There are thousands of available top affiliate programs in the market, but the complication starts with what top-paying affiliate programs to choose. The potential income is tempting, but starting off is difficult, especially for newbies who have a limited idea of affiliate marketing.
The best affiliate programs provide marketers a wide array of products from different niches, offer reasonable commissions, allow access to different vendors in a single registration, give access to helpful marketing tools and analytics, and have different payment options. To help you learn about some top affiliate programs, we have listed down our top 10 picks of the best affiliate programs in 2021.
10 Best Affiliate Programs
ShareASale is one of the best affiliate marketing programs in the industry. It has been one of the top affiliate programs for nearly 2 decades now. It sure has earned experience and established trust with marketers and brands. You will never run out of relevant products and popular brands to promote with its over 3,000 offers to select from over 40 categories. Its user-friendly platform interface features free sign-up & account creation.
Pros:
- It offers both digital & standard pay-out methods which are highly convenient to marketers. Digital payment methods are commonly unavailable among affiliate programs and kudos to this platform for breaking the norm.
- It allows marketers to run multiple websites as their marketing channels to boost traffic and generate sales.
Cons:
- It requires technical knowledge to set-up an account which requires time and attention. Though it’s not a major issue, but it is certainly a drawback.
Who else doesn’t know Amazon? It is one of the biggest, most diverse and established high-ticket affiliate programs. Amazon Associate is perfect for newbies who have limited background knowledge and experience in affiliate marketing. With its over 12 million offers from different niches, you’ll surely never run out options. All you have to do is funnel buyers to Amazon through your external traffic sources.
Pros:
- You can earn between 1%-10%. Sales commission varies depending on brands, products, and categories.
- It’s easy to pitch products from Amazon because the platform is popular and has everything you need from pet care needs down to gardening tools.
Cons:
- It has an incredibly short cookie life; 24 days for buy-it-now products and 10 days for auctioned items.
- Electronics and video games have the lowest commission rates.
If there’s Amazon, there’s eBay! eBay is a marketplace platform that offers more than a billion different products from diverse categories. And just like Amazon, the eBay Partner Network offers the same edge to its marketers, including high conversion rates, established business rapport, and popularity.
Pros:
- Earn up to 50-70% of Auction fees. The auction fee is not the same as the auction price. Sellers are charged with auction fees wherein a large chunk of the auction fees goes to the marketer.
- Hight ticket products to pitch are Parts & Accessories and Fashion.
Cons:
- Short cookie life of 24 hours for “buy it now” items and 10 days for auctioned items.
If we’re talking about diverse products from different brands and a massive collection of vendors, CJ Affiliate is the next on the list. It has a well-established reputation, systematic affiliate marketing platform, and has been on the grind since 1998. This is one of the top paying affiliate programs for seasoned affiliates who have earned enough background on how the affiliate industry works. They have a high-standard and strict application process and once you’re in, you need to generate lots of traffic to stay in the program.
CJ Affiliate also claims a 43% year-on-year commission growth. They also take pride in their long cookie lifetime of 400 days. However, their partner programs offer different cookie lifetime.
Pros:
- The company’s resilience has been tested over time, so you sure know that they can adapt to potential problems that may arise.
- It has more than 300 brands to choose from, including the most popular and in-demand names in the market.
Cons:
- You need massive traffic to get into their system and have strict protocols to maintain your spot as a publisher.
- The system toolbox is complicated and requires an amount of time and attention to get used to.
Affiliaxe is one of the best affiliate marketing programs for seasoned marketers.
Their exclusive invitation-only application process speaks highly of their reputation. They will only invite established marketers that meet their standards.
However, once you get into the program, you will get all the support needed to boost your productivity. You will get access to more than 700 niches from different categories such as mobile content, health, and wellness, entertainment, and a lot more.
You will also have your own affiliate manager who will guide you through campaign creation, development, and enhancement. The platform is pretty solid with user-friendly features.
Pros:
- It has a lot of verticals from different big names and brands, 700+ niches, and a wide selection of categories.
- You will get access to an affiliate manager who will help you optimize your page to generate more traffic and boost your campaigns.
- Reasonable minimum payment amount of $100 and different payout options such as PayPal, Payoneer, Check, and Wire transfer.
Cons:
- You will only get a chance to be part of the program through invitation-only access.
