When you start a blog with the intention of making money, your eyes and focus are probably all set on how you can get the most income out of your blog. I was like that too. In fact, when I started making money, I got obsessed with checking the income reports similar to the one in the snapshot below:
For any regular blog, you can get an income from your three main sources:
- Ads: You place ads on your website and the Google or other premium ad networks pay you per impressions or per clicks
- Sponsored posts: Companies that want to reach out to your audience can sponsor a post on your website by paying you a fee to publish it.
- Affiliate commission: You discuss topics on your site and link products in other sites such as Amazon that pay you a commission if a sale is successful.
The later, affiliate commission is a growing industry that is projected to hit $6.8B this year, 2020. This post is going to dwell on where you can find the best and the highest paying affiliate programs in 2020.
In the next section, we discuss the best affiliate programs:
Table of Contents
Best Affiliate Programs of 2020:
Below are my best affiliate programs in 2020 that you can rely on to replace your full-time job earnings. It so happens that the best affiliate programs that I recommend are all about hosting. As a blogger, you can make money referring your reader to various hosts by:
- Writing reviews about various hosts
- Writing blog posts about how to create a WordPress blog with each particular host
- Email your email subscribers
- Film hosting tutorials and upload them on youtube
Below are my top 5 favorite affiliate programs that I can confidently recommend in 2020:
#1. Bluehost:
Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies that power over 2 million websites and is recommended by WordPress. It is known for being the most inexpensive shared hosting plans starting from $2.95.
Pat Flynn explains in one Youtube video how he has earned $2m recommending Bluehost. You can watch the video below.
From the video below, Pat Flynn explains how he grew his income from $130 per month to over $ 50 k per month.
Start from 11:40 to see income growth. You can also read more about Pat Flynn’s success story here.
As an affiliate, you get a one-time payment of $65. The table below has more details about Bluehost affiliate programs:
| Affiliate Program Name | Bluehost Affiliate Program |
| Ideal for | Bloggers that review hosting services and provide guides about starting a blog/creating a website |
| Earnings | $65 one-time payment for every sign-up |
| Cookie period | 45 days |
| Payment | 16th and the end of each month |
| Minimum Payout | $100 |
| Pays to | Paypal |
| Why we recommend | Easy to enroll in the program, low-cost program to run |
Below is how you can get started:
- Register on Bluehost websites
- Write articles about Bluehost
- Use your affiliate link to earn $65 for every sign-up!
Pros
- Large one-time payout: Bluehost affiliates earn commission starting at $65 for each qualified hosting plan purchase. In addition, there is no cap on how much you can earn. As a Bluehost affiliate, you can refer as many new customers as you want. This grants you endless passive income. NB: The payments process takes between 45-60 days after-sales. They also bear the PayPal transactional fees.
- Tiered Commission Structure: Bluehost offers a tiered commission to reward successful and loyal affiliate members. Tiered commission ranges from $65-$130 per sale. The more sales you make over time, the higher your overall payout.
- Superior affiliate support team: Bluehost have a top-notch dedicated support team to help you via email 24/7
- Strong conversion rates: Bluehost have great name recognition, low cost for new customers, excellent products giving you reliable conversion rates.
- Low barrier to entry: Everyone who owns a website is allowed to apply for the Bluehost affiliate program. The process is easy and fast too.
- Leverage banner ads: In addition to text links, Bluehost also offers a set of banner ads that you can use on your website.
- Frequent discounts and promotions: Bluehost sends to you notices of discounts and seasonal promotions as an affiliate. These discounts allow you to promote offers on your website and blog content, providing you with annual incentives that can lead to more sales.
Cons
- Withdraw limits: It is not possible to withdraw your earnings immediately. Also, an affiliate you must earn $100 or two sales. If you are blogging and generating a sale through their affiliate referral program, you receive the payment within 45 to 60 days.
- User downgrade penalties: If your referred Bluehost customer decides to downgrade their hosting plan, your referred fee deducts from future earnings as an affiliate.
- Difficult for those inexperienced with SEO: You need to be knowledgeable about SEO before joining the affiliate program because it will be essential to generate traffic.
