Best Affiliate Marketing Platforms and Networks of 2022

 

Affiliate marketing is a huge industry and has become a key source of online income for many thousands of professional bloggers. With more and more online businesses becoming involved in affiliate marketing, more opportunities have arisen for bloggers, like you and I, to make money with their blog and to ultimately create passive income streams. So we are going to look into affiliate marketing platforms.

The world has changed a lot in the last year, which has lead to many more newcomers to the affiliate marketing space.

With a wide variety of businesses who work direct with affiliates, most affiliate marketers will use an affiliate marketing network to search for offers for their blogs. Though these affiliate platforms will take a small cut of any fees generated, they do serve a valuable purpose in the affiliate marketing climate

  1. Aggregating offers from different vendors
  2. Create a directory or search engine for affiliate marketers to find offers
  3. Handle the administrative duties of running an affiliate network

Best Affiliate Networks – 2021

Below I have put together a list of the best affiliate networks and platforms that I have used over the years. I will give you my honest and up to date opinion on each network so you can make an informed decision on whether to sign up with them or not.

 

Previously known as Affiliate Window but now officially referred to as “AWIN” after acquiring Zanox a few years ago, this network claims to work with over 13,000 active advertisers and 100,000 publishers (affiliates). Founded in Germany, AWIN’s merchants primarily hail from Europe (especially Great Britain) although the U.S. network is growing rapidly. AWIN is currently active in 11 countries.

Established in 2000, this company has since grown into one of the most well regarded affiliate networks in the UK, as well as the world. Currently, it boasts of over 1,600 brands across 77 sectors in 11 territories worldwide.

They also provide a simple, user friendly dashboard, as well as an array of useful tools that can definitely help you boost your affiliate marketing campaigns.

You can find a complete list of AWIN’s advertisers here, including some big names like:

  • Etsy
  • AliExpress
  • Gymshark
  • HP
  • XE (money transfer)
  • StubHub
  • Under Armour

Stuff You Need To Know About AWIN

Niche Information
AWIN is a very comprehensive affiliate network and works in all verticals. That being said, it is most heavily oriented towards financial, retail shopping (fashion), sports, beauty, home and garden, and travel products.

Product Types
AWIN works with both digital and physical products, including from some very big name merchants like Hyatt, Etsy, AliExpress, and HP (Hewlett-Packard).

Average Commission Rate
Everything depends on the campaign and the merchant/advertiser. Price information is only disclosed on the dashboard after the application to join AWIN is approved. AWIN offers aren’t tracked by Affscanner and OfferVault, so it’s really hard to gauge commission rates and earning potentials without being an approved publisher.

Cookie Duration
Cookie duration is set by the advertiser.

Min Payout
Minimum $20

Who Is it for?

AWIN is probably best for experienced affiliates who can hit the ground running without a lot of guidance or feedback from the network. There is a $5 fee charged to apply to become an affiliate, but if you’re approved, the $5 will be added to your account. If your application is denied, however, you will lose the $5 fee. AWIN operates globally, but it is most heavily concentrated on British and EU merchants.

AWIN has a lot of powerful tools, including an “Opportunity Marketplace” where you can pitch merchants on unique one-off deals (like sponsored posts). AWIN also has its own WordPress plugin that makes it really easy to convert a link into your affiliate-specific link. There’s also a Google Chrome extension as well.

AWIN includes Etsy as one of its merchants, making AWIN an excellent choice for bloggers who want to promote Etsy products.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros of AWIN:

  • Pays out twice per month ($20 minimum).
  • Real-time reports.
  • Publishers/advertisers are heavily vetted.
  • Very easy to use dashboard and lots of plugins available.
  • 900 staff in 15 offices around the globe.

Cons of AWIN:

  • Sign-up requires paying $5 in advance.
  • Accounts that do not get approved do not have $5 fee returned.

affiliate marketing platforms

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Shareasale

 

 

ShareASale is one of the largest affiliate networks and is now apart of AWIN. The Shareasale platform has about 4,000 merchants listed, of which over one thousand of them are exclusive to them. ShareASale publishes a large amount of data on each of the offers they are running, these include:

  • Earnings per Click
  • Reversal Rates
  • Average Sale Amount
  • Average Commission

While these figures aren’t guarantees of payouts you can expect, they’re certainly very helpful in assessing a campaign.

