15 Highest Paying Affiliate Programs to Avoid 9 to 5 Job

affiliate-program

clendar March 06, 2022

clendar 24 minutes

6994 Viewers

Affiliate marketing is about promoting someone else’s products to a consumer for a commission. It’s a business system based on influencing people to attract customers. Joining affiliate programs is a great way for increasing passive income. And there are numerous affiliate programs available that can help you earn money, so you don’t have to sit in a small cubicle from 9 to 5.

In fact, it is estimated that almost 80% of brands have affiliate programs. So let’s check out some of the highest paying affiliate programs and how much commission they are paying.

What is an Affiliate Program?

Affiliate Marketing has opened up a world of opportunities to earn passive income through affiliate programs. But what is an affiliate program or affiliate programme? Affiliate programs, or associate programs, are agreements in which an online merchant website pays affiliates a commission to send them traffic or make sales.

Affiliate programs allow people to generate revenue by promoting third-party products and services. Whenever a customer makes a purchase through an affiliate link, the affiliate earns a commission. Most of the affiliate programs are free, so anyone with a good number of audiences can join.

In fact, affiliates are similar to salespeople for the company whose offerings they promote. Also, the entire affiliate model is based on revenue sharing.

Affiliate Marketing

Learn the five-step process that successful affiliate marketers follow and get the inside scoop on how to get into the best affiliate programs

Enrol Now

Affiliate Marketing

Learn the five-step process that successful affiliate marketers follow and get the inside scoop on how to get into the best affiliate programs

Enrol Now

Why are Affiliate Programs Better Than
a 9 to 5 Job?

Many people would argue that doing affiliate marketing is better than a 9-5 job. And they aren’t necessarily wrong. Here are a few of the reasons why joining an affiliate program may seem better than a 9 to 5 desk job.

No more commute.
No more dress code.
No more bosses or co-workers you dislike.
You get to own a business that requires very little monthly overhead.
You don’t have to create any products.
You don’t have to manage inventory, shipping, or returns
You can work from anywhere with an internet connection.
You make your own schedule.

So, with affiliate programs, you can work and earn from anywhere if you got the right skillset. All you need is your laptop, phone, and a good internet connection.

Here are some other benefits of joining affiliate programs instead of going for a 9-5 job.

There’s No Limit to Earning

A simple answer to why affiliate marketing is much better than a job is that there is no limit to earning in affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, your pay is only limited by your effort, In any 9-5 job, people get a fixed salary and have to work hard in quite inflexible conditions. But in affiliate marketing, there’s no cap on earning, so you can quite easily earn more than a regular job.

You Control Your Own Destiny

Controlling your own destiny is perhaps the most rewarding part. Your success is up to you. Compared to a 9–5 job, you have the flexibility of working and building your own business rather than working under someone else. Fortunately, there are thousands of affiliate products you can promote, and many of them pay attractive commissions and solve real problems for people.

However, if you treat it like a hobby, you’ll get hobby-like results. So, if you want to succeed, you must treat it as your business.

In a nutshell, it’s the simplest and least expensive way to go into business for yourself online. And we can conclude that affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn maximum earnings if you know how to do it well.

15 Highest Paying Affiliate Programs to
Avoid 9 to 5 Job

As an affiliate marketer, your performance is what matters most. For the best performance of your affiliate campaigns, it’s worth trying out a few platforms to find out what works for you. Whether you are a beginner who’s just starting out, or more advanced and have some experience under your belt, here are some great affiliate programs for you to check out.

1. Elementor Affiliate Program
2. Semrush Affiliate Program
3. Leadpages Partner Program
4. BigCommerce Affiliate Program
5. LiveChat Partner Program
6. HubSpot Affiliate Program
7. Kinsta Affiliate Program
8. Sendinblue Affiliate Program
9. BlueHost Affiliate Program
10. ConvertKit Affiliate Program
11. Shopify Affiliate Program
12. Amazon Associates
13. Affiliaxe Network
14. eBay Partner Network

Find what kind of offers are available on these popular platforms. Then you can choose the ones that can potentially help achieve the best conversions and build a steady long-term income.

1. Elementor Affiliate Program

Commission: 50%

Cookie time frame: 120 days

Product or service: Industry-leading professional web creation platform

Elementor, one of the top WordPress plugins, is a product that practically sells itself. This highly popular website builder for WordPress already has incredible global traction.

