When it comes to affiliate marketing, we see a lot of heads turning. In fact, the global affiliate marketing industry is worth more than $17 billion and responsible for 16% of all internet orders in the U.S. alone. And that’s not all.
The industry is growing even now, with an estimated increase of 10% every year, and is expected to achieve a market size of $27.78 billion by 2027.
All that data is sending one signal, and that is, you should try your hand at affiliate marketing. In the past couple of years, there has been some alarm regarding the future of affiliate marketing websites.
Some of Google’s new updates ended up hurting affiliate websites pretty badly, which might make you think that the era of affiliate marketing has come to a close.
On the contrary, affiliates are still strong. Strategies might need to be changed, but the idea is still relevant.
Whether you’re an individual website owner looking to dabble into affiliate marketing or a network of affiliate marketers, we’ve curated a list of some of the best affiliate programme options in 2023 that you need to know.
But before getting into it, let’s take a look at some explanatory things.
What is an Affiliate Marketing Website?
Affiliate marketing is an arrangement in which merchants outsource their own or their company’s products to marketers, who earn a commission for every sale or lead they generate. These marketers are called affiliates, and they may be another company or individuals.
Affiliate networking websites include links to merchant or publisher websites or host their products that link back to the main website.
Whenever a user visits a website through this referral programme and makes a purchase or signs up for a service, these affiliates earn a commission.
The commission rate of most affiliate programmes depends on the type of product, so it varies for different people. To be absolutely sure, you’ll need to contact the website that is offering the programme.
In general, a commission rate of 20% is considered a high commission rate.
We’ve tried our best to enlist the exact commission rates of the websites, but these rates are not explicitly stated by most websites. To be sure, if some terms or conditions apply for you, we recommend that you contact the platform to confirm.
10 Examples of the Best Affiliate Marketing Website Designs
1. NerdWallet
- Founded: August 2009, HQ in San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Founder: Tim Chen, Jacob Gibson
- Services: Financial
NerdWallet is a personal finance company that provides various financial services and products to users. Their major goal is to provide financial education to users regarding various subjects such as credit cards, mortgages, banking, college loans, retirement, insurance, investment, personal finance, and finance for small businesses.
NerdWallet also has an affiliate program. Since its inception, NerdWallet has developed relationships with banks and insurance companies that get new customers in exchange for commissions from NerdWallet. But NerdWallet’s affiliate programme isn’t just limited to bigger corporations.
If you’re a blogger or website owner, you can become a part of this programme too. Depending on the product you’re promoting, NerdWallet will have a different commission rate for you.
NerdWallet doesn’t have a referral policy, nor does it explicitly state how much it makes off of each conversion.
Some sources state that NerdWallet makes $100 per credit card referral. Other sources estimate that NerdWallet makes $47 per conversion.
How is NerdWallet making it so big? Their services are free for their users, and they have accessible tools that facilitate finance and help make better choices. Plus, they’re very user-friendly.
No one minds a helpful service when it comes to numbers, and NerdWallet is doing a pretty good job at lending a hand.
Why NerdWallet Sits At The Top Of Our List
When it comes to NerdWallet, we see some user-friendly, interactive tools that go beyond just giving advice. These useful tools help ease a lot of things for many beginners who aren’t very well-versed in matters of finance.
Some of these tools include:
- Budget and financial calculators are available for a number of useful things. From mortgage, compound interest, and cost of living to down payment, refinance, and emergency funds, NerdWallet helps you calculate everything, so you don’t have to worry your head with formulas.
- A comparison tool that lets you compare a number of financial options based on various characteristics. Compare student loan plans, credit cards, banks, insurance services, travel products, personal loans, investments, and more. Pretty neat, isn’t it?
- NerdWallet provides an extension for online shoppers that you can add to your browser. By using this extension, you can get coupons and rewards automatically when you’re shopping online.