Pros Of ShareASale:

  • Large Partner Network. The 4,000+ merchants include more than 1,000 that are exclusive.
  • Easy to Compare Offers. When trying to choose from the various offers available, ShareASale make it very easy to evaluate the best ones based on the metrics.
  • Quick Payment Cycle. ShareASale pay out on the 20th of every month, assuming your account balance is more than $50.

Flexoffers

Flexoffers is another huge affiliate marketing network. They pay you (the affiliate) a lot faster than others in the industry. It has more than 10 years of experience in the field. While they do not offer anything that is neither groundbreaking nor revolutionary, they do provide a solid array of tools and features that will surely aid you in your campaigns. In addition to the fast payouts, Flexoffers lets you choose from thousands of affiliate programs to promote, offers various content delivery formats, and more.

FlexOffers connects bloggers, content creators and other types of publishers with small, medium and large budget advertisers & brands.

They have tens of thousands of different affiliate programs to choose from. They have divided these affiliate programs into dozens of broad and hundreds of sub-categories, which makes the publisher’s life easier to find exactly what would fit into their niche.

 

 

Flexoffers also has their own affiliate program which is a licence to print money. If you refer someone to FlexOffers and they earn commission, you also earn commission. You can earn as much as 50% of any earnings generated by any affiliates referred by you. How cool is that!!!

Pros of FlexOffers:

  • Revenue Share. As I just mentions, if you refer someone to FlexOffers and they generate income, you get a cut of what they earn.
  • Dedicated Affiliate Manager. A lot of networks leave you to your own devices. Not FlexOffers. You get your own Affiliate Manager to help you get the most out of your affiliate marketing efforts.
  • Vast Amounts Of Affiliate Programs. Well over 15k affiliate programs to choose from and apply for.

Cons of FlexOffers:

  • Paypal the only payment option for those who are based internationally ( Outside US )

MaxBounty

Note: I have to include Maxbounty in this list as they are one of the biggest affiliate networks, but one I DO NOT recommend you sign up to.

My personal experience with MaxBounty is one of frustration, annoyance and anger. I have sent tens of thousands of clicks through to Maxbounty over the years only for them to close my affiliate account. This came with no warning, no email, no nothing.

I sent several emails to them asking “WTF is going on??”. To this day I have not received any response.

So if you do sign up to MaxBounty, beware!

Here’s the lowdown on MaxBounty….

A relative newcomer to the affiliate space, MaxBounty was founded in 2004 in Ottawa, Canada. MaxBounty claims to be the only affiliate network built specifically for affiliates. MaxBounty is exclusively a CPA (Cost Per Action/Acquisition) company that doesn’t deal with ad banners or the like, just customer links that the publisher (blogger) chooses where to place on their website.

Niche Information
MaxBounty works in the business niche and claims to have more than 1,500 active campaigns.

Product Types
MaxBounty works exclusively with digital products, usually about giving one’s email or signing up for a newsletter. MaxBounty has CPA, Pay-per-call, and CPL campaigns that you can choose from. MaxBounty is involved in a large number of verticals, including market research, real estate, social games, finance, dating, and diet, but is primarily designed for marketers seeking to acquire new leads.

Average Commission Rate
The commission rate depends on the type of campaign. A glance at their website shows everything from $2.50 to $85 per CPA while other campaigns pay out a given percentage of a sale. The referral commission is five percent.

Cookie Duration
MaxBounty doesn’t use cookies in order to track CPAs. The way MaxBounty works is the affiliate sends a prospect to a designated landing page using an affiliate-specific link.

Who Is it for?
MaxBounty is attempting to get ahead of the pack by enforcing very strict anti-spam rules, sometimes onerously so. MaxBounty only works with digital products, not sales of physical items. MaxBounty does allow CPA action (and thus earning) via mobile devices.

As such, MaxBounty is probably best for mid-level to top-level internet marketers who are confident in managing and sending traffic. If you’re just starting out in the affiliate game, MaxBounty is probably not going to earn you much money.

