All marketers who research the best affiliate programs to promote do it to make money online. And they should:
Affiliate marketing is undoubtedly the best way to monetize a new website before you have the skills to create your products or services.
Partnering with affiliate marketing programs can earn you a steady monthly income and offer exclusive deals for your audience. However, the affiliate marketing industry is constantly changing and evolving.
As a result, you might face difficulties while finding your way through the different affiliate programs you’ll be able to promote.
To help you not lose yourself, I’ll share my list of the best affiliate products to promote. You’ll explore the best affiliate programs for beginners in the highest-paying affiliate niches.
This post may contain affiliate links – read my affiliate disclaimer when you have a second.
The Best Affiliate Programs To Promote For Beginners
What Is An Affiliate Program?
Before we proceed to the best affiliate programs to promote, let’s cover the basics for those who are complete beginners.
With that said, let’s begin by explaining what an affiliate program is:
An affiliate program is an agreement in which online merchant websites agree to pay other businesses or influencers (affiliates) a commission in exchange for traffic and sales.
Think of affiliate programs as large networks offering hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of products for promotion.
How Do Affiliate Marketers Make Money?
What process will you need to go through to start working with an affiliate program? That process is quite simple:
- Find a product that can solve a problem for your readers.
- Check if that product has an affiliate program. If it does, sign up to become an affiliate.
- Once you’re an affiliate of the product, you’ll receive a unique affiliate link.
- Write high-quality content that recommends the product to your audience.
- Get an affiliate commission when a reader clicks on your link and purchases the product.
The affiliate program will track the clicks on your affiliate link. More often than not, that happens via cookies.
A cookie is a small file that carries information from one website to another. It’s also the tool to ensure commissions go to the affiliate responsible for them.
Each cookie has a length that will determine the time window for tracking the user’s online activity.
For example, if a cookie lasts one month, your referral must complete the purchase within 30 days after clicking on your affiliate link for you to receive a commission.
Things To Consider When Choosing The Best Affiliate Programs To Promote
- Cookie Durations: Always choose affiliate programs with a longer cookie duration. It goes without saying that the longer the cookie life is, the better your chances for sales.
- Recurring Commissions: Does the affiliate program offer the opportunity for recurring sales? Working with affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions will help you build a passive income stream.
- Free Affiliate Products/Programs: You should never pay to sign up for an affiliate program. All legitimate affiliate programs are free to join and offer a user-friendly experience.
Types Of Affiliate Programs
Do you think you’re ready to promote a wide range of products and services?
If you are, you must be well aware of the different types of affiliate programs. Knowing all about them will help you choose a good affiliate program for your business.
Have a look at the general types of affiliate programs nowadays:
1) Coupon Sites
Currently, coupon/deals sites are the most popular affiliate sites. Most potential customers online wouldn’t say no to a deal or a discount.
Consider partnering with a coupon site for a specific time.
Offering a coupon or a discount code is an easy way to attract buyers, especially if your product is new and not yet well-known.
2) Loyalty Or Cashback Sites
Cashback sites give money back to anyone who makes purchases using the site’s affiliate links.
While working with them will result in a lower profit, cashback sites are worth the effort:
They implement various promotions and incentives that encourage members to purchase.
3) Shopping Comparison Sites
These days, most comparison sites encourage users to research thousands of products by looking at the relevant results.
Every time a person wants to buy something on a merchant’s page, they will do it through an affiliate link.
That’s how a shopping comparison site earns all its affiliate commissions.
4) Search Affiliates
What should you make of a term like search affiliates? There is no need to succumb to confusion when stepping into the affiliate marketing industry:
Search affiliates are a situation where marketers pay to promote offers on search engines or through Facebook Advertising. That is suitable for SEO-savvy promoters familiar with A/B testing on marketing campaigns.
5) Influencer Programs
Social media influencers shouldn’t hesitate to partner with companies and promote products that appeal to their target audience. Who should benefit from their social media presence?
The opportunity is perfect for food bloggers, influencers promoting hair or beauty products, and anyone who uploads visual content on social media platforms.
