18 Best Affiliate Marketing Programs For Beginners in 2022

How to find the best affiliate programs for beginners?

There are a lot of affiliate programs. Some pay out big commissions, and some are easier to use.

How do you know which affiliate programs are worth your time?

You may find it difficult to choose the right affiliate program. But if you choose the right one, you can make money faster.

In this article, I will discuss the best affiliate programs for beginners. and hopefully, save you months of time and help you beat the competition.

Best Affiliate Marketing Programs For Beginners

In-House Affiliate Marketing Programs vs Affiliate Networks

Many new people think these two words mean the same thing, but they don’t.

“In-house” refers to affiliate programs that are managed directly by the merchant. And affiliate networks are third parties that bring together affiliate marketers and merchants.

Learn more about affiliate networks here: “How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing.”

In-House Affiliate Marketing Programs:

pro

• Usually gives a larger commission because there are no middlemen
• Can be more flexible when negotiating affiliate terms and commissions
• It’s easier to give feedback on how to improve conversion.

cons

• We have to sign up individually at each supplier/merchant whose products we want to promote. It can take time and effort.
• Some merchants are bad and don’t pay the sales commission.

Affiliate Network

pro

• More than 100 merchants work with one affiliate network. You don’t need to register with merchants individually.
• You don’t have to worry about not getting paid.

cons

• The amount of the commission is less, the affiliate network takes a fee from the commission.

Not all the products we want to promote are on affiliate networks, so we’ll use both. Some products only have an in-house affiliate program.

What a Good Affiliate Marketing Program Should Have?

How do you choose a good affiliate marketing program? 

Four factors to consider while searching for a good affiliate marketing program:

1. Simple to use

There is a lot to learn when you start an affiliate marketing business. Don’t waste time on a complicated interface.

Choose an easy one. This will affect how well you do in this business.

Banners, other affiliate marketing tools, and easy-to-create affiliate links are useful indicators.

So choose a user-friendly affiliate program.

2. Affiliate support

Make sure the affiliate program you want to join has good affiliate support. A lot of bad things can happen. Broken affiliate links or incorrect sales reports.

Affiliate networks have an advantage when it comes to supporting affiliates. They have lots of people ready to help affiliate managers do their job.

Affiliate support is important, especially for people who are just starting out. A good affiliate manager can even provide advice on how to advertise in a way that gets people to buy.

3. Good commission and payout system

Affiliate marketers need commissions and get paid, which is why we do everything we do.

So, when choosing an affiliate program, there are a few things to consider:

• How much money do we get for every referral we send?
• Commission schedule: weekly, net 30 (paid 30 days after the end of the month), net 60, and even net 90.
• How many times will you be paid to refer customers? Recurring commission (as long as the customer continues to use the product or service), only once per customer, or each time a customer purchases through your affiliate link.
• Requirements to earn commissions. Some affiliate programs pay a commission when a sale occurs. Others have requirements, such as the customer must stay subscribed for a certain period of time (usually this applies to software products)
• Payment terms: Pay attention to the payout threshold. If the threshold is too high, it will be difficult for you to get paid. There are also affiliate programs that require you to bring in a certain number of customers before you can get paid.
• More payment methods. Choose an affiliate program with more than one payment system. Such as via PayPal, wire transfer, Payoneer, or cryptocurrency. The more ways the affiliate program can pay you, the easier it will be for us to get paid.

4. Complete reporting system

As affiliate marketers, we need complete performance reports in real-time.

It would be better if the affiliate program could provide us with detailed reports about the customers.

So we can find out what kind of people buy from us and change our target audience to get more sales.

Real-time reports also help us tweak our marketing plans to make them work better.

18 Best Affiliate Marketing Programs For Beginners

Here are the best affiliate marketing programs for beginners:

1. Amazon Associates

Amazon is the #1 eCommerce in the world. It is the first company to have an affiliate program. And It sells everything.

So if you can find something on Amazon, you can sell it and make money.

Amazon’s affiliate marketing program is most often used by beginners. Affiliate links are easy to set up. Easy to apply and instant approval.

Amazon has branches in many countries (UK, Canada, Japan, and others). If you want to sell products from other branches, you must register each one separately.

After a few years and getting more success in affiliate marketing, you will be less likely to use Amazon’s affiliate program. It is because the commission is very low.

Do you know what I like from Amazon Associates program?  Even if someone buys something different than what I recommend, I still get paid.

URL: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate program

Commission rates: 1 – 5%, 

Product: Various

When Will I Get Paid? Net 60 (example: payment for January’s commission is made in late March).

