Affiliate programs and marketing can be a good way to get a business of your own going as you are promoting a product or service that often already has an established reputation, making it potentially an easier sell and allowing you to hit the ground running from day one.
Here is a look at some of the affiliate programs around that could pave the way to starting your own business or adding a new income stream on top of what you already earn.
Start promoting the future of payment systems
The majority of people have already heard about Bitcoin and it has caught the attention of traders around the globe who have bought into the digital currency and trade it on a regular basis.
If you sign up with someone like Xcoins.io/affiliates you could earn as much as 50% of the transaction fees generated and the good news for you as an affiliate is that the majority of first-time borrowers tend to come back again and much trade frequently.
This means that you could potentially enjoy a steady stream of ongoing affiliate income once you have referred a client.
Get involved in one of the biggest online marketplaces
Amazon is a global household name and the online marketplace enjoys an enviable reputation, which could make it an interesting proposition if you are looking for an affiliate opportunity.
The standard rate of commission you would normally expect to earn from any purchase that comes from your link is about 10%.
One thing to bear in mind about being an Amazon affiliate is that the payout only stands for a 24-hour period after the customer has clicked the link, so you will need them to buy what they put in their basket straight away.
eBay
Another instantly recognizable brand is eBay and the company is always on the lookout for new affiliates who can help advertise and sell the various items on their platform.
You should find that becoming an affiliate through their partner network is fairly straightforward and there are too many complex rules or restrictions to hold you back.
Leading eCommerce software
There is a growing number of online retailers and bloggers who rely on Shopify and an affiliate partnership with them could turn out to be a good chance to boost your earnings.
The Shopify affiliate referral scheme is widely considered as being attractive to affiliate marketers and the commission rates tend to stand out amongst rival eCommerce platforms.
The chance to create a landing page that works
Leadpages is considered to be a useful online marketing tool that enjoys a degree of success with what it does.
Signing up to the Leadpages partner program could help to increase your digital audience and create some powerful landing pages that enjoy healthy conversion rates.
The average commission rate is about 30% on whatever the referral spends and that continues for as long as the customer continues to spend.
A top WordPress host
If you are looking to partner up with a WordPress host, Bluehost could be a worthwhile option.
There is a simple referral process with Bluehost and when you share your referral link you will get paid each time someone signs up to any of the Bluehost packages.
A niche opportunity that might be what you are looking for
It can sometimes be the case that you find an affiliate program that is not necessarily mainstream but could still prove attractive to you if you have the right audience to channel regular referrals.
StudioPress is a good example of this scenario. It is popular with plenty of WordPress users and that should make it easier to convert customers into commission when they sign up through you.
The payouts are scalable and you earn bigger rates the more you refer, so there is a definite incentive to grow your affiliate relationship.
Get involved with an email marketing platform
If you can target customers who want to use email marketing to grow their business it could be the start of a profitable relationship as you can earn commission for signing them up to ConvertKit.
The ConvertKit affiliate program could prove right for you if this is an area where you want to grow your affiliate business and as it is considered to be one of the primary email marketing platforms around it should make the sell and conversion a bit easier.
There is no cut-off point for affiliate revenue so you will continue to earn from each referral for as long as they continue to use ConvertKit.
An affiliate program in all but name
The first thing to say when suggesting Google AdSense as a potential revenue-generating opportunity is that it is not actually an affiliate platform.
However, when you look at the way it is structured it is remarkably similar to an affiliate program and the end result is the same, you get paid when you promote something on your website and the audience buys into it.
It is a wider opportunity to earn an income as AdSense is responsible for the content displayed on your site, all you have to do is give up space for the adverts in the first place.
There can be some resistance to adverts on your website but this should be minimal when you consider that it is a known brand in the form of Google behind the messages.
Affiliate programs can be an excellent way of adding extra revenue streams without interrupting the flow or competing with what you are doing alongside this arrangement.
Another worthwhile point to remember is that you can often have more than one affiliate program up and running at the same time without any concerns about conflict or crossover.
Hopefully, some of these suggestions may have given you the inspiration to explore the possibilities associated with affiliate marketing programs, and you may well find one or tow to sign up with once you have done your research and like what you find.
