Are you a student? Are you a full-time housewife? Do you want to earn more passive income but still be proactive about your time while working? Welcome to the world of affiliate marketing!
The place you can work in your free time based on your existing knowledge and experience or want to develop more in any field, as long as you have passion. It’s suitable for everyone, no matter what you’re doing or who you are.
To get started, we provide you with the complete list of the top 20 best affiliate marketing programs for beginners in 2023. Get started right away!
20 Best Affiliate Marketing Programs for Beginners in 2023
Amazon Associates
To start this list, we must mention Amazon’s famous affiliate marketing program – Amazon Associate. Having global recognition with the Amazon brand, this program is present and covered in most countries around the world. Amazon Associate owns a large network of affiliate partners. They have tens of thousands of publishers and affiliates participating in earning commissions from this program.
Amazon Associate is a program worth trying for beginners because of its simplicity. It’s easy to create your first affiliate link. Here, they offer millions of products, allowing you to choose products and services suitable for your target audience. Besides, customized linking tools are also a big plus of this program. It effectively supports you in directing customers to the product you are advertising.
Commission rate up to 10% for each successful sale, helping you maximize your income when becoming an Amazon Associate partner.
- Commission rate: Ranges from 1% to 20%
- Cookie duration: 24 hours
- Payment methods: Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB) and Debit cards.
- Payment Threshold: $100
Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is known as a provider specializing in affiliate services that has been around for more than 25 years. Available in over 195 countries worldwide, Rukaten offers many resources for affiliate marketers. By collaborating with many exclusive brands. Helps you find the products and items you want to advertise.
Does it work well for new affiliates? Answering your question in the short term is “Yes,” but let me explain further:
Designed for both beginners and experienced users, this affiliate program has a user-friendly interface. So you can easily operate and use it. Also, Rukaten Advertising applies artificial intelligence to serve campaigns for member affiliates. This helps predict and measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns so you can react and adapt to rapid market changes.
Commission levels vary widely, depending on the product/service you are marketing. According to statistics, Rukaten affiliates have earned billions of dollars from their product referral links.
- Commission rate: Up to $30 per valid referral
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Direct deposit (bank transfer), PayPal or check.
- Payment Threshold: $50
CJ Affiliate
Founded in 1998, CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction) is proud to be the world’s largest and oldest affiliate marketing network. They provide affiliate marketing services for many products and services. Special, their partners include both large and small brands. You can find all essential products here, from clothes and cosmetics to household appliances and technology,…
Besides the variety of brands and products, the best thing for beginners is that you get almost all the tools that successful affiliate marketers need. CJ has a team of support experts. They are always there and provide timely solutions if you have any problems or questions in your marketing process.
Additionally, valuable analytics and reports from CJ allow you, the affiliate marketer. You can refine and control your affiliate marketing strategies. At the same time, CJ owns a great partner care team, always providing quick and timely support.
CJ Affiliate also allows publishers/affiliates to attract shoppers through distribution models, including social networks, search, email, blogs, mobile apps, outbound marketing lines,…
- Commission rate: Ranges from 5 – 10% per sale.
- Cookie duration: Ranges from a few hours to several months
- Payment methods: Direct deposit, check, or Payoneer (for non-US folks).
- Payment Threshold: $50
ShareASale
You own a WordPress website and want to take advantage of it to take part in the affiliate marketing market. Consider putting ShareAsale’s affiliate program on your list. ShareASale is one of the leading affiliate programs in the world, and it is an excellent choice for you to monetize your website and blog.
Established in the 2000s, ShareASale has accumulated a rich product portfolio thanks to cooperation with over 25,000 brands in all fields. Therefore, you can choose the products/services you want to advertise in many areas.
Also, this program has an intuitive, user-friendly interface, which is ideal for beginners. ShareASale also provides leading affiliate marketing tools and technology to help its network of affiliates, vloggers, podcasters, and bloggers monetize their platform.
For example, ShareASale’s ‘PowerRank’ Index tells you where your affiliate program ranks among the top 1000 affiliate programs.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, and ACH.