Payment threshold: $10 for direct deposit(need US bank account) and $100 for the check.

Payment Method: Direct deposit, Check, Amazon Gift Card.

Pros:

• Trusted Company
• Millions of products available to promote
• Good customer service
• Easy to create and manage affiliate links
• The affiliate dashboard is very intuitive

Cons:

• Commission rate changes frequently
• Short-time cookie (24 hours)
• No Paypal

2. ClickBank

Clickbank has been in business since 1998. It generates over $3 billion USD in sales every year.

Clickbank focuses on digital products, fast delivery, and working directly with authors. This company’s sales went up with the help of social networks.

Signing up for Clickbank is easy, and anyone can do it. It is one of the best retail companies. It has a wide variety of products and categories. And currently, it also sells physical products such as dietary supplements.

URL: https://www.clickbank.com

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commision rates: 40% -75%

Product: Digital Products & Dietary Supplements

When Will I Get Paid? Weekly and biweekly

Payment threshold: $10 

Payment Method: Direct Deposit or Check

Pros

• Most products do not require approval
• Average commission income from sales $50
• Many affiliate programs with recurring commissions
• Easy to create affiliate link

Cons

• Some affiliate programs have a very high rate of return.
• There is no way to measure the rate of return of affiliate programs.

3. MaxBounty

MaxBounty is an affiliate marketing network based in Canada.

It is the best CPA network. It has more CPA offers than other networks. CPA (cost per action) is a performance-based offering. This means that affiliates are paid when their customers install software, fill out a form, or sign up for a free trial.

I think CPA offers are more profitable than CPS. Maxbounty has more than 350 brands and 2,000 products covering online dating, weight loss and other categories. 

For affiliates who already have a lot of traffic and are looking for new CPA offers. Maxbounty is a great choice. It never misses a payment; they always pay on time. The affiliate manager is friendly and wants you to do well.

URL: https://www.maxbounty.com/signup.cfm

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Network (CPA Network)

Commission rates: Varies

Product: CPA offers

When Will I Get Paid? Weekly

Payment threshold: $100

Payment Method: Direct deposit, check, PayPal, Payoneer

Pros

• You can get paid every week.
• Supportive affiliate manager.
• Many popular brands
• Big commission, you can earn up to $100 per conversion
• Easy-to-use affiliate dashboard
• Give a bonus if you reach the target

Cons

• MaxBounty may close an account without notifying you.
• Their registration process is very time-consuming.
• There is no deep link feature in Maxbounty.
• Very slow in approving affiliates. You need to contact them for approval

4. EBay Partner Network

eBay is the second largest e-commerce site after Amazon. It has its own affiliate program, and the commission rates are similar to Amazon.

New affiliate marketers sometimes forget about the eBay partner network. However, It is a great place to start as a new affiliate. And it is very easy to join.

Over 80% of eBay’s 1 billion listings are for new items. This shows that eBay is more than just a place to sell old or junk items. You can find just about anything on eBay. 

URL: https://partnernetwork.ebay.com/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate program

Commission rates: 2 – 4%

Product: Everything

When Will I Get Paid? 10th day of each month for the month before the previous month’s sales(January earnings will be paid on March 10).

Payment threshold: $10

Payment Method: Electronic Funds Transfer or PayPal.

Pros

• There are very low barriers to entry into the eBay Partner Network, so newcomers are welcome.
• Famous brand
• Many products for sale.
• You can give your visitors real value for their money here, often better than Amazon.

Cons

• Cookies only 24 hours (very short time)

5. CJ Affiliate Network

CJ is one of the oldest affiliate networks, second only to Amazon in age. 

CJ works with a lot of big and small brands. There are about 500 big brands and about 2500 affiliate marketing programs that are part of CJ. And the commissions are better than Amazon’s (still depends on certain affiliate programs).

Affiliate links are easy to create in CJ, lots of affiliate tools, and the support is great.

It’s easy to find profitable affiliate programs. CJ has metrics, many categories, and a helpful and dedicated affiliate manager.

After you sign up with CJ, you can start promoting products from affiliate programs. But some programs need more approval.

The difficulty of acceptance depends on the merchant. You need a good and up-to-date website to get approved.

URL: https://www.cj.com/publisher

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Each affiliate program has a different rate.

Product: Various.

When Will I Get Paid? Net 20 (example: Payment for January’s commission is made in 20th February).

Payment threshold: $50 for direct deposit(need US bank account) and $100 for Check.

