START YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Simply put, online affiliate programs enable other websites to promote your goods and services via the reach of the internet. In effect, an affiliate program is the most cost-effective form of advertising there is because affiliates only get paid commissions when they make a sale.

Here's how it works:  An affiliate program can either be a software platform that is integrated into your website, which you yourself can manage, or, it can be entirely managed by a third party with or without software integration. Either way, prospective affiliates apply to join your affiliate program so they can promote your products and earn commissions. As a merchant, you have the power to accept or deny affiliate applications, as well as set the percentage amount of the commissions, therefore ensuring you make a profit on every sale. The software or service that runs your affiliate program automatically generates unique affiliate identification links for each approved affiliate, thereby tracking when an affiliate sends traffic to your site and whether that traffic converts into a sale or not. When it does, the affiliate program will take note and credit a commission from that sale to that particular affiliate. When each affiliate has generated a minimum amount in commission sales, they are issued a check (either by you or your third-party affiliate program manager).

There are different types of affiliate programs, depending on your budget, needs and functionality of your website. If you are on a very tight budget, don't worry. There are very affordable options out there. You don't even have to put more work into it, and it's not that complicated. There are essentially three types of affiliate programs - Affiliate networks (hosted and managed), non-network  affiliate programs (hosted), and do-it-yourself software programs (non-hosted, non-managed).

AFFILIATE PROGRAM NETWORKS (Hosted and Managed)

LinkShare, Commission Junction (CJ) and Performics are probably the most recognizable affiliate programs on the Web these days. Catering to large companies with brand-name recognition, these affiliate programs have healthier costs, but also draw in a large number of affiliates. Initial deposits usually are no less than $3,000 while start up costs can get higher than $5,000. There are also annual maintenance costs and commission fees. If these numbers are too rich for your businesses blood, there are several other affiliate program networks that draw in thousands of affiliates and cost considerably less. Of these, ClickXchange, Shareasale and Leadhound are the closest thing to LinkShare, Performics and CJ without the healthier costs.

Based on price, hands-off functionality and the quality of merchants/affiliates, our top recommendations are:

FusionQuest,  Leadhound,  ShareaSale,  ClixGalore,  Affiliate Shop
 

FusionQuest is an ideal affiliate program network for small to mid-sized businesses. You can opt to join their network and have your affiliate program promoted to 51,500 plus affiliates in the FusionQuest affiliate network, or you can promote your program on your own. It makes sense to use FusionQuest's network because there is no extra charge and they only charge a 10% commission on affiliate commissions. That means if you pay a 10% commission to affiliates (which you have the freedom of setting yourself), the payout to the affiliate would be $1, and the payout to FusionQuest would be $0.10. FusionQuest handles all payments, making this a hands-off program. If an affiliate wants to join your affiliate program, but is not a member of FusionQuest, they will have to join FusionQuest first, who will then screen the affiliate. You still have the power or approving and declining applications, thus giving you full control over your affiliates. Fusion Quest integrates with all shopping carts and offers a free shopping cart for websites that do not have eCommerce set up. The cost to get started is either a one-time fee of $695 or a $295 setup fee and $24.95 per month thereafter. No installation is required.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit FusionQuest

A good example of a green website using FusionQuest is Annie's Organics (Annies.com)

Leadhound is a cost-effective affiliate program suitable for any website, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 1000 companies. Operating since 1999, Leadhound is now owned and operated by Outsmarted.com, which lists over 1.3 million products supplied by over 1,300 merchants. In addition to managing affiliate programs, Leadhound also licenses its affiliate program software for those merchants who want to manage their own programs. To have Leadhound setup and manage your affiliate program, it costs $500, with a $300 minimum escrow deposit used to payout affiliates (which Leadhound handles). (Leadhound also offers remotely hosted software which you can use to manage your own affiliate program for as little as $195 and $50 per month). What's unique about Leadhound is that it is compatible with PayPal merchants, there are no minimum monthly fees, nor are there minimum transaction requirements, as is the case with most other affiliate programs. They are also very selective of their affiliates. Leadhound charges a 30% commission on the affiliates commission (not on the amount of the sale), and handles all maintenance, fraud prevention and real-time statistic reporting for each merchant's affiliate program. Merchants interested in licensing their software can do so starting at $50 per month with a $195 licensing fee. Software demos are available on Leadhound's website.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Leadhound

