If there is one thing that is consistent with affiliate marketing, it is that the relationship and bond between affiliates and larger
affiliate networks can be hit or miss at the best of times. Different affiliate networks offer different levels of support, subsets of programs, and payout schedules. In this post we are going to be walking you through the most stable, consistent and highly recommend affiliate networks out there.
First though, what separates a GREAT affiliate network from one that perhaps leaves a little to be desire.
5 Key Attributes of ALL Successful Affiliate Networks
So how do you go about choosing an affiliate network. There are some criteria we recommend that you consider when you are choosing an affiliate network. Some of which is not based on a network itself, rather your business or respective niche that you are operating within.
We break these down into 5 sections.
1. Product Selection/Diversity
This first thing you should consider are the actual products on the network. It is fine to join a network, but if there are no products on that given affiliate network that are a good fit for your audience there is little purposes. If your website is about “dogs” and there is nothing relating to dogs on that network or that you could efficiently tie into a promotion, then I would not bother.
As you build out your websites or have a practical purpose to promote a particular affiliate program, that is when you tend to do research and come across new affiliate networks. Many networks have an application process so if your site is not a good fit for their network (ie, not relevant), then you shouldn’t bother.
Relevant promotions are what convert and putting your audience before your promotions should be of utmost focus in your campaigns.
2. Quality Products
There are plenty of affiliate networks and programs out there that don’t care much for product quality and integrity. These networks typically don’t last and if they do, they usually end up with a bad reputation (and we won’t be recommending any of those).
3. Consistent Payment
Some networks will pay out weekly, others will pay out monthly. It really depends on the network. Also, all affiliate networks offer a different range of payment “types”. Most will offer check payment, but some will also offer Paypal, Bank Wiring, Payoneer and even Bitcoin payment options.
So depending on your location in the world and what sort of payment types you can accept, this is something that you should be privy too when joining an affiliate network.
4. Allow for Affiliates in Your Country
If you are not on the “countries” listed when joining a program, chances are you are not going to be able take part in that affiliate program or network. This is something that you will have to consider within the join process for any program. As the internet evolves though, you are going to find that more and more affiliate networks (and their programs within them) are becoming much more global in nature.
5. Cost to Join (should be free)
Is there a fee to join the affiliate program? There shouldn’t be and if there is, it should be completely nominal and used for the sake to show that you are a real person (verify your identity as they will be paying you out). 99% of affiliate programs and affiliate networks out there will have no costs associated with them.
What Are the Top Affiliate Networks of 2017?
There are some great affiliate networks out there and as technology continues to evolve, so do the tools and training that these particular programs offer their affiliates/merchants.
We tend to look for the leaders in the industries when it comes to “technology” and making an affiliates life more efficient, and you can’t go wrong with any of the top 10 (and perhaps over time you may be working with all 10 of these affiliate networks).
- Awin.com
- ShareASale.com
- Cj.com
- DigitalRiver.com
- Rakuten.com
- Avangate.com
- RevenueWire.com
- FlexOffers.com
- AvantLink.com
- Clickbank.com
And also could be included on this list are a few others, that could be consider affiliate networks. I suppose these programs should not be consider affiliate networks as they are all under their respective companies (Amazon & Ebay), but each has millions if not 100’s of millions of products that you can promote.
By joining either one of these programs you are in essence going to have unlimited capabilities ot promote 100’s of millions of products online.
There you have it, the top affiliate networks of 2022 (+ 2 bonuses ones). There some wonderful affiliate programs out there outside of just these programs that should not be overlooked, but affiliate networks are a great way to access 1,000’s of products/services from some of the most brandable companies in the world.
If you have any questions about affiliate networks or which ones would best suit you and your business, please leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
I just found this site after a few months research. I did not know about affiliates. I would like to become an affiliate. Just starting out and do not know where to start. I have little money to invest, and I have read, that being an affiliate should not cost me much if anything. I am not sure where to start or what company would be good except I do know Amazon. How do I become an affiliate?I do not have a website.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most significant business opportunities of our time. It allows individuals like or us To promote over 500 million different products, without having to carry any inventory, without having to deal with any of the support or the transactions…none of it.
