Affiliate Platforms

Affiliate Platforms: A Complete Beginners’ Guide

Are you exploring affiliate marketing to make money? Well, it is an exciting field that goes far beyond making an income; it is also about building connections and finding products people enjoy using. In this beginner’s guide, we will share some valuable tips to have a great start in this field. We will also discuss some high-paying affiliate platforms to get you underway on your journey.

What Are Affiliate Platforms?

Affiliate platforms are specialized systems where businesses and individual marketers join forces to promote products or services. These platforms serve as intermediaries between affiliates (social media content creators, bloggers, influencers,) seeking commissions by promoting goods/services to their audience and companies looking to sell them.  These platforms provide the necessary tools and infrastructure to facilitate the tracking, reporting, and payment of affiliate transactions.

The Rise of Affiliate Platforms – Backed by Numbers:

Here are the latest affiliate marketing statistics, designed to give a data-backed view of both its current state and future potential:

• Affiliate marketing is projected to hit $36.9 billion by 2030, demonstrating its rapid expansion. [source]
• 7% annual growth projected between 2023 and 2030. [source]
• Affiliate programs account for roughly 16% of all e-commerce sales in Canada and the US, making them a key player in online retailing. [source]

Why Affiliate Networking Can Be Effective:

• Diversification of Income Streams: By joining multiple affiliate programs, you can diversify your sources of income, reducing the risk associated with relying on a single product or service.
• Access to a Broader Range of Products: Networking allows you to promote a more comprehensive array of products, catering to different niches and preferences within your audience.
• Learning from Peers: Engaging with other affiliates can lead to sharing strategies, tips, and insights that can help improve your marketing efforts.

High-Paying Niches for Lucrative Earnings:

Regarding affiliate marketing, choosing the right niche is crucial for maximizing earnings. Here are some of the most lucrative niches that you can consider:

• Technology and Gadgets
• Health and Wellness
• Wealth Building and Financial Services
• Online Education and E-Learning
• Luxury Goods and Services
• Home Improvement and Automation
• Beauty and Personal Care
• Hobbies and Leisure Activities

Selecting a niche from this list can help you, as an affiliate to target high-ticket items or services that offer substantial commissions, leading to more profitable outcomes in your affiliate endeavors.

Why You Should Join Affiliate Platforms:

• Affiliate Platforms Can Diversify Income Streams: Joining affiliate platforms can open up multiple income streams, with commissions earned by promoting various products or services.
• Low Startup Costs: Affiliate marketing often requires minimal initial investments, making it accessible for individuals looking to start businesses on a shoestring budget.
• Flexibility and Convenience: Being an affiliate gives you the flexibility and convenience of working from anywhere at any time, allowing your business to adapt to your lifestyle.

Pros and Cons of Affiliate Platforms

Joining affiliate platforms to make money comes with a set of benefits and drawbacks. Here is a list of the main ones:

Pros

• Access to Multiple Advertisers: Affiliate platforms provide affiliates with access to a diverse range of advertisers, products, and services, all in one place. This makes it easier to find offers that align with your audience.
• Streamlined Payment Processes: With Affiliate platforms, you receive payments through a centralized system, simplifying the process of tracking earnings and receiving payouts from different advertisers.
• Variety of Offers: You can choose from various offers, including PPC (pay-per-click), PPL (pay-per-lead), and PPS (pay-per-sale), allowing you to experiment with different monetization strategies.
• Support and Tools: Many Affiliate platforms offer support and tools such as tracking software, analytics, and marketing materials to help you optimize your campaigns and increase conversions.
• Credibility: Working with established Affiliate platforms can lend credibility to your efforts, reassuring potential customers that the products or services promoted are legitimate.