Payment Method: Direct deposit, Check, and Payoneer.

Pros

• Simple to use and has a simple interface.
• Work with many well-known brands.
• There are ways to figure out which affiliate programs are profitable.
• Good affiliate support.

Cons

• CJ’s affiliate programs are always changing.
• It’s harder to use than Amazon’s.

6. ShareASale Affiliate Network

ShareASale’s user interface is a bit old and hasn’t changed much since then. Even though many merchant/affiliate programs are abandoning them.  

ShareASale still has more than 5000 merchants. And there are still some good programs you can use.

What I love about this network is that you can look at conversion data from existing affiliates, such as average sales, conversion rate, and EPC.

Awin bought ShareASale in 2017. It’s a good affiliate network for beginners because it won’t kick you out if you don’t make a sale for 180 days.

URL: ShareASale

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Each affiliate program has a different rate.

Product: Various.

When Will I Get Paid? Net 20 (example: Payment for January’s commission is made in 20th February).

Payment threshold: $50 

Payment Method: Free for direct deposit or wire transfer ($29 payment processing fee)

Pros

• A lot of products to promote
• There are some affiliate programs that you can’t find anywhere else. 
• Their metrics for finding profitable affiliate programs are excellent.

Cons

• To promote a product, you have to get approval again from the merchant, which can take a long time.
• old interface

7. Fiverr Affiliate Program

Fiverr is one of the best-paid affiliate programs. Depending on the service category you are promoting, you can earn up to $150 per referral. There are many ways to make money as an affiliate with Fiverr, and the site is always adding new services.

You can join the Fiverr affiliate program through CJ.com or through their own in-house affiliate program, which is easy to sign up.

Fiverr is a great place to sell something to your audience. You can sell anything from digital marketing services to spiritual counseling.

URL: Fiverr affiliate program

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate program

Commission rates: Up to $150

Product: Mostly Digital services

When Will I Get Paid? Monthly

Payment threshold: $100

Payment Method: direct deposit, Payoneer or Paypal

Pros

• Really nice affiliate interface
• Fiverr is the market leader.
• There are always new services to sell, so you’ll always have something to sell.
• Possible commissions of $150 per referral, which is a lot of money.

Cons

• You are not paid for sales from people who have signed up before.
• Some of the most popular gigs will eventually move to their own platform/website

8. Etsy Affiliate Program

Etsy has become the biggest business in its niche. It is a public company that sells handmade goods. And an affiliate network for crafters and a place where you go to buy gifts.

The Etsy affiliate program is managed by Awin, a leading affiliate network.

Through the Etsy affiliate program, you can link and/or review items on your website to make money. If a visitor buys something, you get a 4% commission.

URL: https://www.etsy.com/affiliates

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate program (via Awin)

Commission rates: 4% (30-day cookie period on Web, ​7 day cookie period on App)

Product: Handmade & Vintage goods.

When Will I Get Paid? Monthly or Net 30

Payment threshold: $50

Payment Method: Direct deposit, PayPal

Pros

• Clean modern interface and easy to use
• Products are always changing, so there is always something new.
• The best affiliate program for crafts, antiques, and gifts
• When you promote Etsy, you help small businesses.
• Their product range is large enough to keep people on the site for hours.

Cons

• Many popular sellers leave the platform
• Complaints from sellers about the latest algorithm changes

9. Rakuten Advertising

Japan’s Rakuten affiliate network bought LinkShare in 2005. It won a lot of awards and changed its name to Rakuten advertising.

Rakuten advertising is good for beginners. It features over 2,000 brands and businesses. They sell everything from office supplies to flowers.

The affiliate program approval process is kind of slow, and there are a lot of rejections. To make approval easier, you need a site that gets a lot of traffic.

URL: https://rakutenadvertising.com/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: 5% to 30%

Product: Various

When Will I Get Paid? weekly, every Wednesday, or vary depending on advertisers

Payment threshold: $50 

Payment Method: direct deposit or check

Pros

• Lots of affiliate programs
• Simple to use interface
• It’s been a long time and they’ve been good.
• Have a high sales volume

Cons

• There aren’t enough metrics to help find good program affiliates.

10. Impact

Impact is a large and relatively new affiliate network compared to Clickbank or Amazon. It has over 2500 companies, like Airbnb, Uber, Adidas, and others, and its design is simple and easy to use.

This network has a lot of affiliate programs. You can get approved fast for some affiliate programs. It has a wide range of categories like beauty, travel, retail, fitness, and Cost per Action (CPA) programs.