#2. Hostinger:
Hostinger is also another web hosting platform with attractive affiliate offers up to $150 per sale on a tiered pricing structure.
Their affiliate partner program offers a base payout of around $60, with an opportunity to make up to $150. They offer a 90% discount on small business and WordPress plans and start at $0.99/month, they boast excellent conversion rates.
Like other web hosts, they provide banners and promotional tools to help new affiliates get started. Lastly, there are no payment caps, and you can send unlimited referrals.
#3. Hostgator
You can earn up to$100 per sign up and get flexible commission structures and co-branded landing pages and offers by promoting HostGator.
They also have a tiered commission structure whereby the more affiliates you refer, the higher commission earning you get. You can either choose a performance-based or a hybrid commission model that offers recurring payments too.
When you join their program, you get a dedicated affiliate account manager and access to marketing tools like banners, text links, and excellent article content, and email templates.
#4. Greengeeks
GreenGeeks is a great choice if you are looking for both user-friendly and environmentally friendly web host. They offset their carbon footprint by replacing 3X the amount of energy consumed from the grid in the form of renewable energy credits.
When you join their affiliate program, you can earn up to $125 per sale based on performance and traffic levels. They also offer dedicated account managers and helpful reporting tools so you are successful. Finally, there are no minimum sales thresholds to release your payment.
#5. WP Engine
WP Engine has been rated as one of the highest affiliate payouts, starting at $200. They are a powerful web and cloud hosting platform and one of the premier web hosts for bloggers that write about WordPress plugins and themes.
Their program features incentives and pricing tiers. If you get 5 sales you receive an extra $100.
For 10 purchases, you get $250. They also offer a two-tier program-you can earn $50 for any sub-affiliates you refer to their platform.
WP Engine has an industry-leading 180-day cookie duration, which gives credits for sales up to 6 months after visitors click your affiliate link.
Con
- Their product is more expensive than other web-hosting providers, so your users may convert at a slightly lower rate.
#6. Liquid Web
Liquid Web runs their own affiliate program and pays its affiliates 150% of sales, which ranges from $150-$7,000per sale. Most conversions happen for their managed WordPress hosting, but if you generate a sale for their dedicated or cloud hosting, you make very great earnings.
They have excellent account managers and offer a two-tier setup. This allows you to get a small credit for sales generated by other affiliates via your two-tier setup.
They have a great affiliate marketing program with high payouts.
Web Builders Affiliate Programs:
Web builders are the second-best category of leading affiliate programs you can find in 2020. Web builders such as Webstarts, Squarespace, Wix, and BigCommerce offer generous commission.
Once a website/blog has a host, it needs a building platform and while WordPress is the most popular platform, other independent platforms offer rewards for bloggers that recommend them to their readers.
The table below shows the web builder affiliate programs:
| PROGRAM | COMMISSION RATE | COOKIE DURATION |
| 1. BigCommerce | 200-500% | 90 days |
| 2. Weebly | 30% recurring | 120 days |
| 3. 3dcart | 300% | 45 days |
| 4. Shopify | 200% | 30 days |
| 5. Wix | $100 | 30 days |
| 6. Site 123 | $182 | 30 days |
#7. Bigcommerce
BigCommerce is a SaaS e-commerce platform with over 60,000 merchants. They are called the e-commerce platform of choice for growing brands because of their in-built features and advanced functionality.
Their e-commerce affiliate program offers a generous 200% prize payment on the plan’s price, meaning you can earn $60, $160, $250, or $1,500 per paying customer. They have a 90- day cookie and also provide banners, text links, and a weekly affiliate newsletter with content templates and SEO advice.
#8. Shopify
Shopify is the world’s most popular ecommerce website builder, boasting 400k merchants and a substantial 200% commission on paid stores. They have a good name recognition giving you stable conversion rates. Also, their website features helpful affiliate FAQs and promotion ideas
#9. Weebly
Weebly is a simple website builder with over 40 million users. They are not exactly the most advanced website builder, but their drag and drop interface makes it easy to build a quick website. They offer a 30% recurring commission for as long as the customer is active and feature a generous 120-day cookie window.
#10. 3D Cart
3dcart is a fast-growing ecommerce platform that hosts its own program and offers a 300% commission for paid conversions. They boast reliable conversions rates and have accommodating Affiliate Managers that lend a helping hand.