2. ShareASale
- Founded: 2000 in Chicago, Illinois
- Founder: Brian Littleton
- Services: Mercantile
ShareASale is an affiliate marketing website that serves the needs of both affiliates and merchants. ShareASale provides opportunities for affiliates to find and promote products so they can earn commissions on referrals.
These affiliates then promote their selected products on their own websites or whatever other means they have and earn a commission when they make a sale.
Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?
As for merchants, they have ample space on ShareASale to manage and track their affiliate programme.
ShareASale is a dedicated affiliate marketing platform that helps out small and midsize merchants. ShareASale not only helps affiliates and merchants but also agencies that handle affiliate programmes.
ShareASale has over 25,000 merchants, 270,000 publishers, and 200 million sales generated in 2022 alone.
What Makes ShareASale Worth It
ShareASale has an opportunity for both sides of an affiliate program. It offers a bunch of tools for its users, including:
- Recruitment tool that lets merchants send invitations to affiliates based on their niche, performance, and relevance.
- Influencer activation for merchants who seek to spread word-of-mouth and drive sales through social media marketing.
- Attribution solutions that enable merchants to reward publishers when they drive some specific consumer behaviour. The tool also allows optimisation of commissions for payouts.
- A custom short link creator that links directly to a product page.
- Ecommerce plugin integrations that allow affiliates to easily promote the products through their own websites.
- Product discovery bookmarklet that allows users to grab affiliate links as they browse websites.
3. WireCutter
- Founded: September 2011
- Founder: Brian Lam
- Services: Product Reviews
WireCutter is where you find product reviews for various categories. WireCutter is one of the best sources to check out product reviews because of how unbiased they are. Might sound like a load of hogwash considering it earns most of its revenue from affiliate marketing, but it is in fact true.
WireCutter includes links to its recommended products and earns a commission from the affiliates, but writers that are actually penning down the reviews are not kept in the know about the commissions the website is going to make for any of its recommendations.
WireCutter tests the products it reviews and recommends, but that isn’t always the case. It also draws from other review sites and often cites them in its recommendations.
What’s Good About WireCutter?
WireCutter is one of the most authoritative websites you’ll find on the Internet that does effective product reviews. The website was acquired by The New York Times Company in 2016 for a sum of around $30 million. That’s just doubling the authority. Most importantly, WireCutter has good opportunities for affiliate marketing.
- WireCutter’s biggest asset is its authority and unbiasedness when reviewing products, which makes it a go-to website for many users who are doing research on a product.
- It dabbles in various niches, giving many different affiliate opportunities, from home accessories, tech, health and leisure, gardening, and the kitchen to tech, style, gifts, and shopping.
- WireCuttter gives opportunities to freelancers who want to pitch stories to the platform. While it doesn’t take pitches for long-form guides, it does give a chance to shorter pieces. The website states that shorter pieces are accepted for $500, and an added $100–$300 is also included for pictures of videos. It also provides opportunities for initial research on a product category. For challenging reviews, it pays up to $4000.
- The website also has deals available on various products that can be bought from the affiliates.
4. SkyScanner
- Founded: 2003, HQ in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Founder: Gareth Williams, Barry Smith, Bonamy Grimes
- Services: Travel
SkyScanner is a metasearch engine as well as a travel agency. A metasearch engine is a tool that uses the data on the web to produce its own results. In the case of SkyScanner, it produces information that helps users book flights, hire cars, and reserve a hotel.
SkyScanner’s affiliate programme lets affiliates bring travellers to SkyScanner. Commissions are paid on the basis of bookings. SkyScanner stores referral data for a period of 30 days so that even if users don’t immediately book a flight, if they do so in the next 30 days, the affiliate earns a commission.
SkyScanner was purchased by the Trip.com group, which later bought the Trip.com domain, which is now SkyScanner’s subsidiary and a big name when it comes to travel agencies. Over 100 million people use SkyScanner’s services every month.
Why SkyScanner is a Good Choice
The reason SkyScanner is among the top choices for affiliates is because of its reach and spread. SkyScanner’s parent group, Trip.com, gets over 400 million users per month, which makes it a go-to travel partner for a lot of users.
