Best Affiliate Programs to Look Forward to in 2021
If you are new to online marketing and don’t know how to make the most out of it, affiliate marketing programs are the best opportunity for you to make money.
Choose your genre of work and join the best affiliate programs in the field. As a beginner, you don’t even need to know a lot about the company. You can make commissions by simply referring others’ websites.
Before you get into affiliate marketing programs, it is essential that you understand what they are. A good understanding of affiliate programs will help you select the right one for your aid.
What Do You Understand by Affiliate Marketing Programs?
An affiliate marketing program can be described as an additional channel for sales, that has been created to promote bigger brands or companies.
The process of working with affiliate programs is as simple as signing up with the brands, getting their links, sharing it on your website or social media, and then convincing people to visit those links in a click. When others visit their site, they get access to their promotional videos, blogs, and reviews, whereas, you earn a commission out of it.
That was the basic idea of affiliate marketing. It is not only advantageous for the brand, but also for you. Do you want to know how? Well, the link you share, usually comes with words like “referrer=” or “ref” embedded in the link to direct the companies to the seller. So, now the owner is aware of the person to whom they owe their sale and disburse the commission accordingly.
How to Choose The Best Affiliate Programs?
If you want to enrol for the best program, you need to understand which ones are going to waste your time and which ones are beneficial.
For those who don’t know, here we have listed factors you should consider while choosing a program-
- The commission structure of the program
- The lifetime of the cookie
- Conditions of payout
- Criteria for acceptance
- Business criteria
Programs That Rank High for Affiliate Marketing
There are multiple genres of affiliate marketing when it comes to joining a program. Each of the variants has its own set of ranking and best ones in the market. The niches of affiliate programs that you need to know are-
- Affiliate Programs under e-commerce
- Travel Programs
- Dating Affiliates
- Web-hosting Affiliate Scheme
- Educational Schemes
- Gaming Programs
- Affiliate Scheme for Online Marketing Tools
Fiverr: The Best Affiliate Program to Cover all Niches
We will be discussing different niches and programs that rank high under each of them. But Fiverr Affiliate Scheme is something that covers all the genres in a go and hence can be considered as the best in the market. Not only does it cover everything, but also makes it easier to promote. The platform is similar to joining a digital service program under Amazon.
Fiverr is probably the largest marketplace in the world for online services. And, when you signup for an affiliate scheme with Fiverr, you get the opportunity to promote this huge marketplace. You get many options to choose from, like, services for business, programming, and WordPress gigs. When you promote something so huge, every beginner gets to earn about $150 CPA or about $1000 per sale or $10 CPA /10% of the hybrid model revenue share.
With Fiverr, you get to choose from more than 3 million digital services under 250 or more categories of affiliate programs. That’s why we consider Fiverr as the best for an affiliate program.
Best Affiliate Programs for the Beginners
Are you new to affiliate marketing?
Not sure which program is the best for you? We have got your back here.
After careful studies of all the programs, their user-friendliness, and profitability, we consider these 5 as the best affiliate programs for beginners.
1. Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is undoubtedly the best of all affiliate schemes meant for beginners.
Not only does it come with great offers, but also has an easy User Interface, making the best choice for the beginners to handle.
2. Match.com
The majority of the beginners prefer dating as their vertical to start an affiliate scheme. Match.com is a brand that is user-friendly, easy-to-promote, and most importantly a brand that is known to everybody.
Along with all these, the tech language is also an easy one, making it stand as a good choice for beginners.
3. Coursera
Coursera has similar reasons as Match.com to be on the list of top 5 affiliate programs for beginners.
It is easy to operate and a renowned brand for education.
4. Clickbank
Clickbank, though one of the best for beginners comes with a little older UI, which makes the operation a little harder.
But still, the tools present on the website makes it an ideal one for newbies. Above that, there are great offers on the site that have been designed for newbies.
5. CJ Affiliate
Are you keen on joining a program under an advertising platform? If so, CJ Affiliate is a great opportunity for you.
This is not exactly the smoother interface to start with. But the offers available here makes it one of the top 5.
Plus, the studies show that the learning curve becomes pretty steep for newbie affiliate marketers when they start with CJ Affiliate.