- Payment Threshold: $50
eBay Partner Network
Having more than 133 million buyers spread across 190 countries worldwide, eBay Partner Network is one of the largest and most reputable affiliate programs in the list of affiliate marketing programs globally.
The eBay Partner Network (EPN) can be a great place for brand-new affiliates to start for the following reasons:
eBay runs its affiliate program, so no “middlemen” are involved – you will be working directly with them. At the same time, you can build a relationship with their affiliate management team.
With a simple and quick registration process, you have become an eBay Partner Network affiliate partner. They offer advanced tracking tools. You can track your performance, income, and sales in real time. These numbers can help optimize your marketing strategy and make informed decisions about the products you like.
Please note that you must follow eBay’s specific rules and conditions. Aim to protect the platform’s integrity and ensure you promote your products in a healthy and positive way.
- Commission rate: 1 – 4% per sale
- Cookie duration: 24 hours
- Payment methods: Electronic Funds Transfer or PayPal.
- Payment Threshold: $10
Etsy
Etsy is an American e-commerce website. This website is designed specifically for people who are passionate about unique, meticulous handmade items.
Esty mainly focuses on 3 main product types, including handmade items, vintage items, and handmade materials. Here you can find all kinds of products, such as jewelry, handbags, clothing, furniture and home decorations, toys, works of art, utensils, and tools.
Awin manages this affiliate program for North America, Europe, and the rest of the world. What you need to do is register for a linked account through Awin. Once you become an official partner, you can access the resources and tools of the Esty affiliate program.
- Commission rate: Ranges from 2 – 4% per sale
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Credit card, debit card, BACS, international wire transfer or ACH., PayPal (where available), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and some country-specific installment payment methods.
- Payment Threshold: $20
Shopify
Shopify is a popular and widely recognized e-commerce platform worldwide. More than a million online stores in many industries operate on this platform. As a Shopify affiliate marketer, this is the ideal platform to increase your income. You can earn competitive commissions by promoting Shopify and referring new customers to the platform.
One of the standout advantages of Shopify’s affiliate program is its relevance. This program aligns with both beginners and experienced professionals. Shopify provides access to many marketing resources, including tracking links and banners. This allows you to grow your content and improve your referral traffic conversion rate.
Furthermore, you can visit the Shopify affiliate program website to sign up to become a Shopify partner. And then, fill out each proposal request one by one to complete your application. The necessary condition is that you own a blog, website, or social media channels.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Direct deposit to your bank account or PayPal.
- Payment Threshold: $25
Hubspot
Founded in 2006, Hubspot provides services that help businesses of all sizes improve their operations. Some typical services include comprehensive marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software suites.
Hubspot has 3 affiliate levels for its affiliates (Hubspot affiliates, Super Affiliate, Elite Affiliate), with different incentives for each level. When you join Hubspot’s affiliate program, you can access over 400 promotional assets, training guides, and helpful tips and tricks (including copy banks, banner images, demo videos, etc.). Using Impact’s highly customizable reports, you can monitor your performance and optimize your promotions based on unique tracking parameters.
Considered an ideal affiliate program, Hubspot offers a cookie duration of up to 180 days combined with a generous commission rate.
- Commission rate: 30% recurring commission for up to 1 year for every sale.
- Cookie duration: 180 days
- Payment methods: Direct deposit (EFT) or PayPal.
- Payment Threshold: $10
Fiverr
The Fiverr affiliate program is one of the most straightforward and reliable platforms. You can use referral links to earn passive income online from this program. Fiverr works as an in-house affiliate program. That is, they manage and operate their own affiliate program instead of using a third-party network. They have different affiliate program packages like CPA (one of the best for beginners), Match, Affiliate, Business, and Learn.
With the Fiverr Affiliate program, partners can earn commissions by promoting their services through shareable links. You can advertise many services, including Fiverr, Fiverr Business, Fiverr Pro, and Learn from Fiverr.