Cons

• High Competition: Popular Affiliate platforms are crowded with affiliates, so you may face stiff competition for the most lucrative offers and market segments.
• Commission Fees: Affiliate platforms take a cut of the earnings as a commission for their services, which can reduce your overall profit margin.
• Strict Rules and Regulations: Most networks have strict rules and regulations that you must adhere to. Non-compliance can lead to account suspension or even termination.
• Limited Control Over Offers: Sometimes, the network sets the terms and conditions of offers, leaving you with limited control over the pricing and presentation of the products or services you promote.
• Delayed Payments: Payment cycles can be lengthy, and some networks only pay out once you reach a certain threshold, which can affect your cash flow.

Who Might Not Be Ideal for Affiliate Networking:

• Those Unwilling to Invest Time and Effort. Successful affiliate marketing requires dedication to create content and strategies to drive traffic and sales.
• People Expecting Quick Returns. Generating significant income through affiliate marketing often takes time. This might not be the right path if you’re looking for immediate returns.
• Non-Strategic Thinkers. Affiliate marketing demands strategic planning to choose the right products and market them effectively to the target audience.
• Those Uncomfortable with Selling. If you are uncomfortable promoting products and influencing purchasing decisions, affiliate networking may not be enjoyable.

Things Affiliate Marketers Do to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Staying current with affiliate marketing network developments is essential for staying competitive and increasing earnings, so here are a few key trends you should monitor:

• Focus on Quality Traffic: Thanks to sophisticated tracking tools, there has been an increase in emphasis on quality over quantity of traffic. Advertisers increasingly look for affiliates who deliver leads that convert rather than just having high volumes.
• Mobile Optimization: Mobile commerce continues to experience explosive growth, so affiliates should ensure that their websites and promotions are mobile-friendly to cater to an increasingly more extensive base of consumers shopping via their devices.
• Influencer Partnerships: Influencers have emerged as an invaluable force in affiliate marketing. Brands are increasingly teaming up with influencers to leverage their engaged audiences and drive sales through authentic content creation.
• Data-Driven Strategies: Analytic data is critical in optimizing affiliate marketing efforts. By gathering and analyzing consumer preferences and behavior patterns, using it helps craft campaigns with higher success rates and yield better returns.
• Diversifying Affiliate Programs: Affiliates are expanding their programs to include various PPC (pay-per-click), PPL (pay-per-lead), and PPS (pay-per-sale) models to maximize revenue streams from multiple types of conversions.
• Compliance and Transparency: As regulatory bodies crack down on misleading advertising practices, affiliates should prioritize compliance and transparency in their promotions to build trust with consumers while avoiding penalties.
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are becoming more integrated into affiliate platforms to offer advanced predictive analytics, automate processes, and tailor offers for better conversion rates.
• Niche Market Focus: Affiliate marketers are increasingly opting to specialize in niche markets where they can provide unique value and expertise that sets themselves apart from crowded segments.

Top 9 High-paying Affiliate Platforms to Explore:

Now that you know the ins and outs of Affiliate platforms, let’s explore some of the best paying platforms to consider joining as an affiliate:

1. BigCommerce

BigCommerce lets you sell almost anything online. And with many helpful apps available, it can increase your sales. It’s an excellent choice for an online store.

Commission: Affiliates get 200% of the first month’s payment from a customer. You could make up to $1,500 if it’s an enterprise client.

Cookie duration: 90-day duration

Pros:

• Unlimited product variants
• Scalability is straightforward
• Zero transaction fees
• Built-in SEO features to enhance your store’s visibility

Cons:

• Sales are capped by an annual threshold
• The content editor offers limited functionality
• Lacks options for creating a multi-lingual store

2. Refersion

Refersion is a tool for online store owners to reward customers who promote their business. It lets you create offers, links, coupon codes, set up how much commission to pay, track sales, and work with your online shop. It works well with Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce and can be customized for other systems.

The software shows how each affiliate helps your profits by looking at earnings per click, average order value, and total revenue from each affiliate.

Refersion keeps in touch with affiliates through a dashboard where you can message them. You can also send newsletters with Mailchimp or Klaviyo to tell partners about new products, marketing materials, or commission updates.

Commission: Affiliates earn 15% for getting others to sign up with Refersion through their link or an email.

