Let’s map out some of the top affiliate marketing tips from business owners who have mastered this method over years of trial, error, and valuable experience.
These are the best affiliate marketing tips you won’t find anywhere else, so stay tuned.
1. Understand the Opportunity
Most people have heard of affiliate marketing, but don’t truly understand what it means or how it works on a practical level. This is step one, so start with self-education.
"It’s the ultimate win-win situation," said Marketing Expert and AuthorRussell Brunson. "All affiliates get something from the arrangement, as does the company running the affiliate program, making it a mutually beneficial relationship. When you fully grasp the implications of this business model, you can put it to use almost immediately."
2. Learn the Fundamentals
Affiliate marketing guides can be found across the web for free or behind short paywalls.
It may be smart to pay for a more in-depth tutorial that gives you more info and puts pressure on you to follow through.
"Perhaps the hardest part of affiliate marketing is the initial setup period, which requires some backend work and interfacing with sellers and various platforms across the web," said Jeremy Goldstein, CEO ofNavitar. "Larger companies like Amazon, Shopify, and Gumroad make this process fairly easy to navigate, but not all affiliate programs are so simple. You may need to get into negotiations with sellers and learn some technical stuff in the process. It’s worth it. The more you invest in your own assets like a personal website and social media pages, the better off you’ll be in the long run."
3. Choose the Right Niche
Personal finance? Health and fitness? Coding JavaScript?
All the great affiliate marketers have a specialty, and this mix of passion and expertise allows them to thrive in terms of sales.
"The products you choose to sell in your affiliate program need to be relevant to you and your audience, otherwise it won’t make sense why you’re offering them," said Tyler Read, Founder and Senior Editor ofPersonal Trainer Pioneer. "Work within a niche that you understand and allows you to engage with other people on your own terms. When you’re in the right niche, you’ll also be inspired to keep up with the space, create compelling content, and generally be in the loop as things develop on social media. This is key to building and keeping an audience that trusts you enough to make purchases."
4. Identify Key Marketing Metrics
Rather than posting content and making offers at random, the best affiliate marketers are driven by metrics and don’t leave their results to chance.
"An affiliate marketing machine is only as good as the traffic flowing through it, so keep your focus on clicks, views, and the other bread-and-butter metrics that matter to your business in the first place," said Matt Woods, Co-Founder and CEO ofSOLD.com. "You’ll also benefit from digging deeper into metrics like landing page info and email newsletter insights. As you learn more about your audience and their habits, you can then craft campaigns and promos that push the right buttons and lead to more sales. It’s really one of the best hands-on ways to learn digital marketing from the ground up."
5. Aim to Build Trust and Connection
On a fundamental level, an affiliate marketing program is a business. Businesses require trust and audience engagement, so make these top priorities from the outset.
"We are naturally drawn to ideas and objects that have the seal of approval from people we trust, and that’s the core dynamic that makes affiliate marketing work at scale," said Luca Capula, CEO ofSon of a Barista. "Therefore, your goal is to become that trusted person in whatever environment you choose to occupy. Create that persona that people are able to recognize and connect with. Keep your online presence polished and presentable, but don’t hesitate to show some edge as well. Ultimately, you need to create your own winning formula and blaze a new trail, but trust is at the center, always."
6. Expand and Evolve Your Offers
Your affiliate pages will grow in size and scope rather quickly. It follows that your offers should evolve as well over time.
"Affiliate marketing is an excellent opportunity if you truly believe in the value of the product you’re selling," said Entrepreneur and WriterNeil Patel. "Because many times, you can make money off of something you would probably recommend anyway. Build on your original offers as your audience grows and diversifies, because there’s always another offer you can capitalize on."
7. Stop Waiting and Dive In!
If you’ve got the blueprint and the drive to be an affiliate marketer, what are you waiting for? The sooner you get started, the better.
"There is only so much you can learn about affiliate marketing – or any type of business venture for that matter – by reading books and watching video guides," said Lauren Kleinman, Co-Founder ofThe Quality Edit. "Eventually, you’ve got to step up to the plate, invest the time and money, and take that leap of faith required to achieve anything worthwhile in this life. Based on my experience and what I’ve seen others accomplish, the risk generally pays off in a big way."
8. Get Ready for the Long Haul
Don’t fall for the idea that affiliate marketing is a way to "get rich quick". It’s not. It takes time to build these systems, so prepare for the path ahead.
