Affiliate Marketing Networks
How do affiliates make money?
The affiliate gets a unique link (an "affiliate link") from which clicks can be tracked — typically using cookies. The cookie then tracks the user to see if they make a purchase.
If they do within an allotted amount of time, then the affiliate will earn commission.
Each cookie has a "length" or "cookie life", which simply defines how long the cookie will be tracking the user's online activity.
For example, if a cookie has a 30-day life, your referral needs to make a purchase within 30-days of clicking your affiliate link in order for you to get paid — otherwise the lead will no longer be trackable.
If you’re interested in starting an affiliate program, there are different types of affiliate programs, and I suggest you pick the one best-suited for your business. Let's dive into the types of affiliate programs, next.
Types of Affiliate Programs
If you're looking to promote products or services, I'm happy to report there are a few affiliate programs you can consider.
When choosing an affiliate program, you'll want to keep in mind the avenues or platforms where your audience spends the majority of their time.
For instance, does your buyer persona typically read blog posts, scroll Facebook, or use search engines when researching new products?
Alternatively, is your buyer persona someone who's always looking for a good deal, and would appreciate a link on a coupon site?
Or are they more interested in doing tons of research before purchasing, making your promotion efforts more worthwhile on a review site?
While those are questions you'll have to consider for yourself, let's take a look at some general types of affiliate programs so you can begin brainstorming potential avenues for your own marketing efforts:
Search Affiliates
With this program, marketers pay their own money to promote affiliate offers on search results or other online advertising platforms like Facebook Advertising.
This is a great option for marketers with an SEO background who want to A/B test to see which ads result in the most referrals — and ROI.
Influencer Programs
If you’re a blogger or social media influencer who engages with a specific audience, I suggest partnering with a company whose products would appeal to them.
For instance, if I'm a food blogger or YouTube influencer who creates recipe content, I would partner with a company that sells kitchen appliances by featuring their product in your content in exchange for commission for every product sold via your affiliate link.
Ideally, this would result in additional revenue if my audience likes the products you’re promoting.
Review Sites
Blind buying products online can be daunting for consumers, which is why they often turn to review sites during the buyer’s journey so they can conduct research before purchasing.
Review sites partner with individual companies or affiliate networks to review products and services in exchange for an affiliate link.
Coupon Sites
Similar to review sites, coupon sites partner with companies to provide buyers with discounts on products and services in exchange for a kickback.
Email Marketing
This is best in small doses. You don't want to send out bulk emails to an audience who isn’t interested in promoted products or services. However, with proper consideration for who's receiving the email, this could be an effective method.
For instance, if you work for a marketing agency, you could partner with a company that sells design tools and include an affiliate within emails you send to design clients.
This could help your clients create higher-quality content while providing an added source of revenue.
Affiliate Networks
Instead of offering products from only one company, affiliate networks act as a marketplace and provide a larger pool of brands and offers to choose from.
This option may appeal to beginner affiliate marketers because you don’t have to manage as many partnerships at once. Plus, there’s no limit on how many affiliate networks you can join, so the possibilities are endless.
Some of the Best Affiliate Marketing Networks
Amazon Associates
eBay Partner Network
Rakuten Advertising
PartnerStack
CJ Affiliate
ShareASale
FlexOffers
Getting started with affiliate marketing as a beginner can be overwhelming. There’s just so many options to choose from! Below, we’ll explore the top affiliate programs that you can join as a beginner.
1. Amazon Associates
Commission: 1-10% (depending on the product category)
Cookie life: 24 hours
Amazon is one of the most popular online shopping platforms, so if you're looking to buy something, chances are you'll find it on Amazon.
Amazon Associates get commissions between 1% and 10%, depending on the category the product purchased falls under. The most valuable items to promote are clothes and luxury beauty products, both of which can earn you a 10% cut on the price.
One of the main advantages of doing affiliate marketing with Amazon is that people already know the company and love to shop there, so it's not a hard sell. The company has very high conversion rates, especially around the holidays. And because the product selection is so vast, it fits most kinds of businesses.
If you write about animals, for instance, you can promote cat treats or dog toys. If your audience is interested in cars, you can recommend jumper cables — you get the idea.
Additionally, if someone ends up on Amazon through your link and buys something other than what your content links to, you still get commission on the user's entire cart. The only downside is some categories have particularly low commissions, such as video games and electronics.
For businesses with large audiences, Amazon recently launched its new Amazon Influencer Program as an extension to the Associates program for social media influencers.
You get similar benefits to the online Associates program, as well as your own page on Amazon with a unique URL to showcase the products you recommend to your followers.
