Are you looking for the best affiliate programs to join?
If you answered in yes, you’re at the right place.
In this post, you’ll find 7 best platforms that both beginners and expert-level marketers will like. Regardless of the product you’re promoting, there’s a good chance you will find high-quality products on these websites.
Not only do these platforms contain hundreds of products to choose from, but these are well-reputed that you can rely upon.
With that said, let’s get started.
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What Is an Affiliate Program
Before we share the best platforms for affiliate marketers, it would help to know what an affiliate program is. That’s if you’re unaware of the concept.
An affiliate program is a means for both publishers and affiliates to work together.
In layman’s terms, that’s the simplest definitition one can get. If you have a product to promote, you can start a program for your product and get affiliates to sign up to promote it.
On the other hand, if you don’t own a product, but would like to make some money promoting some other person’s product, you can sign up as an affiliate.
It’s a win-win for both the affiliate and the publisher.
They get sales without putting in much marketing efforts and you get to keep a specific percentage of the sale without owning the product.
On top, the people who were referred to by the affiliate come across a product that they’re genuinely interested in. If it solves a problem they had, doesn’t that add icing to the cake?
How to Launch an Affiliate Program
Now that you’re aware of the term, you may be wondering how to start your affiliate program.
You can either start from scratch and host a program on your website.
This is the more tedious approach as you’ll need to market your newly-launched program well. The recommended approach is to join a well-established affiliate network.
The network usually will contain tons of programs that you can join.
Best Affiliate Networks
Instead of recreating the wheel, it’s always a better idea to join an established network.
Here are some of the best affiliate networks (in no particular order) that you can join (both as a publisher and an affiliate):
1. ClickBank
ClickBank is one of the oldest and well-reputed networks to find an affiliate program.
The platform has a huge range of products in several niches/categories. If you’re brand-new to affiliate marketing, they even have resources to help you get up and running in no time.
Plus, there’s no approval process either. It’s free to set up a Clickbank account and you can be promoting products within minutes. Just select a product and grab your affiliate link.
Some of the product categories include:
- Business
- Entertainment
- Home & garden
- Sports
- Investing
- Health & wellness
2. ShareASale
ShareASale is a platform that has been up for more than two decades at this point.
The user interface is beginner-friendly and the support team is as good as it can get. It’s free to set up an account but there’s an approval process involved.
There are a dozen different categories to choose from.
You can also use the ‘Power Rank’ feature that sorts products by how well they’re selling. This option can be used to find the current best-sellers.
You can find huge companies inside the ShareASale platform, but to get approved, you have to apply individually to the products’ affiliate programs.
There are several programs that don’t require an approval, but a majority of them do.
3. Amazon Associates
Probably one of the most well-known affiliate networks in the space, Amazon Associates is a great platform to find products to promote.
The commission rates are definitely low compared to other platforms on this list, but where Amazon truly shines is the trust factor.
Most products on Amazon are physical products and the commissions range anywhere between 2-5% a sale, sometimes higher, sometimes lower.
People trust Amazon and for this reason, the conversion rates make up for the lower commissions. If you can manage to get sales in bulk, this is a proven platform that you can use.
It’s free to get started with the Amazon Affiliate Program.
Once you’re onboard, you can integrate Amazon products directly on your web properties and get paid for every sale you send.
Amazon also has a 24-hour cookie. If someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase in the next 24 hours, you will get the credit for the sale.
This works great specially if someone selects an inexpensive product and later on buys a more expensive product. In this case, you will get a commission for the higher-end product.
4. Fiverr
Fiverr is a freelancing marketplace where you can get work done quickly.
There are hundreds of sellers on the site offering various digital services from article writing to search engine optimization to sketching to logo/website design.
Fiverr offers a generous affiliate program with up to $150 CPA.
You get access to several resources that you can use to promote the platform. The user interface is friendly, and you get lifetime attribution for every person you refer.
The platform is a great option as digital services are in high-demand. You can make an absolute killing with it if you’re consistent in your marketing efforts.
5. Commission Junction
Commission Junction or CJ as it’s alternatively known as is a popular affiliate network.
As per the site, a ton of Internet Retailer 500 companies work on the platform (more than any other platforms today).
As a result, you will find a lot of niches and sub-niches to select from. If you have a product or a category in mind, there’s a fair chance you will find it in CJ.
CJ is used by the world’s leading brands and this lets you easily partner with them.
There’s an approval process involved so if you’re just starting out, it’s best to select platforms like Amazon Associates or ClickBank first.
Once you gain enough experience, you can try CJ or ShareASale.
6. Udemy
Udemy is a learning platform where course creators can launch their courses and others can join them to gain knowledge or learn a skill.
There are a lot of course categories to choose from. Some include:
- Designing
- Business
- Marketing
- Photography
- Music
- IT
If you have an educational website or an audience interested in a topic, you can promote Udemy courses and get decent commissions on all sales you refer.
The refund/cancellation rates are also very low because of the high-quality educational content.
7. Impact
Although not as old as some of the affiliate networks on the list, Impact is worthy of a mention for various reasons.
Impact has the same founders as CJ so it’s a platform that can be trusted all day.
Huge brands including Adidas and Airbnb are a part of the Impact network. The interface is sleek and it includes a ‘brands to work with instantly’ that gets you instant approvals.
They support various ways for cashing out including wire transfers and PayPal.
The platform is free to join but there are a dozen different features available so it can get overwhelming pretty quick especially if you’re a beginner.
Summing It Up
That brings us to the end of this post.
We hope it helps you find the best affiliate programs for your needs. At the end of the day, it’s really a choice and everything comes down to your personal preferences and experience level.
If you’re a beginner, look past ShareASale, CJ and Impact.
If you’re a veteran in the space, you can consider any of the options listed in the article.
Either way, let us know down below what your favorite affiliate program is.
We’d love to hear from you!