"Just staying the course and continuing to build your digital presence is often the best thing you can do for an affiliate ecosystem," said Will Watters, Co-Founder and Creative Director atWestern Rise. "The truth is that most people hear about this idea, give it a stab, then stop putting in the work after a week of no results. Don’t be like that 95% of people who try affiliate marketing. Give it a real, honest effort and you’ll be astounded by the interest and income you can generate in time."
Affiliate marketing is a great entryway to entrepreneurship, and a smart way to leverage your natural abilities. Apply these tips and get started today – you’ll be glad you did.
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 learn 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
In concept, affiliate programs, which are also called affiliate networks, are pretty simple. All they do is provide a third party platform that allows merchants and affiliates to find and work with each other.
Merchants and affiliates can then sign up for the platform, find each other, and start to work together.
But behind the scenes, these affiliate networks are complex behemoths that do much more than help merchants and affiliate networks. They also provide some very essential services to both parties.
How Do Affiliate Programs Work?
When doing affiliate marketing, think about how much data gets exchanged between one affiliate and one merchant. Someone needs to track each and every action taken by the potentially thousands of customers that a single affiliate can bring in.
And when you multiply that by the thousands of affiliate marketers who are working with the merchants on the platform, you begin to see how vital these affiliate marketing programs really are.
For example, affiliate programs might help track:
How many people see a banner ad
How many people end up completing a purchase
How many clicks a link on an ad or site gets
Revenue generated by an affiliate for multiple merchants and offers
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Think about what would happen if no one tracked these data points. Affiliates would have a hard time getting paid, and merchants could potentially be ripped off by affiliates that present false results.
So between building relationships and tracking the entire affiliate marketing process, affiliate programs have their work cut out for them. When a program does a good job though, it makes all the difference in the world.
And in exchange for their services, most affiliate networks charge a commission for each action completed. It keeps their platforms free to use and gives you a better way to earn a living as an affiliate marketer.
Flavia Caroppo of AdEspresso says this about finding merchant partners and affiliate programs:
As rule of thumb, always remember to select a merchant with an offering relevant to your audience.
Each merchant that’s worthwhile in pursuing often is part of a more extensive network of companies that extend their offers on an affiliate marketing platform. There are loads of affiliate marketing systems out there, but this doesn’t mean the product they offer are always Top.
You can’t blindly trust what you read. Once you find something that potentially could work for you, get in touch with the producer and ask as many questions as you can, and ask for samples or to have a trial period. If you must, invest some money to buy the good/service you wish to market as an affiliate and try it first.
There are many ways to discover what offers and traffic sources are working and where.
First: do your research.
Second: talk to as many affiliate managers and experienced affiliates as you can. Join Facebook Groups, hang out in forums (there are many free and a few paid forums that give out some real info), and look at follow-along campaigns for ideas.
Third, and most important: Survey your audience. Ask your followers what they’re most interested in and laser-focus your affiliate offers in the right direction. Don’t forget to offer something in return. Be clear on what they need to do and what you’ll give them in exchange.
Now that you have some idea of how affiliate programs work, let’s go through some of the best affiliate marketing programs to make money and show you how to get started with each.
Amazon Associates has been one of the top affiliate programs for beginners since 1996. In fact, it was the first online affiliate marketing program in the world.
Since its inception, it’s been helping online marketers make money by advertising to the millions of customers that shop on Amazon each year. When an Amazon affiliate shares a link that leads to a sale, they earn referral fees from the transaction.
And since thousands of businesses are learning how to sell on Amazon each year, the potential for affiliates to grow is seemingly infinite.
To get started as an Amazon affiliate, all you have to do is click the Sign up button on the Amazon Associates page.
If you already have an Amazon account, you’ll be asked to log into it to get started. If you’re not already on Amazon, you’ll need to create an account with some basic info first.
Once you see the classic Amazon progress bar, you’ll know you’re in the right place:
From here, you’ll be walked through a fairly extensive process that creates your Associates account.
First, you’ll be asked to tell Amazon which apps or websites you plan to promote on. If you have your own blog or website, this is where you’ll enter it. You’ll also be asked to divulge what your niche is, what you plan to sell, and how you intend to drive traffic and monetization.
Once you’ve completed the application process, the last step is just a quick security verification. Amazon prefers to give you a call, so make sure your phone number is correct in order to proceed.
And last but not least, you’ll also need to set up your payment and tax info with them at some point so you can get paid. You don’t want to work for free after all, and you should always pay your taxes.
At this point, you’re ready to start finding products to promote as an affiliate. And thankfully, that process is incredibly simple.
Start by finding the product search bar in your dashboard. It will look like this:
Here, you can insert terms and look for items that are in your niche. Or, you can click the top right tab and browse for items manually.
