With a wide selection of available affiliate marketing programs online, you surely would want to have the best picks. In this article I will review a few of the top affiliate marketing programs you can choose from. What fits for one doesn’t always fit for another, hence we have several programs to choose from so that you can decide what best fits you.
Why Affiliate Marketing?
This business model’s main purpose is to generate income by promoting products of other people. The good thing about affiliate marketing is that you don’t need to have your own products to make money. You can recommend other people’s products and make money in this way.
Listed below are the top affiliate marketing programs, their background and what makes them part of the top picks.
Clickbank
The program is a major affiliate marketer that has around 200 million customers. It is easy for a beginner to get started with Clickbank. Anyone can create an account for free, a great deal for startups. They run Clickbank University that aims to teach the twists and turns of affiliate marketing.
Clickbank has a reputable 21-year record. It has been founded in 1998 by Tim and Eileen Barber. It offers a selection of more than 6 million affiliate products. Better Business Bureau rates Clickbank A+ for its zero unresolved complaints record.
It offers free registration and is noted to have high commission rates. It used to be limited to promoting digital products, but nowadays you can also sell physical products through Clickbank.
Clickbank offers a flexible payment schedule. You can choose whether you want to get paid monthly or weekly. They also offer a variety of payment options. You could either get paid by wire transfer, check or direct deposit. For international users, Payoneer is an option to get paid. However, they do not have the PayPal option.
Why is Clickbank so popular? Being able to focus on digital products of entrepreneurs around the globe, Clickbank is able to offer a high paying affiliate opportunity.
A word of caution though, even if the network itself has a solid reputation, some of the merchant’s products can be questionable. Some are useless, so you should always do some research before you decide to promote any products. Otherwise, you might end up promoting products that won’t make your website’s visitors happy.
Click here to read more about Clickbank Affiliate Marketing
ShareASale
ShareASale has been around since 2000 and has been acquired by Awin an international affiliate marketer in 2017. It offers 3,900 affiliate programs in 40 categories. Like Clickbank, ShareASAle has been rated A+ by Better Business Bureau.
ShareASale offers a large product catalog, ranging from beauty supplies to sport gear, eye wear and even luxury goods. It has a total of 5000 vendors which makes it easy to find products to promote.
The program uses a power rank system to give ideas about the most popular vendors to make it easy to choose from the large pool of options.
The advantage of this program is that it offers a free sign up while you get to enjoy a wide variety of products to offer. However, it has a high payout threshold.
It also has a consistent payout schedule. As long as you have a minimum balance of $50, ShareASale sends money on the 20th of each month. It also offers a wide range of payment options, from wire transfer to checks and deposit. Payoneer transfer service is also offered for international payments.
What is ShareASale’s edge? Because of its reputation, the program has been trusted by big companies. WP Engine and OptinMonster together with 1,000 merchants and influencers who trust the program.
For whom is ShareASale? It is for anyone who chooses to have a reliable affiliate network that offers w wide range of affiliate marketing options. The good thing about this is that the need to join multiple networks is eliminated.
ShareASale is for anyone who wants to offer physical or digital goods and even for those who want to offer ShareASale software as a service.
CJ Affiliate
CJ Affiliate was formerly known as Commission Junction. CJ Affiliate has been in the business for two decades, founded in 1998. It offers a wide array of brands that gives you contact to more than 3,000 merchants.
The program is part of Alliance Data Systems, a Fortune 500 company. For this reason, CJ Affiliate it too big to fail.
With CJ Affiliate you get paid monthly. It combines all your commissions into one payment per month. You could either get paid through checks or direct deposits.
What is CJ Affiliate’s edge? It features real-time reporting. This can help you monitor your account regularly without having to refresh your browser. It also offers automation of deep links that by design monetize links that lead to an advertiser domain of CJ.
It features product widgets that can be embedded into your website. It also offers a feature of multiple products through a slideshow.
For whom is CJ Affiliate? This is for anyone who wants a feature-rich affiliate network. However, this might not be a choice for beginners. Accounts will be deactivated once it reaches six months without earning commission. Worthy to note also is that CJ Affiliate comes with an arduous two stage application process.
You will need to apply first with your website. It has to be found fit to become a partner based on the traffic, quality of content and optimization. After that, you then need to apply individually to each product vendor. There is also no assurance that you will be accepted in their affiliate programs.
The program’s merchants are known to be picky. They only accept publishers who have a regular revenue stream. Hence, this is best for those who have steady website traffic.
Amazon Associates
Amazon has had extensive reach. Almost anyone has an Amazon account and purchases from them. Thus, it is very profitable to partner with them. Also, because they sell almost anything, you can be sure that you will find a product to market that goes well along with your website niche.
Amazon Associates is one of the first marketing networks on the internet; it started in 1996. Amazon offers a huge selection of products. They offer a massive catalog of both digital and physical products.
It also has a solid foundation. Being backed by Amazon and valued of $1 trillion, this business is going to last. Added to that is the 90 million Prime subscribers in the US. The Better Business Bureau has ranked in B+. Also, because of its reputation, its products rank very well in search engine results.
It offers easy application and acceptance. This includes third party ones, which means there is no need to apply to individual programs. Added to that is the large catalog to choose from. However, it has low commission rates.
Payments could take as long as 60 days after the end of the month when you earned your commission. You could either get paid by checks, direct deposit or Amazon gift certificates. Checks, however would cost you $15 as processing fee. For international payments, gift certificates, Payoneer and checks are the given option.
Commission rates of some categories change from time to time, and they could go as high as 10%. However, categories such as video games only offer 1% commission, television 2% commission. This makes it difficult to generate large incomes.
What is Amazon Associates’ edge? It has the widest volume of physical and digital products offered. Also, its conversion rates are noted to be high.
Important to note is that email marketing would not work well with Amazon. Incorporating affiliate links in emails is contrary to the company’s policy.
For whom is Amazon Associates? This is for marketers who are familiar with the platform’s ecosystem. This is for those who value a solid reputation more than high commission rates. This is also for those who focus on physical and digital products.
Click here to read more about Amazon Affiliate Marketing
Conclusion
The online business world offers tons of opportunities to earn money. However, the best of the best programs still have some downsides. It will then be worthy to consider and weigh things out as to what suits your circumstances best.
The key factors to consider when joining an affiliate marketing is that you would be able to choose niche and products that would interest you most, that way, you can keep on doing and building the business whatever hardship may come.
If you’re new to affiliate marketing, you should first learn how to become a successful affiliate marketer. To achieve that you’ll need to build a solid online business. The best to do it, is to join Wealthy Affiliate, where you’ll find all the trainings and tools needed to make money online.
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