As an Elementor affiliate, whatever they earn, you earn the same. Elementor is one of the best SaaS affiliate programs that helps you earn 50% commission on every sale, making it an ideal relationship. Some of the Elementor affiliates earn more than $10,000 monthly, with a minimum threshold of $200. Along with the generous commission, Elementor also offers an extensive affiliate toolkit of supporting logos and banners, and a dedicated affiliate team ready to assist with any issues.

Elementor affiliate program is open for – content creators, web educators, digital entrepreneurs, WordPress developers, marketers, and agencies.

Join Elementor Affiliate Program here.

2. Semrush Affiliate Program

Commission: $200 for every new subscription sale

Cookie life: 120 days

Product or service: 40+ Semrush tools

Semrush provides an all-in-one tool suite for improving online visibility and discovering marketing insights. Semrush has 40+ international award-winning tools that are used by over 7,000,000 marketers worldwide. If your audience demographic is into SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC, or social media marketing, this is ideal for you.

Moreover, with Semrush, you get paid every step of the way. You earn $200 for every new subscription sale, $10 for every new lead and $0.01 for the new sign-up.

Join the Semrush Affiliate Program here.

3. Leadpages Partner Program

Commission: 50% recurring commission

Cookie life: 90 days

Product or service: Website and landing page builders etc.

Leadpages is a simple, easy-to-use platform with unique and powerful features to create websites and landing pages. So, this is a great opportunity if you have an audience that could benefit from Leadpages, i.e., creating or enhancing their landing pages.

And more importantly, you can earn up to 50% recurring commissions. But that will depend on your tier lever – bronze, silver or gold. So basically, you can earn from 10% to 50% recurring commissions on all sales you generate. This includes plan renewals, upgrades, and one-time purchases. In other words, you earn for as long as your referrals remain customers.

Join the Leadpages Partner Program here.

4. BigCommerce Affiliate Program

Commission: 200% bounty per referral and $1,500 per Enterprise referral

Cookie life: 120 days

Product or service: E-commerce solutions

BigCommerce helps merchants sell more at every growth stage, from small startups to mid-market businesses, and large enterprises. As a leading Open SaaS solution, BigCommerce empowers merchants to build, innovate, and grow online businesses.

If you are business-minded or if your audience are interested in versatile solutions for innovative e-commerce, you can choose this industry-leading e-commerce platform. By promoting this, you can help your audience have a robust, differentiated commerce experience without compromising their security, stability, or scalability.

BigCommerce gives a 200% bounty per referral and $1,500 per Enterprise referral. There are no commission caps, obligations or minimum commitments. So, the more referrals you drive, the higher your commission tier!

Apply for BigCommerce Affiliate Program here.

5. LiveChat Partner Program

Commission: 20%

Cookie time frame: 120 days

Product or service: Customer service software suited to multiple industries

LiveChat.com offers an affiliate program with the name ‘partner program’ with leading customer service software such as LiveChat and ChatBot. If you are someone with contacts in the customer service market or your content is related to that, it’s right up your alley.

Most of their successful affiliate partners are bloggers, marketers, or website reviewers. As an affiliate or partner, you will receive a recurring 20% commission for every customer you refer with a 120-day cookie time frame.

6. HubSpot Affiliate Program

Commission: 15% recurring commission or 100% of the first month’s revenue

Cookie life: 90 days

Product or service: Marketing, sales CRM, customer service, CMS, and operations software

HubSpot is an extremely well-known platform that helps companies grow on a daily basis. This award-winning company provides many valuable tools to businesses who want to kick-start, grow or improve themselves.

They also offer a generous affiliate marketing program for content creators, influencers, or anyone who can help them grow. Their Recurring Rate Program offers 15% monthly commission and Flat Rate Program 100% of the first month’s revenue. In addition, there are no minimum sales required to earn a commission, and it’s free to join the program.

7. Kinsta Affiliate Program

Commission: Up to $500 per referral (one-time)+ 10% monthly recurring (lifetime)

Cookie life: 60 days

Product or service: WordPress hosting services

Veteran WordPress developers founded Kinsta back in 2013 to create the best WordPress hosting platform in the world. Kinsta seeks to offer fast, secure, and reliable WordPress hosting. Kinsta’s affiliate program pays an initial bonus or one-time commission, followed by a recurring 10% monthly lifetime payment. That means your referrals will have a high lifetime value, especially with Kinsta’s high customer retention rate of 96%.