Once you’ve started your search, you’ll get redirected to a simple results page. Scroll through the items and find one you like, or keep searching until you’ve found what you’re looking for.
Once you’ve found the item you want to promote, the last step you need to take is to click the yellow down arrow on the appropriate product. This brings up the text link for your chosen product, which you can use to share in your promotions.
You can also shorten this link with amzn.to, which may be a good idea if you intend to share the full link. Shorter links look better and will be less confusing depending on the platform you use.
Or, if you want to add a more in-depth view of the product to your site, you can click the Get Link button to generate some HTML code that you can copy and paste as needed.
When all is said and done, Amazon Associates is a tried and true program that has created thousands of successful affiliate marketers. As an Amazon affiliate, you’ll be an essential part of the largest online retailer in the world.
Here’s a final look at the pros and cons you should consider when deciding if you want to be an Amazon affiliate:
Pros:
Approximately 1.6 million products to choose from
Free to sign up
Trust in Amazon means it’s that much easier to sell
Easy to customize for links or ads
Low payout thresholds
Cons
Cookies only last for 24 hours. Purchases made after are not attributed to you
By some standards, commissions are low
International payouts are difficult
Doesn’t work with PayPal
In the end, remember that Amazon is among the tried and true affiliate marketing companies that offer decent commissions to beginner and veteran marketers. . Amazon is also a trusted brand, so consumers are more likely to prefer the items they see there than on other b2c marketplaces. What’s more, Amazon offers you more than a million products to promote, which means there’s something for every niche.
Overall, Amazon Associates is a great program to get started while you explore some of the other options in this article.
Best Affiliate Programs: ClickBank Affiliate
ClickBank is among the top companies with affiliate programs that appeal to all kinds of marketers. Its affiliate information is completely open to anyone, making it a valuable affiliate platform to consider for your success.
ClickBank started out of a garage in 1998 but quickly grew to become one of the top retailing and affiliate sites in the world. They currently boast a large number of affiliates who’ve earned more than $4.2 billion in commissions promoting ClickBank products.
Because of their success and 20-year history, they’re an excellent option for getting started no matter what your expertise level. With tons of products to promote and a wide variety of companies to partner with, they’re hard to pass up.
To become a ClickBank affiliate, you’ll need to start an account if you want to start earning revenue. Input your personal and payment info, and then finalize your account to get started.
You’ll also be asked to complete a quick survey that helps ClickBank give you a better experience once you’ve finished the process.
Once you get through the setup, the rest is relatively simple. As a freshly minted ClickBank affiliate, you’ll have a huge database of resources at your disposal. This can help you learn more about what ClickBank has to offer and answer any lingering questions you might have.
And to find the products you want to promote, you can head over to the marketplace. Here, you can search for specific items, or browse the sidebar for a wider look at what ClickBank has to offer.
Once you input a search term and get your results, here’s what the product page will look like:
As you can see, there are usually quite a few options to choose from. You’ll have the product’s title, a short description, and then some additional information that helps inform your decision.
Here’s a closer view of one such breakdown:
In this case, you’re given the average commission per sale, a breakdown of the niche the product is in, and a few different links to the company’s website. Use these to conduct further research and see if you want to promote the product.
Once you find the offer you want to promote, the rest of the process is simple. Just click the Promote button on the page, and then copy and paste the URL from the screen.
You can now add this link to your promotional efforts. When a user clicks through and makes a purchase, you’ll receive your commission.
It’s that easy.
Being a ClickBank affiliate is one of the easiest ways to get started with an affiliate program that offers high commissions with a simple structure.
Here’s a last look at some of the pros and cons you can expect as a ClickBank affiliate:
Pros:
Huge selection of products that fits a wide variety of niches.
Many products have very high commission rates.
Promotes recurring commissions.
Easy to use and simple link generation procedure.
Abundance of resources to help you learn the ropes.
Cons:
Large selection of ‘spammy’ products that waste time and undermine credibility.
A lot of competition for high-value products.
If you’re ever nervous about partnering with an affiliate program, ClickBank could be your best option. Their reputation precedes them, and they can help you grow at your own pace.
In the end, there’s no denying that ClickBank is one of the best affiliate programs for newcomers to affiliate marketing. The entry requirements are low, and it’s a relatively safe way to get your feet wet with affiliate marketing
3. eBay Affiliate
eBay offers one of the highest paying affiliate programs on the internet. The eBay Partner Network is where you can sign up to become an eBay affiliate. Commissions are in the 50%-70% range.
eBay gives affiliates the tools they need to promote eBay’s products with as little fuss as possible. No matter how you choose to market products, eBay’s affiliate program can be put to good use.