- SkyScanner is available in 30 languages and provides its services all across the globe, making it a very accessible platform for many that results in a lot of visibility and reach.
- It provides widgets that affiliates can put on their website to help people search for flights, cars, and hotels.
- Affiliates can also place banners on their websites that take users directly to SkyScanner.
- SkyScanner provides APIs for websites that help people with their travel searches.
- It also provides a place for advertising, marketing, and promoting their specific city or location to marketers.
5. PCPartsPicker
- Founded: 2011, Located in Austin, TX
- Founder: Philip Carmichael
- Services: Comparison Shopping
PCParts Picker is a comparison shopping website and a huge helping hand for veteran PC builders and novices alike. It earns most of its revenue through affiliate marketing and has connections to various physical stores in 38 countries.
Other than comparisons, the website also has detailed guides with instructions and pictorial representation to help users through every step of building a PC.
PCPartsPicker also has a YouTube channel where they share tutorial videos. They also do product reviews on their website to help users learn everything about a specific product instead of comparing it with some other part.
PCPartsPicker is a partner of Amazon’s affiliate program. PCPartsPicker also reviews products from merchants directly and earns commission for referrals.
What Sets PCPartsPicker Apart
PCPartsPicker is in a league of its own. There aren’t many comparison shopping websites that deal so well with computer technology.
Most importantly, even though the website supports affiliate programmes, it is unbiased in its reviews and recommendations, making it a very credible source for running comparisons.
- The website has a builder tool where users can choose components, such as CPU, storage, power supply, etc., and determine the price and best options. The tool helps PC builders estimate the final state of their build and plan accordingly.
- The website sells everything you need to build a PC, from CPU coolers and video cards to memory and optical drives. These products are made available by the affiliates, and when you purchase one, PCPartsPicker earns a commission.
- PCPartsPicker shows daily graph trends that display the historical movement of prices for different PC parts. It provides a good estimate for buyers to buy their desired products at low prices.
- PCPartsPicker has a forum where users can interact with others and get a solution to every problem they’re facing.
- The website lets people showcase their complete builds and detail how they build them. These builds act as a guide for many people and also include the total cost incurred. Users can navigate through the builds using filters and find the ones they are looking to build.
6. Semrush
- Founded: 2008, HQ in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Founders: Oleg Shchegolev, Dmitri Melnikov
- Services: SaaS
Semrush is a search engine marketing tool that is one of the best in its niche. It is used for keyword analysis and mining, competitive analysis, link building, site audits, and various other purposes.
If you’re a website owner, you might have used it yourself, so you’ll know how helpful this tool is. One thing that you probably didn’t know is that Semrush has an affiliate programme, and quite a lucrative one at that.
This affiliate programme is made available by Impact Radius, which is partnered with Semrush. Affiliates can promote and publicise Semrush in their circles in whatever way they want, and for every subscription that users buy through these referrals, these affiliates get paid a commission.
So just the standard affiliate marketing way.
Semrush is a great tool for SEOs as it covers almost all aspects, from research to analysis. Semrush collects its data from Google and Bing search engines and provides data for multiple countries.
Why Semrush Is Worth It
Semrush is definitely at the top of its game in its niche. It saves time and a lot of grunt effort for the SEOs. The data it provides is quite accurate.
Where marketers are considered, Semrush does an awesome job. And since Semrush is partnering with a lot of other sources to build the best platform for content marketers, it is too tempting not to rely on this service.
Here’s why Semrush’s affiliate marketing programme is worth it:
- Semrush pays $200 for every subscriber it earns. Even if the users don’t buy the subscription, affiliates can get paid for generating leads. Semrush pays $10 for every lead, and for every new sign-up that it gets, it pays $0.01.
- You get a pretty generous cookie life of 120 days.
- Semrush offers APIs that webmasters can incorporate into their websites to monitor traffic and analyse various other statistics, such as domains, keywords, and backlinks. Project APIs help with site audits.