URL: https://impact.com/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Depending on the affiliate program

Product: Various

When Will I Get Paid? Depending on the affiliate program

Payment threshold: Varies

Payment Method: direct deposit, wire transfer, or Paypal (2% Processing fee)

Pros

• Brands that offer instant approval are easy to find.
• There are many affiliate programs
• Wide range of categories, from shoes and clothes to services for businesses

Cons

• It’s a modest marketplace
• New affiliate marketers may find the abundance of features to be overwhelming.

11. Awin

Awin is a large affiliate network. It’s been over 20 years and it got a lot bigger by buying ShareASale. It works with many well-known brands, such as Emirates, Etsy and Under Armor. Awin seems to focus more on physical products.

This is a great place if you want to get paid fast. You don’t need a website, but you need a way to promote your business. You can use YouTube channels or other social media.

If you have a lot of international traffic. You must join Awin.

When you first register, you have to make a $1 deposit. Awin will refund it once you reach your first payout threshold.

URL: https://impact.com/

Cost: 1 EUR/GBP/USD (or equivalent) – Refundable deposit

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Depending on the affiliate program

Product: Various

When Will I Get Paid? biweekly and monthly ( On the 1st and 15th of each month for the previous month’s commission)

Payment threshold: Varies, from $20

Payment Method: BACS and international wire transfer 

Pros

• Fast commission payout
• Many affiliate programs
• User-friendly interface
• Reporting on affiliate tracking is clear and easy
• Lots of popular brands

Cons

• Lots of competition
• There are a lot of affiliate programs from the UK and the EU (mostly)

12. Refersion Marketplace

Refersion is a brand-new affiliate network that has only been around since 2015. It’s easy to set up an account.

Its marketplace interface is not very nice. It doesn’t have many advertisers to choose from. But if you’re having trouble signing up on other sites, give this one a try.

URL: https://marketplace.refersion.com/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Varies

Product: Multiple categories

When Will I Get Paid? Depends on the affiliate program

Payment threshold: Depends on the affiliate program

Payment Method: Paypal

Pros

• It’s easy to sign up, and there are lots of things to promote.
• Will send you emails about new advertisers on a regular basis.

Cons: 

• To promote an affiliate program, you need to get permission, and the tool for filtering offers is hard to use.
• Before the merchant approves your application, you can’t find products to sell.

13. PepperJam

PepperJam is not a well-known brand, but it has been in the affiliate marketing business for a long time. It became part of Partnerize in 2020. They work with many different brands.

They have many affiliate offers from thousands of businesses big and small. There are some big names like Puma, LendingTree, Nordstrom, Netgear, ACE Hardware, and many more.

They offer many CPS and CPA offers that pay up to $100 per referral. If you have an active website, they will be happy to make you an affiliate.

PepperJam is a great network for new and experienced affiliates. It has good customer service, a much cleaner interface, and is easier to understand. It also has many filters that you can use to find good affiliate programs.

The payout report from Pepperjam is a bit tricky to understand. Advertisers and affiliate programs may report pending, locked, pending, or unconfirmed commissions. 

Lockout periods range from 30 to 60 days. This means the affiliate program will pay you in August or September for June earnings.

URL: https://www.pepperjam.com/publishers-and-influencers

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate network

Commission rates: Varies

Product: Lost of products

When Will I Get Paid? Depends on the affiliate program (The 1st and 15th are the payment dates)

Payment threshold: $25 or Depending on the affiliate program

Payment Method: Paypal

Pros:

• Quick and easy registration and approval
• The dashboard is user friendly
• Working with popular brands

Cons:

• The number of Advertisers or Merchants is limited
• Lockout period for your commission
• Charges a significant fee to receive money with your card

14. FlexOffers

The FlexOffers and CJ affiliate programs are similar. But they don’t have as much name recognition as CJ and Amazon. The network works with more than 12,000 retailers, but only 500 of them are “premium”.

FlexOffers are a great choice for affiliates who don’t have much experience. They give new people access to hundreds of offers. Their affiliate management team is very helpful and wants you to do well.

New affiliates can promote personal loan and credit card offers on this network. Which is not possible with other networks.

FlexOffers pays its best affiliates weekly (net 7). It is the best payment period in affiliate networks.

