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What better way to make money than by writing about stuff you love? One of the best, most lucrative, easy and ever more popular ways of profiting from a blog is with affiliate marketing. That’s why this post is going to be about the best affiliate programs for bloggers.
If you aren’t aware of what affiliate marketing is Checkout our affiliate marketing guide, it is simply linking your blog readers to companies which have products they are interested in. You receive a commission on any sales made from the customers you create for the business.
While most people think about getting a lot of traffic and using CPM based advertising, which requires payments per impressions, or CPC, payments with clicks such as AdSense, affiliate programs typically pay much better, because you are sending traffic directly to the horse’s mouth, as opposed to going through a 3rd party advertising network.
Take a look at our recommendations of best affiliate programs for bloggers in 2019:
1. Amazon Associates Program
Everybody knows Amazon, they are a trusted brand that most of your readers will be very aware of even if they haven’t bought from them. The Amazon affiliate program is known as Amazon Associates and it allows you to link your readers to products, with you earning up to 12% of the price.
Though the top commission is 12%, what you actually get will depend on the niche and products you link to as well as the number of sales you make. At least initially, you may find that you’re only earning 3 or 4 percent on converting sales. Though, since the Amazon is very good at converting viewers into customers bloggers are able to do very well with this program despite the relatively low percentages offered.
You don’t just earn commissions on the products you link to, anything your reader buys will add to your earnings. Unfortunately, the commission on these sales is just 1.5% in many cases, but the good thing is your readers have 24 hours to make a purchase and you’ll still earn a commission.
Blogs which cover a large range of areas could do very well with Amazon. It helps if you review products in your blog topic, though you could simply recommend products you like using. Alternatively, you could link people to a product which solves a common problem within your niche.
ShareASale is an affiliate marketing network which has thousands of businesses looking for publishers to promote their products. While this may seem like a 3rd party network, it really isn’t, because essentially this is a “directory” of companies who have affiliate programs.
So, given the niche in which you blog, you can find specific products or services which you can pitch to your clients.
Commissions can vary greatly depending on the merchant, some will pay you for generating a lead (when someone signs up to something or fills in a form), others payout on sales. As you might imagine sales commissions will normally be greater than lead commissions.
ShareASale has a product showcase feature which allows you to create a rotating gallery of products, which could be very useful for a number of niches. If you are promoting products like clothing or jewelry which come in different styles or colors this could be very useful on your blog.
3. Web Hosting
Any blog which is using web hosting services could potentially promote the business they are with, just as long as they have an affiliate program, and most do. If you’ve had a great experience with a host or even just had a trouble-free time, you could write about it after signing up to their affiliate program.
The great thing about this is that the amount of money you can make is quite significant, especially if you are speaking to other potential bloggers.
If you’re thinking of changing hosts, write a post about it exploring more options for yourself and your readers. Then get paid for switching to a better host.
Web hosting is a very competitive market so you will probably do better by tailoring your post to the niche you are operating in, rather than a more general guide to web hosting. Though the niches which do best will likely be technology based or website creation blogs.
Other options if you are operating within niches where people will need to create their own website, is to go for reseller hosting. In essence, what this means, is that you can actually set up your own web hosting company. In reality, you won’t need any infrastructure yourself, you just subscribe for a reseller hosting account, and then split the cost of that between your own customers. If you’re interested in this kind of market, you may want to look at this article on the CollectiveRay website.
Affiliate commissions can be very lucrative if you get it right, with potentially hundreds of dollars to earn from single a conversion, sometimes even up to $200 per sale.
4. Commission Junction
Commission Junction or CJ as it likes to be known these days has been around for a very long time. They are an affiliate network which pays over $1.8 billion to publishers annually and you could be part of this by promoting some well-known brands.
CJ has over 2,700 offers available currently, so you should be able to find something appropriate for your readers. Not all the advertisers want to attract customers from every part of the world so your opportunities will be reduced depending on your location.
You could create a blog post which describes a problem your readers will experience and then explain how a particular business solves that problem. You then direct readers to that company’s site using your affiliate links to earn a commission.
5. Etsy
The Etsy marketplace is where people go to sell handmade, vintage, custom and unique items. You don’t need to be the creative type to earn money from this marketplace. You can join Etsy’s affiliate program and link your readers to relevant products you like the look of.
If you run a blog which covers any of the most popular sections on Etsy, you will be spoiled for choice over what to feature on your site. What is popular includes clothing, home decor items, jewelry, craft supplies, children’s toys and vintage items.
The affiliate commission is a rather low 4% but if products on Etsy fit your reader’s needs and wants, you could still do very well.
Conclusion
It is very straightforward to monetize your blog with affiliate marketing, the most difficult part is finding the right product to promote to your readers. As long as your blog has a readership you should do very well with affiliate marketing, and since most of these can integrate directly with your WordPress through plugins, or simply by adding just a link, it really takes you no time to start earning money with these programs.
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