The Best Affiliate Networks for UK Bloggers

Affiliate marketing is a great money-making opportunity. Affiliates can generate passive income through commission and scale their earnings without hiring extra help.

Research shows that 81% of brands rely on affiliate programs to grow their sales and boost brand reputation. For advertisers and marketers, affiliate marketing generates 15% to 30% of sales.

In this guide, we share our knowledge about affiliate marketing and take you through the best affiliate networks for UK bloggers.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing where affiliates earn a commission by promoting products. It’s also a type of marketing where companies reward affiliates for introducing a new customer.

As a popular tactic for driving sales, it generates revenue for companies and affiliates. Research shows that affiliate marketing generates 16% of all online orders. This is par with online orders driven by paid searches and email marketing.

How Do Bloggers Make Money From Affiliate Marketing?

In affiliate marketing an affiliate searches for a product they enjoy. Let’s assume you love talking about weight loss. After research, you learn that there is an audience that exists for the weight loss niche.

You will head to an affiliate network like Amazon Associates or ClickBank. Here, you will sign up for a free account, browse the available weight loss products and select products to promote. Once you select products to promote, create your blog. You can use services like Weebly, Squarespace or Wix. Alternatively, you can self-host a WordPress blog.

You need to create content for your blog. Start creating original, engaging, informative and evergreen content. If stuck, do a Google search. There are tons of articles on weight loss online. Just remember not to copy the content.

To build traffic, you can guest blog or use social media to link back to your blog. Once you build your traffic, include your affiliate links in your content. Every time your subscribes click the affiliate link and buy the product(s), you earn a piece of the profit.

Companies usually track sales via affiliate links from one blog to another. Remember, include social share buttons within each post, write in SEO friendly fashion, use videos and images.

How Much Money Can You Make With Affiliate Marketing?

Beginners can make up to £100, but you can earn more than £5,000 a month once you become a pro. According to a 2016 survey, 9% of publishers generated more than £50,000 in affiliate income. Over 65% said they were making between 5% and 20% of the annual revenue from affiliate marketing.

One of the biggest benefits of affiliate marketing is that you can earn more revenue on autopilot. This is true once your blog builds a significant flow of traffic. There are some downsides. For example, the company may change its affiliate program’s terms. If this happens, your revenue will get affected.

You also have to contend with competition from other affiliates promoting similar products. Becoming an affiliate for the wrong network can affect your income too. The good news is we researched and found for you the best affiliate programmes for UK Bloggers.

What Affiliate Networks Can Bloggers Join in the UK?

Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is one of the largest affiliate marketing programs worldwide. With millions of products available on Amazon, affiliates can earn a lot of money in commission from sales. Research reveals that 90% of UK shoppers use Amazon and 40% subscribe to Amazon Prime.

Most UK shoppers visit Amazon at least once a month. This underlines the retail dominance of Amazon. Its core categories include DVDs, books, video games, electronics, clothes, toys and much more.

As an Amazon Associates member, you can earn a commission from qualifying purchases through the traffic you drive to Amazon. The commission differs based on the product category.

To earn from qualifying purchases, join thousands of bloggers currently using Amazon Associates. To sign up, visit the Amazon Associates website and click “Create Your Amazon Account” Fill in the following details….

• Name
• Email
• Password

Submit the form, and that’s it. By doing so, you agree to Amazon’s Conditions of Use and & Sale. Before closing the sign-up page, take a few minutes to read the Privacy Notice, Cookies Notices and Internet-Based Ads.

As a member, you can browse the millions of products available on Amazon and share with your audience. Amazon Associates offers customised linking tools for bloggers and social media influencers. From qualifying purchases, you can earn up to 12% in commissions.

Pros

• Large product catalogue
• Easy to use
• Easy to sign up

Cons

• Low commissions

AWIN

AWIN is a global affiliate marketing network with over 16,500 advertisers and 230,000 contributing publishers. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, AWIN generated more than $150 million in 2019.

AWIN’s affiliate network connects sellers to over 211,000 active affiliate partners worldwide. As a service designed for emerging businesses, AWIN partners with the following global brands:

• Quidco
• Travelodge
• Boohoo
• Global Savings Group
• Reiss
• Aviva
• British Gas and many more

Joining AWIN as an affiliate is easy. Visit AWIN and enter the following details.”

• Company Name
• Tax Residency
• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Password

Complete the registration process. Once verified, you can apply to join individual advertiser programmes. You ought to know that AWIN accepts affiliates without a website. If you prefer promoting products on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, you can join the network.

AWIN will request a deposit of £5 upon joining the network. This is to verify your bank account details. It also minimises the risk of unethical activity. Once verified, the money gets refunded to your account after tracking your first sale.

