39 Best High Paying Affiliate Programs to Promote in 2023

The internet has made it easier than ever to make money online. Gone are the days of spending hours trying to find the best high-paying affiliate programs.

Instead, there are now many different options available for marketers like you. I have compiled a list of some of the best high-paying affiliate programs out there so that you can get paid more and spend less time doing it!

I have researched the best high-ticket affiliate programs for you to sign up for. These are high-paying, well-known companies that will allow you to make money online.

I will also show you what types of offers these companies have available and how much commission they pay so that you can choose the one that's right for your marketing goals.

Are you ready to dive into the crème de la crème of the best top-paying affiliate programs?

What Are the Best High Paying Affiliate Programs?

What makes an affiliate program a good one? At first, the commission level is high. The good commission rate is typically 20% - 50%, which is the case with digital products like software and online courses.

Physical products affiliate commissions are considerably lower, usually way under 10%. Therefore I don't recommend promoting physical products, especially if you're a beginner.

Secondly, a good affiliate program allows you to get even higher commissions when you bring in a certain amount of sales.

I have chosen the very best affiliate programs in the digital products category for you. All these high-quality products are from well-known brands, and they pay top commissions. Almost all products are mid-priced, and they have a large user base.

Number 1 Best Overall Affiliate Program - Augusta Precious Metals

While I cover a lot of different high paying affiliate programs in this article, there is one program in high demand, and you can make a lot of money with it.

That is Augusta Precious Metals affiliate program.

They sell gold and silver IRAs — a great way to diversify and balance retirement savings. The purchase amounts are high (average $250,000, with some over $1 million), which means you can earn large commissions.

Augusta is not only a market-leading company with a level of service you won't find anywhere else, but it has an outstanding affiliate program with high lead payouts and conversion rates for those recommending their services.

Augusta Precious Metals is a highly trusted company with thousands of 5-star rankings, and it has had zero complaints with the BBB/BCA since its inception in 2012. It offers a powerful one-on-one educational web conference that helps turn consumers into customers. The one-of-a-kind conference was designed by an on-staff Harvard-trained economist. 

It says a lot that a particular high-net-worth individual and his financial advisors found this company after vetting all U.S. gold companies. That person is Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, who not only became a customer but the company's corporate ambassador.

Here's how the product works for consumers: By adding physical gold and silver to your savings, you get "effective diversification," which can help offset losses in traditional assets due to the stock market's volatility.  

Adding gold or precious metals to your retirement account may help in several ways, including serving as a hedge during economic downturns and providing a tax-efficient shelter that offers potential gains.

People are investing in gold and silver increasingly because they want to secure their future and take action to possibly offset the negative effects of the current administration's unprecedented spending.

Key benefits:

• Lifetime commissions for each customer
• Up to 66% trade-to-qualified-lead conversion rate
• Unique virtual conferences, marketed as having been designed by a trained economist
• Legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana as their brand face
• Lead referral commissions forever (e.g., husband to wife)

Commission rate:

• 10% commission rate based on revenue share (average trade is $200,000, with some over $500,000) plus $200 per qualified lead. If the trade is $200,000, your commission will be $20,000 - from just single trade.
• Higher-than-average conversion rate due to exceptional marketing and buyer education.

Cookie duration:

• 90 days

You can find more information about gold affiliate programs in my 7 Best Gold Affiliate Programs article.

What are the Best Web Hosting Affiliate Programs?

Web hosting is one of the most popular affiliate marketing categories, and the reason is apparent. Every business, whether it is small or big, needs a website and thus a web hosting platform. As a result, almost all affiliate marketers end up promoting web hosting.

To choose the best affiliate program for web hosting, you must evaluate several factors. It is crucial to recommend a company that stands apart from others with its reliability, speed, and support quality, not only those that pay the highest commissions.

Merchants often offer attractive commissions to affiliates who promote their web hosting plans, making this a lucrative niche.

Additionally, since people rarely move from one provider to another, customer retention rates remain high, which means recurring commissions for long periods.

Because web hosting is essential for all businesses and their affiliate programs are among the best, I have included web hosting on the top of my list of top paying affiliate programs.

Here are my top picks for the best web hosting affiliate programs:

1. Bluehost

Bluehost is best known for its affordable shared hosting plans. However, they also have great affiliate programs that offer recurring commissions and upsells with higher payouts.