MaxBounty is pretty easy to get around, and the dashboard is great as it clearly lists the best offers for your niche.

 

 

affiliate marketing platforms

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • $1,000 bonus for affiliates who earn $1,000 or more in the first three months.
  • Weekly payments ($50 minimum) via check, Paypal, Intercash, eCheck, ACH (direct deposit), bank wire, or Bitcoin.
  • Has worked with some high-profile brands.
  • Simple to use dashboard with useful ability to sort for high-paying offers.

Cons:

  • A large number of affiliates have reported a negative experience.
  • Accounts are often terminated with little or no explanation.
  • Can take a long time to get approved, which includes a voice call.

Tradedoubler

 

 

Tradedoubler was founded in 1999 by two young Swedish entrepreneurs. They have offices in the UK and multiple countries throughout Europe, including Sweden, Germany, France, Poland and Spain. Their focus has always been to provide smarter results for both clients and affiliates through technology. In 18 years, they’ve amassed an army of 180,000 active publishers, connecting them to over 2,000 merchants in Europe and the UK. Many of these merchants are household names.

CJ Affiliate

CJ Affiliate is considered to be the biggest affiliate platforms online; if you have worked in the affiliate marketing space for any amount of time, you’ve probably come across them.

Nearly every major retailer have their affiliate programs on CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction), which makes them as close to a one stop shop as you can get in the affiliate marketing business. Most retailers have multiple ad sizes available for affiliates, which gives you better control of the offers you show on your blog.

With such a wide array of advertisers on the CJ Affiliate platform it makes it relatively easy to compare and segment different offers. Finding the affiliate tracking code to place on your blog is also straightforward; once you’re approved to promote an offer, you can be running lots of different offers on your site in just a few short hours.

Pros of CJ.com

  • Large Partner Network. CJ Affiliate has over three thousand advertising partners, many have lots of creative sizes and various affiliate link options.
  • Reliable Payments. They offer a net-20 payment term which means that you’ll get your commission paid out in a timely manner each month.
  • Powerful Reporting Options. The reporting suite from CJ Affiliate is pretty impressive, which is a big advantage for marketers who plan to spend a their time optimizing their sales performance.

Pros of CJ.com

  • Steep Learning Curve. While the reporting capabilities are great, they’re also quite difficult for beginners to get to grips with. You’ll need to spend time in the dashboard before you’re comfortable navigating the reporting suite and can then start to take full advantage of the tools on offer.
  • Limited Customer Support. Due to the large number of affiliates and merchants, it’s understandable that customer support is quite limited. But only having a contact form as the main method to get in touch with the support department can be restrictive.

Viglink

 

 

VigLink works a bit differently than other affiliate programs in that it is specifically designed for bloggers. Instead of affiliates picking and choosing which merchants to work with, VigLink uses dynamic links that automatically change to work with merchants that VigLink has determined are offering the highest conversation rates and/or commissions at any given moment.

In effect, VigLink works as the middleman between a publisher (blogger) and merchants by scanning the publisher’s content and automatically creating links to publishers that are chosen “in real time” based on their payout/conversation rates. This makes VigLink a very hands-off affiliate program for publishers who prefer to focus on content instead of managing their affiliate links.

Niche Information
VigLinks works with all types of advertisers/merchants but does categorize them by “trends” or what’s popular. It’s important to note that this information about trends comes from third-party sites, not VigLink itself.

Product Types
VigLink is primarily about selling physical products but also does work with some digital-only products and services.

Average Commission Rate
VigLink allows affiliates to filter between CPC, CPA, or both CPA and CPA offers. The commission rates are set by the merchant, not VigLink.

Cookie Duration
It depends on the merchant and/or offer.

Who Is it for?
VigLink is an intermediary platform, so it can serve as a backdoor for affiliates who have previously been banned/suspended from working with other affiliate programs like Amazon. And while you can choose specific merchants or offers, VigLink can be set up to work automatically by scanning your published content and dynamically generating affiliate links, making it a great choice for established content producers who are looking for a simpler way to generate revenue via an affiliate program.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros of VigLink:

  • Works well across websites/social media/apps.
  • One-page dashboard is very simple to use yet powerful.
  • Great for bloggers who want a more hands-off affiliate program.
  • A good option for people banned from Amazon or other affiliate programs.
  • Can be set to dynamically update links to maximize your income.

