Every day, thousands of publishers benefit from a recurring cash inflow by partnering up with other companies via affiliate programs.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to monetize your blog, especially when you don't sell products or services. Joining an affiliate program can get you exclusive access to new content and special deals for your audience — all while earning you more money.
There are many types of affiliate programs, ranging from online courses to website builders to marketing and business affiliates. Here, we're going to explore the best affiliate programs with the highest earning potential to ensure you can make money off the content you provide.
But first — what exactly is an affiliate program?
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What is an Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is an agreement in which a business pays another business or influencer ('the affiliate') a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way. This can be achieved through web content, social media, or a product integration.
To further understand affiliate programs, let's consider an example. Wirecutter.com, a New York Times company, is a website that lists product recommendations for shoppers. Wirecutter largely earns commission based on affiliate relationships with retailers.
The publication’s affiliate monetization model might make you doubt the legitimacy of its recommendations — but, in fact, it's quite the opposite.
Wirecutter only makes commission when a reader purchases a product from an affiliate retailer and doesn't return the product. Wirecutter, then, has no incentive to promote inferior products. If they did, they'd make less money and turn away readers.
How do affiliates make money?
The affiliate gets a unique link (an "affiliate link") from which clicks can be tracked — typically using cookies. The cookie then tracks the user to see if they make a purchase. If they do within an allotted amount of time, then the affiliate will earn commission.
Each cookie has a "length" or "cookie life", which simply define how long the cookie will be tracking the user's online activity.
For example, if a cookie has a 30-day life, your referral needs to make a purchase within 30-days of clicking your affiliate link in order for you to get paid — otherwise the lead will no longer be trackable.
If you’re interested in starting an affiliate program, there are different types of affiliate programs, and you'll want to pick the one best-suited for your business. Let's dive into the types of affiliate programs, next.
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