Affiliate marketing is one of, if not the best way to transform a blog’s traffic into cash. Here are the best digital product affiliate programs to have under your radar.
When you first started your blog, earning money might not have been your first goal, but somewhere down the line, getting cash from putting your thoughts on the internet didn’t seem like a bad deal. And when making cash from a blog is concerned, you can’t go wrong with affiliate marketing.
Or perhaps you did create your first blog to create an online business and start promoting products (physical and digital) and services.
But affiliate marketing will only work if you have high-quality products that the customer base is interested in. To make your job easier, we have listed the top 5 digital product affiliate programs. Collectively, they will open you up to a world of hundreds of thousands of products and merchants.
Whether you want to promote big brands or small, digital products or physical, there is an affiliate program on this list made for you. Let’s jump right in.
This is one of the most popular digital product affiliate programs in the market. Amazon Associates tends to focus solely on Amazon products, but ShareASale houses more than 4,500 merchants of varying sizes.
From the ShareASale dashboard, interested users can sign up to all these merchants, view their statistics, and generate links. Keep in mind that you’ll have to apply to each merchant individually and be approved like that, which is standard procedure for most affiliate networks.
All in all, ShareASale is an excellent option for both physical and digital products. No matter what niche your blog or website falls under, there are some offers worthy of promotions.
- Product/niche types: Almost everything, including digital and physical products.
- Standard commission rate: Determined by the merchant you signed up with.
- Duration of cookies: Merchant specific.
- Base payout: $50
2. Awin (Formerly Titled Affiliate Window)
A shorter rebrand of the traditional Affiliate Window, Awin is another fan favorite affiliate network providing users access to more than 13,000 merchants worldwide. Back in 2017, Awin acquired ShareASale, but the two still operate as separate entities and house a different base of merchants.
As Awin originated in Germany, there is a bit more of European touch to the merchant list, but you’ll still find an abundance of global/US companies.
Awin was founded in Germany, so you’ll find a little bit more of a European tilt to the merchant list, though there are also plenty of US/global companies. Similar to ShareASale, you have to apply individually to the merchants within the chain. Afterwards, you can create links and begin tracking your stats.
Bits to Know About Awin:
- Product/niche types: You’ll find physical as well as digital products within every niche.
- Standard commission rate: Merchant specific.
- Duration of cookie: Depends on the particular merchant you sign up with.
- Base payout: $20
3. Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is a good digital product affiliate program to promote physical products on any website. You can earn a significant commission on almost anything sold on Amazon.com.
What makes this program special is that you get a commission on all new purchases someone made with your referral, even if the product isn’t linked to you.
In the past, you would get paid a commission rate based on the amount of sales/revenue you drove. But, since 2017, Amazon Associates has fixed a flat-rate commission plan where users get paid a constant percentage determined by the kind of products.
Bits to Know About Amazon Associates:
- Product/niche types: Anything and everything sold on Amazon’s official website (third-party vendor products included).
- Standard commission rate: Depending on the category, between 1% to 10%.
- Duration of cookie: Cookies stay for 24 hours. However, if people directly add products to their carts, you are eligible for a 90-day cookie (only for certain products)
- Base payout: $10 for direct deposit or Amazon gift card.
4. CJ Affiliate (Was Commission Junction)
CJ, formerly referred to as Commission Junction, is an amazing affiliate network that brings thousands of merchants with different product categories under one roof (like ShareASale).
CJ is amongst the largest affiliate networks right now, alongside ShareASale, which means you can gain connections to thousands of merchants, both small and big. As of yet, the exact number stands at 2,696 unique merchants.
You have to individually apply to each of these merchants directly from the dashboard in CJ. After that, you can generate links and check your statistics.
However, quite frankly, we do think there is a certain learning curve associated with CJ’s affiliate dashboard in comparison to the one in ShareASale.
Bits to Know About CJ:
- Product/niche types: CJ covers a huge range of niches as well as both digital and physical products.
- Standard commission rate: Merchant specific.
- Duration of cookie: Merchant specific.
- Base payout: $100 for check and $50 for direct deposit.
- Cookie duration: Depends on the specific merchant you sign up with.
- Minimum payout: $50 for direct deposit or $100 for a check.
Previously known as LinkShare, Rakuten Marketing is one of the better digital product affiliate programs with a community of many big merchants. Think Best Buy, Walmart, Macy’s, and many more. Although their network isn’t as widespread as CJ or ShareASale, it houses its fair share.
Which is why, if you would like access to a larger range of merchants, you should go with one of the larger networks. But Rakuten is ideal for acquiring access to the bigger names, and they also offer a bunch of nice features, such as, users can rotate ads without an additional external solution.
Bits to Know About Rakuten Marketing:
- Product/niche types: More than 1,000 merchants, so you can probably find offers within the majority of the niches.
- Standard commission rate: Merchant specific.
- Duration of cookie: Merchant specific.
- Base payout: $50.
Conclusion
Figuring out which digital product affiliate software is best suited to cater to your needs depends on two question – convenience, and minimum payout. Make sure to ask yourself these questions before making the investment.
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