Popular online creators can earn money by charging for content, selling subscriptions, or partnering with individual businesses under an influencer marketing agreement. However, you might struggle with these avenues if you have yet to build a large audience.
Instead, you need a low-risk partnership model, like pay-per-click affiliate marketing. Here’s a guide to PPC affiliate programs and information on how to choose one.
What is a pay-per-click (PPC) affiliate program?
With pay-per-click affiliate marketing programs (or PPC affiliate programs), advertisers compensate a creator each time a web visitor clicks on a link as a result of the creator’s marketing activities. Creators—also known as affiliates or publishers—earn income by hosting PPC ads on an affiliate marketing website or creating content that encourages clicks through to an affiliate link.
For example, a fashion creator can share an outfit of the day (OOTD) on their social media accounts and include affiliate links to retailers selling the same or similar items. For every click or purchase (depending on the agreement), the creator receives compensation.
How to choose the right PPC program
Assess program requirements
Check compensation details
Define your affiliate niche
Choose ad formats
Choosing the right PPC program is essential to maximizing your affiliate income. Here’s what to consider:
1. Assess program requirements
Many PPC affiliate programs only accept affiliates who exceed certain web traffic volumes; some prioritize applicants who publish certain types of content or serve specific audiences.
Most affiliate programs publish qualification criteria and program restrictions as part of their online application materials, so review requirements and policies before signing up.
2. Check compensation details
Most PPC programs have minimum payout thresholds, meaning affiliates don’t receive payment until their cumulative earnings reach a certain amount. Thresholds can be as low as $5 or as high as $1,000, and some programs set different thresholds depending on the payment type. For example, affiliate programs that pay by wire transfer might ask you to meet a higher minimum amount.
Other common payment methods include direct deposit, bank transfer, PayPal, and check, and payout schedules can range from five days to 90 days or more.
3. Define your affiliate niche
Most affiliate marketers build authority by covering a specific topic or serving a particular audience segment (or niche). Many affiliate marketers operate in broad categories like lifestyle; if you serve a smaller niche, look for an affiliate marketing program with various advertisers or one that targets your focus area. Narrow niche websites can drive revenue as long as their PPC programs support advertisers with similar target audiences.
4. Choose ad formats
Each program has different ad formats, so consider what types of ads you want to host on your PPC affiliate marketing website. If you operate an affiliate marketing blog, for example, you might prioritize text-based ad formats.
10 top PPC affiliate programs
Google AdSense
Skimlinks
Zeydoo and PropellerAds
Outbrain
Media.net
Raptive
Ezoic
Infolinks
Adsterra
Mediavine
Not all pay-per-click affiliate programs are the same. You might partner with an ad management company or hand-pick affiliate offers and design ad campaigns to drive traffic to those links.
Here are 10 PPC programs to consider as an affiliate marketer:
1. Google AdSense
Google AdSense is Google’s PPC network and the largest online advertising network. Advertisers and ad platforms bid for ad space using Google Ads or a qualified third-party vendor, and Google displays the winning ads on affiliate sites.
AdSense pays affiliate marketers 80% of ad revenue after the advertiser platform’s fee. Average revenue varies by niche, and Google provides a free calculator to help creators estimate their potential earnings from the program.
Supported ad formats: Text ads, display ads, in-feed ads, in-article ads
Payment terms: $100 minimum payout; net 30 days
Referral program: No
Features
2. Skimlinks
Skimlinks is a content monetization platform that automatically incorporates affiliate marketing links into a publisher’s content. After you install the company’s Javascript on your site, the algorithm scans your content and changes commerce links to relevant affiliate marketing links.
Skimlinks’ text-based ad formats make the platform a popular choice for affiliate marketing bloggers and SEO marketers, and the company also offers content recommendations and revenue-generation tips.
Skimlinks’ advertisers are other affiliate programs, not individual merchants. Advertisers pay for clicks, and Skimlinks distributes 75% of earned commissions to affiliate marketers. Although the company doesn’t disclose commission rates, it claims to pay up to two times more than other PPC programs.
