Pay per click affiliate programs have always had a huge attraction to affiliate marketers. But how do you find the right program to promote?
While there are many pay per click affiliate programs that let you monetize just about any piece of content, the most lucrative programs are usually the ones that cater to one specific topic.
Which is why we organised this PPC affiliate program roundup by topic. Starting with general platforms that can help any website monetize their traffic. After that, we’ll cover some of the most lucrative and popular affiliate niches.
Pay per click affiliate programs are a model of internet marketing where the advertiser pays a certain fee each time an advertisement is clicked. A publisher promotes these ads on their own website, thus earning revenue from their visitors and promoting additional website visits for the advertiser.
One of the best known examples is Google’s AdSense program. In this article, you’ll find a range of other pay per click affiliate programs that can help you boost the revenue of your website(s).
Alternatives to pay per click
While pay per click affiliate programs base their commissions on the number of clicks that you receive on your displayed ads, these approaches focus on different metric:
Pay per impression programs pay a revenue based on the number of impressions (views) an ad on your website has accumulated. These types of ads can usually be found on highly specific niche websites.
Pay per lead programs pay a set commission for every new lead that is referred to them by the affiliate marketer’s platform. This is common in service oriented businesses, where products can’t be bought online but someone that fills out a form to get a quote or advice is valuable to the company.
Pay per sale is where the advertiser pays a fee for every sale that is realized via the ads that were placed on the affiliate marketer’s website(s). A popular form of this is rev-share, where the publisher earns a share of the revenue that their ads have generated for the advertiser. This could be a one time fee, or recurring fees for subscription products.
Pay per call refers to programs in which the paid fee is determined by the number of telephone calls to the advertiser, made by ad viewers.
Pay per install, finally, is an affiliate campaign type that is very popular amongst mobile applications, where the revenue is based on the number of downloads or installations of the app a publisher has realised for the advertiser.
What is the difference between CPC and EPC?
CPC (Cost Per Click) and EPC (Earnings Per Click) are two related yet different metrics that can help measure the performance of online advertising campaigns.
CPC measures the amount spent for each click a user makes on an advert, indicating the effectiveness of your ad in terms of cost efficiency.
EPC, on the other hand, measures the amount you earn for each click a user makes. This makes it a better measure of the profitability of your advertisement, and helps to determine which of your ad campaigns is most successful in terms of revenue generation.
What is the difference between PPC and affiliate marketing?
PPC (pay per click) and affiliate marketing are two of the most popular digital advertising methods used by businesses. In PPC, businesses pay for each click on ads which appear on search engines, websites, social media and other online platforms. Affiliate marketing involves companies paying affiliates to drive customers to their websites, products and services. The key difference between PPC and affiliate marketing is the compensation model. In PPC, businesses pay for each click while in affiliate marketing, businesses provide commissions to affiliates based on sales driven by them.
How to get paid for clicks on links?
When you place a clickable link with a specified affiliate code embedded into it on your website, blog, or social media, you’ll get paid for each visitor that clicks on the link and completes a sale. This is known as pay per click (PPC) advertising and it’s a popular way to generate revenue from websites and content. To get paid for PPC advertising, you must register with an affiliate network and be approved as an affiliate. Each network has their own rules and payment thresholds, so you should consult the network’s details before joining.
Can you make money with Pay Per Click?
Yes, you can make money with PPC (pay per click) advertising. This type of advertising allows businesses and individuals to place an ad in an approved network in order to target potential customers. When those customers click on the ad, the business or individual pays a fee to the network and earns revenue from the click. PPC advertising is a great way to reach a specific audience and generate leads for your business. It’s also a relatively easy way to start earning money online and can be highly effective when done correctly.
How much can you make from Pay Per Click?
The amount you can get paid per click depends on a variety of factors, including the type of ad, the advertiser, the website, and even the country the ad is located in. Generally, pay per click rates can range anywhere from $0.01 to more than $50 per click, though the average is typically around a few cents per click. It’s important to note that these rates change over time and vary greatly by industry, so the actual pay per click rate you’ll receive for any given ad will be based on a number of factors.