Web Hosting Affiliate Programs
When it comes to affiliate marketing, web hosting services becomes one of the most popular categories of all. Whenever a company launches a new website, they require the support of a web host. Hence, if you want to earn great from affiliate programs, you need to look for web hosting programs to promote a website that is starting afresh, starting a blog, or similar.
since web hosting is the most popular affiliate programs people choose for marketing, we will discuss the best program options under this category first. Before joining the best web hosting affiliates, you must understand that familiarity with the hosting tools is essential. When it’s web hosting, you can’t choose a program based on the commission structures. You need to consider a platform that is intuitive, rich in features, and is good for your target audience.
Here we have the top 5 high-paying and feature-rich web hosting programs that might interest you.
1. Bluehost
Bluehost Affiliate Program is one of the most popular programs under the category of web hosting. The features that makes this one in top 5 are-
- Hosting programs start from $2.95 a month
- Pays once a month
- A minimum commission amount is $65
- Low barrier cost
- Offers a cookie lifetime of 45 days for a referral since the first click
- A minimum business of $100 becomes eligible for commission pay-out
- Higher rate of conversion with banners and text links support
- 24×7 customer support from the Affiliate managers
All these points provide Bluehost the rank of #1 in web hosting affiliate programs.
2. Hostinger
Hostinger is yet another in-demand platform for web hosting, offering the affiliates a monthly commission of $150 against each sale. Important features here are-
- Base Payout for Affiliate Partners starts with $60
- Offer 90% discount in WordPress
- Monthly affiliate program starts from $0.99
- A high rate of conversion
- Tools and banner support for promotion are provided
- No minimum cap for payment
- Referrals unlimited
3. CloudWays
If you want a program with high commission pay and long recurring payments, you need to check out the affiliate program of CloudWays. They have 3 flexible models for payout purpose. The important features that make CloudWays one of the best in web hosting are-
- If you choose the one-time payout model then you earn around $125 in a sale depending on your program tier
- People signing up for the hybrid model get a pay of $30 per sale along with a 7% monthly commission pay throughout the affiliate’s lifetime
- Get performance tracking support
- Support of knowledgeable account managers
- Resource support like newsletters, e-mail onboarding, guides, benchmark, blogs, and articles
4. HostGator
HostGator offers a flexible structure for commission earning. One can earn about $100 just by signing up with the affiliate program here. Plus, when you join Hostgator, you get yourself offers and access to the co-brand landing pages. What’s more?
- Commission structures are tiered
- Refer more and earn more structure
- 2 models for commission payout – hybrid and based on performance
- Get recurring commission payments
- Support of a dedicated affiliate account manager
- Get access to high performing tools for marketing like article contents, banners, e-mail and text templates and links
- They are good for beginners
5. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks are known for their environment and user-friendly web hosting. Did you have any clue that every website comes with a carbon footprint? GreenGeeks are bringing in a change to that by introducing renewable energy credits. The carbon footprints are now bring replaced with energy credits that are created by consuming 3x amount of energy from the web grid. Apart from being green, the other features here are-
- Depending on the traffic on the website and your performance, you can earn a commission of about $125 on each sale
- They have paid their affiliates an amount of $3.5 million so far
- Get a dedicated manager for an affiliate account
- Support for performance elevating marketing tools
- There is no clause for minimum sales threshold for disbursement of commissions
These are the 5 top-paying web hosting affiliate programs that you can try to earn maximum under this category. Of course, there are other prominent web hosts who offer excellent affiliate marketing schemes like WP Engine, Liquid Web,
Best Affiliate Programs for Websites
Web hosting affiliate marketing schemes are followed by the website programs when you compare the popularity. E-commerce affiliate programs come second when it comes to digital promotion. Be it a blogger or an e-commerce website owner, they all seek the support of a web host to begin and then follow affiliate marketing for promotion.
Do you know why affiliate marketing demands are growing among e-commerce website owners? While your customers may stay loyal for 24-36 months or even have lifetime value, keeping them engaged cost more. Whereas, if you have an affiliate marketer to do the promotion for you, the expense is way lower and you pay lesser commission amount.
Here we have 9 best affiliate programs for e-commerce or business website listed for you along with their commission structure and cookie lifespan. Understand the features and know what is best for you.