Bluehost affiliate program is very popular - Bluehost paid over $5 Million Paid in commissions in 2020 alone.

Key benefits:

• High conversion rates
• Dedicated affiliate team

Commission rate: $65 per sale. Commission rate increases up to $130 per sale based on the volume of referred sales.

Cookie duration: 60 days

If you need reliable and affordable web hosting for your affiliate site, click my link to get 67% off your Bluehost plan.

2. WP Engine

WP Engine is best-in-class hosting for sites running on WordPress. They are the first managed WordPress host to achieve Google's stringent security requirements, and their team of experts works around the clock to ensure your site stays online.

Key benefits:

• WP Engine offers exclusive, custom discounts and promotions you can offer to your audience
• Bonus rewards for sending multiple referrals per month
• WP Engine has 2-tier affiliate link tracking

Commission rate: $200 or 100% of first-month payment for WP Engine sales.

Cookie duration: 180 days (!)

3. Hostinger

Hostinger is best known for its best-in-class free and low-cost web hosting plans. With more than 100 million users, Hostinger is the world's largest free web hosting provider with over 50 best-in-class cloud hosting locations across the globe to choose from.

Key benefits:

• High conversion rates
• Personal affiliate account manager
• Professionally designed banner packages, seasonal e-books, and extra assets

Commission rate: 60% for all the hosting packages

Cookie duration: 30 days

4. Hostgator

Hostgator is best known for its best-in-class shared hosting plans. With more than 12 million customers, Hostgator is one of the largest and best web hosts in the world.

Key benefits:

• Dedicated affiliate manager to provide you with all the necessary resources to make your campaign successful
• Custom discount coupons for your clients

Commission rate: $65 - $125 per signup

Cookie duration: 60 days

5. Kinsta

Kinsta is a managed hosting company that provides fast, scalable, and secure WordPress hosting. They have been developed from the ground up with speed as a priority to make sure your site is always loading quickly even on their lowest tier plans.

Key benefits:

• Kinsta's churn rate is very low 4 %
• Recurring commission for the lifetime of the customer you referred

Commission rate: up to $500 one-time payment in addition to a 10% monthly commission for the lifetime of the referred customer.

Cookie duration: 60 days

6. Liquid Web

Liquid Web provides best-in-class, scalable cloud hosting solutions for high-traffic websites. Liquid Web is a leader in managed hosting solutions for mission-critical sites & apps. They are one of the best-managed web hosts in the industry!

Key benefits:

• Dedicated affiliate managers for personalized support
• Advanced notice of exclusive sales & promotions
• Custom content & links
• Custom landing pages
• 2-tier is available for existing customers

Commission rate: $150 per sale up to $7,000 (dedicated hosting)

Cookie duration: 90 days

What are the Best VPN Affiliate Programs?

The VPN market is a technology that has been around for a long time, but it has seen a significant increase in popularity. There are many reasons why people use VPNs, and one of the most common reasons is to protect their privacy. 

A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which means it's software you install on your computer or phone to keep your information private and secure.

I use a VPN to access websites from other countries (such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer), avoid censorship restrictions while traveling abroad, and maintain privacy when using public WiFi networks. 

It's hard to find the best VPN affiliate programs because there are so many options available. That's why I compiled this list of my absolute top 4 favorite VPN companies with affiliate programs. 

1. NordVPN

NordVPN is an excellent virtual private network (VPN) that provides security, privacy, and access to content for people worldwide. It's an affordable way to protect your data from cybercriminals, and it's perfect for unblocking sites like Netflix. 

NordVPN's VPN service can be used on up to six different devices simultaneously with one account.

Key benefits:

• One of the highest commissions in the VPN market

Commission rate: For one month, new signups are 100% and renewals 30%. For six months, new signups 40%, with a renewal of 30%. For two years, new signup is 40%, and renewal is 30%.

Cookie duration: 30 days

Apply to NordVPN affiliate program

2. PureVPN

PureVPN is a one of leading VPN service providers that excels in providing easy solutions for online privacy and security. With 6500+ servers in 141+ countries, It helps consumers and businesses in keeping their online identity secured.

They offer fast speeds so that your browsing experience doesn't suffer as well as 24/7 customer support.

