Many people who make videos for a living, know the power of YouTube. It’s a great place to showcase your brand and build a loyal audience. Even without your own products, there are plenty of opportunities to capitalize through affiliate marketing. That’s why I’ve come up with these 6 affiliate programs for YouTubers plus some bonus keywords for you.
Want to know what they are? Read on.
1 – Amazon Marketplace (Gadgets)
Undoubtedly the most popular choice, Amazon is the gateway to every imaginable product on earth. So it kind of fits into many niches and when it comes to video production, the varieties are just massive. Electronic gadget usually ranged between mid to higher price tags so the earnings is actually more even at the same commission level.
Keywords Ideas;
- what is the best microphone for recording
- best digital camera for film-making
- What is the best lighting for YouTube videos
- cell phone tripod with remote
- best selfie stick for iPhone
There are plenty of product reviews to support your choice and if customers buy any additional products from the following departments in the same sales order, you’ll get paid according to their advertising fees as well.
Before joining the Amazon associate program, make sure you have already set up an affiliate website that is bringing in some traffic. Without one, the application will not be approved and without a substantial traffic, there’s a lesser chance to make a sale within 180 days before Amazon closes your account.
In terms of affiliate links, you can actually publish them in the description area below the video, but just don’t cloak it. It would also be nice to have an affiliate disclosure right at the end to maintain your transparency.
In cases whereby you come from a state that doesn’t support the program or simply have a preference for other gadget stores or brands, the alternative would be to look at;
- Newegg – 2.5 % commission per sale.
- Henry’s – 2% per sale, Canada only, via Pepperjam Network
- itunes – 7% per sale, 24 hours cookie, sign up through the official site.
In many cases, people just stop here meaning that, they are quite comfortable being an Amazon affiliate and what it offers. However, for serious Youtubers whose niches encompass more topics to talk about, there’s a need to be affiliated with other programs as well.
And here’s where we are getting into something more advanced.
2 – Adobe Creative Cloud (Editing Software)
While there are many apps that can create videos for free, they can’t beat what editing software has to offer. That’s where Adobe Creative Cloud comes in, a multimedia suite that provides tools for creativity, design and marketing. Individuals to institutions can utilize their membership to access professional apps, cloud service and stock photos to produce their projects.
Just like electronics, software is also lucrative to promote if you are well-versed in this area. Adobe offers affiliate 8.3% commission for yearly subscription or any single purchase from the Adobe Stock. The application is through direct sign up on their site.
Keywords Ideas;
- best software for video and photo editing
- how to put a background for a video
- adobe premiere pro review
- what is the best software to make music
- virtual tour software for real estate
Having said that, they aren’t the only one in the market. Other competitors that you can look at are;
- Camtasia – 15% commission per sale, 45 day cookie, sign up via Impact Radius.
- Magix – 30% per sale, 30 day cookie, sign up via Commission Junction.
- Movavi – Commission starts at 40%, direct sign up through the site.
3 – Audiojungle (Music)
One of the main components for creating good videos is to have good background musics and honestly, this can be a bit difficult to find, especially if you don’t want to get caught up with copyright infringement. The good news is, YouTube has a large collection of musics in their audio library that can easily be downloaded.
However, if you are looking for something more professional (but not as expensive as Adobe), Audiojungle has a huge collection to choose from. It’s essentially a marketplace that sells royalty free audio tracks. Their affiliate program runs under Evanto Market and offers 30% in sales commission. The application is through signing directly on their site.
Keyword Ideas:
- how to put music into a video
- legal music download sites
- how to add special effects to a video
- audiojungle free download pack
- how to get free music for YouTube videos
Their direct competitor is Epidemic Sound that also comes with an affiliate program, but the details aren’t readily disclosed unless you sign up.
5 – Udemy (Skill Learning)
The big learning curve in video creation has a lot to do with acquiring new skills. People from the beginner, intermediate or advanced level is always searching for different things. So, if you feel you’ve reached a stage in YouTube whereby you can impart the knowledge, then it’s also time to monetize from it through teaching platforms such as Udemy.
There are a few ways to go about this. You can either create and sell a course on Udemy or, refer someone to a helpful course and earn 20% in per sale, within 7 day referral period. The program sign up is through Rakuten Linkshare. “Learning keywords” are some of the most targeted queries and people at this age are very willing to pay and learn something new online.
Keyword Ideas;
- how to create YouTube channel art for free
- how to do live streaming on YouTube
- how to increase YouTube subscribers hack
- YouTube channel ideas for beginners
- how to make a viral video on YouTube
If you like to explore other options, there’s also Skillshare which is a slightly smaller marketplace for creative people to customize their own courses. You’ll earn $10 for every new paying member that you refer.
6 – Wealthy Affiliate (Web Hosting and Traffic)
While there are many YouTubers that have great videos, a large population doesn’t really focus on creating a strong online presence with a website. In other words, their sites are either non-optimized from various aspects or non-existence at all. And that’s a shame, especially when you start gaining subscribers because you can leverage from that traffic to cross promote to a personal website.