Pros

• Lots of advertisers
• Affiliates can earn up to 50% in commission
• User friendly

Cons

• Advertisers are selective

CJ Affiliate

Founded in 1998 in Santa Barbara, California, CJ Affiliate is one of the most popular affiliate networks. It has 15 offices worldwide and over 3000 merchants. If you ever wanted to promote products from big brands such as Barnes & Noble, IHG, or Overstock, CJ Affiliate is your best affiliate network.

It features Product Widgets that you can embed on your blog. This allows you to feature multiple products from different advertisers as collages, slideshow, or grids on your blog. CJ Affiliate also offers deep link automation. It automatically monetises links leading to a CJ Affiliate advertiser domain.

Sign up as a CJ Publisher by filling in the following details:

• Email
• Password

Select language and country of residence. Click “Verify Email” to proceed to the next step. CJ Affiliate verifies your emails to keep the quality of the network high. Publishers must be 18 years old and over. They should own a website before signing up as a CJ Publisher.

A word of caution. If you’ve a new blog with little traffic, your publisher account may get deactivated within the first 6 months for failing to get results.

Pros

• Provides real-time reporting
• Star publishers receive royal treatment
• It’s free to join

Cons

• Lengthy sign-up process

ShareASale

ShareASale is another popular affiliate network with a longstanding reputation. Founded in 2000, ShareASale has a network connecting over 211,000+ affiliate partners worldwide.

As part of AWIN, affiliates have access to a variety of tools such as:

• Recruitment tool
• Influencer activation
• Custom short links
• Conversion lines tools and others.

Besides the tools, ShareASale also features an extensive catalogue of products from over 15,200+ merchants. They include Reebok, Etsy, Sun Basket, Cricut, Deluxe and more.

Getting started as a ShareASale affiliate is easy. Sign up on ShareASale by filling in the following details:

• Username
• Password
• Country

Complete the registration process, browse the available products. Select products, promote them and start making money. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 50% in commission from qualifying sales.

Pros

• Easy to use
• User-friendly dashboard
• Easy to sign up

Cons

• Pay-out threshold is difficult to reach

ClickBank

ClickBank is a global affiliate marketplace with more than 6 million clients worldwide. Founded in 1998 and privately held, it’s the 87th largest Internet retailer in North America. ClickBank has 100,000+ digital marketers and is available in over 200 countries.

It offers 46,000+ individual products to its affiliate marketers to promote. They include…

• Games
• Health and fitness
• Home and garden
• Parenting and families
• Arts and entertainment

As a global leader in digital products, ClickBank has higher commission rates.

If you’re new to affiliate marketing or want to improve your tactics, ClickBank runs the ClickBank University. Here, you can learn about affiliate marketing. To join Clickbank, sign up for a free account. All you need to do is fill in your name, phone number, email and password.

As a Clickbank affiliate member, you can grow your blog without growing the work.

Pros

• Offers thousands of products
• Higher commission rates
• Free registration

Cons

• Offers more digital products than physical products

JVZOO

JVZOO is a relative newcomer in the affiliate marketing business. Founded in 2011, it’s 100% free to use for affiliates. The affiliate network has over 800,000+ active affiliates with a searchable marketplace. Affiliates can promote products via blogs, email list, PPC and social media channels. Every time an affiliate makes a sale, the affiliate commission is instantly deposited in the affiliate’s JVZOO account.

JVZOO offers pay-outs via Payoneer or direct bank transfers. It also supports PayPal, Stripe, Payment Rails and JVZOO Pay. Besides instant payouts, affiliates will receive sale notifications instantly. The affiliate network also offers automatic bonus delivery.

The system allows you to upload a bonus product that’s automatically delivered with the purchased product. They also offer 2 tier affiliate commissions. This will enable you to recruit affiliates and earn a commission from the affiliate’s sales.

To get started, register for a free JVZOO account by filling in the following details – name, email and password.

Pros

• Registration is free
• Affiliates earn revenue from recruited affiliates
• Has an extensive product range

Cons

• Products are digital

Tradedoubler

Tradedoubler is an affiliate marketing platform founded in 1999. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Tradedoubler has become one of the first certified partners of TikTok Europe. It can now support its advertisers and affiliates to launch and run TikTok marketing campaigns in over 23 countries. By doing so, brands create awareness about their products while affiliates engage with customers and make more sales.

The company acquired the app install business of Pocket Media. It gained additional technical talent, accelerating its expansion. Today, Tradedoubler has 2000+ advertisers, 180,000+ active publishers and generated 1.6 billion+ in revenue.