Fiverr affiliates enjoy many powerful marketing tools as well as custom shareable links. All you have to do is place those affiliate links online anywhere to drive traffic to the Fiverr sites.
Besides blogs and websites, you can promote Fiverr through other social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, email, podcasts, and more.
- Commission rate: Ranges from $15 to $150, depending on each product or service.
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Wire transfer, PayPal, and Payoneer
- Payment Threshold: PayPal is $1, Fiverr Revenue Card is $30, Bank Transfer is $20.
MaxBounty
There are more than 30,000 branches around the world. MaxBounty is a famous affiliate marketing platform for digital marketing services. They provide helpful solutions that help their affiliates achieve their marketing goals. MaxBounty can be the right choice for you to start your marketing career. They have a large network of partners such as Norton, Alibaba, Apple, Microsoft, GoDaddy, and many other big names.
Attractive commission rates are an attractive point of this affiliate program. You can earn handsome affiliate revenue through MaxBounty’s CPA, CPS, CPL, and CPI models. Another plus is that this program pays out your earnings weekly. MaxBounty also has multiple commission payment methods, including check, e-check, Payoneer, bank transfer, and direct deposit.
MaxBounty provides affiliates and publishers with support tools like most affiliate marketing programs. You can use MaxBounty’s proprietary tracking and analytics software to discover real-time reporting patterns. Those metrics will help you optimize your campaigns.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: Depends on programs and products.
- Payment methods: ACH, Paypal, Payoneer, Checks, Wire transfer.
- Payment Threshold: $100
ClickBank
ClickBank is always proud to be the world’s leading affiliate marketplace. They offer quality products, high commission rates, and reliable payment options for affiliates. This is the right place for you, whether a beginner or an expert. The reason is that they have a vast network of partners. Including more than 100,000 branches worldwide choose ClickBank as their preferred market.
Additionally, ClickBank offers a generous commission structure. This rate is flexible depending on each type of product or service. This is a practical example of Jenn Lecompte – a mother of 4 children who went from nothing and created more than 5 million in revenue in just 18 months. Moreover, in over 25 operations, ClickBank has paid more than $6 billion in commissions on time to its affiliates and publishers. This is truly a dream number!
If you’re new, you can learn online with experts through Spark – an educational platform that specializes in training new ClickBank affiliates. Clickbank’s affiliate program also allows you to track reports accurately to maximize your marketing efforts.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: 60 days
- Payment methods: Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, or Check.
- Payment Threshold: Between $10 and $1,000,000.
PepperJam
To continue, let’s learn about PepperJam’s affiliate program. This affiliate marketing platform helps you earn money through advertising services related to digital marketing and eCommerce. They cooperate with many large and small brands from many different fields, such as Puma, Lindt, and Nordstrom. So, Pepperjam has enough to satisfy almost any niche you choose.
For those starting out, this is an affiliate marketing business worth considering. PepperJam’s interface is user-friendly and easy to use. You can find and sign up for an affiliate program you like quickly.
PepperJam also offers features that help optimize your marketing campaigns, such as banners, text links, enhanced links, coupons, … and link generator tools.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: Varies
- Payment methods: PayPal, Direct Deposit, Check (sent to the address on file for the account).
- Payment Threshold: $25
Awin
It would be a mistake to leave Awin out of this list – Rated among the best affiliate marketing programs globally with more than 240,000 active publishers, bringing huge profits.
The good thing about Awin is that they are not limited in terms of products and services you want to introduce to your audience. You can market any product you like because Awin has a rich product and service catalog, from physical products like baby items, computer equipment, and clothes,… to every digital product or anything you can think of.
Join us to review some of the advantages of this affiliate program. Awin developed a support tool for their affiliates, and this tool helps you find suitable advertisers, easily create Links and track them, stay up to date with the latest promotional offers, track and optimize your performance with advanced tools, and help you get paid faster and more consistently.
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Bank account, PayPal, credit card, or direct debit.
- Payment Threshold: £20 for GBP, €20 for payment in Euro, and $20 for payment in USD.
ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is an online sales channel and tool for creating sales websites without any programming knowledge. So, if you want to earn extra income from software and related product advertising, check out the ClickFunnels affiliate program.
ClickFunnels’ affiliate program attracts and retains its affiliates with attractive commission rates and several exciting incentives and programs. In particular, they run a program called “dream car”, where you will win a car if you achieve the target of owning and retaining 100 active ClickFunnels 2.0 members.
ClickFunnels has paid more than $143 million to its affiliates. This demonstration shows ClickFunnel’s affiliate model’s effectiveness and limitless potential for future growth.
- Commission rate: Up to 30% Monthly Recurring Commission
- Cookie duration: 45 days
- Payment methods: PayPal, ACH, or even international e-check.
- Payment Threshold: $100
AdWorkMedia
AdWork Meda is an innovative global affiliate network that allows publishers to choose from various tools to monetize their sites. Affiliate programs include shipping sales, digital products, subscriptions, surveys, and more.
You can earn commissions from sales models including content lock, affiliate lock, CPA, CPL, and CPS.… $35 is the threshold payout, and you can receive your commission via many popular methods, including Paypal and Western Union.
Are you nervous because you are new? Don’t worry, AdWork Media will always follow you and be by your side. They provide content locking and monetization solutions for online publishers. In addition, AdWork Media’s support team always accompanies and provides the fastest solution when you have problems or questions about your affiliate marketing process.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: Lifetime
- Payment methods: Check, ACH Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, PayPal, Payoneer, Payza, or Western Union.
- Payment Threshold: Lead Earnings is 35$, Referral Earnings is 5$.
FlexOffers
FlexOffers.com is an experienced and award-winning affiliate marketing network that provides comprehensive affiliate marketing solutions for publishers and advertisers. Despite starting later than competitors, FlexOffers has worked hard to establish itself as a trusted name in the affiliate marketing world.
FlexOffers has a huge network of advertisers with more than 12,000 large and small brands with different scales of operation. Becoming an affiliate allows you to market products and services from H&M, Nike, Lenovo, Bloomingdales, Priceline, Barnes & Noble, Skechers, and thousands of other brands.
Best of all, they provide excellent support for their publishers. Automated link generator tool – Flexlink, access to a database of more than 650 million products, promotions and coupons, comparison widgets, deep linking, … are the prizes FlexOffers solution is brought to you to optimize your affiliate income stream. If you have any problems or concerns about your campaigns, FlexOffers’ support team will help you resolve them quickly!
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: 30 days
- Payment methods: Bank transfer, Wire transfer, Check, PayPal
- Payment Threshold: $25
LinkConnector
LinkConnector is one of the most popular affiliate networks in the world, connecting sellers with affiliates. Since 2004, the company has been operating to build trust with affiliates and become a dedicated affiliate manager. Using the LinkConnector affiliate platform, merchants can browse individual affiliate sites and select affiliates they can trust to keep their brand safe.
For over a decade in operation, LinkConnector has earned the trust of its affiliates. LinkConnector provides active support by providing a dedicated team that helps affiliates manage and grow their promotions.
They also apply advanced technologies to help you grow and compete in this dynamic affiliate market. LinkConnector sets up Naked coupons and Shareable offers, contributing to driving traffic to the products and services you want. you introduce.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: Varies based on the offer you’re promoting.
- Payment methods: PayPal, ACH, or Check
- Payment Threshold: $100
Constant Contact
If you are passionate about programming and related issues, create a complete website, such as web hosting services, domain names, eCommerce, and eMarketing. Then Constant Contact’s affiliate program is for you. They offer pretty attractive commissions, and you can earn $5 for each referral that signs up for a free trial and $105 when your referrals pay for a new account.
Now, you might be thinking, why should you join a Constant Contact Email Marketing Affiliate Program?
This question isn’t hard to answer! First, they offer quite a reasonable commission (I mentioned it clearly above). Second, there are limitless advertising resources you can take advantage of to promote your brand. Third, Constant Contact provides reliable affiliate reports, which you can monitor and adjust to optimize your affiliate earnings. Lastly, a dedicated support team with experienced experts/managers will effectively support your marketing campaigns.