Is Pay Per Click worth it?
Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be an effective way to rapidly gain visibility for your business. By targeting specific keywords, you can reach your desired audience with relevant ads and track how well they are performing. PPC advertising is a cost-effective solution and can be worth it if managed well and regularly monitored to ensure you are reaching your desired goals and getting a return on your investment.
Pay per click affiliate programs are the most generic of these programs. All you need is for someone to click on one of the ads on your platform to earn a commission. And while the commissions are lower than those offered for leads, actions and sales, it can be a very lucrative addition to the monetization of most websites.
Below you can find a list of pay per click affiliate programs you should definitely check out.
Pay per click programs for all topic websites
These programs are suitable for (almost) any type of website, because they offer a broad range of topics and products to promote.
There was a time when AdSense was the go to place to start earning an income from your website visitors. Nowadays there are many alternatives and AdSense has become notorious for the difficulty of getting approved.
They are still lord and master where it comes to monetizing YouTube video content, however. When you’re making video content and sharing it on YouTube, YouTube AdSense is a great way of adding to your income.
Great for: basically every website, because of the big range of products and topics. For most topics, there are more lucrative programs out there. A must-have for people that are making video content.
Does AdSense pay for impressions?
Yes, AdSense does pay for impressions. It is a cost per impression (CPM) model, where advertisers pay a certain amount per thousand impressions (views/visits) of an ad. Advertisers can set a maximum CPM they are willing to pay, which they may or may not reach on certain ads, depending on the bid competition.
How much does AdSense pay per 1,000 clicks?
AdSense pays its publishers based on cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, meaning publishers get a set amount of money each time an ad is clicked by a user. The exact amount paid per 1,000 clicks is dependent on the type of ad, the publisher’s geographic location, and the specific advertiser, among other factors.
How much does AdSense pay per 1000 views on a website?
AdSense payments vary greatly depending on the amount of traffic and engagement on your website, the type of ads running, and the value of the clicks. Generally, the average cost-per-click (CPC) for AdSense ranges from about $0.25 to over $15, and the average payment per thousand page views (CPM) is around $4 or $ 5. However, it is important to note that AdSense CPMs can vary drastically.
Google has a handy AdSense calculator to view your potential earnings based on your niche and the origin of your visitors.
2. Ezoic
Ezoic is a powerful tool that focuses on optimizing ads on your website, using machine learning. Although they don’t offer their own ppc affiliate program, Ezoic can help you to boost the revenue you are seeing from, for example, your AdSense banners.
Ezoic was founded in 2010 by Dwayne Lafleur.
It took three years of in-house testing before Ezoic launched in closed beta in mid-2013. And by 2021, Ezoic reached over 1 billion monthly unique visits from its customer base.
What makes Ezoic an attractive option is that they typically pay more than AdSense, and unlike Adsense, they have a $20 instead of a $100 payment threshold.
Ezoic has also changed its acceptance criteria and can accept sites with less than 10,000 monthly pageviews. However, they recommend publishers have at least 500 – 1,000 visits per month to make it worth joining their Ezoic Access Now program.
Great for: basically every website that wants to increase competition among advertisers on different ad exchanges to increase revenues per visitor.
Ezoic bidding dashboard for ad exchanges.
3. Adsterra
Adsterra has been around since 2013. However, except for Anton Brovkin (CEO), little is known about the other founders. It currently has 33,000+ partners (publishers and advertisers).
Many bloggers and affiliates view it as one of the best adtech or advertising technology platforms.
The company has no restrictions on the amount of traffic you receive. You do not need a website to join as they accept any traffic, from a small blog to APK files or social traffic.
Adsterra claims approval in under 10 minutes and a network of over 12,000 advertisers. Which means that there is something interesting to promote for almost any website, and you can start browsing and promoting their advertisers very quickly after signing up.