Getting started as an affiliate on Tradedoubler is easy. Just create your free affiliate account and access Europe’s biggest online marketing platform. Also, you’ll access the biggest and most popular brands in Europe.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Easy to sign up

Cons

• You need to apply to different advertisers

eBay Partner Network

Earn money by promoting sales on eBay Partner Network. As a global eCommerce leader, eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers worldwide. It empowers them and creates tons of opportunities. As an eBay Partner Network member, you can earn for the traffic you drive to a specific product.

You can also earn from traffic that generates a sale. By funnelling users to high converting landing pages on eBay, you can earn more money. The eBay Partner Network dashboard has intuitive tools that enable you to track, analyse and optimise your traffic.

eBay Partner Network is more than just a portal. It offers useful tools such as Smart Share, a Chrome toolbar that allows users to create personalised links. It also offers a Creative Gallery that allows you to select various promotional banners to attract more visitors.

To earn money with eBay Partner Network, create an account or continue with Google, Facebook or Apple.

Pros

• Has an extensive range of products
• Easy to use
• You can integrate your mobile, web and social platforms

Cons

• A low commission rate of 1 to 5%

Google Adsense

Google Adsense is more of an advertising solution than an affiliate network. Unlike networks that require you to promote products, Google Adsense monetises your blog. It serves text, video, images and interactive media ads targeted to the site, blog content, and audience.

Google then pays you for the ads displayed on your blog or site based on user clicks or ad impressions. The program also gives you automatic access to several advertisers which means more relevant ads for your online content.

Released in 2003, Google Adsense is a cross-platform app that automatically selects the ads that will appear on your blog pages. To become a Google Adsense member…

• Visit https://www.google.com/adsense/start
• Click get started
• Enter your email address
• Enter your website URL
• Click save and continue.

Sign in with your email address, select your country, review and accept Google Adsense then click “Create Account.”

Pros

• It’s free
• Saves time and money
• Allows you to place ads on multiple sites

Cons

• You’ll only get paid after earning $100 or more

Skimlinks

Like Google Adsense, Skimlinks is a content monetisation program for bloggers and website owners. Launched in 2007, its technology monetises product links automatically in commerce-related content.

Skimlinks has over 60,000 publishers. It partners with 50 other affiliate networks including AWIN, Rakuten Advertising and CJ. This gives you access to more than 48,500 affiliate programs in one place. Skimlinks offers an all in one analytics suite. The Skimlinks Publisher Hub gives you access to a wide range of reports.

They include Performance by merchant, Revenue Source and Real-time clicks. By analysing the reports, you can have a deeper understanding of the type of content that performs best with the target audience. By using these insights, they can generate more revenue.

To sign up for a Skimlinks affiliates account, fill in your name, email, password, and you’re good to go. In less than five minutes, you can go live on Skimlinks.

Pros

• Registration is free
• Excellent reporting options
• User-Friendly interface

Cons

• Takes 25% cut of what you earn

Paidonresults

Paidonresults is a performance-based affiliate network. Founded in 2002, it’s a privately held company with a tracking reliability second to none. As a result, they’ve built a high level of trust with partners in the UK.

Some of the merchants they partnered with include Approved Food, Belle Lingerie, Bodykind, Cover Cloud, DB3 Online and DJM Music. Registration is free. To join Paidonresults…

• Fill in your name, address, city, region, postcode, country, phone and email.
• Select a password, check that you agree with Paidonresults terms plus the rest of the boxes.
• Click ‘I Agree to the terms for Paid On Results, Sign Me Up’ and that’s it.

You can start promoting products from global and UK brands such as SkiWorld, CBC, Gardentrends, etc.

Pros

• Excellent support
• User-Friendly control panel
• Tracks sales even when cookies are switched off

Cons

• No conversion metrics offered

Affiliate Future

Affiliate Future is one of the UK’s #1 content-based affiliate networks. It offers affiliates access to its network of 600+ merchants from high street brands and tools as an effective marketing solution. Founded in 1999, making money with Affiliate Future could not be simpler.

The Affiliate Future dashboard provides access to top of the line information. This helps you keep track of your affiliate links and revenue growth. They have a dedicated team that ensures affiliates can optimise revenue from their blogs and websites.

Payment is available twice a month. To get started, sign up as an Affiliate Future member. Select publisher type, verify you’re not a robot, select applicable sectors and click “Submit.”

Pros

• Huge range of merchants
• Provides training to affiliates
• Guaranteed commission payments

Cons

• The interface is not user friendly

Final Thoughts…

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to monetise your blog or website. While you can make a lot of money, we caution that you don’t sign up for all the affiliate marketing networks above. Start with two affiliate platforms to find out the products they offer and pay-outs.

By limiting yourself, you’ll not spread your traffic too thin, making it difficult for you to achieve the pay-out threshold. Other than that, affiliate marketing can help you make money while you sleep.