1. Shopify
If you are into e-commerce, you must be well aware of Shopify. It is the e-commerce builder that has the highest demand in the world. they have successfully created more than 400,00 merchants all across the globe. what makes their affiliate marketing plan the best? It’s the commission feature-
- They paid their paid stores a substantial amount of 200% commission upon sale
- High brand recognition
- Guaranteed higher rate of conversion
- Get great ideas for promotion from their website
- Feature-rich affiliate program to make it user-friendly
- The affiliates get a cookie lifespan of 90 days
2. Wix
The next name that has emerged with equal importance for website building is Wix. Did you know it has more 100 million users all over the world? Do you know why they are demand? It is because of the quality of the website they create for business. The features of the program are also attractive-
- Earn about $100 on each sale at the beginning of the program
- They use excellent user-friendly and easy-navigable landing pages
- Landing pages are available in multiple languages
- With Wix, you can create and monetize your affiliate link in the cheapest and easiest way
- The affiliates get a cookie lifespan of 90 days
3. BigCommerce
If you are looking for the most popular SaaS platform for e-commerce, then it is BigCommerce, having around 600,000 merchants. This platform has the best built-in features along with the advanced category of functionality, that has lead to the creation of big brand e-commerce websites. The affiliate program here is also rich in features-
- They offer 200% payment in bounty on every customer that pays on your reference
- The affiliates get a cookie lifespan of 30 days
- Get exclusive promotion tools like banners, a weekly newsletter under an affiliate program, e-mail templates, SEO content advice, text links, etc.
4. Weebly
Weebly is a simple platform for website building that is preferred by as good as 40 million users across the globe. It might not be one of the platforms with the most advanced web-building tools, but the drag-and-drop interface makes website building an easy job. The affiliate plans are also simple and yet high-paying.
- An active customer gets paid a commission of 30% of the sale value in a recurring schedule
- They have a generous cookie lifespan of 120 days
- Higher earning opportunity for the beginners
- User-friendly interface
5. Sellfy
Sellfy is a feature-rich e-commerce website building platform that is highly appreciated by bloggers and web owners who want to earn from the digital product over physical. They run excellent affiliate marketing programs for newbies and pros.
- Get great subscription offers
- Earn a recurring commission of 25% of the sale value in a year
- Get a cookie lifespan of 90 days
- Support of a strong affiliate manager
- Marketing assistance for collaboration and content creation
- Advanced tool support
6. ClickMeter
ClickMeter offers an affiliate program that allows you to track the website link successfully and get business. There are other features of this program that makes it one of the best in the online market.
- If you promote that online web building tools they pay you a commission amount of up to 90% on each sale value.
- Get a cookie lifespan of 90 days
- Support of a dedicated affiliate team
- You can avail the program from Shareasale
- You get a chance of earning up to $891 against each sale
- Easy conversion tracking with advanced tool support
7. 3dcart
3dcart is an e-commerce platform that is developing fast and has its own web hosting program. Naturally, their affiliate program is something to look forward to.
- Offers a commission of 300% against each paid conversion
- Get a cookie duration of 45 days
- Reliable and a higher rate of conversion is guaranteed
- Support of a helping affiliate account manager
8. Site123
Do you want to create a mobile-friendly website? Site123 has quite some fame in creating such websites for you. They offer the simplest interface in their affiliate marketing program. The other features of their beneficial program are-
- Get the support of many e-mail templates
- Multiple templates for landing page
- Earn a payout of about $182 on each sale
- Get 30-days cookie lifetime
- Withdrawal of funds is permitted post earning a commission of 300%
9. ReferralCandy
If you want to work and grow as an affiliate marketer, you need a strong referral platform. ReferralCandy has the best software program for online referrals. Even e-commerce platforms get to create great referral customer deals using this software. If you have taken up their affiliate program, you are sure to enjoy these features –
- Get flat $20 cash on every referral to the website
- Get a discount for your customers and also for yourself
- Get cookie lifetime of 30 days for conversion and earning
Other e-commerce affiliate marketing programs that you might look up to are CJ Affiliate, Shareasale, Amazon Associates, Clickbank, and eBay partner networking.
