4 Trustworthy Affiliate Networks for Beginners
As a professional blogger, you know that producing quality content takes time and effort. You’re seeing results as more and more readers find your blog. You’re in it to help people for free, which is commendable, but don’t you wish all the blogs you wrote could generate income in the long run for yourself, as well?
As a knowledge-sharing blogger, you can build a passive income by joining affiliate networks and providing valuable content to your readers. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved!
Earn a consistent income with your blog
As an affiliate partner, you have the potential to earn a consistent, passive income with your blog. To do so, you must continue creating new, high-quality content and add affiliate links to your posts. If you’re dedicated and willing to put in the effort, you can really make a good living from this.
Are you a new blogger looking to make money through affiliate programs? In this blog post, I’ll explain how this works and which reputable affiliate networks usually accept relatively new bloggers. Keep reading to learn more!
Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission to fund my coffee-drinking habit if you use these links to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra. So it’s a win for everyone! Please note that I won’t link any products I don’t believe in or don’t resonate with my blog site. Thank you!
If you’re looking to make money from affiliate marketing, then this post is for you. I’m going to explain what affiliate marketing is and how you can use it to earn an income from your blog.
If you’re interested in making money through blogging, but don’t have your own blog, yet, I recommend you read this blogging guide first to get started. You’ll learn everything you need to know about setting up a new blog, from choosing a platform to writing your first post.
If you already have a blog website, you can continue reading this article.
What is affiliate marketing?
As an affiliate marketer, you promote products from other companies in your blog posts. You do this by signing up for an affiliate network and adding personalized links in your content. If a reader clicks on one of your links and makes a purchase, you earn a commission on the sale.
The commission rate for affiliate programs varies greatly, but is typically between 4% and 30% of the purchase amount. Promoting more expensive products with a higher margin will result in greater earnings.
Affiliate marketing can be a great source of revenue for your blog. By joining an affiliate network, you can earn commission from the sales generated from your blog content. This is a great way to generate income from your blog without selling your own products.
No sales = no commission, but it also means no loss!
Even though it may sound like a simple task, it’s actually quite difficult to produce engaging, high-quality content that will be beneficial to your readers and help them resolve their issues. But don’t worry, we’re here to help you succeed. ????
As an affiliate marketer, you need to understand that traffic and quality content are essential to your success. Your content must be well-written and optimally tuned for both Google SEO and the end reader. By providing quality information, you can earn a real income from affiliate sales.
As you can see, affiliate marketing requires more effort from bloggers than many people realize. However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can make a lot of money from it in the long term.
How to start with affiliate marketing?
If you’re just getting started with affiliate marketing, there are a few key steps you should take beforehand. These will set you up for success and help ensure that your affiliate marketing campaign is effective.
- Pick a niche;
- Start a blog;
- Build website traffic;
- Research which affiliate networks for beginners are available within your niche;
- Apply to join affiliate networks;
- Research the products you can start promoting;
- Add your affiliate links to your content;
- Start earning.
The difference between affiliate networks & affiliate programs
An affiliate network is a platform that connects merchants with affiliate programs. An affiliate program is a program run by a merchant that allows affiliates to promote their products and receive a commission for any sales they generate.
In summary, an affiliate network is a platform that connects merchants and affiliates. An affiliate program is a program run by a merchant that allows affiliates to promote their products.
Can you really earn with affiliate marketing?
Yes, you can make money through affiliate marketing. However, it’s important to remember that it’s not as easy as it seems. In order to make a significant amount of money, you need a blog with a lot of traffic. And to get that kind of traffic, you need to be well-versed in SEO.
I took the Stupid Simple SEO course to improve my understanding of how to optimize website traffic. The course is designed so that even beginners can understand it easily. I highly recommend it if you want to save time and learn a lot about SEO.
Content creation is a rapidly changing landscape, and it can be hard to stay on top of it all. To be successful, it’s important to invest time in research and development to stay ahead of the competition. By keeping up-to-date on the latest trends and advancements, you can maintain a competitive edge and avoid falling behind.
According to industry estimates, for every 100 clicks on an affiliate link, you can expect around 1 sale. Keep in mind that this is just the number of clicks on the links in the post – not the number of visitors to the blog post. Additionally, not everyone will click on your affiliate links. In fact, most people don’t.
How to calculate how much traffic you need to generate the income you desire
With affiliate marketing, you can earn a commission on sales that you generate. To calculate how much traffic you need to generate the desired amount of earnings, follow these steps:
- Write down how much you’d like to earn from affiliate marketing.
- Determine the average order value for your products or services.
- Multiply the average order value by the conversion rate for your affiliate program.
- Divide the total amount you want to earn by the result from Step 3.
- This is the amount of monthly traffic you need to generate to earn the desired amount.
I don’t want to discourage you; I just want to give you a realistic picture of what affiliate marketing entails. There are a lot of blog posts out there that make it seem like you’ll get rich quick, but that’s not the reality. If you understand what to expect and what you need to focus on, you’ll be more likely to achieve your goals.
The best affiliate networks for beginners
Now that we have covered the basics, let us discuss the best-known and most prominent affiliate networks that you can apply to as a beginner. I have partnered with these networks myself and I really enjoy working with them.
Which networks would work best for you is a question I can’t answer, because it depends on your niche and the products you wish to promote. For this reason, for every affiliate network for beginners listed in this post, I will provide a small selection of the most popular brands they collaborate with.
Hopefully, this makes it easier for you to decide which these best affiliate networks for beginners fit you best. Still not sure? Give them a try and see which ones work best for you.