Cons of VigLink:

  • You have to be approved by each merchant separately.
  • The “automatic creation of links” needs to be fine tuned (esp. the WordPress plugin) in order to maximize earning potential.
  • Huge disparaties in payouts between merchants/offers.
  • Only pays out once a month.
  • VigLink will take a healthy slice of your commissions/income.

JVZoo

JVZoo was founded in 2011 and has since rocketed to near the top as one of the most popular affiliate programs out there. JVZoo is unusual in that there are no upfront costs for either publishers or merchants (advertisers). JVZoo’s income is exclusively from charging fees (to both the merchant and the affiliate) after a sale has been made. It is also unusual in that it pays commissions “instantly” via PayPal rather than once a week/fortnight/month like other affiliate programs.

Niche Information
JVZoo works exclusively with digital products, primarily e-commerce, online courses, and internet marketing offers. Because there are no limits placed on the number of links, buy buttons, or calls to action on a website, JVZoo can sometimes be somewhat low quality both in terms of offers as well as products. Nonetheless, it has proven itself to be a fierce competitor to companies like ClickBank.

Product Types
JVZoo is primarily about selling online courses or getting people to hand over their information to marketing companies, but it has carved out a leadership role in advertising product launches, which occur every single day.

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates vary based on product/merchant, but many of them offer 50 percent or higher returns.

Cookie Duration
Unlimited/lifetime cookies.

Who Is it for?
JVZoo lets you both host and create landing pages on their own website, so it’s far better suited for professional marketers who want to flood the internet with offers, many of them for courses to make money. You don’t need your own website to participate in JVZoo, but you will need to know how to drive traffic to a landing or squeeze page in order to profit from being a JVZoo affiliate.

JVZoo’s strength is that it allows experienced marketers to gain access to product launches and a huge range of online courses while setting up sales funnels and customized landing pages. It’s definitely not for someone who wants to monetize a blog or earn money by having users click through and buy physical products. If you’ve carved out a strong presence online in the marketing space, JVZoo might be a perfect fit.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros of JVzoo:

  • Free to join and you can (later) qualify for instant payouts (Paypal).
  • Ideal for marketing new product launches.
  • You don’t need your own website.
  • You can (sometimes) recruit second-tier affiliates using the lifetime/unlimited cookies.
  • Huge range of products and categories with detailed statistics on each program/merchant.

Cons of JVZoo:

  • Lots of videos and documentation available, but you have to pay to access it (a one-time fee).
  • Many of the products are quite low quality, if not actual “spam.”
  • You have to sell 50 products or more to get instant Paypal payouts.
  • User dashboard is a bit clunky and can sometimes misfire.
  • Many merchant/seller ads are hyperbolic and misleading.

Rakuten

Rakuten LinkShare is considered to be one of the oldest affiliate partner networks, it is now a fair amount smaller than some of the bigger players in the affiliate industry. There are a few slick features of Rakuten LinkShare that differentiate this platform from the rest.

For example, they have the ability to rotate through the various banners automatically for a product which is a huge advantage when trying to optimize your offers. Instead of having to manually select which ad you want to run on your blog, LinkShare lets multiple versions rotate with only one small piece of code.

LinkShare also allows for more flexible “deep linking” to individual merchant landing pages, this allows for increased customization of the types of campaigns you can run.

Pros of LinkShare:

  • Ad Rotation. This may seem like a pretty minor feature, but it can make a significant difference when it comes to optimizing your ads.
  • Deep Linking Options. LinkShare lets you choose the page you want to send your traffic to on their site, giving you more flexibility for promoting different affiliate offers.

Pros of LinkShare:

  • A Much Smaller Network. LinkShare have around 1,000 partners – this is considerably fewer than the bigger networks like CJ Affiliate or ShareASale.
  • Unpredictable Payments to Affiliates. Rakuten LinkShare only pay out to their affiliates once the commissions are collected from their partners.