Cookie duration: You can set the cookie tracking time from two days to two years, depending on your preference.

Pros:

• Managing affiliates is very easy, even with many partners.
• There are several options for setting up commission structures.
• The content library can link straight to affiliate sites, allowing for local edits and global ads.
• First-party tracking is unique and makes sure no affiliate sales go unnoticed.

Cons:

• On-demand reporting options are limited.
• It’s challenging to sort influencers or affiliates by their performance.
• The platform doesn’t handle payment processing directly.

3. Wix.com

Wix has an affiliate program perfect for influencers and bloggers with lots of traffic. Small businesses often choose Wix to build their websites because it’s simple. This means you have many potential users to target.

The program offers a good commission, but you need to make at least $300 in commissions each month to stay in. If not, you might be removed from the program. Also, you can’t promote Wix’s special sales.

Commission: You get $100 when someone you refer purchases a Wix Premium Plan.

Cookie duration: 30 days.

Pros:

• Offers excellent value with competitive pricing.
• Setting up a store is straightforward.
• Allows for the sale of both physical and digital items.
• There are no fees on sales or commissions.

Cons:

• Wix websites might have slower loading times.
• Customization options are limited for certain elements.
• To dodge transaction fees, you might need to use additional platforms.
• Using the Square payment gateway is necessary to avoid higher transaction fees.

4. Teachable

If you would like to earn ongoing commissions, look at Teachable’s program. Their website says affiliates usually make around $450 a month, and many earn over $1,000 monthly.

Commission: You can get as much as 50% commission. The recurring commission is always 30%.

Cookie duration: 90-day duration

Pros:

• Provides many excellent tools for creating and marketing your course.
• Offers a wide range of customization features.
• Excellent customer service is available.

Cons:

• The cost is relatively high.
• Reporting and analytics features are basic.
• Lacks a built-in feature for issuing course completion certificates.
• Does not include support for EU VAT.

5. Kajabi

Kajabi is a well-liked platform for making online courses, landing pages, marketing efforts, and websites. Its affiliate program stands out because it has nine partner levels. We think the game-like setup can push you to be a top affiliate marketer.

Commission: You get a 30% lifetime commission for each new referral who stays on after the trial period.

Cookie duration: No information is provided on its website.

Pros:

• User-friendly for teachers and learners.
• Includes a landing page builder and analytics tools.
• Customer support is available across various time zones.
• Tools provided for building courses from the ground up.

Cons:

• The pricing is on the expensive side.
• The landing page builder is missing some features.
• Setting up dynamic email sequences can be complicated.
• There is no option for a free subscription plan.

6. Shopify

If you have a website with regular visitors and experience with Shopify or another eCommerce platform, consider the Shopify Affiliate Program. Joining is free, but you need to create original content.

Commission: You earn money when merchants sign up for a paid Shopify plan through your affiliate link. You should contact Shopify for details on how much.

Cookie duration: 30-day duration

Pros:

• Top-notch website and store creation platform.
• Designs adapt well to different devices.
• Simple to expand as your business grows.

Cons:

• Setting up URL structures can be perplexing.
• Creating a store with multiple languages is complex.
• Shopify adds extra transaction fees.
• Blog page setup might be more complicated.

7. Elementor

Elementor is a website builder that lets you drag and drop elements. It’s used to make over 7% of the world’s websites.

It has many widgets, integrations, templates, and design tools. With Elementor, you can easily create and grow your WordPress site without coding.

Elementor is unique because it also offers cloud hosting.

But Elementor isn’t just software. It has an online community with 100k members. They give advice, have meetups, and help each other improve professionally.

Elementor affiliates get 50% for each sale. The software has five price plans, from $49 to $999 a year. This range helps affiliates market different plans to the right people.

Some top affiliates make over $10,000 a month, making Elementor a good choice for affiliates.