URL: FlexOffers

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Network

Commission rates: Varies

Product: Varies

When Will I Get Paid? Weekly for top affiliates and Net 60

Payment threshold: $25

Payment Method: direct deposit, wire, check or Paypal

Pros

• Good for beginners without traffic
• Won’t kick you out without a sale
• Low payout limit
• Lots of offers
• Easy to create affiliate link
• Easy signup and responsive customer support
• Can register using a free Blog platform like blogger.com

Cons

• Each payment method has a processing fee.
• Net 60 Payouts are very long for beginners

15. Avangate Network

Like ClickBank, Avangate only sells digital products. Unlike ClickBank, 99% of their products are software.

Avangate is an affiliate network for software (Antivirus, cybersecurity, audio-video editing, etc.).

The Avangate affiliate network has more than 1200 affiliate programs. You can earn 75% commission on 24k products. Its popular software are Hide My Ass, Bit Defender, Malware Bytes, SEO PowerSuite, Filmora, and FTP applications.

URL: https://avangatenetwork.com/affiliates/sign-up.php

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Network

Commission rates: Up to 75%

Product: Software

When Will I Get Paid? Net 20

Payment threshold: $100

Payment Method: Check, Paypal, Wire Transfer or Payoneer

Pros

• User-friendly and simple interface, Easy to find affiliate programs to promote
• Complete affiliate tools: Deep links, Geo-targeted shopping cart, free trial promotions, EPC, and Coupons
• Automatically approved affiliate program

Cons

• No instant approval to join Avangate affiliate network

16. LinkConnector

LinkConnector Affiliate Network is based in Cary, North Carolina.

It has great customer service. It also allows clients to use custom reporting and conversion codes if they wish.

The affiliate manager will notify affiliates once a week about new opportunities. The company has also launched new technology to help its merchants and affiliates.

Its website is not great, but easy to use. LinkConnector also builds its own tracking software.

URL: https://www.linkconnector.com/affiliates/affiliate-application/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Network

Commission rates: Varies

Product: Varies

When Will I Get Paid? Monthly

Payment threshold: $100

Payment Method: Direct deposit, Check, or PayPal

Pros

• Great Affiliate Support.
• It is very easy to register and apply for the affiliate program.
• The internal tracking software is excellent.

Cons

• A small number of products to promote

17. FanFuel

FanFuel is a health and wellness affiliate program. It uses professional athletes and fitness-focused social media influencers to promote its products. This marketing strategy has set this company apart from the competition.

Nutra products are the most popular. Fanfuel manufactures all the products it sells. this company serves a wide range of consumers.

Fanfuel creates products and brands. It still has customers from day one and a solid reputation. This company only accepts affiliates with good traffic and relevant websites. Apply if you have an active website. Direct traffic is not allowed, but traffic to the pre-lander or your own website is allowed.

Affiliates can make more money with Fanfuel because there is no affiliate network in the middle. The commission is about 40% of total revenue but varies by brand.

The most successful partners make $40,000 per month. Many full-time affiliates earn more than full-time jobs. Part-time affiliates can easily make $500 every month.

URL: https://partners.fanfuel.co/affiliate/signup

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Program

Commission rates: Varies, Most 40% per sale 

Product: Health Supplements

When Will I Get Paid? Weekly, biweekly, monthly

Payment threshold: $100

Payment Method: Direct deposit, PayPal, wire transfer, and Payoneer

Pros

• High Commission
• Good support for affiliates
• Brands that people trust
• Offer bonuses and contests.

Cons

• To register, you need a website.

18. Market Health Affiliate Program

Market Health is an affiliate network for health and beauty products.

Its offerings range from men’s health to pet health. This network consistently launches new products. So you will always have something to promote. It also has a very good commission rate.

If you join this network, an affiliate marketing team will help you get started. They want you to make as much money as you can.

You receive a CPA commission or Profit Share for each sale. You can also refer other webmasters to Market Health as an affiliate. And get 5% of all commissions generated by the affiliates you refer.

URL: http://stats.markethealth.com/signup/

Cost: Free

Type: Affiliate Network

Commission rates: Varies, 60% for Super Affiliate

Product: Health & Beauty Products

When Will I Get Paid? Biweekly

Payment threshold: $20

Payment Method: Direct deposit, check, wire, and Payoneer

Pros

• Easy to join and get approved instantly.
• Have landing pages in other languages.
• High commission.

Cons

• Some affiliate programs do not have an SSL certificate.

The Bottom Line

I have outlined a list of the top affiliate marketing programs for beginners. And provide you with as many different affiliate programs as possible.

Now that you know about them, check them out. It may take some time to find the best affiliate program for your niche.

Do your research to avoid scams. Finding information about affiliate marketing is difficult. But you don’t have to go through the same trial and error as I did.