ClickBank

ClickBank is the “OG” of affiliate marketing programs and has been around since the earliest days of the internet. After suffering from low-quality products that verged on spam back in 2012, ClickBank (or “CB” to those in the industry) has revamped its review process and created a much better dashboard.

There’s a good reason why ClickBank is still a strong contender, however it does tend to focus more on digital products which may be of questionable quality. Yes, the review process is more professional these days, but it’s still primarily focused on selling digital products, especially “how to make money” courses and the like. That being said, there are some genuinely high-quality products on offer, and few affiliate programs are bigger than ClickBank, especially in selling (primarily digital) books.

Niche Information
ClickBank previously focused primarily on digital products, particularly marketing type courses, but has now vastly expanded its offering to include both digital and physical goods.

Product Types
ClickBank’s focus tends to be more on niche e-books, online courses, and e-courses, although they have expanded into some physical goods as well.

Average Commission Rate
Up to 75%.

Cookie Duration
Cookie duration depends on the product, but none are unlimited/lifetime.

Who Is it for?
ClickBank allows you to join for free, and the approval process is virtually automatic, so it’s a great choice for people entering the affiliated game for the first time. ClickBank has a ton of information, including FAQs, walk-throughs, and videos available, so the barrier to entry is quite low. There’s also a (paid) program called ClickBank University with courses and assistance from experienced marketers.

There’s also a second-tier program called the “joint venture program” that allows you to collaborate with ClickBank partners, a type of second-tier affiliate program. There’s an approval process for this, but the commissions are higher. ClickBank is superbly positioned for publishers (bloggers) working in smaller niches.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Weekly payouts with many different payout options.
  • The joint venture program allows for even higher earnings.
  • One of the biggest and most robust affiliate programs out there.
  • ClickBank enforces a 60-day, no questions asked money back guarantee on ALL products.
  • Instant approval process.

Cons:

  • Refund policy improves conversion rates but can eat into your income.
  • Strong competition from other affiliates selling the same products.
  • Some digital products being sold are very low quality.
  • Initial payments are made by check only – only after a minimum number of sales can you get payouts via wire transfer or PayPal.
  • Limited range of physical products.

Target Affiliates

Similar to Amazon, Target’s affiliate program is designed to help bloggers and publishers earn income from selling Target (the brick-and-mortar retailer) products. Since most Americans are familiar with and trust Target, the affiliate program can be quite lucrative for well-positioned content creators.

Niche Information
This program exclusively works with physical products sold by Target stores.

Product Types
Anything sold on Target’s website.

Average Commission Rate
Commissions are fairly low and max out at eight percent.

Cookie Duration
Cookies expire after seven days.

Who Is it for?
As Target is the second-largest general retailer in the United States, their affiliate program is primarily for American bloggers or publishers who can route visitors to relevant products. Overall, the program works much like Amazon’s does in that publishers (bloggers) get a small commission on sales, but Target’s gigantic product base (over one million items) and high brand recognition make their affiliate program a great option for influencers.

Earning income via Target affiliates, however, requires a bit of work. Cookies expire in just seven days, and commissions can be as low as just one percent, so you’ll need to be operating a high-traffic website in order to make serious cash with this program. But with Target’s much-beloved brand reputation and vast catalog, relevant product links can be a big earner for established influencers.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Highly trusted brand.
  • Enormous catalog of products (over one million)
  • Great alternative to Amazon’s affiliate program.
  • Established influencers can make a sizeable amount of money.
  • You’ll get paid from ANY purchase made on Target (sent from your link), not just the specified product.

Cons:

  • Commission rates are quite low, especially for low-volume sellers.
  • Oddly, some categories of produts have no commission at all.
  • Conversion rates are lower than Amazon.
  • Only suitable for websites with a primarily American audience
  • Only four main categories have comparable or higher commission rates than Amazon.

Skimlinks

 

 

SkimLinks works very similarly to VigLinks in that it is designed for bloggers who don’t want to do a lot of hands-on work to participate in an affiliate program. SkimLinks also works much like VigLinks in that it uses a plugin or script to create dynamic links in your content to send visitors to higher paying offers from merchants. SkimLinks claims to work with over 24,000 merchants/advertisers.

