5 of the Best Affiliate Programs for Influencers

Influencers are one of the most highly sought-after careers in the modern day. People everywhere are trying to make a living by creating content online. Fitness, lifestyle, gaming, comedy, and more. Creating content can become a source of income for you if you play your cards right.

But becoming an influencer rarely happens by accident. You’ve got to put in the work for an extended period of time and implement the right strategy. And one of the keys to that strategy is affiliate marketing programs.

We want to help you become the influencer you’re trying to be, so we’ve come up with a quick guide to some of the best affiliate programs out there for influencers. If you utilize these programs, your platforms can make even more money, and you can take the next step on your journey of influencing.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

If you don’t already know, affiliate marketing is a type of social media advertising where brands give influencers a unique hyperlink or discount code to spread throughout their platforms. The creator spreads the word and gets people to use them to buy the brand’s products. Then, the creator makes a commission on any sales that those links or codes generate.

It’s a pretty simple concept, but this marketing tactic has spread absolutely everywhere online. If you follow any influencers, YouTubers, or streamers, you’ve seen them talk about their unique links and ask you to use them. That’s affiliate marketing at work.

It’s a popular tactic for good reason. For starters, it’s fantastic for creators. You spread the word about a product, and then you make some commission. It scales with the size of your platform, and you benefit from your platform’s growth exponentially.

It also benefits the brands. Brands don’t pay anything upfront, and they only pay creators for the actual sales they generate, making it a pretty low-risk advertising tactic.

What Are the Best Affiliate Marketing Programs for Influencers?

Now that we’ve got a good understanding of affiliate marketing and how it can benefit you, let’s look at some of the best programs out there that you can take advantage of so you can make more money as an influencer.

1. Amazon Associates Program

One of the best affiliate programs out there is the Amazon Associates program. Because Amazon is such a vast company with so much reach, you can really take this program in any direction you want, which is part of why it’s so high on our list.

To qualify, all you need is a platform that you regularly post on that has at least 500 followers. So even very small creators can qualify.

The Amazon Associates program will give you unique affiliate links to any product you want on the whole website. This allows you to completely customize what products you want to promote. Amazon has a ton of products that work with the affiliate program, so you can promote the perfect products that your fans will love.

Finding the right product is an immensely important part of influencer marketing. The audience knows you, and they share your interests, so this allows you to plug products to them that they would actually use and enjoy, driving up sales numbers.

On top of the massive selection of products, Amazon offers a pretty decent commission rate on the products you sell. The rates change depending on the type of products, but they range from one percent to 20 percent.

Finally, you don’t just make a commission on the products you sell. You make a commission on any products your fan buys within 24 hours of clicking on your link. So if they go on a shopping binge, you’re benefiting!

2. Etsy

Etsy is another fantastic affiliate program to get involved with. It’s another massive online company that is fairly easy to partner with, making it perfect for beginners and seasoned influencers alike.

All you need to qualify is a social media platform with 500+ followers and a three-percent engagement rate. This means you can start using the Etsy affiliate program early in your influencer journey.

Like Amazon, Etsy has a host of products that you can push to your audience, allowing you to give your audience access to products that you know they’ll be more inclined to add to their cart and make the purchase.

But Etsy can be a little more reliable than Amazon. Etsy offers a flat four percent commission rate on any product sold through an affiliate link. While Amazon can offer some higher commission rates, most products on the site are below four percent, so Etsy offers a bit more consistency.

3. Commission Junction

Once you’ve broken into the affiliate space and you’ve got a bit of experience under your belt, you might want to upgrade to a more focused affiliate program. CJ Affiliate, formerly known as Commission Junction, is one of the oldest affiliate programs out there, and it shows.

CJ represents thousands of well-known brands and gives you a chance to get in on the action. They’ve represented companies such as Verizon, Trip Advisors, and Walgreens.

CJ Affiliate has some pretty substantial earnings opportunities as well, with commission rates starting at three percent and ranging all the way up to 50 percent in some rare cases. So, if you know what you’re doing, you can make a major difference in your wallet.

Another massive bonus is that CJ Affiliate gives you, the influencer, a ton of information and data to help you choose what products you promote. It tells you how well each company and affiliate program is doing so you can make the right choice for you. This can seriously boost your conversion rates if you use the data correctly.

One downside of the program is that the companies offered through CJ Affiliate are constantly changing, so you likely won’t be able to rep the same products for a long time, but the earnings potential makes it worth the ebb and flow.

4. ShareASale

ShareASale is another fantastic affiliate program that has been on the block for a couple of decades now. Many creators are a bit turned off by the outdated interface, but many experienced affiliate marketers love ShareASale and have made tons of commission off its amazing products.

ShareASale’s strategy is a bit different than other affiliate networks. They don’t focus on the massive name brands. They target smaller, emerging brands that show super high potential and offer higher commissions because of it.

On top of the higher commission rates, ShareASale also offers you benefits for referring people to the platform. You can earn 30 dollars for each affiliate you refer and 150 dollars for each qualified merchant you refer. This grows your earning potential even more than normal affiliate networks.

ShareASale’s percentages are high, but they vary wildly from company to company on the platform, so it’s a bit unpredictable, and you’ll have to do some digging to find the right program to market. But if you’re successful, you can make an absolute killing.

5. The Brands You Love

Of course, another very successful way to do affiliate marketing is by directly partnering with brands you love instead of going through a larger program or network. This is one of the most fulfilling ways to utilize affiliate marketing, and it can be profitable, too.

If you want to go this route, you’re going to need a good amount of affiliate experience in order to be successful. These brands need to know that you can be successful, so you will need to show them data from previous affiliate programs that prove that you can truly generate sales for them.

One of the biggest benefits of this strategy is the potential to build a relationship directly with a brand. If you’re successful in generating a lot of sales and money for this company over a long period of time, you might just be able to turn the relationship into an influencer marketing deal or full-on sponsorship deal instead of just an affiliate marketing deal.

Influencer deals tend to have a large payout up front, and they can even result in free products from the company. It can be massively profitable, make you look super professional online, and you’ll be able to get access to products from your favorite brands.

Become a Better Influencer

Influencing is an incredibly rewarding career, and with the power of affiliate marketing, you can be more successful as an influencer and make more money doing it. So check out these affiliate programs and see if they work for you and your channels. The more experience you get, the more you can grow your earnings and your platforms.

For more helpful information about being an influencer and for AI tools that can help you make content with ease, check out the Powder blog.

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