- Commission rate: No cap on commissions.
- Cookie duration: 120 days.
- Payment methods: Credit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, eCheck.
- Payment Threshold:
Avangate Network
Advance Affiliate Network is widely recognized as the most reliable affiliate marketing network worldwide for software and digital goods. Through a link or banner on your website, you can receive up to 75% commission on each purchase made by a customer referred by you.
Pay attention to the affiliate dashboard on the Avangate Network. Truly amazing. The affiliate dashboard provides the necessary tools to help you build a successful affiliate marketing website, such as searching for trending products, tracking and selecting available promotions, creating links with quick results, and real-time sales reports,…
Besides, Avangate Affiliate Doctor will give you consulting advice on how to optimize your website, promotions, and conversion rates.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service.
- Cookie duration: Depends on programs and products.
- Payment methods: Wire transfer, check, PayPal, or Avangate MasterCard
- Payment Threshold: $100
JVZoo
To finish this list, we would like you to know more about JVZoo.
Are you a beginner and not very technical? Want to start affiliate marketing for free without joining an expensive program? Then, the JVZoo affiliate program is the right choice for you. JVZoo is an intermediary affiliate network that connects affiliates with vendors and allows affiliates to promote sellers’ products in exchange for commissions.
JVZoo officially operated since 2011, and they are asserting themselves as a formidable competitor in the field of affiliate marketing. There are over 800,000 active branches and more than 18 million products from different industries. This makes it attractive for publishers and affiliates looking to earn passive income.
JVZoo’s registration process is quite quick and can be approved immediately if it is valid. You can use the tool to generate links in seconds, along with many other great resources. In particular, JVZoo applies an automatic payment system. This means that the commission of each successful referral will automatically be transferred to the affiliate’s JVZooPay account.
- Commission rate: Depend on each product or service
- Cookie duration: Lifetime
- Payment methods: JVZooPay, PayPal, Stripe, BlueSnap & Authorize.
- Payment Threshold: $50
Affiliate networks vs. Affiliate programs
For those new to affiliate marketing, it is easy to get confused between the concepts of an affiliate network and an affiliate program. Both are the most effective ways to make money from digital marketing.
These two methods help businesses conveniently manage affiliate relationships. And it helps affiliate marketers earn commissions from successful sales. See our quick comparison summary to understand these two concepts better.
- An affiliate network is a collaboration platform between a community of affiliate marketing programs. They provide a group of influencers. It also means you can partner with one or more affiliate marketing programs. Of course, account maintenance costs will be higher. Also, you’ll have less control over your marketing strategy.
- An Affiliate Program is a more cost-optimized model than affiliate networks. Usually, each business will have its own affiliate marketing program. To join this program as an affiliate, you simply need to sign up for their affiliate program or their official authorized parties. When you join, you’ll have full control over your marketing strategies, but you’ll have to find your own marketing resources.
How to Choose the Best Affiliate Marketing Program for Beginners?
Among the countless options available for affiliate programs, you might be wondering which one to choose. Is this show appropriate for your target audience? Is this affiliate program’s commission rate really as high as advertised? How to choose the best affiliate marketing program for beginners? To find answers to the above problems, let’s take a look at the factors we’ll recommend below:
Prioritize businesses with good reputations:
Cooperating with companies that have high product quality is the basis for building customer trust. Try to find out by searching for information from reviews and comments via Google or social platforms like Facebook.
Choose a product/service you have used before and are satisfied with:
Understanding the product or service you promote is key to your affiliate marketing success. If you promote a new product, try it out and ensure quality before introducing it to your target audience.
Promote products that fit your niche:
Suppose your blog revolves around technology products. It would be unreasonable to include links about beauty products here.
Look for programs with competitive commission rates:
The commission rate may vary depending on the affiliate program and product service you promote. For accurate information, you should check the official website of each affiliate program.