One big difference between SkimLinks and VigLinks, however, is that once you’re approved by the company, you can choose to work with any merchant or program on its platform. SkimLinks has also published a white paper discussing its partnership with Buzzfeed, giving SkimLinks a lot of credibility. SkimLinks also has a higher tier of vetted merchants called “Preferred Partner” and “VIP” that both pay higher commissions than standard merchants.

Niche Information
SkimLinks works with a wide range of products, but is more heavily skewed towards physical items.

Product Types
SkimLinks works with both physical and digital products. It does seem to be more heavily focused on physical products, however, including fashion (apparel) from big-name brands and lots of Amazon, Target, and eBay products.

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates vary by merchant, but the best commissions (up to 100 percent) are offered by the 400+ members of their Preferred Partner and VIP programs.

Cookie Duration
Duration depends on the merchant.

Who Is it for?
SkimLinks is primarily for established content producers (bloggers) who want to monetize their content. With a powerful WordPress plugin and scripts for just about any website type, setting up SkimLinks is very easy. And because you have access to all offers on their platform after you’re approved, SkimLinks is very well designed for affiliates who don’t want to spend a lot of time fiddling around with settings and other fine-tuning.

SkimLinks is probably best for bloggers who want to write content around the affiliate link rather than add affiliate links to existing products. SkimLinks offers a lot of tools to compare commission rates and offers in order to customize your content to optimize your income. Once nice aspect of SkimLinks is that it offers lots of products for non-US creators, including popular UK brands like John Lewis and Tesco.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Great customer service.
  • Email alerts for merchants you’ve “favorited”.
  • Very simple integration into your existing website.
  • Powerful and easy to use interface.
  • Amazon and Ebay links are auto targeted to the right region.

Cons:

  • Skimlinks is free to join/use, but they will take 25 percent of all commissions.
  • Only pays out once a month.
  • Somewhat limited number of merchants/advertisers.
  • Some websites load more slowly after adding SkimLinks code.

Warrior Plus

Warrior Plus’s website and interface look like something from an earlier era, but Warrior Plus is a strong contender in advertising online courses and “make money” marketing programs. Where Warrior Plus shines is its instant payments (via PayPal) and paying out for all products in the sales funnel.

Because vetting the products (including refund rates) requires a lot of time and effort, Warrior Plus is best positioned for experienced marketers who are looking to earn commissions on a large range of programs.

Niche Information
Warrior Plus (or Warrior + as its known in some circles) is exclusively dedicated to internet marketing.

Product Types
The only products available for sale via Warrior Plus are digital ones, including one-time offers and “free” courses given in exchange for contact information. The majority of Warrior Plus products are courses on how to make money (known as MMO/BizOpp in the industry).

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates vary wildly depending on the product.

Cookie Duration
Cookie durations vary by product.

Who Is it for?

Warrior Plus is ideal for experienced internet marketers who want to earn commissions on (other) internet marketing offers. Warrior Plus’s clunky interface and high volume of (often) low-quality products make their program best suited for experienced affiliates who have sophisticated methods of driving traffic to specified links.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Easy and free approval process.
  • Large number of (digital) products on offer.
  • Very transparent operation and high payouts/commissions for some products.
  • Useful metrics on vendors.
  • Instant Paypal payouts or payouts via Stripe.

Cons:

  • Requires approval from each vendor, which can be time-consuming.
  • Sells a large number of low-quality products.
  • Refunds can eat into your income.
  • You have to make five sales before getting your first payout
  • Lack of transparency/info about some products.

Peerfly

Peerfly is a CPA network with a comprehensive list of both digital and physical products. Peerfly stands out from its competitors because it offers a second-tier affiliate program that will earn you five percent of everything your second-tier affiliates sell in their first year.

Although it has a dynamic and well-designed website, PeerFly has a limited range of offers at any given time (around 8,000). On the upside, it does offer good commission/payout rates, lots of FAQs and educational information, and regular contests and reward programs that can substantially increase your bottom line. Based on online customer reviews, Peerfly enjoys a very high reputation amongst participating affiliates.

Niche Information
There are a wide variety of products available on PeerFly, but the majority of them tend to be digital. That being said, PeerFly has landed some big customers, including Target, CBS, and Fiverr.

