This guide continues our affiliate marketing 101 series, where we guide you through the basics of life, auto, health, home, and solar affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is more than just a potential revenue stream for publishers or an additional promotion for businesses. It’s a powerful advertising model that unlocks financial independence for everyone in the game.
That said, affiliate marketing can be complex for beginners, from tracking links to choosing the right payout model. Speaking of which, today we explore how you can get the best affiliate commission as a publisher.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a business (advertiser, merchant) compensates third-party publishers (affiliates) to generate leads or traffic to the company’s products and services. Affiliate commissions are fees for a brought client. Here’s how affiliate marketing campaigns in affiliate networks look for the publisher:
- You sign into the network, where you can review different programs.
- You find programs with the highest affiliate commissions.
- You read their affiliate program terms and apply if they fit.
- Once accepted, you’ll get custom affiliate links to promote the advertiser’s content and track your performance.
Some advertisers offer affiliate recurring commissions, where publishers are rewarded not only for the initial payment but also for the recurring ones. It’s the typical case for subscription- or membership-based businesses.
Overall, you can collaborate with affiliate networks where dozens of advertisers post their affiliate marketing programs. Once the merchant provides you with links, you can promote those on your website, social media, or newsletters.
How Do Affiliate Commissions Work?
Affiliate marketing operates on a performance-based model, where publishers gain commissions when users take a target (agreed-upon with the advertiser) action. This target action may be anything, from filling out a form to downloading a guide to making a purchase.
The commission rates vary case-by-case, with industries like finance, real estate, and insurance having the highest commissions. At the same time, real estate or home insurance affiliates may have times higher costs per lead than publishers in, say, the food industry.
Source: Coupler.io
Global niches can be a great place to start, but the cost per lead here would be relatively low. Those publishers who want to get an affiliate program with the highest commissions should look for specific or micro niches. They may have fewer visitors, but those views will be more targeted, with the highest possible conversion. It makes your affiliate program more effective since you’ll get a higher conversion.
How To Earn Affiliate Commissions: Step-By-Step Guide
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to generate income, and here’s how you can get the highest affiliate marketing commissions:
- Choose your niche: Pick a topic where you can be an expert and share your knowledge. A focused niche helps you build authority and attract the target audience, while an expert image will make you credible even among them.
- Research affiliate programs: Find programs or networks that align with your niche and provide high commissions with reliable payment methods. Much depends on what counts as a conversion with a specific program. For example, getting $100 per sale may not be as profitable as receiving $30 per lead because selling leads is much easier.
- Get approved by the advertiser: In some programs, you need to get advertiser (merchant) approval before they give you links. This is typical for affiliate programs with high commissions since merchants want to double-check potential publishers for credibility.
- Post content on your platform: Place affiliate links wherever you feel like they fit the context and can drive the target action. However, ensure your promotional methods align with the program’s guidelines. For example, some advertisers may prohibit certain traffic channels or may not accept leads from certain locations.
- Optimize your content to increase conversions: Monitor users’ behavior to determine what content and CTAs work best for them. Modify your content strategy to achieve more successful campaigns.
To get the top affiliate commissions, scale your efforts. Explore different programs and run the ones that resonate with your audience.
Now, let’s draw some numbers.
Here’s how affiliate commissions differ by industry:
Source: Shopify
Monetize Your Traffic with Profitise
Profitise is a leading insurance and solar affiliate network for affiliates who are selling quality web leads and phone calls. With hundreds of businesses already joined and even more to come, Profitise is a to-go place to monetize your traffic.
With Profitise, you get:
- Embeddable JavaScript forms to generate qualified insurance and solar leads
- Large lead market to sell your traffic instantly
- High price for your web and call leads
- Free assistance from your affiliate manager
Sell leads with Profitise as an affiliate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are affiliate commissions?
An affiliate commission is a payment earned by affiliates (publishers) for promoting products or services. Publishers share unique tracking links, and when referred customers make a target action, they receive an affiliate commission.
What are recurring affiliate commissions?
Recurring commissions are ongoing payments for recurring purchases by the referred customer. For example, publishers can receive a commission each time the referred customer renews their subscription or makes a purchase in the online shop.
What is a lifetime commissions affiliate program?
A lifetime commissions affiliate program rewards affiliates for every purchase a referred customer makes, not just the first or the second sale. Affiliate programs with recurring commissions are common in subscription-based services and products with high customer retention rates.
What programs have high affiliate commissions?
High-ticket affiliate programs are typical for real estate, finance, insurance, and luxury product industries. At the same time, industries like hosting, software, and SaaS often have some of the best affiliate programs with recurring commissions.