VPN Affiliate Programs
Did you know nearly 25% of the internet users get access to VPN for daily use? in fact, the number of users is increasing daily basis. Owing to the growing demand of the VPN technologies, even the affiliate programs are promoting the use of a private network. You can also recommend your readers to switch to private networks and with the affiliate plan, help the customers to do it in a click.
Here we have the top 5 VPN affiliate programs that are high-paying and definitely something to look forward to in 2021.
1. IPVanish
IPVanish has already earned its fame in the world as the best VPN platform. Now they boast of providing the best payout in their affiliate marketing schemes.
- If you have joined a 1-month program, you get a 100% commission payout in the 1st month followed by 35% next month onward as a recurring
- A 3-month package helps you earn 40% in each of the first 3 months and then 35% recurring
- With a 1 or 2 years’ package, you earn 40% commission and 35% recurring
2. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most preferred VPN networks in the world as it is well-known to protect the privacy of the users. They protect the privacy of their affiliates and offer a great program with high earning opportunity.
- Choose from 3 different Programs – 1-month plan, 6-months plan, and 1-year plan
- Get one-time payout when you sign up with any of the programs
- Earn one-time $13, $22, and $36 against 1-month, 6-month, and 1-year plan
3. NordVPN
If you want to earn from NordVPN, you need to promote the subscription package to your customers. Their affiliate scheme features are-
- Commissions are paid based on the subscription package chosen by the customer
- Get 100% commission for a 1-month package
- Earn 40% for 6-months, 12-months, or 24-months packages
- Higher rate of conversion
- Support of strong affiliate account manager for sales
4. PureVPN
If you want to join a fun affiliate program, you get it with PureVPN. The programs are preferred for earning because-
- Join contests and get rewards
- Stay updated on sales with their personalized notifications
- For 1-month programs, they offer 100% commission and 40% for ones with longer duration
5. StrongVPN
StrongVPN affiliate program is a relatively new but effective program in the market.
They offer monthly commission payout and depending on your sales contribution, you can earn even up to 200%.
Affiliate Programs for Travel
The online market for travel packages is very rich. From flight tickets to booking hotels, people refer to online travel portals like Booking.com or Expedia to book their travel components. Owing to the high traffic in these websites, it is justified that you join affiliate programs under the travel category.
If you want to gain a lot of business, you can flash the promo links of specific hotels or packages or similar on these websites. You can quite some by referring these hotels or travel agents with the creative links. Plus, if you are putting up promo blogs they are appealing to readers.
The top 5 high-paying travel affiliate plan that you can avail are-
1. Travelpaypouts
Travelpayouts affiliate schemes are known worldwide as the “Ideal travel program to monetize your Travel Website”. With the great commission structure and cookie life, Travelpayouts stands as one of the best programs to look up to for travel promotion. The features that make it the best are-
- Offer a commission payment of 80% on package bookings
- Get a cookie life of 30 days
- The platform integrates different travel portals and offers great services
- Earn about 6% commission on hotel night stay and 1.6% on every flight booking
2. Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor is probably the most popular travel website, where people turn to for destination or package advises. This is the biggest platform in the world for travel discussions and expressing travel experiences. Not only do they have high traffic, but also a great affiliate program.
- They offer a decent commission payment of 50% on each sale
- Get cookie lifetime of 14 days
- They offer a great referral program against a nominal fee
3. Expedia
Expedia is one of the largest brands of travel portals in the world having links to multiple other websites like that of hotels, hostels, etc. If you join one of their affiliate marketing plans you get to promote and book more than 260,000 properties in 70 countries across the globe through more than 150 websites. plus, you earn a commission of 2-6% based on the sale value. However, the cookie time span is a bit short, only 7 days.
4. Travelocity
People who book travel online are familiar with Travelocity for their guaranteed price matching. Joining their affiliate network will earn you a commission of 2-4% on each sale. But the cookie time is very generous – 45 days.
5. Hotels.com
Hotels.com affiliate program is a great way of earning if you want access to numerous hotel links for promotion. With the program you get-
- Local service
- Access to 85 different websites available in 35 different languages
- Exclusive rewards program for 15 million members
- Earn commission of about 4% on each sale and referral
- Cookie lifetime of 7 days only
Apart from the above 5, Booking.com is yet another famous travel portal that is taking over the world for its great collection of hotel partners. Even the commission structure is great. You can easily earn about 4% on your sale. But the cookie duration is extremely poor. Your affiliate link expires the moment you close the website.