ShareaSale is another large affiliate program network that is very selective of their affiliates. There are over 2,000 merchants signed up in the network, including clothing, food and health product merchants. You don't need any Web-technical skills whatsoever, and can have an affiliate program up and running in a matter of hours. There is a $350 Startup Fee, $100 minimum deposit to be used for paying affiliate commissions (Shareasale processes all payouts), and only a 20% commission laid on top of affiliate commissions. For example, if an affiliate earns a $1 commission from the merchant, Shareasale takes out an additional $0.20. There is a minimum monthly transaction amount of $25, but not until sixty days after the merchant opens a new account. Shareasale is one of the most affordable, high-quality affiliate program networks out there. One of their best features (for both affiliates and merchants) is that have a script generator that will allow affiliates to send you traffic to any page of your site. Shareasale handles all affiliate payouts, trafficking and real-time reporting. A hands-off program, all you have to do is set the amount of commission or flat-rate payout and approve or reject affiliates who apply to your affiliate program over time.

Good examples of a green websites using Shareasale is Wai Lana Yoga (wailana.com) and TheGreenLoop.com

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit ShareaSale

ClixGalore is a high-tier affiliate program network representing many well-branded clients like Time Life, CitiBank, FoxSports Shop and best of all - Shop Natural (eco-friendly super shop). ClixGalore offers fully managed merchant affiliate programs, and also gives merchants the choice of auto-approving or manually approving affiliates. Some of the features and services you have access to include daily and weekly affiliate recruitment service, dedicated program management, search promotion, program performance statistical reporting, complimentary shopping cart integration, and anti-fraud and geo-traffic filtering (allowing you to choose which countries your affiliate traffic comes from). Affiliates have access to website building tools which help to create professionally branded web pages for promoting your products. There are different levels of service with ClixGalore, beginning with the Bronze account which has not setup fees and only requires an initial balance of $75 (used to pay affiliates). The Business package has an annual promotion fee of $275 and requires a $100 balance. The Enterprise Gold package has an annual promotion fee of $375 and requires a $125 balance. The Corporate Platinum affiliate program has an annual promotion service fee of $745 and requires a $250 opening balance. Commission charges made on affiliate sales are 25% of the commission paid to the affiliate. Therefore, if an affiliate earns a $1 commission, ClixGalore will take $0.25 from the sale.

A good example of a green website using ClixGalore is Mexitan.com

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit ClixGalore

Affiliate Shop offers easy-to-use affiliate software that lets you set variable commission rates (with the help of a friendly software wizard), co-brand and customize your sign-up pages, and manually approve affiliate applications. Affiliate Shop handles all commission payouts and tracks affiliate performance. Their network has over 20,000 affiliates, and although this is smaller than some other affiliate program networks out there, it's a good start. You can also opt to not be promoted in the network, which will cost you $45 per month, as opposed to $50 per month to be in the network. There are no sign-up fees, making this one of the most affordable affiliate programs to get started.

A good example of a green website using Affiliate Shop is MountainRoseHerbs.com

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Affiliate Shop
 

ClickXchange is a large affiliate program network now with over 150,000 participating affiliates. ClickXchange handles affiliate screening, reporting and all commission payments for all merchant affiliate programs. You are in complete control of your affiliate relationships and commission rates, and are given the power to approve and reject affiliate applications. You are also allotted an unlimited number of ads, and are given real-time traffic analysis reports detailing user statistics, click-thru rates per ad and sales. There are no set-up fees for getting started, and the network transaction fees are 30% of affiliate earnings. In other words, if an affiliate makes $1 off of a 10% commission, ClickXchange would take $.30 (cents). Another option is to sign-up for a branded interface for $1,000 or $100/month and only pay 15% commission fees. A highly affordable affiliate program, ClickXchange only requires advertisers to have a credit card on file and make an initial $500 escrow deposit to be used for paying out affiliate sales. The minimum monthly transaction amount is $42. There are no charges for issuing checks to affiliates, which is fully handled by ClickXchange's account managers.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit ClickXchange