If you’re looking to build a business within the affiliate marketing world, I recommend that you seriously consider WealthyAffiliate.com. It is the longest standing, and most progressive platform for learning and building an online/affiliate business. All of the tools, training, websites, hosting, and support is included for you with in one singular platform. Not to mention it is completely free to get started.
Is it okay to use affiliate programs that aren’t part of an affiliate network? There are a few that I really want to add to my website but I’m just not sure if they’re safe.
Yes you can most definitely use independent affiliate programs. There are thousands of these out there, if not significantly more. We have used many different affiliate programs in our businesses over the years and it is safe to say some of that indie Affiliate programs tend to be the best managed. The reason for this is that when merchants hand author affiliate programs and that aspect of their business to affiliate networks, the often times are not quite as involved as they could be.
So yes, Most certainly use an independent affiliate program if it is relevant to your niche.
Would you recommend using Clickbank these days? I hear good things and bad things but I do like the idea of high commissions that they offer. How much do you think I can make with Clickbank.
I joined and they are trying to promote some other program to me which I have to pay for, some university or school. Do you think that will help me with my affiliate marketing business? Thanks.
Clickbank is still a viable source of quality merchants, just be careful about products relating to make money or dieting. There are definitely some low quality ones within this categories, but generally speaking these days Clickbank has done a lot more due diligence with their allowed programs and they are much more controlled. It used to be the wild west back in the day where ANY program was literally allowed on the Clickbank network.
Respecting CB University, that is by no means a requirement and you should save your money. It is not necessary and it is actually quite unusually for an affiliate network (and some would say unethical) to be promoting paid programs to their affiliates, in particular when they are competing with other products on their network and they are capitalizing without reward for those that are driving new affiliates to their network. So save your money.
Are there any other affiliate programs besides these or is that it? If I don’t find an product or company on these affiliate networks do I need to make it work or should I reach out to companies and try to see if they will let me promote their companies without having affiliate programs.
I just can’t seem to find good affiliate programs.
There are plenty of affiliate programs out there besides the ones we mentioned above. The affiliate networks alone above have over 50,000 different companies that you can work with and within Amazon and eBay there are 100’s of millions of products you can promote. So there should be no shortage of products and services from above that will be part of these affiliate networks or that you will be able to promote with an Amazon Associates account.
It really does come down to your niche/website and what you are looking to promote when seeking out an affiliate program. If you are looking for a specific product, you can do a specific search in Google.
PRODUCT_NAME + affiliate program
If I was in the drone niche and I was looking for an affiliate program related to “Parrot AR Drone”, I would search.
Parrot AR Drone + affiliate program
Or…
Parrot Drone + affiliate program
That will help you come up with affiliate programs that are specific to a actual product or brand.
INDUSTRY/NICHE + affiliate program
If you were looking for an affiliate program related to drones, your search would look like this.
drones + affiliate program
It isn’t any more difficult than this. We wouldn’t recommend to you that you try to get a company without an affiliate program to try to create one. That is not your job and there are 550,000,000+ other products that you will be able to promote as an affiliate without having to deal with this.
Hope this offers some clarity for you here Ronaldo.
I am not sure if you caught wind of it but Amazon just created a onelink platform that allows affiliates to promote one link and it will automatically redirect people to their appropriate version of Amazon (.com, .ca, .co.uk).
Having somewhat consistent sales with amazon and trying to mess around with plugins to do this in the past, this is going to be a big thing for me and my business. Thought I would let you know about this although you probably already know.
Yeah, there is actually a good post on this over at Wealthy Affiliate.
Amazon Associates Makes it Easier to Earn More
This is a smart move by Amazon and is definitely going to benefit affiliates as well as their bottom line. They were likely losing out on a lot of affiliates promoting their products because of this and they were electing to use other platforms that offered this sort of technology. Not only that, a happy affiliate is going to focus promoting you program more (and will have a greater budget to do so). Something that it appears that Amazon is starting to get with their OneLink technology.