Other Important Categories of Affiliate Programs
We have discussed the highest paying genres of the affiliate marketing programs. But there are more varieties than those. The other categories of programs that are good for earning commission are-
- Affiliate Programs for credit cards and finance websites: Helping people with their finances, loans, and credit card choices is a great way to earn a commission. While they build their credit scores, you earn your share by using the affiliate schemes and their accounting tools. Some top programs to try in 2021 are Bankrate Credit Cards, Bankaffiliates.com, Credit.com, Commission Soup, etc.
- Affiliate Networking for Fitness: Though not a popular category among affiliates, fitness affiliate networking is one of the highest paying programs to opt for in 2021. Since the AOV of fitness products are high, you will earn assured high commission on every sale. These affiliates offer great EPC. Bodybuilding.com offers one of the highest payment to its affiliates. While you earn up to 155 commission on each sale, they offer a cookie gateway of only 9 days. ProForm on the other hand offers a commission between 8-11% and a cookie duration of 30 days.
- Affiliate Programs for CBD: Did you know you can earn from cannabis program? Yes, it’s possible. It might not be a legal program in every country of the world, 33 States of the USA are earning good by using the CBD space and marijuana for treatment. The pay structure is high for Cannabis. with Green Culter ED, you can earn up to 60% commission and enjoy a cookie duration of 1 year. There are other high-paying programs as well.
- Affiliate Programs for Fashion: These programs are recommended for people in fashion or for social influencers and bloggers. Fashion products come with their sub-niches. So, if you want to excel in fashion affiliate marketing, you need to know all niches and promote accordingly. Some important programs in fashion are offered by Newchic with 18% commission and 60-days lifespan, Warby Parker comes 20% commission and 45-days cookie duration, and JNCO Jeans with 20% commission and cookie duration of 30 days.
- Affiliate Plans for Makeup and Beauty Products: The programs here are again a great opportunity for social media influencers and bloggers. On average with these programs you earn about 2-10% commission of the sale. However, commission payouts can be different for different affiliates. While Madison Reed offers the highest pay of 20% along with 30-days cookie lifespan, BH Cosmetics offer 8% flat commission for 60 days straight.
- Affiliate Programs for Twitch and Gaming: Gaming platforms like Twitcher.com offer great affiliate programs to their partners. You can earn a commission up to 50% on every subscription and 5% on every sale. All of them allows you to monetize their subscription plans. To earn high you need to gather followers and get their subscription or game broadcasting.
- Affiliate Programs for Music: These are upcoming products that will help you earn high commission. The best paying program is Singorama that offers 70% commission on each instant download, 40% on shipped items, and a cookie duration of 60 days.
- Affiliate Programs for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin affiliate networking helps you earn money from referrals. This is not that popular in the world yet. Binance offers the highest-paid program with 20% on trade fee referrals, 40% when you hold more than 500 BNBs, etc.
- Affiliate Plan for Sports: Sports come with 73.5 million consumers of the world. Those who join get a chance to cater to a huge number of audience and earn from it. Needless to say, the commission is also high. Draft kings offer the highest commission of 40% on referral revenue.
What Do You Understand by Recurring Payment?
So far we have discussed the companies who offer recurring commission payment. But do you understand what it is? In simple terms, the recurring payment is a structure of commission payout when the amount is not disbursed in one got. Programs that offer recurring payment, repeat their commissions as long as the partner remains as an active user.
SaaS platform is regarded as the best recurring payer. They require monthly subscription from the users.
Pros and Cons of Recurring Payment
Pros:
- Ensures consistent revenue-earning every month
- Earning can be predicted
- If the retention rate is high and churning rate is low, you will end up earning throughout the customer’s lifetime
Cons:
- Up-front income is low
- Your commission ceases as soon as the customer churns out
Pros and Cons for Choosing Affiliate Program with One-time Payment option
Pros:
- Up-front income is high
- You can earn as high as 500-1000% of the value of subscription at times
Cons:
- Consistency of revenue earning can break
- Earning is reduced over a customers lifetime
Physical Product Promotion vs Digital Advertising
Promoting physical product calls for manufacturing, storing, and shipping before the actual promotion and sales can happen. The preparatory phase for physical products can be an expensive affair. But the selling price is never proportionately high. This affects the commission structure for the salesperson.
