Being a content creator is not an easy job nowadays. To be frank, it never was, but with the internet becoming ever more saturated and Google trying its best to tank your website rankings, it’s important to find alternative methods of monetizing your content.
You probably know all if not of them. Ads, merch selling, paywalling, sponsorships. All well and good, except maybe for the ads, but today we are going to talk about something different. Affiliate marketing. It’s not a new addition to the monetization methods, actually it’s pretty old, but many content creators tend to ignore it or even be afraid of it. In this article we are going to clear out misconceptions about affiliate marketing, explain how it works and what it can offer to you and present our 10 best affiliate marketing programs.
What is an Affiliate Program
The dry definition of an affiliate program, is an agreement between a business and a content creator, in which the business pays a commission for sales and traffic that the content creator sends their way. This traffic can be generated by blog posts, social media, email or even integrated products.
To simplify it, we could say it’s kind of a promotion agreement. You promote their product using your content and authority you’ve built with your audience and in turn you get paid for sales or clicks.
What it Means to Be an Affiliate Partner
Let’s say you are running a blog about health marketing. You regularly post on various topics around it and you start building up an audience and a reputation. Then, a business that makes software targeting the health marketing sector approaches you. They ask you to write articles in which you will add links to their products. These articles can be software comparisons and reviews or any other kind of articles where you can seamlessly and organically fit their links into.
These links are not just simple links. They are called affiliate links. They are tracked using cookies with a specific lifetime, which defines for how long they will track the user’s online activity. For example, if an affiliate link has a 30 day lifetime, your referral needs to make a purchase within 30 days of clicking your affiliate link for you to get paid.
What Do You Need to Be a High-Earning Affiliate Partner
A good affiliate partner needs to be someone who is interested in growing together with their partner. You need to show a genuine interest in their products and services, not just throwing their links around, hoping someone will click on them. You are in it for the money, sure, but you are not a machine. A good affiliate marketer should:
- Create solid content that organically promotes their partners’ products and services
- Show authority in a niche. Generalists typically don’t have much success
- Choose a partner they can work with and understands their products. Don’t just agree to every offer that comes your way.
- Always optimize their content. Their purpose is to help their audience, not just sell them something for a commission.
- Keep a record of their success and set proper expectations.
- Never settle. Dedicate the time and keep on working and improving your content.
Types of Affiliate Programs
Let’s talk now about the different kinds of marketing affiliate programs that exist.
Search Affiliates
With search marketing affiliate programs, marketers promote affiliate offers on search engines or social media ads. They pay from their own pockets and conduct their own marketing campaigns for them. It’s a good choice for SEO marketers.
Influencer Programs
One of the most common marketing affiliate program types. If you have a specific audience through blogging or social media, regardless of size, you can partner up with companies that offer products that you believe your audience would like. Are you a fitness influencer? Then supplement companies are your go to. Maybe you are a marketing blogger. Then a marketing automation software could be a good fit for you.
Review Sites
Review sites are the most common stop for customers in their buying journey. If you have a review site, you can partner with individual companies or affiliate networks to review products and services in exchange for an affiliate link.
Coupon Sites
Coupon websites work like review sites. They team up with companies to offer shoppers discounts in exchange for a cut of the sale.
Email Marketing
Just like with influencer marketing, if you have an email subscriber base, you can take advantage of it by promoting affiliate offers directly to their email. Make sure not to overdo it though. No one likes having their email cluttered with sales offers and “Amazing deals”. Always practice moderation.
Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks are like one-stop shops for affiliate marketers. Unlike single-company programs, they offer a marketplace with a vast selection of brands and deals all in one place. This is a big advantage, especially for beginners. Instead of juggling multiple partnerships, you can find everything you need on the network. And the best part? You can join as many networks as you want, opening up a world of possibilities.
Best Affiliate Marketing Programs
| Name | Commision | Cookie Life | Payout Method | Minimum Sales Threshold |
| Hubspot | 30% | 180 days | Direct Deposit Paypal | One Sign-Up |
| Nimbata | 15% | 60 days | PaypalWiseBank Transfer | No minimum |
| Leadpages | Up to 50% | 90 days | Paypal Stripe | 50$ |
| Email Octopus | 30% | 31 days | PaypalBank Transfer | 50$ |
| Slicktext | 20% | 180 days | Paypal | No minimum |
| Instapage | 30% to 40% first year then 15% lifetime recurring | 90 days | Paypal Stripe | One Sign-Up |
| Moosend | 30% to 40% | 90 days | Wire Transfer Paypal Stripe | 5$ |
| Convertkit | 30% | 30 days | PayPal | One Sign-Up |
| Pabbly | 30% | 365 days | PaypalBank Transfer | 50$ |
| Systeme.io | 50% | 180 days | Wire Transfer Paypal | 30$ |
Hubspot
Commission: 30% recurring for 1 year
Cookie life: 180 days
Payout Methods: Direct deposit (EFT) or PayPal
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up
Best for: Content creators in the marketing, sales, service, website, and operations for small businesses, enterprises, and individual professionals space.