I suggest starting a YouTube channel or creating a TikTok account to reach a larger audience and boost your affiliate sales. Still, you don’t have to limit your opportunities to creating YouTube videos: you can do your best to earn generous commissions by monetizing various social media accounts.
6) Review Sites
How do you feel about writing high-quality blog posts about the best products you use and like? Hopefully, you enjoy the idea:
Most consumers never buy a product before checking its reviews online. Owning a review site will allow you to reach them before anyone else and earn commissions from your recommendations while publishing valuable content.
7) Email Marketing
You may have read that email marketing is dead. Fortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth:
Sending emails to your most devoted readers is one of the most efficient ways to promote products and earn affiliate commissions. That content marketing strategy takes time since building an engaged email list won’t happen overnight.
8) Affiliate Networks
Aren’t a referral program and an affiliate network the same? No, they are not:
An affiliate program will allow you to promote one specific product, while an affiliate network operates as an online marketplace you can use to promote many products and major brands from different industries.
Does this sound enticing to you? Great, let’s discuss the top affiliate networks to join in detail, shall we?
Best Affiliate Networks To Earn Yearly Or Monthly Commissions
1) Impact
Working with Impact.com is a good option on many levels:
Impact has some of the largest brands as clients, and thousands of marketers and other promoters benefit from them monetarily.
Affiliates can market items from over 2,000 companies, including digital products (mostly graphic design and other marketing tools).
Anyone working with Impact will appreciate their tracking options – expect performance reporting on a new level!
2) Rakuten Advertising
Are you aware that Rakuten is one of the oldest affiliate networks you can join? But its reliability and name recognition aren’t the only reasons to work with the company:
More than 1,000 merchants have made their products available for promotion on the platform. Some of them are popular brands (Sephora and JetBlue).
Commission rates vary since they depend on different factors.
3) CJ Affiliate
Why should you work with an affiliate marketing network like CJ? Here is why:
CJ Affiliate provides one of the best ways for newbies (or already successful affiliates) to earn commissions. Affiliates can promote products and services from the finance, travel, and retail industries.
Previously known as Commission Junction, CJ Affiliate is a network you’ll benefit from once you become a part of it.
4) FlexOffers
By all means, you’ll never be short on products to promote once you create an affiliate account on FlexOffers.
This network has partnerships with thousands of merchants offering millions of products for promotion.
Affiliates receive their earnings monthly – commission rates depend on the merchant and the type of product you market to your audience.
5) ShareASale
Do you want to benefit from the best affiliate programs to promote? Then, look no further than ShareASale:
ShareASale’s affiliate dashboard is easy to use – new marketers won’t get lost while hunting for a suitable product.
Once you join the network, you must apply to each merchant you want to work with individually – that will only take a minute of your time.
The Best Affiliate Programs To Promote
1) Fiverr Affiliate Program
The top spot on my list of best affiliate programs for beginners goes to Fiverr.
I can not imagine something you can’t promote on Fiverr. Your opportunities to earn affiliate commissions are endless.
But none of that should come as a surprise. After all, Fiverr is the largest marketplace for digital services.
As an affiliate of Fiverr, you earn up to $150 CPA for every first-time buyer. More importantly, Fiverr will offer you a lifetime attribution, no referral limit, and commissions of up to $1,000 per sale.
Feel free to choose from over 3 million digital services – you can promote each individually.
Join The Fiverr Affiliate Program
2) HubSpot
By all means, HubSpot exists to help millions of businesses grow as fast as possible.
Joining the platform will provide you with everything you need to serve your customer base and satisfy your audience’s needs. Promoting it will give you access to marketing materials, including videos and banners.
Once you become a HubSpot affiliate, you can pick the type of affiliate commission you would like to receive.
You can go for 100% of your referral’s first-month revenue or a 30% recurring commission for one year.
Join The HubSpot Affiliate Program
3) Pabbly
Another affiliate partner that will shower you with tools for building a successful business is Pabbly.
Whatever you need to push your business to the next level, Pabbly has it: an email marketing tool, app integration, and subscription-billing tools.
These days, Pabbly is more than generous with its affiliates. The lowest commission you can get for promoting any product is $180.