Supported ad formats: In-article ads, contextual ads (which uses the content of a page to create targeted ads)
Payment terms: $65 minimum payout; net 90 days
Referral program: 35% of Skimlinks’s share of a referred affiliate’s commissions for one year
Features
No minimum traffic requirements
Performance dashboard
Automated ad placements
WordPress plug-in
3. Zeydoo and PropellerAds
Zeydoo is an affiliate network operated by PropellerAds, a global advertising platform specializing in affiliate marketing solutions. You can join Zeydoo to browse affiliate offers and access personalized support. Once you choose a program (or several), use PropellerAds to drive targeted traffic to the corresponding affiliate links.
PropellerAds offers multiple tools to help affiliate marketers design and run effective online advertising campaigns. Products include a traffic estimator, a simplified ad creator, an ad format conversion tool, an automated content rotator, and an AI-powered bidding tool.
Affiliates can also integrate the company’s ad-blocking bypass software, Anti-Adblock, to increase reach and boost revenue by as much as 50%.
Supported ad formats: Interstitial ads, pop-under ads, push notification ads, in-page push ads, survey exit ads
Payment terms: $100 minimum payout; biweekly pay-out schedule
Referral program: No
Features
Choice of affiliate offers
Automated ad optimization tools
Simplified ad creator
24/7 support
Ad-blocking software bypass technology
No minimum traffic requirements
4. Outbrain
Outbrain is a native ads network, meaning its ads mimic the look and feel of an affiliate’s website. Advertisers can purchase ad space directly from publishers in Outbrain’s directory—known as publisher’s direct sold cards—or allow Outbrain to optimize ad placements using its dynamic ad server, Smartlogic.
Outbrain recently did away with its minimum traffic requirements, but it requires all affiliates to meet the network’s Publisher Guidelines and maintains stricter content standards than many other PPC affiliate programs. It customizes commission rates based on affiliate site size and doesn’t publicly disclose rates.
Supported ad formats: Sponsored content display banner ads, carousel cards, in-article ads, video ads
Referral program: No
Payment terms: $50 minimum payout; net 60 or net 90 days
Features
No minimum traffic requirements
Native ads display
Analytics dashboard
Dynamic ad display
5. Media.net
Media.net is the world’s second-largest contextual ad network by revenue after Google AdSense and is the only PPC advertising program provider with access to the Yahoo! Bing Network.
Media.net doesn’t disclose commission rates, but publishers can apply to the company’s managed contextual or programmatic advertising programs or join the Media.net Marketplace to access content-driven, display, and search ad demand from high-value direct advertisers, agencies, and demand-side providers.
Supported ad formats: Display ads, search ads, video ads, native ads
Payment terms: $100 minimum payout; net 30 days
Referral program: Not specified
Features
Access to Yahoo! Bing search engine network
Contextual targeting algorithms
Real-time reporting and analytics
Dynamic ad optimization
Real-time bidding (RTB) marketplace
6. Raptive
Raptive (formerly AdThrive) is the world’s largest creator-powered ad management company. The Raptive ad network is a Premier Google Certified Publishing Partner, signaling it has a strong track record of helping publishers monetize their content using Google products. It’s also authorized to participate in the Google ad exchange, Google AdX.
Raptive prides itself on being a creator-first network. The company advertises a 137% higher revenue per thousand clicks (RPM) for creators switching from another ad provider—and it will even make up the difference if creators don’t earn at least 10% more money after switching to Raptive. It also operates an affiliate marketing platform and an exclusive membership program for promising creators, Raptive Rise. Qualified affiliates can apply to one or more programs through the Raptive site.
Supported ad formats: Header ads, sidebar ads, sticky sidebar ads, sticky footer ads, native ads, interstitial ads, recipe ads, in-image ads, videos ads, content ads
Payment terms: $25 minimum payout; net 45 days
Referral program: $1,000 for every referred site that installs Raptive within 90 days of qualifying for the program
Features
Minimum of 100,000 pageviews per month
Creator resource library
Performance tracking dashboard
Access to Google AdX
Affiliate marketing platform
Earnings guarantee
AI tools for creators
Membership program for high-potential affiliates
7. Ezoic
Ezoic is a publisher-focused technology platform that operates the Ezoic Ads ad network. Ezoic Ads is a Google Certified Publishing Partner, and affiliates can access demand from more than 1,500 premium advertisers through Google AdX.