“Selling the traffic from your website, application, Facebook page or other traffic source”, is what they call it. Which is exactly what PPC affiliate marketing programs stand for.
In addition, by joining their referral program, you can earn 5% revenue of everyone you refer to the platform.
Great for: websites (or other platforms) that are just looking for an easy way to earn revenue from their traffic.
4. Infolinks
Infolinks was founded in 2007 by Yariv Davidovich and Oren Dobronsky. Oren is commonly known since 2019 as an investor on the Israeli version of the TV series Shark Tank.
Oren Dobronsky in the center on the set of Shark Tank
The company was acquired in 2018 by New York-based Thrive Plus LLC (Thrive+) for an undisclosed amount.
Infolinks ads appear on 350,000+ websites with more than 240 million unique monthly users for 1.5 billion monthly ad views.
There are no minimum traffic requirements to apply to be a publisher of Infolinks. And if you refer new publishers to Infolinks, you can earn 10% of their revenue for 12 months.
In this list of easy to implement and broadly oriented PPC programs, Infolinks can’t be neglected. Just as the other programs in this list, they offer an easy and comprehensible way to earn more money from your existing web traffic.
Great for: websites looking for a convenient way to earn revenue from their traffic.
5. Mediavine
Mediavine was founded in 2004 by content creators Eric Hochberger, Amber Bracegirdle, Matt Richenthal, and Stephen Marsi, for content creators. And they are still owned by the same founders.
The company reaches over 125 million monthly unique visitors generated by 8,600+ content creators.
Mediavine is a CPM network that pays for every impression which can help you boost the monetization of your websites traffic. Be warned though: they are pretty selective on which publishers they allow in their network – your website needs at least 50,000 sessions per month to get approved.
Try and see this as a good thing, though. When you get accepted as a Mediavine publisher, this is a vote of quality for the project you’re working on and you can be sure it’s going to help you boost your income.
Great for: high traffic websites that are looking to take the next step in their monetization.
6. AdThrive
Did you get accepted to the Mediavine network and are you looking for the next challenge? To be eligible for the AdThrive PPC program, you need:
Unique, original, and engaging content
A minimum of 100,000 monthly pageviews
Traffic (majority) from the US, UK, CA, AU, or NZ.
Furthermore, they also check whether your website really is a good fit with their advertisers. All to ensure a good and lasting relationship between AdThrive, publisher and advertiser.
The company was founded in 2013 by Andy and Kelly Marzka. It was acquired in 2016 by CafeMedia for an undisclosed amount.
Collectively, AdThrive’s 4,000+ creators reach 185 million unique visitors per month.
What makes AdThrive a popular choice for high-traffic website owners looking to monetize their site is the company claims their advanced ad code, custom ad strategies, and access to premium ad campaigns result in an average 75% RPM growth with AdThrive.
They even guarantee that if you switch from another ad management company, you will hit a 20% higher RPM within two weeks, or they will pay you the difference.
“AdThrive offers the most personalized service and highest-paying ads to our community of bloggers.”
– Andy Marzka, CEO and Founder, AdThrive.
Great for: high end websites that are looking for a long lasting and qualitative PPC relationship.
7. Clickadu
Yet another platform to check out if you’re looking for a pay per click monetization of your traffic, is Clickadu. They offer multiple ad formats, so you can always find something that suits the style and form of your website or blog.
The company was founded in 2014 in the Czech Republic by Slava D, who serves as the CEO of Clickadu.
Although it is a relatively new ad network, it has 3,300+ active publishers that generate over 5.8 billion daily impressions and about 3.6 million daily conversions.
Great for: websites looking for a convenient way to earn revenue from their traffic.
8. Outbrain
We complete this list of broad-topic PPC programs with one that does things a little bit differently. Whereas most platforms focus on displaying ads on your site and paying for each click, native ads network Outbrain allows publishers to directly purchase ad space from the publishers in their network.