A website can build you an affiliate store, help create an email list or even sell your own merchandise – all of which can’t be done (yet) on YouTube. Imagine all the opportunities that you are missing out.
Keyword Ideas;
- how to make a website for your YouTube channel
- how to rank YouTube videos on the first page of google
- how to do affiliate marketing with YouTube
- how to increase organic traffic for your website
- most searched keywords on YouTube
That’s where Wealthy Affiliate (WA) comes in, a teaching and hosting program that is designed specifically for affiliate marketers to scale their online business through the search engines (not just YouTube). From within, one can expect to gain;
- Secured, fast and reliable WordPress hosting, up to 25 domains.
- Easy domain-to-WordPress setup with just a few clicks.
- Jaaxy keyword tool that churns out long-tail-low-competition keywords within seconds.
- Action-based tutorials to help establish you as a brand/authority in your niche.
- Weekly live webinars that cover all the latest information about affiliate/online marketing. If you’ve been wondering how to improve traffic to your videos or how to do advertising, these topics are available in the archive too.
- On top of that, you also get to rub shoulders with a robust community of affiliates, ranging from newbies, niche bloggers, to some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the industry 🙂
WA offers two types of membership; the free (forever) Starter and the paid Premium (monthly and yearly). The commission rate is 48% for every Premium referral with a cookie length that last for life.
Take Your Videos to The Next Level
For those who have just started creating their own videos, I hope you realize by now that there are other choices besides affiliating with Amazon. For those who are searching for additional affiliate programs as YouTubers, I hope you’ve discovered some gems in this list.
It certainly isn’t the most comprehensive and I definitely look into adding more down the road. So if you guys know of a product or company that can benefit video marketers, or perhaps something that you create on your own, just let me know and I’ll add to the list.
With this valuable information in hand, now is the time to shoot a new video, refurbished the old ones and tackle a new set of audience and opportunities. It is going to be very exciting and I look forward to your success in the online space.
If you like to learn more about the ins and outs of affiliate marketing, check out my recommended training platform here.
Want to add chime in some opinions about this topic? Feel free to leave your comment in the space below.
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As a newbie in online business, I don’t really know much about affiliate marketing thus far. So I am learning a lot from this write up about YouTube and ways to cash in from it. I love the way you explained Udemy and I will study more on that. The Amazon marketplace is what I am working on right now and I know I will master it pretty soon. This post has been educative. Thanks you so much.
Hi Cathy. I really must thank you for this great list of affiliate programs! And the keyword giveaway has been very generous on your part.
I really think Amazon is the type of affiliate program that can be used to monetize any video, because of their vast quantity of products. And recommending the use of Udemy is a good start. Yeah, there is a point where we may start to consider create our own training, but that will require a lot of push and planning.
It’s amazing how popular YouTube is and how successful some people have become because of it. This list of affiliate programs for YouTubers will come in handy for those pursuing this route of online monetization. Personally, I had not really thought beyond building a website for affiliate marketing. Now I see how one can incorporate the strategies you mentioned into YouTube video marketing as well.
I actually promote Amazon’s products from my website as well as YouTube channel. There are high chances of people buying your products when you own them as they start trusting you better. I’m actually planning to do the same with Wealthy Affiliate because its one of the best affiliate marketing training websites in the world which is 100% legit.
If I want to promote Wealthy Affiliate, can I past my affiliate link in the description of that video? Will this work?
Yes, you can place your affiliate link on the video description, but just don’t make it look like a spam. Alternatively, you can also point viewers to your review page (a website URL) so that they can get more information before choosing to sign up. Hope this helps.
I’m really interested in the Amazon Affiliate angle with YouTube, but through experience, I need to know how the two are being linked.
Why?
Well over the years, I’ve had two suspensions from Amazon, for reasons they never really explained – their ‘small print’ is very, very intense and I wonder what they feel about YouTubers promoting their products? Have you heard of any problems between the two being affiliated?
I actually see a lot of affiliates promoting Amazon products and include affiliate links inside the video description area. It didn’t seem like they are getting suspended, at least not to my knowledge. In regards to your troubles with Amazon, maybe this information could shed some light on the matter.
I do hope you can find a solution soon. It sucks when you don’t even know what’s going on.
Thank you for sharing a wealth of knowledge about affiliate programs other than Amazon. I live in Colorado so I’m not allowed to be part of their associates.
Adobe Creative Cloud looks real exciting to create cool, interesting and informative videos. Audiojungle also seems like a great resource for newbies making their first YouTube videos, so I will keep this handy.
I am such a newbie though, this option is down the road for me. I will be starting with free tools to create my first YouTube videos, but looking at signing up with ACC when I’m ready.
This is a comprehensive list of opportunities for YouTuber affiliates. Thanks so much for putting it together.
I am currently an Amazon Associate and I’ve recently watched the YouTube training at Wealthy Affiliate. I am only now starting to see how I can apply this to my affiliate efforts.
Your post will go in my toolbox for resources for this aspect of marketing. Bookmarked!