When you start an affiliate marketing business, one of the hardest things you’ll have to do is find the best affiliate programs for beginners. There are a lot of affiliate programs that can make you money.
If you choose the wrong affiliate program, it could set you back several months. On the other hand, if you choose the right one, you could start making affiliate commissions before your website is even “done.” So, which is the best affiliate program for people who have never done it before? Here are the top to check out.
What is a “Partner Program”?
Affiliate programs, which are also called associate programs, give people and businesses a way to connect and work together through a third party. The two people sign up for the site, talk about working together, and then get to work.
But these affiliate systems are complex machines that do a lot more than just help retailers and affiliate companies. They also do some important things for both sides.
How programs for affiliate marketing work
When you sign up for an affiliate marketing program, you get a unique ID and a URL that can be tracked. You can use these in your marketing materials to promote the merchant’s products. A cookie is added to a person’s browser when they click on one of your banner ads or affiliate links.
If you click on an affiliate link or ad, you could see the referral code or identifier in the URL. Most of the time, the link seems longer than if you went straight to the store’s page.
An affiliate program manager would use these unique IDs to figure out where the customer came from. In other words, these codes are needed to verify affiliate partners and pay them for their work.
Affiliate programs don’t all work the same way, of course. Here are a few common commission models:
- Pay Per Click (PPC) means that an affiliate gets paid when a customer clicks on one of their links.
- Pay Per Lead (PPL) means that an affiliate gets a set commission if a qualifying lead comes from their link.
- Pay Per Sale (PPS) means that the affiliate gets a cut of each sale they bring about.
What a good affiliate marketing program should have
When choosing affiliate programs for beginners, there are many things to think about. If you are a new affiliate marketer, here are some things you should pay attention to:
Program Payments and Commissions
Find out not only how much money you will get from an affiliate program but also when you will get it. Some affiliate programs pay out after 60 or even 90 days, but most only pay out after 30 days.
This means, in plain English, that most affiliates get paid 30 days after a sale is made, while some don’t get paid until 90 days after a sale is made. That’s a long time to wait for your affiliate money, especially if you have bills to pay.
Simple to Use
When you start affiliate marketing, you should make it as easy as possible. To do this, you need to sign up for affiliate programs that make sense and are well-run and designed.
After all, the last thing you want to do is deal with an affiliate program that has a hard-to-use interface. This can make it very hard to set up affiliate links or send in a banner.
Affiliate networks usually don’t have that problem because they want to make your life as easy as possible when you’re doing affiliate marketing. Because if you’re not making money (passive income), neither they nor their clients will be.
Last but not least, you should choose an affiliate network based on how easy it is to use.
Get in touch and get help
Things will sometimes go wrong. Links will stop working, or you’ll wonder why the sales report from last month looks like it’s backwards. At that very moment, you’ll need the help of a dedicated affiliate manager.
Affiliate networks have a small advantage in this situation because you can contact their support team as well as the affiliate manager if you have questions about the program. Just remember that some affiliate managers are just like face-to-face managers in that some are great and others are terrible. Before you join an affiliate program, find out what kind of help you’ll get, like if you’ll have your own affiliate manager.
Top Affiliate Programs for First-Time Marketers
A big part of why these programs were chosen was how much experience you need to get started. Before joining, you should think about each one and weigh the pros and cons.
Affiliate Program for AliExpress
The AliExpress Affiliate Program is a great way for its affiliate partners to make money. AliExpress is a huge Chinese online market where you can buy everything you need in one place. Explore the world of AliExpress and tell your audience about the best deals and discounts on a wide range of clothing, accessories, home products, cosmetics, health care products, electronics, jewelry, and more.
AliExpress has great prices all over the world and is easy to use on mobile devices with a helpful app. Payments are safe, customer service is available 24/7, and shipping is lightning fast. Join the AliExpress Affiliate Marketing Program today to get ahead of the competition.
- Cost: Nothing
- Up to 50% commission (on average, 4%).
- Cookie: 3 days (unless it’s replaced by another affiliate link)
- Minimum payment amount: $16
- Requirements: None
- AliExpress could be a good choice for both drop shippers and affiliates. At any given time, there are millions of things to choose from.
- Cons: There doesn’t seem to be much help for affiliates.
Shopify
Shopify is a platform for making websites, especially for online stores. More than 600,000 websites on the Internet are built on them. You could start making extra money by sending people who are interested to Shopify.
