Affiliate Marketing is a beautiful thing.
An industry worth over $12 billion. Yes Billion.
In the US alone retailers are expected to spend $6.8 billion on affiliate marketing.
Over 81% of brands have adopted affiliate marketing as a monetization stream and strategy to spread their message and product awareness.
In this blog post I am going to discuss my 13 best recurring commission affiliate programs available in 2020.
So if you’re looking to get started and build your own online business – look no further than using affiliate marketing to monetize your online business.
What Socia Media Platform Is Best For Affiliate Marketing?
Almost any social platform can be used for effective affiliate marketing. Especially the big boys:
- Blogs
- YouTube
Realistically though, if you find a place with an audience then chances are you will find a way of using affiliate marketing to make money.
Personally, I am investing a lot of time on YouTube and I think it has the most potential. It gives people the chance to listen and see you. Resonate with the real you and build a relationship and trust.
YouTube is also a great platform because we are consuming video like it’s going to run out tomorrow. Every day a billion hours worth of YouTube content is watched by people of all ages and nationalities.
What Makes A Great Affiliate Program?
When I first started with affiliate marketing I used to promote a lot of Amazon affiliate niches. One of which was Adult coloring books – used mainly for stress relief and mindfulness.
I spent an absolute age designing logos, color schemes, learning WordPress, and then creating written content.
Yes, it was an emerging niche and had potential but I was trying to make 1-3% one-off commission on products that sold for $5-$15.
That was not a get rich quick scheme!
The niche had potential but the products were not right.
After a lot of learning and training (I signed up for Zach Crawfords Secret Affiliate Marketing Hacks – Click for the Review) I eventually realized how to choose my niche and product.
This is now what I look out for when choosing a core product to promote (not necessarily all of them).
- High ticket items (larger commissions)
- Recurring commissions (monthly subscription)
- More importantly – I like to promote products that are good and I pay for myself
That’s my checklist to a good affiliate program to promote.
What Are High Ticket Affiliate Programs?
Simple.
Products or services that pay a significant commitment to the affiliate,
Understand, It is easier to sell 1 product that earns a $500 commission than it is to sell 500 products that earn a $1 commission.
Yes it’s a harder task to convince someone, as its a large amount of money. Yet, if the product is good enough and can really help people and improve their lives then maybe it’s not that hard after all?
I mentioned earlier that I promote a course on affiliate marketing (Secret Affiliate Marketing Hacks).
The reason I promote this course is two-fold.
- If you click on the link and buy it – I will make $500-$1000 (and you can too)
- I signed up for the product myself and I absolutely love it. It is a genuinely brilliant product and affiliate marketing training course. It can literally change lives if you follow what Zach teaches and put the EFFORT in.
There you go. I do believe in honesty and openness when it comes to affiliate marketing – I never promote products I don’t believe in and would spend my own money on.
But wait… Is that example providing a recurring affiliate commission?
No.
Why Choose a Recurring Commission Affiliate Program?
Not all affiliate programs are high ticket. Sure the ones that are can be the most lucrative but they can also be out of financial reach for your audience.
So you may need to analyse and look at what your audience needs and any products you can recommend that require a monthly payment.
Generally the best recurring commission affiliate programs are software subscriptions – where the end-users business requires the ongoing payment for that particular service.
This is often your best angle as an affiliate.
Find a software or monthly membership that your audience can use, then promote the benefits and opportunity of that software.
This all depends on your niche but for example sake, let’s pretend you are a Mom Blogger.
You create content and talk about your daily life and hopefully one day how blogging has enabled you to quit work and be in charge of your own time and fortune.
But how?
How did you go from working a full time job to now spending as much time together as you want as a family?
This is where you tell your story.
How to Market Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs?
People will resonate with you and learn to trust you – if you are providing value and helpful information. Help people solve problems and ease their pains.
Let’s take mom bloggers as an example…..
Speak out through your blog posts to other mom’s. Desperate not to go back to work after maternity, to the career that once made their heart beat with adrenaline every day as they rose through the corporate ladder.
Yet that musky meeting room now seems a million miles to how they want to spend their Tuesday afternoon.
Tell those wannabe mom bloggers… “How I started my Blog” or “How I used Sales Funnels to Grow My Blog x100”.
This example isn’t meant to be patronizing. It’s my own real life experience.
The reason you are reading this now is that when we had children our lives changed. I am trying to do everything in my power to allow a better work / life balance for my family.
That is why I myself choose recurring commission affiliate programs as well as high ticket affiliate programs.
Recurring programs are exactly what they sound like. A repeated commission for as long as the membership is valid.
Let’s look at some of the best ones for people getting started with their own online business.
What Are The Best Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs [2020]
Email Service Providers
Anyone building an online business should hopefully appreciate the power of the email list.
Many companies will sell at a loss or break-even just to get people on that email list. Why?
To sell to them again down the line.
The barrier has been broken with the first sale so the second will be easier.
Email Service Providers enable companies to build an email list, create email sequences, analyse statistics around email marketing campaigns, and more.
I find that most people I know will choose an Email Service Provider and stick with them – deeming it to difficult to move (it generally isn’t). So although the commission may not be high, it can be regular.
This is one of the best products for recurring commissions so I am going to hit you with 3 of them 🙂
✅ Aweber – This is who I use & recommend for my email marketing – 30% recurring commission affiliate program
✅ Convertkit – 30% recurring commission
✅ GetResponse – 33% recurring commission
Watch this video if you want to know more about the importance of list building:
Landing Page & Funnel Builder
There are numerous funnel builders out there, continually pushing each other to improve their offering.