Product Types
Primarily digital but also a lot of physical products.

Average Commission Rate
Depends on the merchant.

Cookie Duration
Depends on the product.

Who Is it for?

PeerFly is for legitimate affiliates who don’t mind going through the rigorous application process. PeerFly spent a lot of time setting up their dashboard and website to make it super intuitive and easy to use, so once you’re “in,” things work very smoothly.

PeerFly only has a limited number of products at the moment, but they have tremendous momentum and are growing by leaps and bounds. Their payout rates aren’t spectacular, but everything is upfront and transparent, and affiliate satisfaction is very high. PeerFly is perfect for authentic marketers who want to offer high-quality products to their visitors as opposed to “get rich quick” schemes and opaque offers.

PeerFly’s second-tier affiliate program means that established influencers can earn quite a lot.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Very high satisfaction amongst affiliates.
  • Great UX/UI.
  • Stringent vetting ensures little to no spam or scammy products.
  • Super easy set-up and powerful dashboard.
  • Payouts every 7/15/30 days via PayPal, Amazon gift cards, checks, Payoneer, Bitcoin, or bank wire transfer.

Cons:

  • Minimum payout is $50.
  • Only has 15 people on staff.
  • Limited number of products.
  • Rigorous application process.
  • Customer service can be quite slow and there is a limited amount of FAQ/educational info on their website.

LinkConnector

LinkConnector has struggled to stand out from the pack but nonetheless has managed to sign some exclusive deals with big name brands, including Writer’s Digest, the Disney Store, Ironman, Hats.com, and Everly. Their strictly controlled screening process for both merchants/advertisers and affiliates/publishers means that you can always rely on the quality of products on offer.

That being said, LinkConnector’s platform looks and feels outdated and is rather clumsily designed. Their dashboard also makes it difficult to find “hot” products or compare conversion rates, leaving affiliates somewhat in the dark about which products to choose. Ironically, despite their low-quality website, they offer some of the best customer service in the affiliate space.

Niche Information
LinkConnector works with a broad range of products, offered as CPA (click per action), CPS (clicks per second), PPC (pay per call), and PPL (pay per lead).

Product Types
LinkConnector’s products are about evenly split between digital products and physical products. Most of the digital products are e-commerce rather than being e-books or online courses.

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates depend on the seller.

Cookie Duration
Cookie durations are dependent on the vendor.

Who Is it for?
LinkConnector is something of a mixed bag, so it’s probably best for experienced affiliates who have become disillusioned with other networks and are looking to expand. LinkConnector’s bizarre mix of high-quality products and a low-quality dashboard make it hard to truly assess its viability, but their exclusive deals with some vendors can make it a true home run for publishers working in certain niches.

LinkConnector imposes a very rigorous and lengthy screening process, so you’ll need to prove that you have a high-quality website and established audience before being accepted. Despite its somewhat schizophrenic approach, LinkConnector does have some very happy long-term affiliates. And their “naked links” allow for direct connection to the merchant website without having to be rerouted via LinkConnector, which will give your website an SEO boost.

LinkConnector is probably best for established influencers who work in fashion, apparel, and home niches OR for those who can send traffic to CPA sites for actions like phone calls or completing contact information forms.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Exclusive access to some big-name brands.
  • Very high quality products that are heavily vetted.
  • Good customer service.
  • Uses private coupon codes that prevent coupon “hijacking.”
  • Offers “naked links” that don’t require rerouting through LinkConnector’s website, which is a huge SEO boost.

Cons:

  • Poorly designed website and dashboard.
  • Highly rigorous screening process (up to 60 percent of applicants are rejected).
  • The merchant can control where the links are displayed.
  • Limited range of physical products.
  • Heavily tilted towards merchants over affiliates.

AvanGate ( 2Checkout )

AvanGate is now officially known as 2Checkout, which has caused a lot of confusion for many merchants. Even more confusing, the original Avangate name now refers to a payment processor while 2Checkout is the affiliate program, but 2Checkout uses AvanGate to process all of its payouts, making 2Checkout a subsidiary of Avangate.