Unlike some of the other affiliate marketing programs in this list, as an eBay affiliate, you’ll be working directly with eBay and their products. While you’ll be working to a small degree to help sellers, the primary relationship is between you and eBay.
And just like Amazon, you’ll be working with a platform that businesses want to sell on. With opportunities like eBay dropshipping, growth is virtually assured.
As a bonus, eBay doesn’t require you to work with them exclusively. You can be an eBay affiliate and still work with other merchants and programs to make additional income.
To get started, you’ll need to apply to join their affiliate program, which takes about five minutes. It’s by far one of the easier application processes.
Once you sign in with your account, you’ll be prompted to verify a few pieces of information, select your country of residence, and then you’ll be done. Now all you have to do is find products, generate your affiliate link, and start promoting.
And thankfully, eBay makes that easy for you. You have two main options to create your affiliate links, and both take hardly any time at all.
First, you can browse eBay for a product that’s in your niche, copy the URL, and paste it into your eBay affiliate dashboard.
You’ll then be given your affiliate link, which you can use in your own content.
The second way is even faster, but it requires you to install a Bookmarklet icon in your Bookmarks Bar. That may sound confusing, but it’s pretty simple.
All you have to do is find the icon in your eBay dashboard and then drag it to your Bookmarks bar.
Once you’ve added it to your bookmarks bar, all you have to do is click that bookmark when you’ve found an item on eBay that you want to promote.
It will generate a URL for you, which you can then add to your blog, ads, or social media.
And once you’ve generated your affiliate link, you can start using it with the content you’re sharing on your chosen platform. If everything is working as it should, you’ll begin generating revenue from audience members that buy the products you promote.
To wrap things up, here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of being an eBay affiliate:
Pros:
Large range of products to choose from with no limits.
Commissions range from 50% to 70%.
Fast payment system that works with PayPal.
Incredibly easy to generate links.
Buy it Now buttons can shorten purchase times.
Cons:
Some consumers prefer to buy new, not used or through auctions.
Auctions often last longer than affiliate cookies, which means you don’t get paid.
eBay’s selling platform can be confusing and turn away buyers.
eBayis one of the top paying affiliate programs in the world, which makes it the perfect place for newcomers with high aspirations to get their feet wet. With how easy it is to sign up and generate links, there’s almost no reason to not be an eBay affiliate.
Plus, with how flexible your affiliate links are, you can generate any type of content to drive traffic and revenue. It’s the best type of low-risk, high-reward affiliate marketing you could ask for.
4. Commission Junction
Commission Junction, which has been rebranded as CJ Affiliate by Conversant, is a 20-year-old affiliate marketing program that has been helping affiliates and merchants since day one.
According to their website, they work with twice as many Internet Retailer 500 companies than any other affiliate program. They also boast that merchants favor their site twice as much as other affiliate marketing programs.
And when you take a closer look at everything they have to offer, that claim seems to hold up quite nicely. Here’s the vast list of niches that you can find on their site, not to mention the all-inclusive ‘other’ category:
So with a reputation like that, it’s not hard to see why it should be high on your list when considering which affiliate program to choose.
But to truly know if it will work for you, you’ll have to sign up first. And just like with other programs, that’s a relatively simple process that can start on the homepage.
Start the process by inputting your basic information to become a CJ Publisher.
And don’t worry, Publisher is just their word for affiliate. You won’t be getting into anything you’re not prepared for.
Next, you’ll be asked to verify your email, and then redirected to a page where you’ll fill out your information in greater detail. Much like other affiliate programs, you may need to already have a website that you can associate with your account.
Once completed, you’ll be able to sign in to your dashboard, which will look like this:
And the final step that will get you set up completely is to complete your Network Profile.
Think of this like a short resume that helps match you with potential partners. You’ll need to write a short bio for yourself and indicate how you intend to push traffic to your merchant.
This will ultimately determine if someone wants to partner with you, so fill out as much as you can.
Once you’ve set everything up, you’ll need to navigate to the ‘Advertisers’ tab.
Here, you’ll see an extensive list of potential partners already waiting for you.
You can also browse how much potential there is to earn with them, along with a breakdown of what your task will be.
In the image above, all of the options shown say EPC, which is short for earnings per click. Or, more specifically, Earnings Per One Hundred Clicks. All of Commission Junction’s affiliate earnings are based on EPC, so you’ll need to be able to drive traffic to succeed on this platform.