- Other than the main tools that Semrush offers, it also has some secondary tools that are equally helpful for people, such as CRM, Content Marketplace, ImpactHero (an AI tool), SEOquake, Semrush Sensor, and many more.
- It also offers an Agency Partners Platform that allows agencies to find customers from the audience that Semrush attracts. Marketers who are on the lookout for professionals can reach out to them and hire their services.
- Semrush provides integration with Google products such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and more. It also provides integration with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Moreover, users can benefit from integrating with Semrush’s partners, such as SurferSEO, Wix, Pagecloud, and more.
- Semrush also has AI integrations and integrations with other tools such as WordPress, Trello, and Zapier.
7. GameStop
- Founded: 1984, HQ in Grapevine, Texas, U.S.
- Founder: Leonard Riggio, Daniel DeMatteo, Richard Fontaine
- Services: Video Games, Consoles, Accessories
GameStop is primarily a video game retailer that, if you were a kid in the 90s, you’re likely to have visited at least a couple of times. GameStop operates all around the globe, with over 4000 stores spread across America, Australia, and Europe. It has been around long enough that it’s a credible source to partner with.
GameStop’s affiliate programme is free, and anyone can participate. It pays its affiliates for purchases and click-throughs.
GameStop saw a brief decline in sales during the mid-to-late 2010s as more and more people moved towards online shopping. The company made headlines in 2021 when its stock prices skyrocketed in what is now called the GameStop short squeeze.
Since GameStop dabbles in not just video games and accessories but also movies and consoles, it has quite a lot to offer in the entertainment industry, making it a good spot for affiliates.
Did you know? The gaming industry makes more than the movie and music industries combined. In fact, it makes more than triple what the latter two make. That’s one green flag for affiliates.
What Makes GameStop Good
GameStop has been around long enough that it’s built up quite a reputation for itself.
- What makes GameStop so big is its vast collection of games of all kinds and its network that’s spread out so widely.
- The website allows users to order video games and gives them a chance to earn rewards.
- It offers a Pro membership to users that has added benefits such as 5% off on all owned video games, GameStop brand products, and more. Pro members also get deals four weeks a year in which some accessories are given at lower prices.
- The Pro version comes with other added benefits such as coupons, welcome rewards, gift cards, etc.
- The website also has a video game magazine called Game Informer, where users can find information and news about games. Users can also subscribe to the Game Informer newsletter.
- GameStop has expanded and transformed itself into an e-commerce business. It also launched its own NFT platform.
8. MasterClass
- Founded: October 2014, HQ in San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Founder: David Rogier, Aaron Rasmussen
- Services: Education
MasterClass is an online education website that provides lectures from experts in the field on the basis of a subscription. It has three subscription packages of $10, $15, and $20 for one, two, and six devices, respectively.
Users select the categories they are interested in learning about, and the website provides them with a list of lectures available. MasterClass has over 180 classes across the platform in various fields.
The major genres covered on the website are cooking, arts, and sports, but it has also expanded into politics, economy, and video game design.
Some of the experts whose classes are available on the website include Gordon Ramsay, Samuel L. Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Martin Scorsese, Ringo Starr, James Cameron, Annie Leibovitz, and many more.
MasterClass has an affiliate programme available. It offers single-tier commissions, which means affiliates earn only when they generate a sale. In other words, only when a user subscribes to MasterClass plans.
Why You Should Go For MasterClass
MasterClass is an ever-growing platform that has a lot of experts onboard, which has the potential to draw in a lot of users.
- MasterClass is accessible on smartphones, PCs, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku streaming media players. Members are also provided with smartphone and TV apps to improve interaction.
- MasterClass has experts in a lot of fields and has many diverse voices to share their knowledge.
- Subscription plans aren’t very costly, and the education model isn’t typical, with interaction being at the forefront, making it very accessible for users of all types.
- The MasterClass affiliate programme gives out commissions at a rate of 20%, which is a good number for affiliates. The cookie duration is 30 days.
