Affiliate marketing is a rapidly evolving industry, as its global spend almost doubled from $8.6 billion in 2017 to an expected $14.3 billion in 2023. It is also becoming an increasingly popular marketing strategy and constituted 9% of an average marketing budget in 2021. This is due to the fact that affiliate marketing is a high-value and low-risk venture that allows brands to grow sales while affiliate partners can earn passive revenue by recommending products to their audiences.
Even though there is a great variety of affiliate marketing programs, not all of them are equally easy to join and promote, especially for beginners. This post presents some of the best affiliate programs available on the internet and explains their pros and cons so you can choose the perfect program to promote on your blog.
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Travelpayouts
Travelpayouts is the largest digital partnership platform in the travel niche. It offers access to over 100 affiliate programs in a single affiliate dashboard and a loyal community of over 390,000 travel affiliate partners. Travelpayouts offers pay-per-action affiliate offers in various verticals, such as flight tickets, accommodations, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, and more.
You can sign up on the platform for free in a couple of clicks. Upon the registration, you will get access to the affiliate dashboard and join relevant offers. Travelpayouts partners are travel website owners, bloggers, agencies, SEO experts, and essentially anyone who wants to earn with travel traffic. No website is needed to join the platform.
Affiliate partners can earn up to 70% of the revenue generated by your traffic. The exact commissions depend on the brand and product. For example, you can earn about 1-1.5% on flight bookings and up to 7 % from hotel reservations. To drive more conversions and sales, you can take advantage of affiliate tools, such as search forms, banners, WP plugin, White Label, API, and more.
Pros and Cons of Travelpayouts
| Pros | Cons |
| Largest selection of affiliate programs in the travel niche Up to 70% of the revenue share Convenient and advanced affiliate tools The platform is free and easy to join | $50 minimum payout Some affiliate programs require manual approval from the brand |
Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is one of the largest affiliate marketing networks that accounts for over 20% of affiliate market share. It markets various types of products across different niches, such as technology, fashion, luxury, art, furniture, home, luggage, automotive, etc.
With Amazon Associates, you can earn from 1% to 20% affiliate commission depending on the product type. The highest commission of 20% is accrued for sales of Amazon Games, 10% for marketing luxury beauty products and Amazon Explore, while, for example, digital music products will bring you 5% commission. For some products, such as Prime Video paid membership purchase, you can earn a flat rate commission.
Payouts are sent out on a monthly basis but only 60 days after the end of the month. For example, you will receive the commissions earned in January only at the end of March. However, the minimum threshold is very low – you only need to make $10 to receive your first payout. Payments are made through deposit check, check, or Amazon gift card. In contrast to other affiliate programs, Amazon Associates has a short cookie lifetime of only 24 hours.
Great commission rates, a wide selection of products, and strong affiliate support make Amazon Associates one of the best programs if you are just starting out in the world of affiliate marketing, as well as if you want to grow your existing affiliate business.
Pros and Cons of the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program
| Pros | Cons |
| One of the most popular affiliate programs on the web – Up to 20% commission rate depending on the product – A wide choice of products to market | Payouts are only possible 60 days after the end of the month – You can get paid only through Amazon gift card, deposit check, or check |
Clickbank
ClickBank is another long-standing affiliate network. Created in 1999, Clickbank has already paid out over five billion US dollars to over 100,000 affiliates around the world. It features a large selection of affiliate products in different niches, such as art, business, investing, home and garden, games, travel, and more.
Affiliates can earn high commissions depending on the product type. It can be from 50% to 70% of the advertiser`s revenue. In contrast to Amazon Associates, Clickbank makes weekly or even bi-weekly payouts and provides strong affiliate support. Another advantage is an easy and fast registration process on the platform.
According to multiple reviews, it is easy to start working with Clickbank, as the registration process is very fast.
Pros and Cons of the Clickbank Affiliate Program
| Pros | Cons |
| A wide selection of products to promote in different niches – Up to 70% commission of the brand`s revenue – Payouts are made one or two times per week – Members can join marketing online courses and get access to exclusive tools | – Clickbank fees apply to affiliate earnings – If you do not generate sales, you will be subject to additional fees – No direct communication between sellers and affiliates |
ShareASale is an affiliate network with over 25,000 merchants to promote across different sectors and more than 270,000 publishers earning their affiliate income on the platform. In 2022, the network generated over 200 million sales, becoming the fourth-largest affiliate network on the internet and taking up 6.78% of the affiliate market space.
The platform is free to register and features an easy-to-navigate interface, so even beginner affiliates can start their journey hassle-free. ShareASale supports publishers of all shapes and sizes, from content creators and influencers to media partners to incentive sites, and more.
The Commission rate depends on the brand you promote. Payouts are sent via paper check, direct deposit or Payoneer on the 20th of the following month, which is pretty fast compared to other programs.
| Pros | Cons |
| – The network is free to register – Over 25,000 brands to promote in 39 categories – Real-time reporting – Custom affiliate tools | – Limited payout options – Commission rates vary a lot |
eBay Partner Network
eBay is one of the oldest online marketplaces with over 28 years of expertise. You can earn by joining the eBay Partner Network and promoting products across various niches, such as electronics, home and garden, clothes and accessories, sport, business, and more. The platform features over 1.4 billion listings and has a target audience of over 183 million buyers around the world.
Commissions are paid on the profits that sellers make and depend on the product type. Thus, you can earn a flat rate on product bids as well as on completed purchases. Cookie lifetime is pretty short – just 24 hours.
Payments are sent on the 10th day of the following month via direct deposit to your bank account or PayPal account. The minimum payout is 10 dollars, euros and so on, depending on the currency rate in your country.
Pros and Cons of the eBay Partner Network Affiliate Program
| Pros | Cons |
| – Commissions on bids and sales – Payouts sent on the 10th of the following month – Low minimum payout of 10 euro/dollars – Payouts available via PayPal | – Short cookie lifetime – Commission structure may be confusing |
Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is a cash back shopping website that is quickly growing in popularity around the world. It is the third largest network, accounting for 7.15% of the affiliate market share. The platform presents over 2,500 affiliate offers.
With Rakuten Marketing, affiliates can earn three types of commissions: dynamic reward for scaled income, commissions for coupon codes, and multi-touch commissions for the whole customer journey. The commission rates vary for each brand. Affiliate marketers can contact the Rakuten support center and explore the education knowledge base on the platform.
Payouts are sent 90 days after the sale. The minimum threshold is $50. You can receive your earnings via direct deposit or check.
Pros and Cons of the Rakuten Advertising Affiliate Program
| Pros | Cons |
| – Earn different types of commissions – Educational materials to help grow your affiliate business | – The network is only available in some European countries – A smaller choice of advertisers compared to other networks – $50 minimum payout |