Click Bank is also an affiliate network offering shopping cart options for merchants who have a product to sell yet do not have a shopping cart on their website. With over 100,000 affiliates in the network, ClickBank has become a popular solution for startup sites and wholesalers. Although some of the merchant sites in the network are of the "get rich quick" type, Click Bank is a great stepping stone if you are seeking to test the waters of affiliate marketing. Other than a one-time activation charge of $49.95, the only other fees are on sales made through ClickBank's buyers (there are no minimum monthly fees). The charge on these sales is $1 plus 7.5% of the sale price. In other words, ClickBank acts as a wholesaler. If ClickBank affiliates make sales for merchants, ClickBank's commission is based on what the merchant pays the affiliate. All in all, the fee is a quarter of what the above wholesale fee is. Using their fee formula, if an affiliate made a $100 sale for a merchant who pays 33% commissions, the fee to the affiliate would be $33. ClickBank's fee would be $2.32. The lower the affiliate commission, the higher the fee from ClickBank. Although this is a higher commission than other networks, the lack of minimum fees makes up for it. Click Bank handles all affiliate payouts, so all you have to do is process the payment and deliver the product. For merchants who do not have a shopping cart, ClickBank will handle that as well. ClickBank uses fraud prevention protocols, screens affiliates and provides real-time sale tracking reports.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Click Bank

WEB-BASED AFFILIATE PROGRAMS (Hosted; Non-Managed)

The most affordable options are web-based affiliate programs, which still handle your affiliate tracking, but do not have a network of affiliates, and thus the added commission fees. The following programs all come with no-risk, non-conditional money-back guarantees, and are very popular with small to mid-sized merchants, or those merchants who like to keep their affiliate programs under the radar:

1ShoppingCart is more than just a Web-hosted affiliate program. They provide essentially everything a Web business could possibly need, including payment processing, ad tracking, recurring billing, shipping cost calculations, product support and auto-responders. If you don't sign up with them, you will at least get educated after visiting their website. It is full of comprehensible and informative information for Web businesses. 1ShoppingCart offers several packages, with the max package including affiliate software costing $79 per month. There are no set-up fees.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit 1ShoppingCart

Quick Pay Pro - Another PayPal compatible web-based affiliate program, Quick Pay Pro is an all-in-one merchant  bundle that has a 30 day no risk 100% money-back-guarantee. Quick Pay Pro is ideal for businesses who do not have a shopping cart on their website yet...simply because Quick Pay Pro comes with one that can handle real-time credit card processing. It also comes with a hands-free affiliate program system with real-time statistic reporting and ad tracking. A "dummy-proof" installation wizard guides you in setting up your account, and you are also given unlimited support through your online account. Quick Pay Pro promises setup to be as easy as adding a button to your website. There is no startup cost and the monthly fee (if purchased in six month increments) is approximately $38 per month.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Quick Pay Pro

Leadhound If you don't want your affiliate program promoted to a network of affiliates, Leadhound offers a licensing of their Lite Bundle software for $195 and $50 per month. Leadhound provides the hosting for your affiliate program and you oversee everything else.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Leadhound

As mentioned earlier, FusionQuest is an all-in-one affiliate program network with a full functioning shopping cart. Fusion Quest has been providing affiliate tracking since 2000, and has a network of 50,000+ affiliates, which you have the option of having your affiliate program promoted to.Fusion Quest handles all affiliate payments on your behalf and is known for providing great merchant support, including guidance on customizing banners and website integration. One of the benefits of using Fusion Quest software is that it creates affiliate links that directly link to merchant websites, rather than redirects. Fusion Quest offers merchants two options for getting started. The first is to pay a $295 setup fee with a monthly fee of $24.95. The second option is to pay a one time fee of $695 with no monthly fees. Merchants can pay affiliates less than a 10% commission fee, but will not have access to FusionQuest's network of affiliates.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit FusionQuest

