Key takeaway
Start with Clickbank or Amazon Associates for their simple sign-up and proven product pools; hold off on private affiliate programs until you have at least 5 live blog posts and organic traffic, so you're not applying to 100 companies before a single post has readers.
Updated : Refreshed with a key takeaway summary and an FAQ section for clearer answers and AI-search visibility.
1. Clickbank
- High commission payout
- Large pool of digital products to choose from (saves you time from having to apply one by one)
- Many worthless products you should avoid promoting
- Top products are flooded by thousands of affiliates
2. Amazon
- Millions of products
- Reputable website (users know it’s legit)
- Commission low (because it’s a physical product)
3. MaxBounty
- Email submits – $1-2 per lead
- App installs
- Surveys – $1-5
- Sweepstakes (e.g. Win the new iPhone X )
- Pay per sale offers
- Don’t need sales to earn commission
- Good for large traffic source
- Low earnings per lead
- Restricted offers
FAQ
What is the difference between Clickbank, Amazon Associates, and MaxBounty?
Clickbank is for digital products (e-books, courses, memberships) and pays 50–80% commission; use CBGraph to find products by gravity score. Amazon Associates covers physical products at 1–10% commission but benefits from Amazon's trust and a 24-hour cookie. MaxBounty is a CPA network that pays $1–3 per lead action (email submit, sweepstakes entry) without requiring a sale — useful for high-traffic sources like Instagram bios or Facebook groups.
How do I find profitable products on Clickbank without promoting junk?
Use CBGraph (cbgraph.com/marketplace.php) and filter by category and gravity score. Gravity measures how many affiliates are currently earning commissions from a product — a score above 20–30 in your niche signals real demand. Avoid products with extremely high gravity (heavy competition) or very low gravity (no buyers). Under Business/Investing, a gravity of 43 is considered solid.
When should I apply to private affiliate programs?
Wait until you have at least 5 blog posts published and are starting to see organic traffic. Applying before you have a live website wastes time on approvals and link setup for posts nobody reads. Once a post gains traction, search '[your niche] affiliate program' on Google and apply directly to companies whose products genuinely fit that content — the traffic is already free from SEO, so you lose very little by adding links later.