Hubspot is a CRM juggernaut. Its product range consists of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub, and a powerful free CRM. It has a customer base that counts tens of thousands of businesses and gives them the tools they need to to effectively manage their customer base.
Hubspot’s affiliate program offers three different tiers:
- HubSpot Affiliate – Receive a 30% recurring commission for up to 1 year for every sale
- Super Affiliate – Receive a 30% recurring commission for up to 1 year for every sale plus additional bonuses
- Elite Affiliate – Receive custom commission
Hubspot manages its plans through Impact and they have a price range from $50 to 3000$+ per month. Customers usually buy more than one product at a time, adding up the commissions you receive. Hubspot offers its affiliates a creative inventory with over 400 promotional assets, such as copy bank, demo videos, banners, and more.
Leadpages
Commission: Up to 50% lifetime recurring
Cookie life: 90 days
Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50
Best For: Leadpages customers with an audience that needs a dedicated landing page tool
Leadpages is an online tool that makes it easy to create beautiful, customizable landing pages and websites to capture leads and skyrocket your conversion rates. Leadpages has an affiliate program open to anyone. For each paying customer you refer, you’ll earn a lifetime commission of up to 50%. Membership plans range from $49 to $399 per month, so the earning potential is significant! Leadpages also offers:
- Special Bonuses: Leadpages offers special promotions like a $5,000 bonus for affiliates who drive a high volume of sales within a timeframe.
- Marketing Materials: They provide all the tools you need to promote Leadpages effectively, including banners, social media links, and sidebar images.
EmailOctopus
Commission: 50% for 12 months
Cookie life: 31 days
Payout Methods: PayPal or Bank Transfer
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50
Best for: Content creators with an audience of small businesses that are looking for affordable tools.
EmailOctopus is an email marketing software that helps businesses design, launch and manage personalized email campaigns using customizable templates and the drag-and-drop editor. Its affiliate program is open to anyone and for each referred customer you’ll earn a 50% commission for 12 months. Currently, EmailOctopus offers a modular payment plan starting at 9€ and rising, depending on how many subscribers and emails the client wants.
Its low cost and well-designed features makes EmailOctopus an easy sell, especially for small businesses.
Slicktext
Commission: 20% for 12 months
Cookie life: 180 days
Payout Methods: PayPal
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: No minimum
Best for: Content creators with an audience interested in SMS marketing.
SlickText is a cloud-based marketing platform specifically designed for SMS marketing. It allows businesses of all sizes to create and send targeted text messages to their customers or audience. Their features include campaign creation tools, subscriber list management, analytics and reporting and various integrations with other tools and software.
SlickText’s affiliate program offers a 12 month 20% commission, reporting and analytics tools for the partners, customizable tracking links, coupon codes and a library of marketing material. Affiliates who are above $5k per month in active subscription sales also have access to a dedicated Partner Success Manager.
Instapage
Commission: 25% recurring for the life of the referral’s account
Cookie life: 60 days
Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One signup
Best for: Content creators whose audience is made up of medium-sized to enterprise businesses.
A leading landing page platform, Instapage is used by companies like Verizon, HelloFresh, and Lattice to create high-performing digital campaigns. The company fosters partnerships to drive innovation and offers an affiliate program with a generous commission structure.
This program allows affiliates to earn recurring commissions of 30-40% for every paying customer they refer. To support their success, Instapage provides affiliates with various tools, including a dedicated point of contact, regularly updated promotional materials, and opportunities for increased earnings through contests and limited-time offers. The program offers profit-sharing opportunities and provides social media assets and messaging to aid affiliate efforts. Specifically, affiliates can earn:
- 40% on the first year of a customer’s annual subscription
- 15% annually thereafter
- 30% on the first year of a monthly subscription
Moosend
Commission: 30% to 40% Lifetime Recurring
Cookie life: 90 days
Payout Methods: Wire transfer, PayPal or Stripe
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $5
Best for: Content creators in the email marketing space.
Moosend positions itself as an affordable, all-in-one email marketing automation solution designed to empower marketers. The platform offers tools to create engaging campaigns and grow customer bases, including a user-friendly email editor, online forms, landing pages, audience management features, and functionalities for segmentation and personalization, aiming to convert subscribers into brand advocates.
An affiliate program is available, allowing participants to earn up to 40% in lifetime recurring commissions for any plan purchases made by their referred contacts. A 90-day cookie window provides ample time for referred users to make a purchase, and additional commissions can be earned if those users upgrade their plans.
To support affiliate success, Moosend provides pre-made marketing materials like banners and templates within the affiliate dashboard, along with additional resources. Dedicated affiliate support is also available to assist with any issues that may arise.
Convertkit
Commission: 30% recurring for 24 months
Cookie life: 30 days
Payout Methods: PayPal
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up
Best for: Content creators with an audience interested in starting their own newsletter or side business.