Key benefits:

• You will earn a commission on every renewal also
• 2-tier program

Commission rate:

• 100% commission on your first invoice for the 1 Month Plan
•  40% commission for 6 Month & 12 Month Plan
• 35% commission on every renewed subscription for 1-Month, 6-Month and 12 -Month Plan

Cookie duration: 90 days

Apply to PureVPN affiliate program

3. Express VPN

Express VPN is a fast, reliable, and trusted way to protect your data from hackers. With more than 160 VPN server locations in 94 countries, ExpressVPN gives you the power to encrypt your browsing experience and get unrestricted access to all of the web's content from any place on earth!

Key benefits:

• The more sales you drive, the more ExpressVPN will pay

Commission rate: 1-month subscription package - $13, 6-month subscription package - $22, 12-month subscription package - $36

Cookie duration: 90 days

4. IPVanish

IPVanish is a popular VPN service that offers fast connections and reliable security features. It's perfect for people who want a little more protection when browsing the internet from a public WiFi network or want to watch region-locked content from back home abroad when they travel overseas. 

Key benefits:

• IPVanish Affiliate program provides multiple payout options with no minimum earning requirements.

Commission rate: Earn up to 100% of all new sales generated and up to 35% of all subscription renewals.

Cookie duration: 30 days

What are the Best Email Marketing Affiliate Programs?

Email marketing is a great way to grow your business and generate more revenue. Marketing via email has been proven to be the most cost-effective and efficient of all digital channels, so it's no wonder that businesses are using email marketing as their primary lead generation method.

Email marketing affiliate programs are great because they provide you recurring commissions.

Here you'll find my top 5 picks for the best email marketing affiliate programs on the web.

1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a leading email marketing and automation platform that helps marketers like you make your business more profitable. They do this by providing the tools to help you deliver engaging campaigns, automations, and triggers to your customers on any device.

Key benefits:

• The average affiliate earns $1,350 per referral. You can start earning instantly once you have joined their affiliate program.

Commission rate: Minimum of 20% of the subscription price and up to a 30% commission.

Cookie duration: 90 days

2. Getresponse

Getresponse is a suite of marketing tools that help marketers simplify their email marketing. The Getresponse platform includes an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, sophisticated segmentation tools, and powerful automation features to grow your list and convert more subscribers into customers.

Key benefits:

• Dedicated affiliate support and business advice from their affiliate managers.
• Free promotional materials including banners, videos and sales copy.

Commission rate: One time commission $100 (bounty program) or 33% every sale referred (recurring program).

Cookie duration: 120 days

3. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a tool for marketing professionals who want to automate their email marketing campaigns. It's an all-in-one platform that includes the tools marketers need to create, send and track emails without relying on outside software.

ConvertKit can be used by small businesses with just one or two people running their company up to large companies with multiple departments. 

Key benefits:

• Anyone can join the ConvertKit affiliate program
• Evergreen webinars to use as a funnel
• Affiliate training course with Pat Flynn

Commission rate: 30% commission for every person who signs up to ConvertKit through your affiliate link.

Cookie duration: 60 days

4. AWeber

Aweber is a tool for email marketing. It provides services such as set up, management and analytics of your campaigns. With Aweber you can create newsletters, manage subscriber lists and send out automated emails with ease.

It's perfect for businesses who want to develop an effective email marketing campaign that drives results! 

Key benefits:

• One of the best-known email service providers and very popular among entrepreneurs.

Commission rate: 30% recurring payments each month for the lifetime.

Cookie duration: 365 days

5. Sendinblue

Sendinblue is one platform for all of your marketing needs! Sendinblue is a marketing automation platform that makes your email marketing more efficient and effective than ever before. It is a fast, reliable, and affordable email service provider.

Sendinblue provides easy-to-use tools to help you send personalized emails quickly and reliably to grow your business. 

Key benefits:

• Exclusive deals & offers for promotion

Commission rate: Sendinblue pays you for leads and customers. If you refer a free user, you'll earn $5 and, for every paying customer, an additional $100.

Cookie duration: 90 days

What are the Best Online Course Platforms Affiliate Programs?

Online course platforms are a modern and popular way to learn new skills. They offer tools to create online courses, sell them on the platform's marketplace, and share them with students worldwide.

I have listed the best online course platforms affiliate programs. These programs are great because they pay you recurring commissions and online learning is already a huge trend.

1. Thinkific

Thinkific is a platform that provides marketers with the tools and features they need to construct and execute an online course. It also offers courses for marketing professionals who want to improve their skills in different areas of marketing.