The platform also offers a suite of AI and machine learning (ML) tools for affiliates, including a writing tool, an SEO tool, a video ad creation tool, and a dynamic ad placement tool. The company’s placement tool, Ad Tester, analyzes publisher site content and traffic and customizes ad display for each user.
Unlike most PPC programs, Ezoic calculates compensation as earnings per thousand visitors (EPMV), which accounts for factors like number of visits, ads per user session, page visits per user session, bounce rate, and ad types. Affiliates can use the company’s EPMV calculator to estimate their earnings.
Supported ad formats: Native ads, anchor ads, floating video ads, expanded article ads, side rail ads, sticky sidebar ads, in-content ads
Referral program: No
Payment terms: $20 minimum payout; net 45 days
Features
Access to Google AdX
No minimum traffic requirements
Dynamic ad optimization
Adsense compatible
Earnings calculator
AI- and ML-powered tools for publishers
8. Infolinks
Infolinks is a global advertising platform that specializes in contextual intent targeting. Affiliates sign up to join the company’s PPC affiliate program and add the Infolinks script to their sites, while Infolinks automatically attaches ads to existing content. When a visitor clicks on a monetized ad or link, the affiliate earns revenue.
The Infolinks algorithm analyzes audience intent and places ads in real time, which maximizes visitor engagement and can boost earnings. It allows advertisers to set rates.
Supported ad formats: InTag, InText, InFrame, InFold, InScreen
Payment terms: $50 minimum payout; net 45 days
Referral program: 10% of the referral’s affiliate income for one year
Features
No minimum traffic requirements
Automatic ad placements
Real-time intent targeting
WordPress, Joomla, Blogger, and Drupal plug-ins
Publisher dashboard
9. Adsterra
Adsterra is a global ad network that serves more than 15,000 advertisers and 35,000 affiliate publishers and pays out more than $87 million in affiliate earnings each year. Affiliates apply to join and install Adsterra code snippets on their sites to monetize available ad space.
You can also monetize social media traffic using Adsterra’s Smart Direct Link.
Supported ad formats: Banner ads, in-page push ads, native ads, video ads, popunder ads, social bar ads
Payment terms: $50 minimum payout; net 15 days
Referral program: 5% of referral’s lifetime revenue
Features
No minimum traffic requirements
Automated ad placement
API for real-time tracking
24/7 chat support
Direct link monetization options
Publisher dashboard
10. Mediavine
Mediavine is an ad management company and ad network with an emphasis on helping creators monetize long-form content. Publishers need to meet minimum website traffic requirements, be in good standing with Google Analytics, and publish high-quality original content to qualify.
Mediavine requires exclusivity, so enrolled publishers can’t engage in any other programmatic advertising efforts. It also offers higher payout rates than many other affiliate programs: Baseline revenue sharing allocates 75% of revenues to affiliates, and rates go up for sites that generate more than five million impressions in a month.
Supported ad formats: Sidebar ads, recipe card ads, in-content ads, display ads, video ads, adhesion ads, desktop sticky ads
Payment terms: $100 minimum payout; net 65 days
Features
50,000 minimum site sessions per month
Automated ad placements
Dynamic ad placement
Publisher dashboard
Ads optimized for site speed
PPC affiliate program FAQ
Is PPC good for affiliate marketing?
Yes, PPC programs can help you monetize traffic to websites and social media channels. Choose a program that offers the right amount of flexibility and level of administrative support for your affiliate marketing efforts.
What is a PPC affiliate?
A PPC affiliate is a creator who joins a pay-per-click (PPC) affiliate program or sells ad space through a PPC ad network. PPC affiliates earn money for clicks to affiliate links that result from their marketing activities.
Are there alternatives to PPC affiliate programs?
Yes, other cost-per-action (CPA) payment structures include pay-per-lead (PPL) and pay-per-installation (PPI). Advertisers can also compensate affiliates for actions like newsletter sign-ups or product purchases.
