Affiliate Marketing Guide 2023 

If ever wondered how individuals or creators can partner with brands and promote their products, it’s likely that it could be affiliate marketing. With the ability to create storefronts and sell items via social media, more and more users are jumping in to make some extra cash. Some are even turning these “side hustles” into full-on online businesses and careers. So, we are here to provide a thorough affiliate marketing guide, to get you ready to launch your freelance endeavors.

Why is affiliate marketing becoming so popular? Well, there’s not a heavy buy-in. In fact, many of these affiliate programs are free to join. If you already have an established niche or platform, this is a great market to tap into. 

In this guide, we will go through what affiliate marketing looks like in 2023, and how to join popular affiliate programs to grow your social media presence, business, or personal brand. 

What is Affiliate Marketing? 

To kick off this affiliate marketing guide, let’s first have a refresh of what affiliate marketing even means.

Affiliate marketing is when an “affiliate” (being the individual) and a brand or merchant create a mutually beneficial partnership, where the affiliate promotes the brand’s products via social media. 

Both parties benefit from this because, while brands receive organic traffic from social media outlets, affiliates get paid in return. Plus, for those affiliates that double as content creators, bloggers, graphic designers, or videographers, you can leverage your personal brand. 

Brands from small to large have created affiliate programs. You may have seen some of the largest including Amazon and Shopify. However, you can also connect with brands you love to create an organic partnership. 

Affiliate Marketing Marketplaces 

In order to assist those seeking to join affiliate marketing programs, there are a variety of marketplaces that help match you with the right brands and programs. Let’s take a look at three different affiliate networks that support finding new opportunities, and allow you access to track your sales and conversions. 

ClickBank

This affiliate marketplace network has over 100,000 affiliates. By joining ClickBank, you can search through the marketplace to find open promotions and brands looking for affiliates. From here, the affiliate will receive a referral tracking link, and any sales made through this link will be rewarded a percentage. 

This platform also offers an analytics side, with insight to how your sales are going. There is a minimum $10 payout, and offers a variety of niche affiliation offers not available on other platforms. 

Awin 

Awin is another marketplace platform, that includes some pretty major brands including Etsy, HP, Under Armour, StubHub, and GymShark. The marketplace has over 13,000 merchants, making it easy to find the right products for you. 

This platform has both digital and physical products, and the commission is based on who you sign up with. Awin also has a WordPress plugin to help import products to your site. Signing up for this program is $5, but will be refunded only if you’re approved. 

ShareASale 

ShareASale is part of Awin, that has over 4,800 affiliate programs on the platform. This also has a WordPress theme and shopping plugins. This platform has been around for over a decade, which is why it is a trustworthy network. 

The minimum payout for this platform is $50, and has a some loyal brands including Warby Parker, Reebok, BuzzFeed, Sun Basket, allbirds, and more. It’s easy to make custom affiliate links, access an affiliate dashboard, and accelerated customer service. 

There are a ton of other affiliate marketing networks and marketplaces compatible for every industry, niche, and affiliate method. Before signing up for one, make sure to conduct some extensive research, and ensure it aligns with what products and services you want to promote.  

Affiliate Marketing Programs for Marketers and Creators 

Below, we will go through a variety of affiliate marketing programs that you can join if you are a marketer, creator, and e-commerce business owner. If you are not in these spaces, you can still gain insight on how affiliate marketing programs work, and how you can utilize these for your niche. 

The most important part of this is ensuring the program aligns with your audience’s interests and your personal interests. If you don’t back the company or products you’re promoting, it’s probably not the best fit. 

So next in this affiliate marketing guide, let’s see 5 different programs that can help you grow your business, and earn some extra income! 

Amazon Associates

Amazon’s affiliate program, called “Amazon Associates” is the largest affiliate program in the world. With this, creators, bloggers, and publishers create product recommendations and can receive up to 10% in associate commissions from purchases. 

The amount that you earn through this depends on how much traffic and purchases you drive to Amazon. However, Amazon creates customized linking tools to easily share across social media. 

Those with a blog, website, or established following can sign up for the program. Social media influencers can also join their Amazon Influencer Program to conduct influencer marketing. 

Those interested can sign up here, submit an application, and wait to hear back on approval. Since Amazon has unlimited products across all industries and interests, you can choose products that align with your brand, and your audience’s interests.

Shopify Affiliate Program 

Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world and hosts millions of merchants to grow their online businesses. Shopify’s affiliate program rewards those entrepreneurs, influencers, educators, and content creators who educate their audience about their Shopify experience, and how they can get started on the platform. 

Once again, this is a win-win for both parties. In order to sign up for this, you need to have an active website, an established audience, create some sort of content (blogs, videos, infographics, courses, LIVES/webinars), experience with Shopify or another e-commerce platform, and agree to Shopify’s Partner Program Agreement. 