With Thinkific, you can build your custom landing page, enroll students into your course, create quizzes or tests for your students, design certificates of completion for each lesson.

Thinkific sends automated email messages to all students enrolled in your course when new content is available or changes are made to the curriculum - anything you might need to run a successful online course!

Key benefits:

• Access to exclusive creative and promotional material created by Thinkific.

Commission rate: 30% recurring commission on all monthly or annual paid plans. You could earn up to $1,700 per referral per year which makes it one of the highest paying affiliate programs.

Cookie duration: 90 days

2. Teachable

Teachable is an online course-building platform that allows anyone to create and sell online courses. Teachable has helped millions of students around the world learn from experts in their field.

Teachable eliminates the need for marketing professionals to invest in costly infrastructure, so they can focus on creating content for their course instead of building an e-commerce site or figuring out how to get traffic.

Key benefits:

• You earn a recurring commission for as long as the referral is on Teachable.
• You’ll have the opportunity to earn higher commissions (up to 50%) as you drive more conversions.

Commission rate: 30% commission of a Teachable subscription and up to 50%.

Cookie duration: 90 days

3. Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one marketing and CRM software that helps marketers grow their businesses. It has everything you need to create, publish, distribute, track and analyze content while managing your customer relationships.

Kajabi has many features, including an online course platform, website creation, landing pages, email marketing campaigns. Plus, it's easy to use - even if you're not a tech wizard! 

Key benefits:

• Kajabi has a partner tier program - every referral you make gets you closer to the next Partner tier, which has even more benefits and higher commissions.

Commission rate: You will earn a 30% lifetime commission for any new referral that stays active past their trial period.

Cookie duration: 30 days

What are the Best Website Affiliate Programs?

If you want to start a business, the first thing that you should do is to create an online presence. A website can be your best friend and aid to promote your products and services. 

Therefore every business needs a website, and that makes affiliate programs related to this category very lucrative.

1. Elementor

Elementor is an industry-leading drag-and-drop website builder that allows you to create beautiful, responsive websites without having any coding skills. It's perfect for marketers who want to update their website content quickly and easily! 

Elementor's affiliate program offers 50% per sale and five pricing packages, ranging from $49 to $999 per year, which makes it one of the best ones in this category.

Key benefits:

• The conversion rate is exceptionally high with a high commission rate.

Commission rate: You will earn a 50% commission per sale.

Cookie duration: 30 days

2. SEMRush

SEMRush is a powerful and robust platform that enables marketers to research their competitors’ search engine optimization strategies.

SEMRush provides in-depth analysis of the organic and paid keywords ranking, top-performing ads, backlinks profile, traffic estimates for any domain or keyword. 

SEMRush is a preferred choice of over 7,000,000 marketers and Fortune 500 companies. It has one of the best high-paying affiliate programs in the digital marketing space.

Key benefits:

• You can earn also by generating leads
• Dedicated affiliate team

Commission rate: You will earn $200 for every new subscription sale and $10 for every new lead.

Cookie duration: 120 days

3. Wix

Wix is a website builder that allows users to create their own website. It’s simple, easy, and affordable for anyone to get started with it. 

Wix has a user-friendly interface, making it easy for people who know nothing about coding or design to create beautiful pages with ease.

Key benefits:

• Commissions are among the highest in the industry.

Commission rate: You will earn $100 per sale.

Cookie duration: 30 days

4. Thrive Themes

Thrive Themes is a WordPress themes company that specializes in beautiful and modern designs for bloggers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and anyone else who wants to create an amazing website.

They're the creators of Thrive Architect and Thrive Theme Builder - two powerful website builder tools that make it easy to design your site without any coding knowledge at all.

Key benefits:

Thrive Themes has one of the longest cookie duration I have seen. If you refer a customer today and they purchase within the next two years, you'll be credited for the sale.

Commission rate: You will earn a 35% commission per purchase and a 25% recurring commission.

Cookie duration: 730 days (!)

What are the Best E-commerce Affiliate Programs

I have hand-picked for you the best affiliate programs from the E-commerce space. These programs are ones that you want to promote because of the high-paying commissions and other benefits.

1. Shopify

Shopify is a platform that more than a million of the world's most successful brands trust. Shopify allows you to create your own online store and sell products with ease. It's easy to get started, and they offer the ability for you to customize your store with themes and apps.