Find out cookie duration:
Each affiliate program will have different cookie lengths. The longer the cookie’s lifespan, the better for affiliates and publishers.
Read the general terms and conditions carefully:
Before signing the agreement, pay attention to the terms and conditions of the affiliate program. This is to avoid misunderstandings between the two parties and ensure your rights and responsibilities when participating in affiliate programs.
How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing as a Beginner?
Choosing the right affiliate program is the first step. Follow these simple steps to start your affiliate marketing journey:
Step 1: Choose your niche
To stand out among the countless websites today, the trick is to search and choose something specific or unique and personal. This helps you accurately identify your target audience.
For example, to tackle a large field like fashion clothing, there are many options available to you in this field. One suggestion is to try something very specific, like clothing for plus-size women.
Consider the following when you choose a niche for affiliate marketing:
- Start with your interests and passions
- Analyze your competitors.
- Measure market demand
Step 2: Decide on the content platform
There are diverse options available to you, such as:
- Website
- YouTube
- Social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
- News
The channel you choose to promote your products and services may depend on your experience and preferences. For example, people learning meditation will enjoy watching and listening to YouTube videos or podcasts.
Step 3: Sign up for the appropriate affiliate program
When participating in an affiliate program, consider the following aspects:
- The longer the cookie duration, the better
- Commission structure
- The reputation of the affiliate program unit
- Their conditions and regulations
Step 4: Start by creating structured content
Good and interesting content can persuade your target audience and improve your website’s position in search results. The higher the ranking, the more traffic it will attract.
Step 5: Drive traffic to your affiliate site
You have great content. The next step is to attract as many readers as possible. The more readers, the higher their click rate on your referral links. There are 3 popular ways to stimulate traffic as follows:
- Paid Traffic (PPC)
- SEO – search engine analysis and optimization
- List of target customers to carry out email marketing campaigns
Step 6: Optimize your affiliate links
In short, this means replacing your original link with a shorter and more intuitive link. But, this will not affect the link’s destination, which is to the website where you want to advertise your product and service.
Step 7: Track your affiliate campaigns and boost your income sales
Always track and check your links to ensure they work properly and effectively. At the same time, you can adjust if you encounter errors on time.
There are free tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager that can also help track affiliate links.
FAQs
Is affiliate marketing challenging for those new to the field?
Yes, It can be a challenging and competitive field. The affiliate marketing world is full of talented and dedicated individuals, and it can be difficult to stand out. You need to find your own path and think of creative ways to differentiate yourself from other affiliates to succeed.
What are the common errors beginners often make in affiliate marketing?
Here are some common mistakes new affiliate marketers make when starting out that we want you to be aware of:
- Not thoroughly researching the information and instructions of the affiliate program
- Not aimed at any specific target audience.
- Target highly competitive keywords.
- Promote poor-quality products and services.
- Advertising false information and features of products and services.
- Do not focus on content creation.
- Not tracking the marketing performance of campaigns.
How much can beginners expect to earn from affiliate marketing?
If you’re lucky, you can earn commissions from the first month. Meanwhile, most beginners in affiliate marketing usually take the first 1 to 6 months to make their first sale. Thus, the income of new branches will fluctuate without a specific rule.
Typically, a beginner affiliate marketer can earn 100-500 USD monthly. An experienced affiliate marketer can earn $1,000-10,000 per month. A top affiliate marketer can earn $10,000-100,000 per month or more.
The numbers here are hypothetical, and you can calculate them yourself through the results of your affiliate marketing efforts. Get started today!
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is a new trend for businesses to market and promote their products/services. This trend positively impacts both businesses and their partner networks – Publishers, bringing huge profits.
If you are considering joining an affiliate marketing program, don’t look for the highest-paying affiliate programs. Instead, focus on finding programs that fit your interests and passions.
This way, you can be persistent and successful as an affiliate marketer. In the first steps of your affiliate marketing career, we hope this list of 20 affiliate marketing programs for beginners in 2023 will assist you.