#11. Wix
Wix is a high-quality website builder with 100 million users. They provide their affiliates with $100 per sale and feature a lot of great landing pages to use in multiple languages.
#12. Site123
Site 123 is another famous website builder that allows you to create mobile-friendly websites with a lot of templates to choose from and a simple user interface. Their affiliate program provides up to $182 in payouts, and you can only withdraw your funds after you receive $300 of commissions.
VPN Affiliate Programs:
Since 2013, almost 25% of global internet users have used VPN technology every month and the market is growing over the years. This technology has gained popularity and different types of affiliate sites can recommend setting up a private internet connection to their readers.
You can use a VPN to secure the internet on public Wi-Fi, stream Netflix. These companies charge a recurring fee to use their online services. Affiliates receive a recurring payment or large one-time payout for users after signing up.
Below are the best VPN affiliate programs
It is one of the VPN services on the market and has some of the best payouts in the VPN industry.
| Package | Commission Rates | |
| 1-monthpackage | 100% | then 35% recurring |
| 3-month package | 40% | Then 35% recurring |
| 1&2 year package | 40% | Then 30%recurring |
#13. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN was founded in 2009, and is one of the most popular options for users looking to protect their privacy online. They offer high one-time payouts based on the plan a user signs up for.
| Plans | Commission rate |
| 1- month | $13 |
| 6-month | $22 |
| 12- month | $36 |
#14. NordVPN
Their commissions are based on the subscription plan ordered by the customer. They also have strong conversion rates and dedicated accounts managers to help you drive sale.
| Plan | Commission Rate |
| 1 month | 100% |
| 6 months | 40% |
| 1&2 year | 40% |
#15. StrongVPN
StrongVPN has been in the market since 2006 and has a popular affiliate program. They pay every month and offer up to a 200% payout for sales generated.
#16. PureVPN
They have very cool programs, with contests, a reward system, and custom notifications letting you know when you have made a sale.
| Plans | Commission Rates |
| 1 month | 100% |
| Longer periods than a month | 40% |
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs
A recurring program is when an affiliate makes a commission for selling a site’s product on a recurring (or monthly) basis.
The following are the best recurring programs
#17. Buzzsprout
It is a popular podcast host that offers a 20% recurring payout, they also provide new users with a $20 Amazon gift card to help increase conversion rates.
#18. Thinkific
Thinkific is another popular online course platform. They offer a 20% recurring.
#19. IPVanish Recurring Commision structure.
They are the best VPN service on the market and have some of the best payouts in the VPN industry.
#20. Leadpages
Leadpages is a famous landing page builder that helps users build dedicated web pages with form and calls-to-action. Their affiliate program offers a recurring of 30%.
#21. Teachable
Teachable is an online course platform that allows bloggers and website owners to build their classes to sell to their students. They offer a recurring of 30%.
#22. GetResponse
They offer email marketing services to clients and affiliates can a 33% recurring commission. They are also an excellent email marketing affiliate program.
#23. weber
Aweber is an email marketing platform that is great for businesses and marketing teams because they have many email templates and design features. They offer a recurring rate of 30%.
#24. ConvertKit
They are great for email marketing and a good choice for bloggers. They have a visual automation builder and can create triggers based on website actions and actions of inside emails. They offer 30% per month.
#25. Elegant Themes
Elegant Themes is a WordPress theme library consisting of 87 easy-to-use themes and over 550,000 customers. If you recommend them to your readers you get a high ticket 50% recurring payout.
#26. NinjaOutreach
NinjaOutreach is an all-in-one influencer marketing tool. It helps you perform outreach, find influencer email addresses, build email lists, and grow your content promotion efforts. They currently offer a 20% recurring payout.
My name is Nate Reiner and I am the editor here at 10Webtools. I have 8 years of experience using 50+ different web tools ranging from podcast, web hosting, email marketing, and much more. I previously managed a team offering support services to a large conglomerate that utilized tens of software solutions. I now run this blog full-time and when I am not reviewing or testing software, I enjoy riding bikes and supporting my clients achieve internet success. You can reach me directly at [email protected]