Pabbly will pay you a 30% commission within 40 days of making the sale.
Join The Pabbly Affiliate Program
4) Systeme.io
As you can probably guess, Systeme.io is also a platform that can assist you with launching and developing an online business.
Quite frankly, you can use Systeme in so many different ways. Inside the platform, you can build your sales funnels, create online courses, deal with affiliate programs, and automate your business.
So far, Systeme has paid over $2 million to its promoters.
Every affiliate marketer will earn a 40% lifetime commission on all subscriptions. You might make an additional 5% commission if your referrals choose to promote the platform.
Join The Systeme.io Affiliate Program
5) GiddyUp
GiddyUp will connect you with some of the most popular major brands in the world.
It won’t be an exaggeration of the truth when I tell you that establishing connections through GiddyUp will be a lucrative venture for you.
While the opportunities to earn via the platform are countless, not everyone can use them.
Currently, GiddyUp is very careful with who they allow to promote them. Still, trying to get approval during the application process is worth the effort.
6) Widitrade
In my opinion, Widitrade deserves far more recognition than it currently has.
This e-commerce and lead-generation platform has much to offer. All its users enjoy beautiful pre-landers that will over-deliver in the high conversion rate department.
Widitrade will help you attract potential customers and a wider audience through its content creation and distribution platform.
Who can deny that promoting such a valuable platform is an excellent idea?
7) AffiliaXe
One of the best affiliate programs to promote if you’re starting to work online as a marketer is AffiliaXe.
That platform will surprise you with its ease of use, and every promoter connects with an affiliate manager to help them.
Nowadays, AffiliaXe will allow you to market hundreds of high-quality products in various industries.
You’ll receive your payments via bank transfer, checks, PayPal, and Payoneer.
8) Algo Affiliates
Think of Algo Affiliates as one of the best affiliate marketing networks you can join now.
The products inside belong to some of the highest-paying affiliate niches.
For example, you can promote offers regarding insurance, loans, banking, real estate, finance, education, or online learning.
Add top-notch customer support, advanced tracking, and conversion optimization, and you’ll get an idea of how Algo Affiliates operate to boost sales of product recommendations.
9) ConvertKit
Chances are, most of you are already familiar with ConvertKit:
Almost every second blogger and marketer trusts the company with their email marketing campaigns.
Yes, ConvertKit is an email autoresponder you can use to further your promotional efforts. That company helps its users increase their customer base by giving them access to landing pages and email campaigns.
ConvertKit affiliates earn high commission rates for up to 24 months.
10) AWeber
AWeber is an email autoresponder company you can join to create email campaigns. Its affiliate program has one of the most unique commission structures:
Marketers don’t get a flat rate for promoting the company. Instead, the commissions they receive depend on the number of sales they make.
For instance, referring 10 new customers means a 40% commission rate. However, referring 50 or more new users will result in higher commission rates.
In other words, the more sales you generate, the more money you will earn as an affiliate partner of AWeber. Such high commissions make AWeber one of the top affiliate programs to join.
11) GetResponse
Another email marketing company that has a place on my list of the best affiliate programs to promote is GetResponse.
GetResponse provides high-quality opt-in forms, landing pages, marketing automation tools, and webinar hosting. Expect to earn more than well from the platform’s affiliate program – your commission depends on how you promote the company.
One way is by joining the self-hosted affiliate program of GetResponse – advertising that can bring you over 30% recurring commissions.
An alternative way to earn is by referring new clients to GetResponse through the CJ Affiliate Network. That can secure you commissions of over $1,000 per sale.
While working with the in-house affiliate program might seem the best option, its cookie duration is only one month. The self-hosted affiliate program offers a long cookie duration (120 days).
Best Website Builder Affiliate Programs
12) Elementor
As many of you probably know, Elementor is a drag-and-drop builder you can use to create your website.
This builder offers a lot, including page templates, widgets, tools, and integrations. It’s perfect for beginners since it doesn’t require coding skills or knowledge.
If you decide to promote Elementor, you’ll have the chance to earn a 50% commission on every sale.
Some of Elementor’s packages sell for $1,000, so you can make good money through your unique link and the partner program.
