What’s good and what’s not? Every year, that is a frequently asked question by affiliate marketers. The trends of online marketing come and go and sometimes come back again over the years. Here at IDPI, I have been doing a little research to help you find some great options. So without further ado lets take a quick look at some of the best affiliate marketing programs for 2020, and beyond!
Affiliate Marketing – What is it?
Just in case you are new to the subject, or need a refresher.
Let’s say you write a “how to” article, a or product review, or post a great recipe in your blog. You’ll probably share links to where your fellow readers can get the stuff they need or whatever it is you’re reviewing. Affiliate marketing is an easy way for you to earn a commission when someone makes a purchase through a link you shared on your website. You can read more about affiliate marketing here.
The Programs – A few good picks:
Okay, now for the programs that are currently hot on the IDPI radar for lucrative affiliate commission payouts. While there are many excellent affiliate marketing programs out there, we are going to highlight a few that are offering exceptionally good commissions. When choosing a program, you want something that is going to reward you for your hard work – right?
You also want something with a long “cookie life”. That is, if your visitor clicks on your affiliate link, and then decides not to make that purchase right away, you want the “cookie” that has been associated with your affiliate code to last until they return and complete their purchase. Cookie lifespans can be anywhere from a few hours to several months or even “lifetime”.
Hubspot
Hubspot is a powerful CRM (Customer Relations Management) platform. It is based in the “Inbound Marketing” principle. The notion that people do not want be bothered or interrupted my marketers. They want to be helped. The Hubspot platform is built on that principle and has earned them a solid reputation.
Here’s the rundown on their affiliate program:
HostGator
A very popular website hosting service that is also offering a very attractive affiliate program.
Hostgator has stepped up their affiliate game lately. For example, the more referrals per month who signup for a plan, the higher your commission per referral.
At last check the commission structure was like this – please check Hostgator for current details.
- 1-5 signups – $65/signup
- 6-10 signups – $75/signup
- 11-20 signups – $100/signup
- 21+ signups – $125/signup
If your niche involves web hosting, this alone can easily grow into a full-time income!
Bluehost
Another very popular web hosting service that also offers a superb affiliate program. Pat Flynn, who runs the SmartPassiveIncome blog makes quite a whopping amount of commissions from Bluehost alone!
Aweber
Aweber is a very powerful and very popular email campaign management platform. They too, are on the ball when it comes to showing their affiliates some love.
Aweber’s monthly pricing is based on the number of email subscribers on one’s list.
Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate is a powerhouse platform of top notch training, in-house WordPress web hosting integrated with all of the high performance tools you need to run a successful online business. The community support here is the best – bar none!
Their affiliate program is no exception! It is one of the most lucrative ones offered from any online marketing training platform.
Read more about Wealthy Affiliate here.
eBay
The online auction giant, eBay offers an affiliate program – the eBay Partner Program. This may be an excellent choice if you have a niche in vintage or antique goods. For example, a “Look up prices of XXX on eBay” link on your site can contain an affiliate link. Due to the billions of listings eBay process, this can be quite lucrative.
eBay has a varying commission structure depending on category and what country you’re in. Please consult their “rate cards” for your details.
Unlike many other commerce sites, eBay manages its own affiliate network in-house and they have a very large team dedicated to it.
Etsy
The online arts and crafts superstore, Etsy also has an affiliate program worth looking into. If arts, crafts, vintage, upcycled or handmade goods are your niche. Etsy is worth a look. You can insert code to generate product feeds from the Etsy site within your blog post, and earn up to a 4% commission.
The Etsy affiliate program is managed through the AWIN network. Cookie life is 30 days. Please read more about Etsy in this post.
But, What About Amazon?
At one point, the Amazon Associates program offered a reasonably good commission structure. For example, you could earn an 8% commission on a furniture purchase. Unfortunately in recent updates, they have reduced the commission amounts in several popular categories. Many areas are just 1% now! The “cookie life” has been reduced to 24 hours, too. If they don’t come back to Amazon and complete their purchase within that time, no commission for you! Bummer…
Amazon can still be a good source of income if your website is a well established authority site and receives a lot of traffic. For small businesses and one-person blogs, the return on investment under this new commission structure is very small.
I would love to include Amazon in this list but I am afraid that this Titanic of affiliate marketing may be sinking…
How Do I Get Started?
Maybe you are an experienced online marketer, or maybe you’re looking for a way to get started. Wherever you are on the experience scale, you probably research the Internet on a regular basis. That is likely how you landed here – so welcome to I Do Passive Income! No doubt you have a swirling deluge of information to distill and sort out. It is my pleasure to help you. I would not be writing this today if I did not dicover the awesome resources at Wealthy Affiliate!
Joining a few of the major affiliate marketing networks is an excellent way to get an overview of what each merchant or service. You can view tables of commission percentages, cookie life spans, etc at a glance. You’ll quickly see where the gold nuggets are.
Summing It Up
Yes, there is never a “best affiliate marketing program”. The tides are always ebbing and flowing with each year as new trends emerge, and old ones sunset.
Let’s succeed together! Please feel free to share your questions and comments below.