That means mostly bloggers or social media based affiliates tend to use the CJ affiliate program. Since ads require money to generate clicks, it’s all too easy to lose money running an ad that exceeds your revenue.
To find advertisers more suitable to your needs, you’ll want to use the left sidebar’s options menu to fine-tune your results. Insert your niche and any other specifics that will help you find your perfect fit.
Once a merchant has caught your eye, you can click on their icon to get a more in-depth view of their operation. This includes the terms of their program and a short bio.
If everything is to your liking and you feel you have something to offer the advertiser, you’ll want to click the Join Program button on their profile. Depending on the advertiser, your approval times may vary. Many applications are instantaneous though, so you won’t have to wait long.
Once your chosen company has approved your application, you need to find the links that you’ll use to drive traffic. To do that, navigate to the Links tab on the header menu. You’ll see a page that looks very similar to the Advertisers page, like this:
Except now, all of the options you see are different links that you can add to your marketing efforts. Find one that fits your content, ad, or social post, and then add it as needed.
And depending on how you intend to use the URL, you’ll be able to select between HTML, Javascript, and Click URL options.
At this point, you’re now signed up and using Commission Junction to generate affiliate income. All you have to do is continue finding new merchants and offers that match your niche and audience.
Here’s a quick summary of some of the pros and cons of using the CJ Affiliate Network:
Pros:
They’ve been around for years, and their reputation is solid as one of the best affiliate programs in the world.
Tons of well-known merchants use the platform.
Merchants can seek you out, which improves your ability to grow and network.
Flexible for bloggers and social media marketers.
Cons
Better advertisers also mean more competition amongst affiliates.
Hard for newcomers. Success depends on the status of your application and credentials.
Variety between payment terms can be confusing.
Not always the best for advertising.
Becoming a CJ affiliate can be a smart move if you’ve got the experience to go out and impress the merchants on the platform. It’s still possible to succeed as a newcomer on CJ Affiliate, but you’ll have your work cut out for you.
5. Rakuten Affiliate
Last but not least is the Rakuten Affiliate Network. For seven consecutive years, Rakuten has been voted the number one affiliate marketing network.
With that kind of reputation, it’s tempting to want to jump straight into being a Rakuten affiliate. But the reality is that Rakuten is very selective, and isn’t afraid to suspend your account if you don’t meet their standards.
Nonetheless, I want to show you how easy it is to get started selling with them. Just like the other affiliate programs, all you need to do is get started on their homepage.
Just like the other affiliate programs, you’ll need to go through a rather extensive registration to get started. In this case, you’ll input everything from your online brand’s info to where you want to set your earning payout thresholds.
Once you’ve signed up and signed in, you’ll be at the Rakuten affiliate dashboard. To start finding merchants and affiliate links, you’ll need to select the Programs tab, which will redirect you to a page that shows off just how vast Rakuten’s offerings are:
Find your niche, or search for it in the search bar located in the top right corner.
Once you’ve found your niche, you’ll see a menu much like the other affiliate programs we’ve been looking at. You can browse through, click on each company’s profile, and even dig deeper into what offers they’re promoting.
Find the offer and merchant that suits you best, and then click on the Apply button to proceed.
One of the more unique elements of the Rakuten affiliate program is that most of the companies are heavily involved in the affiliate screening process. If you’re not a good fit, don’t be surprised if the answer comes back no.
But once you’ve gotten approval, the rest of the process is simple. Find the offer that fits your content or ad, generate your link, and then start earning money as an affiliate. Since there are quite a few larger brand names using the Rakuten affiliate network, you’ll stand an excellent chance to start earning quickly.
Here’s a quick summary of some of the pros and cons of using the Rakuten Affiliate Network:
Pros
Free to use.
Thousands of merchants to choose from, many of which are household names.
Fairly intuitive to use for affiliates.
Contains good resources to learn more.
Cons
Payouts can be unpredictable with no definite schedule.
They don’t work with PayPal like other affiliate networks.
Rakuten is very selective and often denies smaller affiliates.
In the end, Rakuten may be best left until you’ve established yourself as a proven affiliate marketer. It’s one of the best affiliate programs in the world, and they work hard to keep it that way.
Summary: 5 Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners in 2021
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.
Don’t just stop with the affiliate programs in this chapter. There are tons of smaller options that can still be quite lucrative. Just be sure to do your homework and avoid any potential scams.
In summary, here are the top 5 affiliate programs for beginners to make money in 2021:
Amazon Associates
ClickBank Affiliate
eBay Partner Program
Commission Junction
Rakuten Affiliate
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.