To sign up, head to this link, and it only takes 5 minutes to set up. The platform will ask what your primary business model is, and which methods you use to promote the platform, and then you can submit your website, social account, podcast, app, newsletter, etc. 

Affiliates can earn up to $150 for full-priced plan referrals, and also receive access to a creative library, lead magnets, a monthly newsletter, and email programming. 

Fiverr Commission Plans

Fiverr is a marketplace for freelance services including copywriting, SEO, graphic design, programming and tech, and more. Their affiliate program is known as its commission plans and has a flat rate for each different service, as well as a 10% revenue share from subscription referrals. 

You can sign up through this link and create an account, for free. This is a great opportunity if you work in the marketing space since marketers are always looking for one-off collaborations or content. 

SemRush Affiliate Marketing

SemRush is a major SEO, keyword research, and trend-searching tool utilized by many marketers, content creators, and those looking to rank their content or website. SemRush’s affiliate marketing program offers $200 for each sale an affiliate makes, so there is definitely a big opportunity to make some real cash. You can sign up at this site, which is connected to impact.com. 

Metricool Affiliate Marketing 

We also have our own affiliate program here at Metricool. If you are a Metricool user and want to refer it to other marketers, agencies, content creators, or freelancers, you can receive a profit for every referral. Before you join this, you need to make a Metricool account if you haven’t done so already. Metricool is completely free, with the option to upgrade to a variety of Premium plans. 

In this program, you will receive an affiliate link that you can share on your preferred platforms, share offers with your audience, and earn a commission for each person who signs up for a Metricool Premium plan. 

With a Metricool affiliation, you will also have access to official graphical elements, Metricool tutorials, and resources, tracking data, marketing resources, and cookies without expiration. 

Affiliate Marketing on Social Platforms 

Now if you’re wondering where you want to carry out your affiliate marketing, let’s break down what affiliations can look like across each platform. Selecting the right network depends on what your audience is looking for, so it’s essential to deeply understand your community. 

Also, think about where you personally consume the most content and have built the most loyalty. 

Affiliate Marketing on YouTube 

If you are a YouTuber, or comfortable on camera, YouTube is a great platform to tap into affiliate marketing. Also, it’s seamless to add affiliate links, product tags, and share reviews with your audience. 

YouTube also has its own affiliate marketing program, however, this program is more restrictive on who they let join. In order to become a YouTube affiliate, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program, be based in the US, and have over 20,000 channel subscribers. 

Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest 

If Pinterest is your main platform and you share original content, you can easily introduce your favorite products and brands to your audience. You can easily tag products, or add links to your Pins to drive traffic to your affiliate sites and earn money. 

Of course since Pinterest is a more “lifestyle inspiration” network, promoting products and services related to travel, home decor, food, health, and other “aesethic” areas. Since Pinterest is a massive search engine, users can discover new content daily. 

By optimizing the SEO in your pins, creating rich pins, and sharing quality content, you can boost your business. View this Pinterest SEO guide to help you optimize your pins and rank higher in search results. 

Affiliate Marketing on TikTok 

If you are an active TikTok scroller, you probably have seen a ton of TikTok Shops, and creators promoting products. TikTok has their own internal affiliate program, where you can set up your shop, find products to sell, and recommend the products in your videos and livestreams. 

Many creators have linked their Amazon storefronts, Linktr.ee profilles, coupon codes, and TikTok Ads to further boost traffic and engagement. If you want to learn more about setting up your TikTok Shop, read this guide below. 

TikTok also has a Creator Marketplace, allowing brands and creators to find each other for campaigns. There are a few minimum requirements, so make sure to check if you’re eligible. 

Affiliate Marketing on Instagram

In order to conduct affiliate marketing on Instagram, you need to have a business or creator account, and be eligible for affiliate. You can check this in the affiliate settings in the professional dashboard.

If eligible, you can add affiliate product tags in all Instagram content, and get creative to promote products. On Instagram, there is now the option to label posts as paid partnerships, which can help your content stand out. 

Thanks to Instagram Stories capabilities, you can also include affiliate links in Stories. Instagram Reels are a great way to share product reveals, reviews, and testimonials. Of course, you can also conduct marketing strategies such as SEO, adding hashtags, and tracking your performance. 

In this video, learn about 5 easy Instagram SEO tips to help your content rank better in 2023:

Conclusions 

Well, as you can tell, there are a ton of opportunities available in affiliate marketing. This action is only growing, and has helped professionals not only make some extra cash, but boost their sites and build their personal brand.

We hope this affiliate marketing guide was helpful, and if you try it out, let us know what you think!

Anniston Ward , 26 October 2023