ConvertKit, a newcomer in the email marketing field, provides tools for customer base growth through landing pages, forms, and automated email campaigns. Their affiliate program seems to target existing ConvertKit users who believe their audience could benefit from email marketing solutions.
The program offers a recurring 30% commission for every paying customer or webinar subscriber referred by the affiliate. This commission applies for the lifetime of the referred customer, making it potentially lucrative. There are no upfront costs to join the program. However, it’s important to note that the program doesn’t offer any special promotions or discounts on ConvertKit products for the affiliates to leverage.
Pabbly
Commission: 30% lifetime recurring
Cookie life: 365 days
Payout Methods: PayPal, Bank Transfer, or Both
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50
Best for: Content creators with an audience interested in email marketing, newsletters and subscription services.
Pabbly is an online platform offering various marketing and business management tools under one roof. These tools encompass functionalities for email marketing, form building, subscription billing, email verification, workflow automation, and app integration. Notably, Pabbly Plus bundles all their applications into a single, cost-effective package.
Pabbly’s affiliate program offers distinct features:
- Affiliates have the flexibility to promote individual Pabbly products or the entire Pabbly Plus suite, earning a 30% commission on any resulting sales within a 40-day window.
- A single cookie tracks sales across all Pabbly products. This means promoting any Pabbly product can potentially generate commission on a customer’s entire purchase made through your affiliate link, eliminating the need to individually promote each product.
- The minimum commission for a single Pabbly product sale is $183, potentially making it a lucrative program for affiliates.
- Pabbly provides a centralized dashboard for affiliates to monitor their performance. This dashboard offers a consolidated view of all commission-related details, including sales, referrals, and payouts.
Systeme.io
Commission: 50% lifetime recurring
Cookie life: 180 Days
Payout Methods: PayPal or wire transfer
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $30
Best for: Content creators with an audience consisting of freelancers and entrepreneurs, especially if they are interested in building their own online courses.
Systeme.io positions itself as a user-friendly marketing platform encompassing tools for online business launch, growth, and scaling. Boasting over 200,000 users, the platform offers functionalities for building sales funnels, unlimited email marketing, creating and managing online courses and blogs, running affiliate programs, website development, and marketing automation.
Systeme.io caters to a variety of needs with its 6 pricing packages, ranging from $27 per month to $828 per year. To support their affiliate program, they provide a range of lead magnets and online courses designed to assist affiliates in attracting potential customers. Affiliates have the flexibility to promote all 6 pricing plans and can leverage onboarding materials to convert new users.
The affiliate program incentivizes participation with a 50% lifetime commission on all subscriptions and course sales referred by the affiliate. An additional 5% second-tier commission is offered if the referred customer becomes a successful affiliate themselves. The program boasts significant earning potential, with a monthly payout exceeding $100,000 to affiliates and over $2 million in total affiliate commissions distributed so far.
Nimbata – A Versatile Affiliate Program with Strong Benefits for Partners
So, we presented 9 programs we thought you might find interesting. And since we know how importan affiliate marketing is for creators and care about your suceess, we designed our own program as well. We are proud about it and we hope that when you try it out, you will feel proud as well. So, give it a go and tell us what you think about it. We’ve got your back here in Nimbata. Help us grow and we will help you grow as well!
Commission: 15% lifetime recurring
Cookie life: 60 days
Payout Methods: PayPal, Wise, Bank transfer
Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: No minimum
Best for: Content creators, both first timers and veterans that create content in the marketing and SaaS sphere.
Nimbata is a call-tracking platform that allows its users to track, monitor and extract data from their inbound phone calls. It offers world class customer support, powerful features that include Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technology and affordable plans that make it easy for potential clients to sign-up.
Nimbata makes it as easy as possible by offering its affiliate partners pre-made high-converting landing pages to use as free trials based on campaign intent. They also have a library of top quality images and creative assets for ads, including tested ad copy and PPTs for online courses.
The cookie life lasts for 60 days, matching the average lead-to-conversion industry standards. The best part is that we do not have maximum capping, meaning you can earn as much as possible and our commissions last for a lifetime. The more clients you refer, the more money you make.
Nimbata boasts over 10.000 monthly site visits, an impressive ±10% conversion rate and a 40% lead to conversion rate. All these factors combined make Nimbata a perfect affiliate partner for everyone, first-timers as well as affiliate marketing veterans.
Wanna find out more about the Nimbata Affiliate Program? Click here to see how you can earn more, as hassle-free as possible 👉 Nimbata Affiliate Program
Conclusion
In this article we talked about affiliate marketing in general and examined the best marketing affiliate programs. Remember, affiliate marketing can be a lucrative source of income for content creators, as long as they are willing to put in the work. If you want to succeed as an affiliate marketer, you should:
- Create quality content
- Care for the products you promote and your audience
- Always optimize your content
By following these simple guidelines, you are sure to succeed in the affiliate marketing world.