- The high exclusivity, traffic, and reach standards are great for experienced marketers only.
DFO Global is one of the best affiliate marketing programs for serious marketers who want to work with a global base scale of e-commerce products. They offer highly optimized and smartly designed pages that undergo rigorous split-testings. Marketers get effective and experienced managers, data and analytics, exclusive network, compliance monitored contents, and brand protected platform.
Pros:
- Flexible international offers supported with efficient translations, localized checkout pages, and country-customized assets.
- Effective data and analytics, which include conversion rates and effective marketing strategies, all are provided by their data analytics team.
- Effective and seasoned affiliate managers who closely work with marketers to boost your success rate and growth.
Cons:
- It has a closed and exclusive network which marketers find frustrating. You will only get invited to the program if their marketing management team vetted you.
7. Rakuten Affiliate Network
Rakuten, formerly Buy.com, gives its marketers full access to their diverse physical product and global brands from retail D2C, finance such as Sephora, Walmart, New Balance, NBA, and a lot more. Marketers get to choose from CPA, CPL, CPS, and CPC programs. They also get full access to their media support system to widen their audience reach through their very own media companies such as Rakuten Viber, Rakuten TV, and Rakuten Viki.
Pros:
- It offers a wide range of creatives such as a flexible linking option, rotating ads, which you may use to boost your campaigns.
- They have a credible database of intelligence and proprietary data that helps marketers predict consumers’ trends, opinions, and buying patterns.
Cons:
- You need to apply to each brand that you want to pitch and promote, which can be time-consuming
- Their knowledge base is complicated to nanavigate.
8. Clickbank
Looking for digital products to pitch? Clickbank is a high-ticket affiliate program to be. It offers over 6 million digital lifestyle products in over 20 niches with a reach of over 200 million consumers on a global scale. To top it up, Clickbank also offers up to 75% commission rates and a low minimum payout of $10 which makes it one of the best affiliate marketing websites.
Pros:
- Its product platform is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
- A high sales commission of up to 75% with reliable recurring payouts.
Cons:
- It does not offer a digital payment method. Payments are made through checks, direct deposit, and wire transfer.
- $150 maximum limit scale per referral sale. This is a major drawback and would’ve been better if they lift off the limit or at least set a higher limit.
9. Shopify Affiliate Program
Shopify Affiliate Program is one of the most sought e-commerce platforms used by bloggers, retailers, and entrepreneurs whose audience are sellers as well. Their audience has to be on the same network for the platform to be helpful to them. You earn through their referral program and get a chunk for each user who signs up and purchases a paid plan through your unique referral link.
Pros:
- You get a 200% bounty on your referral’s first 2 months of paid plan and a 100% bounty on the Enterprise plan.
- Get to save time in content creation for marketing because Shopify gives its marketers access to its blogs, webinars, tools, and tutorials.
Cons:
- Their payout method is through PayPal only. It would be better if they will offer other payout options for marketers to choose from
- For earnings, $25 and below are automatically put on hold and released on the next pay-out date.
10. Google Adsense
Google AdSense is an advertising network. However, I added it to the list of the best affiliate marketing website because the earning pattern is almost the same as top-paying affiliate programs. This platform is recommended for bloggers. The principle is simple, allot ad space on your site and earn from your audience interest. You don’t have to sell or promote a product, Google AdSense chooses what ads to show on your site so it’s less of a burden on your end.
Pros:
- Your job is to supply content to your site or if you already have one, you just have to continue doing what you’re doing. Google AdSense will handle the advertising part.
- Needless to say, Google is one of the respectable names in the internet industry thus you know for sure it’s legit and reliable.
- You have the power to filter ads that you don’t wish to show on your site.
Cons:
- Your audience will see the ads but you won’t. So you will rely on your audience feedback for you to know if there are ads that are irrelevant or not suitable for your site.
Conclusion
There are boundless high-ticket affiliate programs on the internet for you to choose from that offer great revenue and benefits. However, you need to choose programs and the best affiliate marketing websites that are close to your heart and begin with the simplest ones. It will help you learn, grow, and hone your marketing skills before going to more complicated platforms meant for experienced marketers. Focus on your products, know your target market, and take advantage of the available tools for you to boost your traffic, gain audience interest, and maximize your income.