Commission: 50% per sale

Cookie duration: 90 days

Pros:

• Offers a 50% commission rate, which is relatively high.
• The product is well-known and trusted worldwide.
• Provides a variety of marketing materials and resources.
• There is solid support from a community of users.

Cons:

• The market is very competitive.
• The minimum amount required for payout is high.

8. Moosend

Moosend is a budget-friendly, all-in-one tool for email marketing automation. It helps marketers grow their business and get more customers with exciting campaigns.

You can use its easy email editor, online forms, landing pages, and tools to manage your audience, segmentation, and personalization to make subscribers into loyal fans of your brand.

With Moosend’s affiliate program, you can make up to a 40% lifetime recurring commission on any plan that your contacts purchase.

Plus, a 90-day cookie gives your audience enough time to buy, and you can make more money if your contact upgrades their plan.

As a Moosend affiliate, you can access ready-to-use materials like banners and templates in your affiliate dashboard. The affiliate team is also there to help with any issues.

Commission: 30% to 40% Lifetime Recurring

Cookie duration: 90 days

Pros:

• Earn a 30% recurring commission on all plans your audience purchases.
• 90-day cookie duration, which is double the industry standard of 30 days.

Cons:

• Payments are made via PayPal only, which might not be suitable for everyone.
• The affiliate program is self-managed, not hosted on a separate affiliate platform.

9. AWeber

Since 1998, over one million businesses and entrepreneurs have chosen AWeber as their go-to autoresponder. It’s great for newsletters and email drip campaigns.

AWeber has a tiered affiliate program that lets you earn more as you sell more. Earn a 30% commission when you refer up to 10 accounts in a year.

When you refer more than 10 customers, your commission jumps to 40%. If you bring in 50 or more customers, it goes up to 50%. That’s quite the deal!

There are two ways to make money as an AWeber affiliate:

• The in-house program pays a lifetime commission of 30%. Plans range from $20 to $150 a month, and earnings can grow.
• You can also make up to $300 per account with CJ Affiliate. But remember, the cookie life here is only 45 days, not a year.

Commission: Up to 50% lifetime recurring

Cookie duration: One year

Pros:

• 30% recurring commission on purchases and renewals made by referrals.
• The commission rate can increase to 50%, which is competitive in the industry.
• 365-day cookie duration, significantly longer than most affiliate programs.

Cons:

• Must apply directly on the company’s website, which may have an uncertain approval rate.
• Higher traffic and following may be necessary to improve the chances of acceptance into the program.

Joining Affiliate platforms: Taking the First Steps

The application process for Affiliate platforms is usually straightforward. Here’s a general breakdown:

1. Find a suitable affiliate network that aligns with your niche or industry.
2. Fill out the application form on the network’s website, providing all necessary personal and business details.
3. Wait for approval, which may involve a review of your online presence and audience.
4. Once approved, you’ll get access to the network’s resources, including affiliate links, banners, and tracking tools.
5. Start promoting products on your platform and earn commissions for successful referrals.

Final Words

Affiliate networking still has a lot of potential. You can build a successful affiliate marketing business by understanding the basics, choosing the right products, and employing effective strategies. Remember, persistence and learning are essential. When you are ready to start, check these affiliate marketing programs.

So, are affiliate platforms right for you?

Affiliate platforms can be a lucrative opportunity for those adept at digital marketing and with a solid online presence. If you have an influential blog, social media account with a good numbers of followers, or email list subscribers, you could earn significant income through affiliate marketing. This path is especially fitting for individuals who excel at creating content that resonates with their audience. Moreover, you should have the patience to learn about different products and the analytical skills to track and optimize your campaigns for better performance. In that case, Affiliate platforms might be the right choice for you.

It’s also essential to have a genuine interest in the products you promote to maintain credibility with your audience. Success in affiliate marketing doesn’t happen overnight; it requires dedication, adaptability, and a willingness to invest time in building relationships with your audience and affiliate partners.

This is all folks! If you have comments/questions about this guide, let’s discuss this further on our our social accounts Facebook, Instagram, X, and Pinterest.