Key benefits:

• Shopify is a very well-known brand with a high earnings potential.

Commission rate:

• 100% commission on the first and second payment of each referred paid plan
• With the Shopify Plus plan, you earn a flat rate of $2,000 per conversion

Cookie duration: 30 days

2. Alidropship

Alidropship is an e-commerce platform for dropshipping. It handles all of the fulfillment work so you can focus on marketing and sales. The software also has a CRM system, order management, inventory control, and more features to help you run your business efficiently.  

Alidropship is best for people who want to start a dropshipping business and don't have any experience with it.

Key benefits:

• High commissions (50% per sale) make it one of the best in this category

Commission rate: 30-50% depending on a product, which means you can earn up to $869 per sale.

Cookie duration: 30 days

3. Bigcommerce

BigCommerce is one of the leading providers of robust e-commerce platforms for marketers, and it has gained a lot of popularity over the last few years.

They have a very generous affiliate program to promote.

Key benefits:

• Industry-leading commissions
• The more referrals you drive through the program, the higher your commission tier can go

Commission rate: You can earn 200% of the customer’s first monthly payment or $1,500 per enterprise customer.

Cookie duration: 90 days

What are the Best Recurring Affiliate Programs?

Affiliate programs are one of the most effective ways to generate sales and grow your business, especially when you have a recurring affiliate program in place.

With a recurring affiliate program, each time someone purchases through your affiliate link, you will receive a commission on every sale for as long as they remain customers. 

These are my top picks for the best recurring affiliate programs. 

1. Content at Scale

Content at Scale is revolutionizing content creation tool for content creators and businesses. This artificial intelligence tool is designed to help content marketers create entire blog posts in a matter of seconds.

Businesses can benefit from using this software as it allows content creation that is both timely and effective, saving them time and money in content production costs while still allowing them to stay on top of trends in the content marketing field.

Key benefits:

• Creates content quickly on a large scale
• Hot trending product and the future of writing
• Only tool on the market that can bypass AI content detection

Commission rate: 15% recurring commission every month. This means $75 to $300 per month for each referral.

Cookie duration: 30 days

2. Jasper AI

Jasper AI is one of the hottest products out there. This revolutionary platform allows users to create great content without lifting a finger! It's like having your own personal writer at your fingertips!

Not only does it write, but it also proofreads your work for you. The future of writing is here, and it comes in the form of Jasper AI.

Key benefits:

• a hot product in demand

Commission rate: 30% commission every month. Depending on their plan, you'll earn between $9/mo-$299/mo per customer for life.

Cookie duration: 30 days

3. Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels is one of the best-known all-in-one digital marketing platforms that lets you quickly design, build, and deliver your sales funnel.

Clickfunnels provides the tools to create landing pages, sales funnels, lead capture forms (including webinar registration), membership sites, and more.

Key benefits:

• Many possibilities to earn as a Clickfunnels affiliate. They have a lot of different affiliate programs like Expert Secrets, Traffic Secrets, and Dotcom Secrets with high-ticket upsells.

Commission rate:

• New ClickFunnels' Affiliates will earn a 20% recurring monthly commission on purchases of ClickFunnels subscriptions.
• Once you have earned $1,000 in commissions in a month you can apply to become an approved affiliate earning 30% recurring monthly commissions.
• Once you gain 40+ active ClickFunnels members paying for their membership through your affiliate link, and they have done so successfully for at least 30 days in a row, the company will boost your commission to 40% recurring monthly commissions.

Cookie duration: 45 days.

4. Anyword

Anyword is an AI-powered data-driven copywriting platform that helps marketers tailor expert-level messages to their ideal audience across channels and formats. 

It crafts incredible marketing copy in seconds and drives a 20%-30% increase in conversions. 

Key benefits:

• Customers see 3X growth in copywriting productivity without sacrificing other KPIs.
• Anyword can generate copy and predict its performance before a campaign even runs.
• System crafts marketing copy for almost every channel, including social media ads, Google ads, landing page copy, email subject lines, and much more.

Commission rate: 40% recurring revenue share, earn up to $1,149 for a single conversion commission.

Cookie duration: 90 days  

5. Builderall

Builderall is a all in one marketing platform that provides marketers with the tools to create and manage their online presence. It includes sales funnel builder, landing pages, email marketing tool, video hosting, CRM system, chatbot, and much more.