Join the Kinsta affiliate program here.

8. Sendinblue Affiliate Program

Commission: €5 if a referred user creates a free account and another €100 if that user buys a subscription

Cookie life: 90 days

Product or service: Solutions for communication, email marketing, CRM, creating landing pages and more

Sendinblue offers a cloud-based marketing communication software suite to help businesses connect with customers via email marketing, SMS, chat, marketing automation, CRM, etc. This user-friendly platform is rapidly growing in popularity, with thousands of users worldwide. To be a Sendinblue affiliate, you have the option to choose from three different programs –

Agencies & Consultants – Expert program
Bloggers & Publishers – Blogger program
Incubators & VCs – Startup program

Sendinblue’s accessible and affordable pricing plans make it a very attractive revenue opportunity.

Sing up for Sendinblue Partner Program here.

9. BlueHost Affiliate Program

Commission: $65.00 for every qualified hosting purchase

Cookie life: 90 days

Product or service: A range of hosting products

Bluehost is amongst the most well-known web hosts. And it is used by more than 2 million sites worldwide. With an unrivalled reputation, Bluehost is a reliable and secure hosting plan that offers blazing fast site speed and a safe one-click WordPress install.

Bluehost offers a standard commission of $65 for each qualified hosting purchase, which is more than most of its competitors. Anyone can join the affiliate program for free, and they provide a reliable tracking system with a dedicated support team.

10. ConvertKit Affiliate Program

Commission: 30% recurring commission

Cookie life: 60 days

Product or service: A range of services for building pages, integration and automation

With almost half a million creators using this, ConvertKit is definitely one of the market leaders in the email marketing industry. Despite being somewhat of a niche, if your audience has a website or blog, they’re sure to make use of ConvertKit’s tools. In addition, they are entirely customisable and offer a unique product to every user.

And for every creator you send their way, you’ll earn a recurring 30% commission for up to 24 months. To join the ConvertKit affiliate program, you only need to understand the importance of email marketing. In fact, you don’t even have to use it. Only having an audience who might need it is enough.

11. Shopify Affiliate Program

Commission: 10% to 20% recurring commission

Cookie life: Can vary from 30 minutes to 2 years

Product or service: You get commission for Shopify merchant referral

Shopify is one of the leading eCommerce platforms globally. Many bloggers and online retailers use this highly popular software to sell products through this online store. The Shopify Affiliate Program welcomes entrepreneurs, educators, influencers, and content creators to encourage their audience to join Shopify as entrepreneurs. You can join the Shopify Affiliate Program for free. And you can monetise your audience and earn commissions for each new Shopify merchant referral.

As a Shopify Partner, you will earn money based on your contribution to the Shopify ecosystem and the Partner program you join. Depending on the store plan, you can earn a recurring commission from 10% to 20% of the merchant’s monthly subscription fee.

12. Amazon Associates

Commission: Up to 20% recurring commission

Cookie life: 24 hours

Product or service: A wide range of products on various categories from gaming and electronics to books.

Amazon’s affiliate marketing program is known to be one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the world. Content creators, publishers, and bloggers can easily monetise their traffic through Amazon’s affiliate program. Since Amazon has millions of products and programs available, you can easily earn money using link-building tools to direct your audience.

You can earn up to 20% in commissions income from qualifying purchases and programs. Check out Amazon UK Site Standard Commission Income for specific product categories.

You can sign up for the Amazon Associates program here.

13. Affiliaxe Network

Commission: Varies from 5% to 20% depending on category

Affiliaxe is a top choice for marketers who want to access a lot of verticals. This basically means a wide variety of products and offers to choose from. And you get to focus on where you can get the best results. Moreover, if you are accepted to the program, you’ll have access to your very own Affiliate Manager to help optimise your traffic and create a unique bonus program to maximise your earning potential. With the Affiliaxe affiliate program, you get paid every two weeks and not to mention the $1,000 affiliate welcome bonus.

14. eBay Partner Network

Commission: Up to 4% for all qualifying transactions

Cookie life: 30 days

Product or service: Product categories include – electronics, home and garden, fashion, collectables, real estate, parts, accessories etc.