Join The Elementor Affiliate Program
13) Wix
By all means, Wix has not only one of the best affiliate programs to promote.
No, Wix is also a platform that provides one of the easiest ways to build a website nowadays. According to statistics, over 100 million people own sites thanks to Wix.
Prepare to earn $100 per sale. You have to make at least $300 per month before you’re able to receive your earnings.
There is no limit to the number of users you can refer to the platform. Such types of affiliate programs are a great way to develop your small business as a marketer and earn passive income early on.
14) Weebly
Weebly is a well-known brand with a large client base: over 40 million people are using the platform to build their blogs.
Trusting their drag-and-drop builder will allow you to launch a website in minutes.
Weebly’s affiliate program will offer you a 30% recurring commission for every active user. I have to mention the cookie length – it’s 120 days.
15) Shopify Affiliate Program
Generally, I wouldn’t play favorites, but that’s hard to achieve when the conversation becomes about Shopify.
Currently, Shopify is one of the household names in the eCommerce field. Millions of people trust it to build a successful online store.
With that said, Shopify is more than just a shop builder. It’s a platform offering invaluable features to help you develop a lucrative dropshipping business.
While Shopify doesn’t accept every person who wants to promote them, becoming an affiliate is more than worth the effort. After all, Shopify has one of the best affiliate marketing programs for content creators, course owners, and influencers.
That affiliate program will give you access to many promotional materials you can utilize to monetize your online presence – each referral will earn you up to $150.
See Also: 15 Ways To Earn Money With Shopify
Join The Shopify Affiliate Program
16) BigCommerce
At first glance, BigCommerce doesn’t appear to be the most popular platform for online businesses interested in building a one-stop shop – it has fewer than 100,000 users.
Nevertheless, this e-commerce program has features that warrant your consideration.
Now, let’s discuss the free affiliate program of BigCommerce:
That high-paying program offers a 200% bounty payment on every plan (you can earn up to $1,500 per sale).
17) AliDropship
Another e-commerce platform that deserves a place on my list of the best affiliate programs to promote is AliDropship.
AliDropship offers an online store solution and themes/plugins that can be of great help to every business owner.
The monetary opportunities for promoters of this great affiliate program are more than lucrative:
You’ll be able to earn a 50% one-time commission per paying customer.
18) Leadpages
Leadpages is a digital marketing platform that offers various products to large and small businesses, including landing pages and easy-to-customize websites. Anyone can join the referral program to benefit from their affiliate marketing efforts.
One of the best features of this affiliate program is that it frequently runs special offers: if you make over ten sales monthly, you can win a $5,000 bonus.
Affiliates earn up to 50% lifetime recurring commissions, with payment through PayPal and Stripe.
Web Hosting And Website Themes: High-Paying Affiliate Programs
19) BlueHost
Quite frankly, I’m not a big fan of BlueHost. I think other hosting companies do a much better job these days.
However, we’re here to discuss the best affiliate programs to promote, and BlueHost provides one of those.
Firstly, Bluehost doesn’t have one of the most popular affiliate programs (in-house) – anyone can join their referral program without using their hosting.
Secondly, Bluehost’s affiliate program pays $65-$130 per referral – a good choice for any affiliate going after higher commissions.
Lastly, the company provides dedicated affiliate managers you can rely on for customer service or advice – exclusive access to them might prove invaluable if you’re a beginner.
20) Hostinger
Hostinger is a great place for thousands of bloggers who can’t afford to pay a higher price for a hosting service. That’s most likely because the company offers huge discounts on its plans.
What about its referral program? Should you check it out during your affiliate marketing journey?
Using your referral link can earn you up to $150 per affiliate sale.
21) WP Engine
WP Engine offers one of the fastest web hosting services you can get – millions of small businesses rely on it to be online.
Once you decide to promote the company, you must retrieve your affiliate link through the ShareASale affiliate network.
Prepare to receive $200 per sign-up or 100% of the first monthly payment of your referral.
22) Kinsta
If you want fast and secure web hosting, Kinsta will deliver.
More importantly, its affiliate program provides great earning opportunities.
Affiliates can earn up to $500 per sale, plus a 10% recurring commission – that’s the good news!
23) GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks will pay you different amounts of money for your referrals.
Depending on the number of sales you make, the company will send you $50 (for one sale) or $100 (for six sales).
So, the more people you introduce to this hosting company, the bigger your bank account will become since GreenGeeks has one of the most profitable affiliate programs you can join.
24) SiteGround
SiteGround is an excellent web hosting company that offers affordable plans and outstanding customer service.
Like GreenGeeks, SiteGround will pay you better if you send more customers.
Expect to earn up to $75 per referral.
25) Lyrical Host
From what I can see online, Lyrical Host is quickly becoming a top choice of a hosting company for many new bloggers.
Their customer service is outstanding, and I can say the same goes for the hosting plans.
Promoting Lyrical Host will bring you up to $80 per sale.
Lyrical Host Affiliate Program
26) InMotion
Now, let’s talk about InMotion:
Being an affiliate of this hosting company won’t pay you as much as you may expect.
Still, you can earn between $30 and $50 per sale.
27) Elegant Themes
Who hasn’t heard about Divi?
Divi is the most popular website theme from Elegant Themes.
The referral program will pay you a 50% commission for every sale. Elegant Themes has a great affiliate program offering high conversion rates.
Elegant Themes Affiliate Program
28) Thrive Themes
Thrive Themes is a company that specializes in creating WordPress themes and plugins that will increase your conversion rate.
Their products achieve incredible results and come at affordable prices.
Thrive’s affiliate program will pay you a 35% commission for all new sales and a 25% recurring lifetime commission as long as the user remains an active client.
Thrive Themes Affiliate Program
The Best Retail Affiliate Programs
29) Amazon Associates Program
Amazon Associates is the most popular affiliate program. It’s difficult to find a blogger or marketer unaware of all the opportunities the program provides.
Considering millions of people shop on Amazon daily, promoting products from various industries that sell there is an easy way to earn a commission.
With that said, Amazon Affiliates earn commissions of up to 10%.
While that might not be a lot, using Amazon Affiliate Links is a good idea due to the wide range of products you can promote.
30) Target
Next on my list of the best affiliate programs to promote is Target.
Here is what you need to know about this program:
Your commissions will increase if you sell more physical products.
Target offers commissions between 1% and 8% (not earning a lot of money is the only downside of its referral program).
Join The Target Affiliate Program
31) eBay Partner Network
Generally, the eBay Partner Network operates similarly to the Amazon Associates.
As an affiliate, you’ll be able to promote millions of products that have a high conversion rate.
Expect to receive up to 4% commission for marketing products that clients can find on this online marketplace.
Sign Up For The eBay Partner Network
Other Highest-Paying Affiliate Programs
32) Coursera
To sum up, Coursera offers thousands of courses and different specialization opportunities.
Promoting such digital products will allow you to earn up to 45% commissions.
Also, Coursera provides bonuses for the marketers who sell the most.
33) Semrush
If you want to earn $200 per subscription, joining the Semrush affiliate program is a great place to start.
Selling the company’s services won’t be hard:
You’ll have access to all kinds of promotional materials. Feel free to benefit from the digital marketing advantages Semrush brings to the table.
34) Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate is an online platform that teaches you how to build a profitable business online.
Anyone can join it free of charge – users don’t have to pay anything since becoming a member always starts with a free trial.
Your earnings will vary depending on the type of membership your referrals choose.
Prepare to receive commissions of up to $175 per sale.
35) Tailwind
Tailwind is an automatic scheduler that can post content on social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.
Its affiliate program will pay you a 15% commission per paid subscriber.
You’ll receive another 25% in recurring commissions – such earnings make Tailwind one of the best programs to promote if that makes sense for your target audience.
My Closing
No matter which one of the best affiliate programs to promote you choose to work with, you’ll have the chance to increase your marketing revenue.
Putting consistent effort into your marketing strategies is the way to go when working with affiliate programs.
Now, what are your thoughts on this topic? Do you have any questions for me?
Drop them in the comments, and I’ll take a look!