9. Rakuten Advertising
- Founded: 1996 in New York
- Key FIgure: Yaz Iida (President and CEO)
- Services: Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is an affiliate marketing service provider that is run by Rakuten Group Inc., which has been around since 1998 and is a huge name in finance. Rakuten Advertising is an affiliate marketing network that has been one of the biggest marketing names on the Internet.
In 2005, Rakuten Advertising claimed to be the largest pay-for-performance affiliate network online. Rakuten has always been big on fintech, and Rakuten Advertising employs similar tools to deliver their services.
Rakuten Advertising is a trusted and dedicated affiliate marketing network that has been doing wonders for merchants thanks to its huge network and effective marketing techniques.
What Makes Rakuten Advertising Good
- Rakuten Advertising provides opportunities for not just affiliates but also influencers. Merchants can reach out to creators, manage ambassador programmes, and boost their publicity by opting for multi-channel influencer marketing.
- Rakuten Advertising also produces ads for streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Peacock, and more. It also creates ads for smart TV placements such as Roku, Apple TV, etc. Other advertisement platforms include online properties and music and podcast services such as Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.
- Rakuten Advertising also runs ads across retail media such as Walmart and Target, as well as on billboards, taxis, elevators, etc.
- Their website provides opportunities for publishers and has a blog section relating to their niche.
10. Skimlinks
- Founded: 2007 in London, UK
- Founder: Alicia Navarro, Joe Stepniewski
- Services: In-text Advertising and Marketing
Skimlinks is a content monetization platform where you’ll find blogs, forums, editorials, social networks, and app developers, among other things. Skimlinks automatically links products with publishers’ commerce content, hence the name.
Skimlinks partners with other networks, such as CJ (Commission Junction) affiliates, PepperJam, and Linkshare, to bring merchant programmes together for publishers who want to join the service.
To determine and link valid products in the content with affiliates, website owners need to contact Skimlinks. Upon approval, they are provided with a Javascript snippet that needs to be added to the footer of a website. Once added, it automatically detects and links content.
Skimlinks helps publishers earn commissions from referrals, product links, and if they make a sale. The rate of commissions depends on what the publishers are promoting.
What Makes Skimlinks Worth It
Skimlinks has released a bunch of tools to help publishers and merchants alike. Some of these tools are:
- Skimlinks has product guides, referral programmes, merchant search, as well as opportunities to start as a PPP merchant or an affiliate programme.
- Their first product was SkimLinks, which affiliates existing unaffiliated links on a publisher’s website. This is done by adding a tracking tag whenever someone clicks that link. SkimLinks was followed by SkimWords, which uses NLP to link relevant words with online retailers or websites.
- Skimlinks released The Showcases, another tool that essentially works similar to SkimWords and generates relevant product suggestions.
- Skimlinks also has a browser extension that lets users see how many merchants are in the Skimlinks network. Users can also find the price of the referrals they pay. It also lets them compare prices, so they always have an alternative they can pick from.
- Skimlinks introduced another tool called Audiences, which lets marketers access shopping-intent data that is generated from affiliated content. Marketers can use this data to curate their advertising campaigns accordingly.
- Other tools provided by Skimlinks include a URL shortener to monetize them and SkimRSS, which can be used to affiliate links in RSS feeds.
Some Burning Questions
1. How much does it cost to build an affiliate marketing website?
It can cost you upward of $200 to build an affiliate marketing website. Once you’re done building it, you’ll also be investing in its maintenance. While it really depends on your niche and strategy, you should have a budget of $50-$100 for maintenance.
2. Is affiliate marketing hard for beginners?
Yes, affiliate marketing can be hard for beginners. But it’s really about the approach you’re taking to learn. You may understand it by the book but to really succeed as an affiliate marketer, you’ll need to get some hands-on experience.
3. What websites are best for affiliate marketing?
Our list above is a guide to some of the best affiliate marketing websites that you might want to opt for. If you want to go for bigger platforms, you might want to try Amazon Associates, Shopify affiliate program, or eBay.
