If you’ve ever encountered affiliate links online (which you very likely have, even if you didn’t notice), you’ve probably wondered, how much do affiliate links pay?
And we know that it’s a very popular question because it’s one that we get asked all of the time by new starters here at Commission Academy.
In fact, we get asked it so many times that we decided to put this entire blog post together to uncover how much affiliate links pay, whether or not affiliate links pay per click & more.
So if you’ve been wondering the same thing, you can rest assured you’ve landed in the right place to find out the answer. First, though, let’s cover a common misconception…
Do Affiliate Links Pay Per Click?
Despite what many people think, affiliate links don’t pay per click. This means that it doesn’t matter how many times you click on a link, the affiliate who published it won’t earn any money.
Instead, affiliate marketing is commission based. So in order for the affiliate to earn money from his/her links, you’d need to actually click on them & buy something.
But it’s also worth pointing out that you don’t necessarily have to buy something right there & then in order for the affiliate to earn money.
You see, affiliate links typically leverage something known as a cookies & affiliate programs will set something known as cookie durations.
So when you click on an affiliate link, a cookie will be set on your device & it will expire in a set period of time. The cookie duration is the difference between the time it is set & the time it is expires.
Providing you make your purchase within the cookie duration window (whilst the cookie is still active), the affiliate will get paid a commission.
Pretty cool, right?
This means that even if you click on an affiliate link today but don’t end up making a purchase until 30 days time, the affiliate who’s link you clicked could still get paid a commission for that sale.
That’s why we believe affiliate marketing is the best business model for making money online.
So now that you understand how affiliate links work, let’s take a look at how much they actually pay.
How Much Do Affiliate Links Pay?
Affiliate links don’t pay a set amount per click or per sale, instead they pay commissions & this vary drastically depending on the product or service being sold.
The main factor that determines commission rate that’s paid out to affiliates is whether the product or service being sold is physical or digital.
- Phyiscal products typically pay out anywhere from 5% all the way up to around 30%.
- Digital products, on the other hand, typically pay higher commissions of around 50% to 90%.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better to promote digital products. After all, a high commission rate doesn’t mean higher earnings.
And the reason for that is because you also have to factor in something known as conversion rate.
This is the percentage of people that click on your links & then actually proceed to make a purchase.
For example, if you had a $100 digital product that paid 80% commissions & you got 100 clicks with a 1% conversion rate, you would generate 1 sale equaling an $80 payout.
However, if you had a $100 physical product that paid 25% commissions & you got 100 clicks with a 10% conversion rate, you would generate 10 sales equaling a $250 payout.
So digital products are not necessarily always better. The best product is the one that has both a good conversion rate and a good commission rate.
Let’s take a look at a real world example, from the Amazon Associates program:
How Much Do Amazon Affiliate Links Pay?
To give you a real example of how much affiliate links pay, we’ll use Amazon’s affiliate commission rates.
Before I go ahead with the example though, it’s worth pointing out that the commission rates for Amazon’s affiliate program are substantially lower than most other affiliate programs. However, their epicly-high conversion rate typically makes up for it & allows you to still make good money.
So, here’s a breakdown of Amazon’s commission rates:
As you can see, you will earn 8% commissions for pet products. This means that if you promote a $10 dog toy, you’ll earn $0.80.
And whilst admittedly, that may not seem a lot at first glance, imagine 1,000 people are visiting your website & buying those every day.
That would see you generating a whopping $800 in affiliate commissions, just from 1 product alone.
Do that consistently & you’d be on your way to becoming an affiliate marketing millionaire in under 4 years… Just from promoting mere $10 products.
Now, imagine those 1,000 people were buying a $100 product via your affiliate link every single day & that you were still getting 8% commissions.
This time, you’d be earning $8,000 per day! That’s almost $3 million per year.
So, you can likely now see why we’re so hyped towards helping people get started with affiliate marketing.
The opportunities with it are amazing & with the help of our free affiliate marketing training, you can get started & begin earning even if you’re brand new.
But before we talk more about getting started, let’s cover some of the other common questions.
Do Affiliate Links Expire?
This is the other awesome thing about affiliate marketing. Affiliate links never expire, meaning you could still earn today from affiliate links that you shared 10 (or more) years ago.
And many people (including myself) do.
I have affiliate links that were first published over 10 years ago still generating me commissions & there are many, many affiliates who are in the same boat.
The only time an affiliate link will expire is if the company decides to move their program to a different domain or host, or set up a new structure for their affiliate URLs.
However, if you’re smart & use link shorteners when you publish your affiliate links then you can simply go in & update your affiliate links in the shortener tool if ever they get changed or “expire” & they’ll continue to work as normal.
We actually wrote an entire blog post about whether or not Amazon affiliate links expire & how long they last which is worth checking out too.
Which Affiliate Program Pays The Most?
There isn’t a specific affiliate program that pays more than others. As mentioned throughout this page, finding the highest-paying affiliate program is about finding a program that offers a combination of a high conversion rate and high commission rates.
And the program that boasts the highest conversion rate will differ depending on your chosen affiliate niche & your traffic generation methods, etc.
To help you out though, we have put together some lists of great affiliate programs, such as:
- Best $100 Commission Affiliate Programs
- Best Instant Payout Affiliate Programs
- Best Digital Product Affiliate Programs
Again though, it will be a case of testing each individual affiliate program with your traffic to see what works best & what converts the highest.
Another good affiliate program to get started with is the Amazon affiliate program as, even though they offer low commission rates, their conversion rates are generally incredible.
The reason for that is because most people already have their card details saved at Amazon meaning they’ll have 1-click purchase enabled, reducing any friction from the sale.
And you can still earn big on Amazon even with the low commission rate because there are actually several high ticket products on Amazon available to promote.
P.S. If you don’t know what high ticket means, we explain it in more detail here.
The Bottom Line
After reading this post, you’ll likely now have a better understanding of how affiliate links work & how much you can earn through them.
As mentioned, affiliate links do not pay per click but instead, they enable you to earn commissions from any successful sales you manage to generate.
Those sales could be on physical products or services, or alternatively, they could be on digital ones.
The amount you earn per sale depends on the affiliate program that you join & the amount you earn overall depends on your conversion rate.
Now, if you’d like to get started earning from affiliate links for yourself, why not check out our free step-by-step affiliate marketing course?
In it, you’ll learn how to take any passion or interest & turn it into a thriving online business.
So if you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up for our free training before you leave.
And of course, if you happen to have any further question r comments, don’t hesitate to leave them below.
