Before we dig deep into the best online affiliate marketing companies you can work with this year, let us take a brief look at why you need them.
As an affiliate marketer, you have to sell someone elseís products and make a commission out of it. But how much are you going to earn?
The challenge lies at the commission percentage, as not all affiliate programs pay the same rate. Some pay between 4% and 10%, while some can pay an affiliate commission of up to 50%.
As an affiliate marketer, you need to spend some time reviewing products and learning how much you are going to earn.
And besides, you also need to figure out the complexity of the work required to be able to sell that product.
If you can deliver traffic to a product that costs hundreds of dollars, then the commission rate of 5% will make sense.
This is critical because you do not want to sell products at a measly commission of 5% when you are spending more than that in your efforts and advertising.
If you sell a product for $10 with a 5% commission rate, you earn $0.50 per sale.
The problem is that you are also spending The problem is that you are also spending The problem is that you are also spending The problem is that you are also spending The problem is that you are also spending The problem is that you are also spending $0.50 per click in your Facebook or Google ads.50 per click in your facebook or Google ads, and you are not even at a breakeven point if you consider the cost of your web hosting, blogging, and other marketing efforts.50 per click in your Facebook or Google ads.50 per click in your facebook or Google ads, and you are not even at a breakeven point if you consider the cost of your web hosting, blogging, and other marketing efforts.50 per click in your Facebook or Google ads.50 per click in your facebook or Google ads, and you are not even at a breakeven point if you consider the cost of your web hosting, blogging, and other marketing efforts.
Having said all that, let us move forward with our list.
ClickBank
clickbank has been around for ages. With 20 years of experience, ClickBank is one of the biggest affiliate networks in the world. Primarily, it allows you to sell lifestyle products to your customers.
The products found on the companyís website are bordering on the exclusive, and you can find many self-help products like discs and books that you can sell.
In addition to a wide array of products, you can also benefit from the companyís university, which has a complete list of courses you can take to succeed as an affiliate marketer.
It has over 6 million products in its portfolio, and it has sold these products to more than 200 million customers worldwide.
ClickBank has different commission tiers. The rates vary between 1% 75%, and this all depends on the vendor of the product you are selling. ClickBank calculates and pays the commissions after the fees.
The maximum you can earn on each sale is $150.
Let us say that you choose a product being sold by the vendor for $29.95. ClickBank will charge $3.25 after the sale, so the net purchase is $26.70.
If this vendor set the commission rate at 55%, then your sales commission is $14.69.
Amazon Associates
Who has not heard about amazon? As early as 1996, Amazon offered its affiliate marketing services to entrepreneurs, and this is why it has grown into the giant that it is right now.
It is not easy to be an affiliate marketer for Amazon because the company will need to approve your application first. You need to have a decent website before you get approved for an account.
The benefit of being an affiliate marketer for Amazon is that you are riding on its shoulders. It is known around the world and has dominated the online market for so many years.
There are hundreds of thousands of products for sale here, and you will never run out of options to sell according to your niche.
Amazon is a trustworthy name. If your site visitor clicked on your affiliate link and was taken to Amazonís website, there is no question that the visitor will not doubt the authenticity of the purchase that he is considering to make.
Amazon pays different rates by category, but these rates range between 4% and 10% of the product cost.
AffiBank
If you are looking for high commission rates, AffiBank is something you may want to look into and consider. It offers as much as 75% in commission rate.
AffiBank touts itself as the largest affiliate network in the world as a privately held company.
With thousands of affiliates, the company is very selective in the products that it endorses, as the management understands that bad products do not sell.
And if products do not sell, the affiliate marketers will not make money, too.
Like ClickBank, AffiBank has an online university that offers its partners a knowledgebase.
It is also proactive in adding content to this online school that will teach partners how to use social media marketing to improve sales.
Unlike Amazon, AffiBank does not require an affiliate marketer to have a website. What this means is that you can concentrate your marketing efforts via social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, or youtube.
You can post the products or the reviews on your social media channels without the need to maintain a blog site.
This approach works best for influencers, like those who have tens of thousands of followers who are respected in their chosen niches.
Another highlight of this company is that it offers product support. What this means is that as an affiliate marketer, you do not need to answer the inquiries of your potential customers.
Should they have questions, they will be redirects to the vendorís site, and the vendor will answer the queries from there.
eBay
That is right, eBay has an affiliate program called eBay Partner Network or EPN. eBay has grown beyond the typical online marketplace where sellers post their second-hand products.
Today, eBay has become much like Amazon in that you will find a ton of brand new products to buy and sell.
And also, eBay now offers an affiliate marketing program where you can sell products found in there in exchange for a commission.
eBay has more than 1.1 billion listings. Yes, with the letter ìBî. All you need to do is to drive traffic to eBay from your website, and if the site visitors make a purchase, you get a commission.
eBay, being a decades-old company, provides turnkey tools that will help affiliate markets succeed. The commission rates vary, but you can earn between 40% and 80% of the product revenue.
The way it works is that if you drive traffic to the site and the visitor places a winning bid or clicked the Buy It Now button, eBay considers it a sale and it can be traced back to you.
One caveat in the EPN is that your affiliate link or cookie is only active for 24 hours.
What this means is that if your referral clicks on the link, and decides not to buy or bid, then goes back 48 hours later to buy, you do not earn a commission.
However, this drawback is compensated by the fact that you are selling products from one of the most trustworthy online marketplaces in the world.
ShareASale
With 19 years of expertise, ShareASale is one of the biggest affiliate marketing communities in the world.
It is primarily praised for its technology, both by merchants and affiliate marketers, as it allows real-time tracking of data and affiliate marketing efforts.
ShareASale is a large scale affiliate network. In 2015, its publishersóthe affiliate marketersógenerated sales that earned them $297 million.
Before you get started, you need to register and pay a fee of $5.
A critical thing that makes it easy to use is that you can find the products you want by category. It has a filtering system that lets you select products by brand or keyword.
As a user, you will also have access to a dedicated hub or portal where you can see updates about news and special offers.
The company works with more than 4,000 merchants, and affiliate marketers can choose from over 77 categories that contain more than 1,600 brands.
It allows payout in multiple currencies, and it offers live chat and phone support for its affiliate marketers.
The caveat is that unlike other affiliate marketing firms, it does not have a school or university where you can learn how to succeed.
Pretty much, ShareASale is best used by intermediate affiliate marketers.
Conclusion on Best Affiliate Marketing Companies
There you have it – the top five best online affiliate marketing companies. While we have provided a summary for each company, you must know that these selections have tons of information, rules, and policies.
You have to choose one that is close to your business needs, and then explore the company further.
What you have to do is to carefully check if the commission rates have changed, what payment methods are used, and how long it will take for you to get your money.
Although the primary concern of every affiliate marketer is the cost of the commission, sometimes it will not matter too much if you are confident that you can drive volume.
Lastly, you have to understand the amount of effort you have to put in. Are you willing to learn how to put up a website?
If so, then Amazon works best for you. If you are an influencer, then you may want to focus on affiliate programs that do not require blogs and websites.
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