The eBay Partner Network is the affiliate marketing program of eBay, one of the world’s largest and most diverse marketplaces. It allows you to diversify your revenue streams and earn 100% final value fee credit when you drive traffic to your listings. You can earn commissions up to 4% of the item sale price for all other Qualifying Transactions. (earnings caps apply per transaction)

If you can drive a high volume of traffic to eBay, you can potentially join an invite-only program for partners called Premier Program. Combining your ability to drive substantial business and this program, you can enjoy benefits like – exclusive contents, early access to new tools, dedicated support channels, customised incentives and promotions. These will help you optimise your business and increase your earnings.

Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs

When someone is looking to promote their products or services, there are a few affiliate programs to consider. When choosing an affiliate program, it is important to choose the avenues or platforms where the target audience spends the majority of their time.

For instance, the affiliate brand will nudge towards that direction for advertising based on their buyer persona behaviour. Whether the buyer persona typically reads blog posts, scrolls Facebook, or uses search engines when researching new products. Would they appreciate a link to a coupon site or a discount? These are some common things to consider for affiliate marketing.

Now let’s take a look at some general types of affiliate programs, so you can get down to brainstorming potential avenues for your own marketing efforts.

1. Content Creators and Influencers

Bloggers or social media influencers engage with a large audience on a daily basis. That audience consists of the ideal buyer persona for some businesses who partner with them to feature their product or advertise them.

Usually, affiliate brands send them samples of the products and ask them to do a review to spread the word about their products. Content creators who are willing to promote other products or services help increase traffic and, ultimately, the number of conversions.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing has been around for many years now and has gone through some changes. Still, many businesses prefer to advertise with email marketing on a performance basis.

However, email marketing is best in small doses. Because sending bulk emails to people who aren’t interested in a product is useless. But it can be quite effective if they are sent to the right people. For example, a brand can use an affiliate to incorporate their product in their email campaign efforts. And this can be helpful to both the affiliate and the brand.

3. Search Affiliates

Many people own their sites and those who are also building websites. Then there are a number of web admins available who all have different levels of expertise. They spend their own money to try to leverage the search engines, Facebook advertising, or other paid advertising models to generate an ROI for affiliate offers and themselves.

However, merchants or brands need to make sure that they’re appropriate for the product or service they want to promote and sell. They also must make sure that they are compliant with relevant laws and play by the rules.

4. Review-Sites

For products or services that are more expensive or belong in a niche, buyers need to research before purchasing. That’s why review sites are pretty popular with affiliate marketers.

These particular affiliates review different advertisements in a specific niche on their website. This type of program can be found in dating companies, flower companies, phone companies etc. That’s because before choosing a product or service, consumers like to compare them. And that means taking about five different advertisers. So affiliates put all of them on one site and run an organic search or a paid search through all these pages featuring various reviews.

Despite having many reviews, the affiliate only earns a commission after successfully referring business to any of those advertisers. The bottom line is, review sites have a considerable contribution and well-converting demography of marketing affiliates.

5. Coupon-Sites

Due to the recessions, many people look for coupons from various merchants. This makes coupon sites a significant affiliate for any business.

These sites sort of behave like a double-edged sword with equal parts advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that brands get increased traffic to their website and revenue. On the other hand, the disadvantage of working with coupon sites is that these sites will capitalize on the organic rankings associated with the affiliate brand name and the word coupon code. But in general, they have an established member base that can be quite beneficial to businesses looking to improve their conversion rate and revenue.

While no one wants to lose money by giving away products at a discount, it can be an effective way of getting first-time buyers to check out a product and become brand advocates.

6. Loyalty or Cashback Sites

Cashback sites are pretty popular too. These sites actually give back money to the members based on their purchases through the site’s affiliate links. What happens is – the cashback site gets a commission for every sale, and they give out a percentage of their commission back to the user who makes the purchase.

So while it means a lower profit for the site owner with each sale, it also means more sales volume. And that more than makes up for giving some money back. When people get money back, they are encouraged to purchase more through various promotions and incentives.

7. News & Media Sites

Many news and media sites are also getting their feet in the affiliate game. Many large, well-known media companies are monetising content and doing native advertising (sponsored content) using affiliate links. They recognise that they have the opportunity to diversify their income through affiliate programs.

How Much Money Can You Make from Affiliate Programs?

How much affiliate marketers earn can vary widely, while some make a few hundred pounds, others earn six figures. The earning potential varies based on the product/service, the marketer’s influence, time, and effort invested in marketing them and more. With dedication and by putting in genuine efforts, those who spend more time will earn more money.