Pro Tip: Currently, you must have a YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account to qualify.
Amazon looks at the number of followers and other engagement metrics of your social media accounts to determine whether you're eligible for the program.
Affiliate Marketing Templates
Track the sales, revenue, and profit from your affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns.
1 brand-facing template to calculate the ROI of your affiliate campaigns
1 affiliate-facing template to calculate revenue from the brands you work with
Get Your Free Templates
2. eBay Partner Network
Commission: 1-4%, depending on the category
Cookie life: 24 hours
The eBay Partner Network pays a commission of 1% to 4%. You earn a percentage of the revenue eBay earns from that purchase, based on the product category.
High-ticket items you can promote fall under Parts & Accessories, or Fashion. You can have a look at the complete rate card here.
The one downside of this program is that it offers a cap for each category — with most falling well under $1,000. Your earning potential is thus limited.
What I Like: With over one billion listings from a wide range of product categories, eBay's affiliate program shares a lot of the same advantages as Amazon's — well-known brand, high conversion rates, and a diverse selection of products.
3. Rakuten Advertising
Commission: Depends on the merchant
Cookie life: Depends on the merchant
Formerly known as Linkshare, Rakuten is one of the oldest affiliate networks in the game.
Because Rakuten has been a trusted name in affiliate marketing for so long, it has been able to establish partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world including Sephora, New Balance, and JetBlue.
Despite Rakuten’s impressive partner roster, it only has partnerships with around 1,000 merchants — which is far less than other competing networks.
Pro Tip: If you’re a small business or new to affiliate marketing, it'll be advantageous to sign up with Rakuten so you can get access to affiliate offers from brands your audience recognizes.
Like many other affiliate networks, commission rates vary based on the product and what merchant it comes from.
4. PartnerStack
Commission: Depends on the merchant (average is 25% recurring)
Cookie life: Depends on the merchant (typically 90 days)
PartnerStack is the go-to affiliate network for B2B technology partnerships.
If you’re new to B2B affiliate marketing, it operates very similarly to B2C affiliate marketing — except the commissions are usually higher and typically paid out for longer. Think recurring revenue of 20-100% of a sale for the lifetime of the customer you helped create.
Through the in-app dashboard, you’ll be able to easily monitor your performance across all of the programs that you are currently part of.
Built-in partner engagement features like challenges, in-app messaging, learning materials, etc… allow for more connectivity and engagement with the partner program managers.
Like with other affiliate networks, you will need to apply to each individual partner program separately, but you’ll be paid out altogether once a month via Paypal or Stripe once you hit the network’s $5 payout threshold.
If you are looking to work with top-tier B2B companies that provide higher commission and conversion rates, the PartnerStack Network should be the first place you start your search for affiliate marketing programs.
What I Like: When you join the network, you’ll gain exclusive access to some of the world’s most reputable and top-paying B2B affiliate marketing programs like Gorgias, Sendoso, and Webflow.
5. CJ Affiliate
Commission: Depends on the merchant
Cookie life: Depends on the merchant
CJ Affiliate (formerly known as Commission Junction) is one of the most popular affiliate networks out there, holding 7.69% of the market share.
What I Like: One of the benefits of using CJ Affiliates is its selection of brand partnerships which cover many verticals including retail, travel, finance, and network & home services.
Currently CJ partners with over 3,800 brands including household names such as Barnes & Noble, Office Depot, J.Crew, and Blue Apron.
6. ShareASale
Commission: Depends on the merchant
Cookie life: Depends on the merchant
ShareASale partners with thousands of merchants of all types, so finding the right affiliate product is a breeze — no matter what your niche is. Some of its most well-known brand partners are Etsy, Reebok, and Warby Parker.
After joining the network, you have to apply to the individual merchants you want to use. Once approved, you’ll be able to generate affiliate links and view sales stats on the ShareASale dashboard.
Because of the wide variety of products and merchants available, commission rates vary.
7. FlexOffers
Commission: Depends on the merchant
Cookie life: Depends on the merchant
FlexOffers has an impressive affiliate database that is comprised of over 10,000 ad partners from over 65 networks. It partners with some of the biggest retailers on the planet including Samsung, Nike, Microsoft, and Macy’s.
FlexOffers’ easy-to-use dashboard includes access to over 650 million products so you can find the offer that works best for you.
Once you find the product you’re looking for, you can then take advantage of its automated affiliate links so you don’t have to create it manually.
Commission rates vary based on the merchant and publishers are paid every month on NET 60 terms, meaning that each month’s commissions are processed 60 days after the last day of the month.