2Checkout, the affiliate program, is exclusively focused on selling software and other digital goods as opposed to sign-ups, form completions, or online courses. 2Checkout sells over 22,000 different software products from a wide number of big-name companies, including Kaspersky, Hewlett-Packard, and BitDefender.

Niche Information
2Checkout works exclusively in digital products, primarily software, e-commerce, and SaaS.

Product Types
2Checkout is exclusively involved in software, digital products, and SaaS (software as a service) solutions.

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates vary by product but range between 25-80 percent.

Cookie Duration
Cookies expire after 120 days.

Who Is it for?
Because 2Checkout exclusively sells software and digital products, it is best suited for established influencers whose target audience is interested in buying products in this niche. But while you won’t find any physical products for sale, 2Checkout is probably the market leader in selling software of every type, including very specific use case items (like software that can convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF, for instance).

Unfortunately, the 2Checkout dashboard is a bit limited in scope, making it difficult to get any metrics on conversion rates or even sorting by commission payouts. The workaround is to go to the Avangate store, which does list their best-selling products, and then search for these on the affiliate dashboard. That being said, 2Checkout does offer products from more than 4,000 different vendors, making it the leading affiliate network for software and digital products.

Recent corporate changes and folding 2Checkout into a larger company that is involved in payment processing and e-commerce means that the affiliate program can sometimes feel somewhat neglected. But the ability to generate custom coupon codes and the comprehensive knowledge base make 2Checkout a good option for experienced affiliates with an established user base. But if you’re just entering the affiliate field for the first time, 2Checkout might not be where you want to start.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • An industry leader in affiliate sales for software and SaaS products.
  • Lengthy cookie duration (120 days).
  • Can create unique coupons.
  • Very generous commission rates.
  • Payout via PayPal, direct deposit, or via a branded (Avangate) MasterCard.

Cons:

  • Minimum $100 payout.
  • Dashboard has limited search/sorting options.
  • Reports are thin on useful details.
  • Very large number of dissatisifed customers, many of which are upset about unexpected or unauthorized charges.
  • Poor customer service at times.

Internet Marketing Affiliate Programs

ClickFunnels

 

ClickFunnels is a platform where people can create highly professional and exceptionally good converting landing pages and sales funnels.
Their affiliate program is epic. When a person buys a ClickFunnel product or service, you get 40% of the revenue. Also if you refer another affiliate to ClickFunnels, you get 5% of their revenue that they generate.

They also do amazing incentives for their affiliates like this!!!

BuilderAll

 

Very similar to Clickfunnels, BuilderAll is a landing page, sales funnel builder. They have an exceptional affiliate program where you can earn 100% of the first month and then 30% recurring!

Sendible

 

 

Sendible is a great social media management tool which allows online marketers to schedule posts and manage multiple social accounts all at once. They offer 30% on all sign ups for the first 12 months which means you could earn up to a whopping $716 per sign up.

Niche Information
Exclusively focused on the social media marketing management space.

Product Types
The only “product” for sale in the Sendible affiliate program is the Sendible web app which is a subscription based model.

Average Commission Rate
Commission rates are fixed at 30 percent.

Cookie Duration
30-day cookies.

Who Is it for?
Existing users who want to recommend their friends and colleagues to use Sendible, or people who own blogs that create content for people who would generally be interested in a product like Sendible.

A quick round-up of the pros and cons of this program:

Pros:

  • Fast and easy to join.
  • Pays commissions on successful referrals for up to 12 months.
  • Every successful referral earns you a 30 percent commission.
  • No need to deal with mystery vendors.
  • Payouts via PayPal.

Cons:

  • It takes 60 days to get paid.
  • Multiple pay runs, so you could end up with 3 or 4 little payments per month, which can be annoying.

To find out all the jargon around Affiliate Marketing, then head over to our always up to date Affiliate Marketing Glossary.

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My name is Jamie Spencer and I have spent the past 5 years building money making blogs. After growing tired of the 9-5, commuting and never seeing my family I decided that I wanted to make some changes and launched my first blog. Since then I have launched lots of successful niche blogs and after selling my survivalist blog I decided to teach other people how to do the same.

Related Post:

The Secrets of Successful Affiliate Marketing in 2022?

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