Builderall has one of the best affiliate programs out there. You receive even a 30% commission on the sales of the affiliates you bring in, that is, someone else sells and you receive a commission

Key benefits:

• Second-tier 30% recurring commission

Commission rate: 100% commissions on the first purchase, after that 30% residual income of the subscription

Cookie duration: 30 days

6. Leadpages

Leadpages is a powerful landing page builder trusted by 40,000+small business owners with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. It is the simplest and fastest way to create high-converting landing pages for your business or organization.

Create compelling, one-click opt-in forms, and lead capture offers that will grow your email list with ease, all without any technical skills required.

If your goal is to build simple landing pages quickly without bells or whistles, then Leadpages is the way to go.

Key benefits:

• Once you have a proven sales history (over 20 customers in a month), you can offer exclusive Leadpages deals and packages on your website.
• If you can register at least 200+ for a live webinar, Leadpages hosts a dedicated webinar with you to drive more sales.

Commission rate: You earn 10-50% commissions depending on the amount of new customer sales you earn each month.

• 10%: $0 – $49.99 in new sales
• 40%: $50 – $2999.99
• 50%: $3000 and above

Cookie duration: 30 days

7. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is my favorite email marketing software, and I'm using it in my own business also.

ActiveCampaign has an excellent recurring affiliate program with a minimum of 20% of the subscription price and up to a 30% commission.

8. Zenrows

ZenRows is a next-generation Web Scraping API & Data Extraction tool that automatically turns HTMLs into structured data.

ZenRows will bypass any anti-bot or blocking system to help obtain the necessary info. This platform includes several options such as Javascript Rendering & Premium Proxies.

Key benefits:

• High conversion rates
• Payout in 30 days
• Dedicated account manager and material to easily promote

Commission rate:

• 35% per sale and upto $2,700 per customer.

Cookie duration: 60 days

9. ConvertKit

ConvertKit has also one of the best recurring affiliate programs. They offer a 30% recurring commission for every customer.

10. Teachable

Teachable offers also a generous 30% commission of their subscription and up to 50% commission rate.

What are the Best Affiliate Networks?

Affiliate networks connect advertisers with publishers (you) who drive traffic to their products or services. One of the main advantages of joining an affiliate network is that you can choose from many affiliate programs rather than joining them individually.

With so many affiliate networks, it can be challenging to decide which one to go with. I have listed here my top affiliate networks recommendations.

1. Impact

Impact built its affiliate network to make monetizing your content seamless. Connect directly with top brands that match your reader's and viewer's preferences.

The Impact affiliate network is where you can find some of the world's largest brands across retail, travel, beauty, and fitness.

Impact's platform provides the flexibility and control to create long-term partnerships that will help you grow your business.

You can join the network and apply to programs from thousands of top brands like Airbnb, Adidas, Lenovo, Microsoft, Walmart to just name a few. Impact has a catalog of more than 9M products.

Get Started with Impact

2. ShareASale

ShareAsale is a giant affiliate network with over 15,000 merchants and over 200,000 publishers. With over 250 new programs launching each month, you will find every type of merchant, from household brands to niche retailers.

ShareASale's merchant search functionality helps you quickly and intuitively identify relevant programs through various filters and a marketing calendar for upcoming holidays or seasonal events.

ShareASale helps publishers like you find relevant programs to promote, track which transactions earn commissions, provide easy reporting, and payout your earnings on time each month.

3. Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Advertising, formerly known as Rakuten Marketing, is one of the biggest and well-known affiliate marketing networks with over 20 years of experience in affiliate and performance marketing.

With Rakuten Advertising, you can access more than 150K publishers and brands from retail, direct to consumer, and finance. 

One of Rakuten's advantages is unique market intelligence tools to find clarity and perspective to boost your business.

Through their Matchmaking AI system, you can discover new partnership opportunities and run intelligent campaigns with advanced features like custom curation and deep linking tools.

You can access over 150,000 active publishers worldwide with the Rakuten Advertising affiliate network if you are a merchant. 

4. CJ Affiliate

CJ Affiliate is a popular affiliate network that has been around for more than 20 years.

The best thing about CJ Affiliate Network is their massive selection of thousands of brands across the globe, including fashion, beauty, travel & leisure, technology products, and more.