But can you get rich doing affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing seems lucrative. But one only gets rich by committing and spending time and money in this business venture. It has the potential to make you rich, but bear in mind this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It can take years to get ‘rich’ depending on your definition of it.

Affiliate Marketing

Learn the five-step process that successful affiliate marketers follow and get the inside scoop on how to get into the best affiliate programs

Enrol Now

Affiliate Marketing

Learn the five-step process that successful affiliate marketers follow and get the inside scoop on how to get into the best affiliate programs

Enrol Now

Tips for a Good Career in Affiliate Marketing

To be a successful affiliate marketer, know how to promote the product well. But that’s not enough to make it big. So, here are some tips for a thriving career in affiliate marketing:

1. Recommend Products You Love

As an influencer or blogger, your affinity with your audience is the foundation of your success. So, you will continue to build and retain trust and genuine connections with your audience, if you recommend products you are actually passionate about.

Thanks to the cancel culture, if you promote products or services you don’t use or even like, you might end up losing your audience. Your audience seeks your recommendation for a reason. So, think about your audience and commit to enhancing their lives, if you wish to gain long-term followers and build your affiliate career.

2. Be Transparent

Don’t try to disguise your affiliates as something else. People will figure it out, and when they do, it will break their trust in you and have a negative impact on your reputation.

3. Don’t Go in for the Hard Sell

Your affiliate ads should be helpful, useful, and informative. If you’re using an individual, for example, ask them to explain how your product has helped them and why they love it so much.

If you go in for the hard sell using aggressive marketing methods, there’s a high chance it will backfire. People don’t like being told what to do. Be genuine in your marketing efforts.

4. Use Several Traffic Sources to Promote Products

There are many effective ways to generate traffic for promoting affiliate offers. One thing you need to keep in mind while choosing traffic sources is that – the more targeted traffic you send to the sales page, the more your chances are of making money.

5. Understand Your Audience Needs

Knowing your audience is always crucial to a successful business. This is also applicable for affiliate marketing. So, try to understand your audience’s needs and look for products that align properly with your audience demographic.

6. Stay Up-to-date with New Methods and Techniques

Affiliate marketing is a growing industry, not to mention how competitive it is. And people are always coming up with new techniques to enhance their marketing efforts. For instance, new ad units, advertisers, and tools are constantly being added to improve usability and performance. Often, new inventions make previous methods less effective. Therefore, try to stay current with new techniques and market trends. Otherwise, you will fall behind in the race.

7. Choose the Right Merchant

When you are promoting a product, you are also promoting the individual or company who is behind the product. Therefore, you are putting your reputation and credibility on the line for them. If you ask your followers to go & buy the product with your reference, and they’re unhappy with the product. They will be reluctant to take your advice next time. And this could hurt your credibility in the long run. So try to choose them wisely.

Also, try to select a brand or merchant who provides good customer service, and you think their product is good. In addition, research the product and merchant well before agreeing to sign a contract.

8. Monitor Your Performance

As an affiliate marketer, your earnings depend on your performance. So keep an eye on your metrics regularly. If you see a method is working well, focus your efforts on that. Similarly, if a tactic isn’t showing results, let it go.

Dos & Don'ts in Affiliate Programs

While it’s easy to earn money with affiliate programs, there are some written and some arbitrary rules you have to follow. If you’re a beginner, it’s wise to keep these in mind.

Do promote on social media
Do write about the product on blogs and articles
Do create educational video tutorials
Do place logos & banners on websites
Do send your affiliate link to email subscribers
Do abide by relevant anti-spam laws

Don’t falsely advertise in any manner
Don’t use your affiliate link on any coupon or discount websites without approval
Don’t modify affiliate brand logos or banners
Don’t use your affiliate link for your own purchases
Don’t advertise through Pay-Per-Click Ads (Including – Search Engines, Social Media, Video Banner), without permission.

If you are indeed a beginner, here’s a resourceful and informative video to help you better understand affiliate marketing before you sign up for an affiliate program.

Concluding Remarks

Affiliate marketing is quite a journey. It takes effective tactics, strategy and genuine efforts to successfully make money from affiliate programs. Check out this Affiliate Marketing Course for more comprehensive understanding to become a successful affiliate marketer.

Yes, you will hit your desired mark. So, stay positive and keep plugging away!