A funnel is an automated web page that guides a lead into a customer in the most streamlined and effective way.
It is like a web page but better. Usually much more simplified and direct on what it is trying to achieve.
A single focused outcome – buy the product, join the list, watch the webinar.
Many businesses can benefit from sales funnels. If you need leads then you can use a funnel!
Bloggers, coaches, consultants, ecommerce, small business, affiliate marketers, personal trainers, almost anyone.
Funnel builders such as Clickfunnels (One of the core products I promote) are excellent for affiliate marketers and one of the few that tick all boxes. They offer high ticket AND recurring commissions and almost everything they do is BRILLIANT.
Kartra is the feature rich alternative to ClickFunnels that is attracting many of my marketing peers.
✅ Clickfunnels – 30-40% recurring commission affiliate program
✅ GrooveFunnels – The new kid on the block. I actually signed up for a lifetime deal with Groove this week (Sept 2020) and made a $560 sale within 24 hours. They aren’t as established as Clickfunnels but they have big intentions to overpower the market leaders and right now you can get a FREE account and promote at 20% commission immediately, 40% if you buy the lifetime deal
Shopify
Shopify is a platform where you can easily create your own eCommerce store online. Design your store, add your products, find your customers. May not be quite as simple as that but many people are creating additional income streams using drop shipping via Shopify stores.
If you can prove this works to your own audience then you can get recurring commissions from Shopify for signing other store owners up.
✅ Shopify – 20% recurring commission
Semrush
This is a Digital Marketing super tool. It has many feature to help marketers grow their websites and online businesses. Tools & analytics capabilities for SEO, Paid Ads, Social Media & More.
✅ Semrush – 40% recurring commission
Learning Management System (LMS)
These two options are leading LMS providers. What does that mean?
You can create and sell your own digital courses. You don’t have to be a career trained teacher, you can use these platforms to share your own expertise with the world.
Create a course on dog training, setup your own membership site on Etsy selling, and more. Whatever your passionate about and think you can help others with. These platforms give you the tools to get started.
✅ Teachable – 30% recurring commission affiliate program
✅ Thinkific – 20% recurring commission
Tubebuddy
It isn’t a huge earner but for anyone looking to create their own YouTube channel then TubeBuddy is a brilliant tool. It is a plugin that delivers tonnes of useful information and analytics around your YouTube channel.
Keyword analysis that can be used to create tags, descriptions, titles and even help shape the future of your content planning. The free option is pretty good too but if you want to promote those advanced features then set your channel up, use the features, and tell others why they should too!
✅ Tubebuddy – 50% recurring commission
Thrive Themes
I love WordPress. Yes, that is perhaps the geekiest thing that could come out of a persons mouth (or thoughts, as i am typing this..). Its true though, WordPress is a great way of creating your online presence through a blog or website.
When you setup a WordPress site you install a theme. WordPress itself is the bricks and mortar house whereas the theme is the decoration and contents of that home, the hardwood flooring and the fitted kitchen with all the nice features.
Thrive themes is one of the strongest WordPress themes you can choose, it is jam packed with tonnes of features and add ons that are designed for marketers, with the aim of converting leads to customers.
✅ Thrive Themes – 25% recurring commission
Tailwind
If you are looking to use Pinterest as your main social platform for your digital business then Tailwind could be the perfect companion.
Pinterest suits visual niches and products and is used by affiliates in many industries but especially Home Decor, Arts & crafts, Travel.
Tailwind is an app that helps schedule, analyse, and create engaging posts on both Pinterest and Instagram. Its a solution to help you scale faster and more efficiently. Document your journey getting started as a Pinterest newbie and show everyone how Talwind is helping you hit your goals and build your business.
✅ Tailwind – 15% recurring commission
READ MORE: Is this the biggest affiliate opportunity on the market right now?
Pixpa
Pixpa is an all-in-one platform aimed at photographers, artists and designers. It’s a creators dream, allowing them to showcase and sell their work via client galleries and online stores.
They tick the boxes:
- Great product – [tick]
- Good commission rates of 50% – [tick]
- Serves a purpose to an audience (Photographers and creators) – [tick]
It’s a solid affiliate product that pays out 50% monthly for the first year, so let’s say you sign up 10 people to Pixpa. All of them wedding photographers who want the business package at $24pm, and $288 a year.
That would earn you $1,440 for just 10 signups.
Once you realise you can do it once then you will have that necessary belief and the right processes then who knows what you can achieve.
You could say it’s the perfect affiliate product for photographers.
One that you could easily promote by showing people how to use it, as well as creating content that helps resolve the pain points of this very audience.
✅ Pixpa – 50% recurring commission affiliate program for photographers
Summary: Why You Should Promote Recurring Commission Affiliate Products
Affiliate Marketing is a balancing act. I have learnt that focus is key.
Choose your niche.
Choose your platform.
Choose your core product.
More importantly – create content that helps people.
I will always try and promote high ticket affiliate programs (only good products!) however there is a place for recurring commission affiliate programs too.
Take the small wins and promote products that can really help larger numbers of people. Show them how their businesses can grow, their pain points eased, their lives improved.
Maybe look at reinvesting that regular repeat income to pay for your own subscriptions and services – reinvesting back into yourself and your business.
Thanks for checking out my 13 Best Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs. If you have any great programs not listed here then let me know in the comments.