Interneka is an ideal affiliate program for small to medium websites who cannot afford or are unwilling to pay more than $500 up front to get an affiliate program up and running. Interneka is one of the most popular third-party tracking solutions out there. There is no software installation required by the merchant, and the program is fully customizable, including eight different affiliate payment methods to choose from. Interneka gives merchants the power to regulate their affiliates, increase link popularity and also prepares real time reports on affiliate performance. Better yet, Interneka Customer Support is available 24/7 and the affiliate program is free to use for a no-risk fourteen day trial period. There are three different bundles of the hosting solution - the standard version costing $75 to set up and a monthly maintenance fee of $29. Interneka does not charge commissions.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Interneka
 

AFFILIATE PROGRAM SOFTWARE (Manage & Host your own program)

Do-it-yourself affiliate programs are software bundles or CGI scripts that you of the software seller will install, thereby only requiring a very small startup cost (purchasing the software or script). Setting up your affiliate program is not that complicated of a task, and you could even ask your hosting company if they will install it for you. They may even do it for free - just ask. You could also pay a programmer a small fee to install it as well. As for the maintenance of the affiliate program, that's your responsibility. Here are two excellent software bundles, both of which you can have installed.

AffPlanet sells Post Affiliate Pro, which is one of the most affordable affiliate tracking softwares on the Web. The software is now available for a one-time fee of $99. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, Unix and BSD hosting platforms, and is programmed in PHP. Post Affiliate Pro comes with free installation and once it's up and running, this is an easy affiliate program to manage. For $180, merchants get free installation and live chat customer support henceforth. The $299 bundle includes free installation customization of affiliate sign-ups, and full website and shopping cart integration, which allows all sales/leads through a merchant shopping cart and website to be tracked. While this is explained in the user manual, it could be complicated for somebody without a limited knowledge of html.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit AffPlanet

Synergyx - The developer of Synergyx, Paul Galloway, calls it "A seamless integration of cutting-edge marketing technology". It is hard to dispute this claim because Synergyx is an "Editor's Choice" by Wilson Internet, and has the customer testimonials to prove it. Although it costs more than some of the other software bundles out there ($1,995), this is more than your standard software platform. Synergyx is a complete eCommerce software package with a centralized product manager and personalized shopping cart that has real-time credit card processing, and automated tax and shipping. Synergyx provides an affiliate program with two-tier capabilities, multiple commission type settings (flat rate, commission percentage. combo, graduated) and several time-saving automation features, including one-touch updates and commission reporting. The price of the software also includes free installation by Mr. Galloway, lifetime technical support and software upgrades. Synergyx is like making the switch from renting and leasing cars to buying a car. If you are serious about starting an affiliate program for you website or websites, Synergyx is one of the best software solutions out there.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Synergyx

Leadhound offers several excellent software affiliate program solutions. Their remotely hosted affiliate program has a startup cost of $195 and a monthly hosting fee of $50. Their full affiliate program software networking version (merchants host on their own server) has a one-time licensing fee of $2,995. The features of Leadhound's software are diverse, which can be viewed on Leadhound's website via informative software demos.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Leadhound

Ground Break has developed a CGI script written in Perl programming language called Ultimate Affiliate software. Compatible only with Unix servers, the software can be run on Windows XP, but would need some further installations. The cost for the software is only $200, with an additional $100 fee for full installation. The features of Ultimate Affiliate are considerable, including stat tracking, fraud prevention techniques, customizable sign-ups, billing integration, and replicable website building. No risk to try, Ultimate Affiliate comes with a 30-day full refund trial period.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Ground Break

Affiliate Guerilla sells their AG Cart software package for $199 plus $40 for full installation. That's not bad at all for a full functioning, PayPal integrated affiliate program (now compatible with all Windows servers). For merchants who do not have shopping carts, Affiliate Guerilla is a solid package, for it comes with a shopping cart, five-level affiliate program and ad-tracking system. It has a webpage control panel and will integrate with existing payment processors, including PayPal.

To start your own affiliate program and/or to find out more information, visit Affiliate Guerilla

GreenAffiliatePrograms.net does not provide affiliate program software, nor do we manage affiliate programs. We are simply an affiliate program directory serving to bring potential affiliates and affiliate programs together, in order to do business with one another. After you start your affiliate program, you may then request to have it listed in our directory so that it can be promoted to quality affiliates. If you are looking to start your own affiliate program, we highly recommend the following options, which are all listed according to their start-up/maintenance costs and the type of affiliate program they are.