Things to consider when choosing an affiliate network
The commission rate:
If you choose to promote products with a low commission rate and a low price, you will need to generate a massive amount of traffic to make the post viable. It is therefore better to choose programs with a higher commission and/or products with a higher price.
The Payment Threshold:
The payment threshold is the minimum amount that you must earn in commissions within that program or network before the amount is paid out to you.
The type of commission:
Do they pay per lead, per click, or per sale?
Is it a one-time or recurring commission fee?
There are many affiliate programs that offer services where you can promote products that are subscription-based. Sometimes you will receive a one-time payout, but there are also programs where you earn a commission as long as the subscription continues. This means monthly income for you if you are able to promote this type of product effectively.
The cookie length?
How many days after a reader clicks on one of your links do you receive a commission, should they make a purchase? For example, if someone clicks on one of your links today but doesn’t make a purchase today, and the cookie length is 30 days, you would be eligible to earn a commission if that visitor buys the product within the next 29 days!
Amazon affiliate marketing program
Amazon is not an affiliate network; however, they sell an array of items. You can find products on Amazon for nearly every niche. The advantage of Amazon is that you earn a commission on every product your referral purchases, whether it is your promoted product or not.
Another great advantage of this program is the possibility to subscribe to the Amazon affiliate marketing program in different countries and connect them to each other. This way, for example, people from Canada will be automatically sent to the same product page on Amazon Canada. This way you won’t lose commission when your lead buys from another Amazon location than the one you’re referring to in your affiliate link. However, there are a few locations you can’t sign up for when you’re not a resident there, for example India and China. But then again, you still have access to half the world!
Commission:
4% – 8%
Cookie length:
24 hours. But when a customer placed an item in their shopping cart but then decides not to purchase it today, you still receive a commission if that item is purchased within the next 89 days. This is a comforting thought when you’re promoting pricier products that often may require some time for consideration.
Payment threshold:
$ 10
Click here to sign up for the Amazon Associates program
Amazon Affiliate Marketing Course
If you’re interested in learning how to generate income through the Amazon Affiliate program, I’d recommend reading this blog about Amazon Affiliate marketing by Dale from Blogging Her Way and following her course. She provides clear instructions on how to generate a good income through your Amazon affiliate links.
This network is my personal favorite. Many big brands can be found here, like Grammarly, Namecheap, Reebok, Spanx, WP Engine, Etsy, and Shein. Share-a-sale also has a user-friendly interface. It’s the perfect platform for beginners in affiliate marketing!
Commission:
Differs per program.
Cookie length:
Differs per program.
Payment threshold:
$ 50
Click here to sign up for Share A Sale
Awin
Awin also collaborates with many big brands, like Fiver, Etsy, Emirates, Fabfitfun, AliExpress, Tidal, Ted Baker, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Swarovski, Udemy, Myheritage, and Asos.
One thing to note: you have to pay a $5 deposit to become a member, which is refunded after your first sale. This is to ensure that bloggers who are serious about their business are the only ones collaborating.
Commission:
Differs per program.
Cookie length:
Differs per program.
Payment threshold:
$ 20
Click here to sign up for Awin
Skimlinks
At Skimlinks you can partner with brands like Sephora, TripAdvisor, Target, Microsoft, Lululemon, Adobe, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, H&M, Topshop, Dell, Nike, Airbnb, Forever21, Victoria’s Secret & Samsung, and – in contrary to most other affiliate networks – you don’t have to sign up for each program separately.
Commission:
Differs per program.
Cookieduur:
Usually 30 days, but this may vary for certain advertisers.
Payment threshold:
$ 65
Click here to sign up for SkimLinks
Don’t forget the FTC Guidelines!
The Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines require you to let your readers know when you are promoting a product through affiliate links, and that you will earn a commission if they purchase the product. To do this, you must include an Affiliate Disclosure at the beginning or end of every web page that has affiliate links.
I hope this free guide to the best affiliate networks for beginners was helpful to you today. Are you ready to start making money while you sleep? I hope so! If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to share it!

This was great. Thanks for the recommendation for the course. I will definitely keep that in mind.
You’re welcome! There are many great courses out there, this is one of them that is the most affordable. But I really discovered courses like this help a lot! They’re big time-savers. X
Thanks for all of the great tips and information about affiliate marketing! As a newbie it’s hard to know where to start and what to look out for.
Thank you. I get clicks on affiliate links but nobody tries to purchase, can’t seem to figure out why.
🙁 That’s strange, especially if they already clicked. Maybe a problem with the product itself? Something they only discover after the click? Idk, wish I could help you here.
I’m still somewhat new to blogging and have been trying to figure out affiliate marketing, and this was immensely helpful! Thanks so much!
You’re more than welcome! :))
Yes I am still trying to get my head around affiliate marketing, this post helped.
These are some great ideas you have talked about to help anyone get started in the affiliate marketing business. Just by following a simple action plan consistently and putting in the effort, who knows? It will most likely lead to getting a new subscriber to your list, and other great opportunities down the road.
Thanks for this information, very valuable to me as ,I think i need to start right now.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for sharing these tips.
I’ve not really started properly adding affiliate links on my blog, and to be honest it’s still quite early days for me. I’m focussing on growing traffic right now.
I have signed up Awin, Share A Sale and Amazon but not Skimlinks. Can I ask you, out of all of these networks, which have you had the most success with?
Thanks.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment on my blog! Up until now Share A Sale & Amazon work best for me. But it depends on your niche, so I can’t really say which networks will work best for you. Success with your blog! :))
Best,
Angie