Whereas, when you go for digital advertising, you hardly have any expense, not even manufacturing, until you get orders from promotions. Naturally, the commission payout is lucrative making people like digital campaigns more than the physical ones.
Can you imagine, the commission rate with digital campaigns like affiliate marketing can go as high as 60%! This is the main reason why people nowadays prefer to go for online promotion of apps and e-commerce sites over the physical product.
Knowing the Consideration Factors for Affiliate Programs
1. The commissions involved in the programs
The commission you earn from an affiliate program is on only a percentage of the sale profit. Many a times, web hosting programs fix a certain amount as a commission, irrespective of the sale value or profit margin. the sole aim of joining a program is to earn maximum commission out of it. To get that done, you can try these steps-
- Sell more to earn more commission
- Check-out promotions and offers for getting references to sell the product
- Sometime hard-to-sell products have a higher rate of commission on them; target those
While the commission amount is a big deciding factor for choosing a program, it is important that you also understand that there are several players in affiliate marketing. Often you will find yourself earning from meta-search engines like that of Agoda. When you get involved with such affiliates, you earn lesser but from different sources since these are intermediaries.
2. Lifetime of a Cookie
As mentioned before, to earn a commission, it is important that the website owner is aware of the person referring. The referral cookie does the job. So, it is important to know about the lifetime of that cookie. The lifetime is a variable factor from program to program. By lifetime we mean the span of time from the first click to the purchase, within which you become eligible for a commission payout.
A quick tip: A longer lifetime of cookie leads to better commission amount.
So, if you come across a program with a shorter lifespan of cookie, it will seem unappealing. The best example of this can be eBay. While the majority of shopping affiliates offer 5% commission for a cookie lifespan of 7 days, eBay offers 60 days. So, you get more time to promote and convince people to buy the product on eBay and get assured commissions.
3. Commission Payout Terms
In general affiliate programs payout your commissions on a monthly basis. But you need something more frequent, you need to look for better programs. But the frequency of payout is not the real factor of consideration here. Many programs come with terms where you are required to reach a target sale value to be eligible for commission payout. In fact, the majority of the bigger brands have this clause.
So, when you join a program, understand that selling alone will not help, you need to reach the threshold amount to get your commission. So, the lower the threshold value, the higher are your chances of earning a commission. Many programs even practice a payout structure where the frequency increases with the increase in sale value or rather over achieving the threshold value.
4. Criteria for Acceptance
Usually, companies accept affiliates of different genre. But to get the best effect of the program, you might want to have a thematically similar website to publish the link of your affiliate. Sometimes companies do have restrictions so as to maintain the theme of work. Meeting the affiliate requirement ensures a higher payout rate.
The best example of this can be Airbnb. they accept an affiliate only when the website in question gets a million or more visitors in a month. They don’t negotiate a value of less than a million. That is is the reason why they pay out a minimum of 10% as their commission.
5. Criteria for Business
This factor is more of intangible or beyond measurement. Business criteria means observing
Market Size: When you measure the size of a market, you do it on a global scale. Usually, it’s worth about billions. But more than the worth of the market, you need to focus on the YOY growth to understand the profitability potentials. So, when you go for the size of the market, look for an option where you have more niches to explore and less competition.
Market Competition: Having a competition is healthy for your business. But having a strong one can prove to be detrimental. Find out the weakness of your competitor and choose a program accordingly.
EPC on an Average: How much do you earn per click? It is a factor that is market dependent. Usually, EPC is high for computer games.
Understanding all these factors individually helps you in making a wise decision while choosing the best affiliate programs.
Joining the Best Affiliate Programs
What we discussed so far is just the trailer of the Affiliate marketing program. There is a lot more than this.
There are thousands of programs available for you. You need to choose your niche before selecting on an affiliate program. We have listed the high-paying ones that look promising in 2021. Select one that suits you.