Resources For Getting Started With Affiliate Marketing Programs:
- How I Earned My First Affiliate Revenue
- Affiliate Marketing For Beginners (Step-By-Step Guide)
- What Is The Best Way To Launch An Affiliate Marketing Business?
- Should You Join The Market Health Affiliate Network?
- 50 Tricks To Skyrocket Your Affiliate Sales
- Where To Find Pre-Made Affiliate Sites
- Earn Money On ClickBank: Make $500 Daily
You have collected many affiliate programs that seem worthy of consideration. Thank you for that.
No need to thank me:
Writing about high-paying affiliate programs is a part of my job, so it was my pleasure.
Great effort, well appreciated.
Thank you!
I have read this post about – The Best Affiliate Programs To Promote (Even If You’re A Total Newbie), and it is the best, most excellent, and most informative post shared by you. This is the best post for affiliate marketing for everyone who can join and start to make money from home part-time, but we have to give time and patience to succeed.
Thank you so much, Palh.
I’m glad that you enjoyed my article.
Best of luck with your own journey as an affiliate marketer.
Hey, nice article about “widitrade and affiliate programs”. I will definitely follow these for my company to give the best possible services to my customers. Keep on adding this type of valuable content again and again. Hope to read more from you. Thank you!
Thank you so much.
I am glad that you enjoyed it.
I’ll keep adding more affiliate programs to the list in the future.
Really the best list..
Thanks
Thank you!
This article is so helpful especially for a newbie like me who’s still in the process of developing a website. I really wanted to learn the basics of affiliate marketing and your list is a good foundation to start with.
Thank you so much, Jo-Anne.
I’m glad that I was able to help.
Good luck with developing your business.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Hi Boby
I’ve just read 2 of your blogs relating to affiliate marketing and I can hear your enthusiasm and just larv it! As an extremely new newbie (my site isn’t quite launched yet), I have a couple of questions.
1. in regards to Thrive; Does my website have to be one of their themes or can I sign up as an affiliate even though it’s not?
2. WA: My site is not quite ready to be launched, i suppose I have to wait until it’s launched before signing up… yes? You said in your title ‘under 100 visits’ do I have to wait to have some visits or sign up asap?
BTW: I did have a quick look but couldn’t find any info.
cheers
Donna
Hey, Donna – welcome to the blogging world!
On your questions:
Yes, you need to have Thrive Themes in order to be their affiliate. That’s how it usually works.
However, you can give it a shot and contact them. Do your application and ask to be their affiliate – you never know, exceptions happen all the time.
But to do this, your site needs to be launched first. And not just launched but gaining some traffic already as well.
Also, you should know that Thrive has specific requirements for their affiliates – not everyone gets approved.
So, to have the best chance possible, it’s better to try for their affiliate program when your site has been active at least a month or two.
It all depends on how much traffic you’ll be able to get with a brand new site.
That’s why I can’t give you a more specific answer.
If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
And best of luck on your journey, you’ll love it!
As a beginner myself to affiliate marketing I’ve learned a lot from this article! Also thank you very much for the pro’s and cons about the different affiliate programs there are! That’s such a help! I will definitely keep this article under my favourite tab ;)!
Thanks so much, Virendra.
Well, I’m a firm believer in always providing pros and cons when reviewing a product.
At the end of the day, you need to be aware of what you’re dealing with, right?
Thanks for the list. I’ve been wanting to go with something other than just the Amazon Associates and you’ve provided me a solid list here. I’ve heard good things from Clickbank so I’m definitely going to be checking into them, plus Thrive and Elegant Themes sounds awesome as well.
You are welcome, Todd.
It won’t hurt to try out other affiliate programs.
Thrive is probably my favorite, it won’t disappoint you.
Best of success!
I really like your post. When I search in Google on what are the affiliate programs there are often too many results to digest. What is so great in your post is that you put them in one post and in additions, your views and recommendation help me to understand more on whether I should sign up or not.
Thanks for the sharing.
Thank you so much, Jeffrey.
Yeah, going through hundreds, even thousands of affiliate programs can be quite frustrating, especially for complete beginners.
I did my best to collect the ones I really believe will benefit greatly my audience.
So glad that you enjoyed my article.
Best of luck!