With CJ Affiliate, you can manage all your campaigns in one interface through an intuitive dashboard with built-in campaign management tools.

Their user-friendly platform lets advertisers use time-saving features to accelerate growth while publishers enjoy simplified account access to maximize revenue generation opportunities.

5. Lemonads

Lemonads is an affiliate network that offers a wide selection of best-in-class tools and services with real-time reporting. With Lemonads platform, you can access top brands from retail, finance & banking, education & training, travel & hospitality, and many others.

Lemonads states that 85 % of their publishers successfully increase their revenue within the first three months.

What are Affiliate Programs?

Affiliate programs are an excellent way for you to make money online. They're often the only way that marketers can monetize their content, which is why it's essential to understand how they work.

Affiliate Programs are an excellent way for marketers to earn money from the products they recommend. They do this by signing up with an affiliate network or an individual program and then placing links in their content that lead back to the product website.

When a visitor clicks the link and makes a purchase, the marketer earns a commission on that sale. Affiliates can choose from hundreds of programs in different categories.

How to Join Affiliate Programs?

If you are about to join an affiliate program, there are two ways to do so.

Affiliate Networks - These networks allow you to join multiple programs without signing up with each one individually.

Individual Programs - If a product or service interests you, check if it has its own affiliate program directly through its website.

The best way to find them is by doing a Google search with brackets "program name affiliate program" e.g. "activecampaign affiliate program".

What Are the Requirements to Join Affiliate Programs?

The terms and conditions vary program by program but usually, you'll need a website that generates traffic and has an audience interested in your niche market.

Additionally, you'll want some experience with blogging or social media marketing before joining any affiliate program. You also need a way to receive money.

Affiliate programs often use Paypal as a payment gateway.

What are the Important Metrics of High-Paying Affiliate Programs?

Here are the most important metrics that every affiliate marketer should look for before joining any affiliate marketing program. What you want is high commissions, long cookie duration, and high average order value.

Commission Rate - A portion of the sale that an advertiser pays to an affiliate for referring a new customer. It can be a flat rate commission or a percentage of a sale.

Cookie Duration - how long the affiliate cookie lasts in a web browser. For example, if the cookie duration is 30 days. It means that if someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes the purchase within 30 days, you will receive a commission, but after the cookie has expired, you won't.

Earnings Per Click (EPC) - Earnings per click refer to the total revenue generated from a single link click. EPC can be calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of clicks of an affiliate link. The higher the EPC is, the better.

Minimum Payment Threshold - You have to earn a certain amount of commissions until the funds are released to you. If the threshold is $150, you have to earn at least $150 of commissions to get paid.

Customer Retention - best viral marketing companies sales how many customers continue to make purchases after the first purchase. This is an important metric if you want your affiliate program to be sustainable in the long run.

Average Order Value - The higher the average order value, the more money you make on every customer. To calculate your AOV, divide total revenue by the number of orders.

Bonus Tip: How to keep track of all your affiliate programs?

I recommended creating a Google Sheet where you can have all the important data of your affiliate programs in one place. When you join a new program, add the new program to the Sheet and remove the old programs so you will always be up to date.

You can add to the Sheet the following columns to track your affiliate programs, for example, as follows:

• Affiliate program name
• Your affiliate link
• Link to affiliate program information
• Commission
• Cookie life
• Payout method
• Payout schedule
• Average commission

There are also tools available for this purpose like Affluent, if you don't want to keep track manually.

Best High-Paying Affiliate Programs – Summary

I have worked hard to compile this best high-paying affiliate program round-up. I hope you enjoyed this article and by now have some best affiliate programs to promote.

Here are the steps to start affiliate marketing if you are a beginner.

1. Choose a niche that you can confidently promote and what matches your interests.
2. Choose a product to promote, pay attention to the commission rate and cookie duration.
3. Prefer affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions.

I recommended starting promoting with a blog. If you promote something as an affiliate, e.g., on TikTok, you can have your business disappear in a flash if they take down your account. A blog is the right way to build a sustainable business that lasts years to come.

WordPress is the best option to build a blog. You need WordPress hosting to get started. I recommend Bluehost because it is a very affordable web hosting platfor with a good reputation.

To create your web pages, you will also need page builder software. Thrive Suite or Elementor are the best choices for that purpose.

Please leave your feedback and any questions in the comments below. Please, feel free to leave comments below if you want to share your thoughts with us.