They have different membership plans that cost anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars each month. Shopify is more expensive than most of the other apps on our list, so it might be hard to convince your audience to use it.
- Price: Free Commission: Up to $2,000 per customer
- Cookie: 30 days
- The minimum payment is $25.
- Requirements: None
- Pros: You can link to any Shopify site, and the affiliate program is very helpful and pays out a lot of money.
- Cons: It may be hard to sell.
Amazon Associates
Amazon controls about half of the US online shopping market right now. And about 200 million people use Amazon every month. The company is a well-known eCommerce provider around the world. Through Amazon’s affiliate program, you can take advantage of its global reach and make money from it. There’s a cookie window of 24 hours, and you can get up to 10% of each client you send their way.
Also, you get paid even if someone doesn’t buy the thing you recommended within 24 hours.
- Price: Free Commission: 10% or more
- Cookie: 24 hours
- Payment Threshold: $10 direct deposit or a $100 check
- Must make at least three qualified sales in at least 180 days.
- Pros: It’s a reputable business with millions of items to choose from, a low payment threshold, and the ability to make money from each transaction within 24 hours.
- Cons: Cookies don’t last long and commission rates are low.
Partner Network of eBay
eBay has one of the best affiliate programs on the internet, which pays out a lot of money. The eBay Partner Network is where you can sign up to become an eBay partner. Between 50 and 70% of the sales are made up of commissions.
eBay makes it easy for affiliates to get the tools they need to promote the company’s products. You can benefit from eBay’s affiliate program no matter how you choose to market and sell your products.
- Cost: Free. Commission: Between 50% and 70%, depending on the products.
- Cookie: 24 hours
- The minimum payment is $10.
- Must make at least three qualified sales in at least 180 days.
- Pros: You can sell a wide range of goods through affiliate links. A dashboard for affiliates that is easy to use. Affiliates of eBay have too low of a payment threshold.
- Cons: The commission structure can be confusing, and it puts a cap on how much you can make from each sale, no matter how much it’s worth.
ClickBank
ClickBank is a network of affiliates that works with small businesses. You might find unique items in their network that you won’t find anywhere else. You deal directly with suppliers, which is different from the other affiliate networks on this list.
They’ve been in business for more than 20 years and have more than 6 million items in stock right now. ClickBank sells digital information products on a market worth $50 billion. And no, that wasn’t a mistake.
- Cost: nothing.
- Up to 75% commission.
- Cookie: 60 days.
- The minimum payment is $10.
- For US affiliates, you need a tax ID number or a social security number.
- Pros: They specialize in information products for small businesses, pay good commissions, have a cookie period of two months, pay commissions over and over again, and have a low payment threshold.
- Cons: Not as many people know about the products, and many of them aren’t very good.
Rakuten
Rakuten has been named the best affiliate network for 8 years in a row. In 2018, they helped more than 110 million sales around the world. They have a great affiliate program for beginners because their platform is easy to use and they have great performance and features.
After you are accepted, you have to send each network company a separate application. You might not get in, and the process might take a while. You can, however, work with well-known businesses from all over the world.
- Cost: nothing.
- Commission: It depends on what you’re selling.
- Cookie: It depends on the item.
- The minimum payment is $1.
- Requirements: To join, you must have a website.
- Pros: There are 1,000 merchants to choose from, helpful tools, reliable reporting, and it’s easy to use.
- Cons: You can’t pay with PayPal, and you have to sign up for each merchant separately.
Jotform
JotForm is an online form builder that has expanded to include document management, data management, PDF editors, and workflow automation. It has been on the market for 15 years, and 15 million people use it. In addition to their main products, they also have an affiliate program that is easy to use and flexible.
They are a great affiliate choice because they have clients in almost every industry and because online forms are so popular. No matter what kind of business you work with, it’s likely that they use online forms.
- Cost: nothing.
- 30% of the total.
- Cookie: 60 days.
- There is no payment threshold. You are given money right away.
- Your affiliate link can be shared with anyone, anywhere.
- Pros: Training and getting started, great customer service, longer cookie window, no minimum payment, and a huge market for software.
- Cons: Their free plan might stop people who have already signed up from upgrading right away.
Last Words
Now that you know about the top affiliate programs for newbies, it’s time to start choosing products to promote. After you choose a program, you will be done with your journey into affiliate marketing. You’ll have your ideal side business, which could take you to new heights in the long run. On dropship-empire Blog, you can find out more.