So while they are not offering pay per click affiliate incomes in the general meaning of the term, they make for a very interesting addition to the market. Be sure to check them out in your own search for the best program for you!
Yaron Galai (left) and Ori Lahav (right) founded Outbrain in 2006.
The company went public in July 2021 when it was listed on the NASDAQ, raising $160 million by offering 8 million shares at $20 a share at a $1.25 billion valuation.
Outbrain operates out of 18 global offices and partners with publishers and marketers in 55+ countries.
Great for: webmasters that are looking for an alternative approach to CPC monetization.
Media.net contextual Ads
9. Media.net
Where Google AdSense focusses – obviously – on ads from the Google advertiser network, Media.net also pulls ads from the Yahoo and Bing Network. These ads can co-exist with the ads generated by Google AdSense. Media.net is therefore a great pay per click affiliate program to boost your earnings.
Media.net supplies high-quality ads to over 500,000 websites and licenses its platform and products to some of the largest publishers, ad networks, and ad tech companies.
In 2016 the owner of Media.net, Divyank Turakhia, sold the company he founded in 2010 to a Chinese consortium for $900 million in cash.
Great for: every website.
Pay per click programs for travel websites
10. Cheapflights
A travel comparison platform that pays you for each visitor you send to their platform, CheapFlights is very interesting for everyone with travel-oriented traffic. Depending on whether they’re using a mobile or desktop device, you get a different commission.
Cheapflights was founded in 1996 and is managed by KAYAK, an independent subsidiary of Booking Holdings.
Great for: of course websites focussing on travel would make an excellent fit for promoting this program, but since traveling is of interest to almost anyone, most websites could earn a nice income by promoting Cheapflights.
11. Skyscanner
Many programs in the travel niche are focussed on leads and / or actions, which is why this entry is stretching the meaning of “pay per click affiliate programs” a little.
It is, however, too interesting for a travel website not to mention. Skyscanner is probably one of the most used websites by people planning their next trip or vacation. They offer a travel widget that you can show on your website, too easily find flights, hotels and rental cars. This will not only give a better experience to your site visitors, but offers a low and fun way for them to convert to the Skyscanner website.
Skyscanner was founded in 2003 by Bon Grimes, Barry Smith, and its current Chairperson, Gareth Williams. According to Similarweb.com, their website receives 42.4 million monthly visits
Great for: websites and blogs on travelling, that are looking for a low-key way to help their visitors find their ideal flights and hotels.
Pay per click programs for health and lifestyle websites
12. Dr. Cash
This is a PPC affiliate program that is specifically tailored at the nutraceutical market. Being a market that is highly specialized and regulated, but can also be very profitable, a knowledgeable partner is indispensable. Dr. Cash is that partner.
Dr. Cash has been around since 2016. The company has over 75,000 affiliates and 2,000+ direct nutra offers.
Great for: websites and channels on health and lifestyle.
Pay per click affiliate programs for business websites
13. CBMint
If you’re looking to promote precious metals, you have got to check out the CBMint affiliates program. They claim to offer the most competitive affiliate commissions in the precious metal industry. Unfortunately, the layout of their own website is not all that great, but for those websites that are in this highly profitable niche, CBMint is worth checking out.
CBMint is a relatively small player. According to Similarweb.com, their website only receives 6,800 monthly visits. You can apply to join their affiliate program on ShareASale.com.
Great for: websites that are writing about precious metals in any way.
14. Entireweb
Do you feel the urge to try and get people from Google to a different search engine? Then the Entireweb PPC affiliate program is what you want to promote. They offer up to $0.20 for every click. Could be an interesting fit, if you’re in the niche of online marketing and writing about Google and competitors, for example.
Entireweb was founded in 1999 by Marcus Andersson in Halmstad, Sweden. According to Similarweb.com, their website only receives 183,000 monthly visits, making them a tiny player in the search engine space.
Great for: websites with visitors that are interested in online marketing, IT and online search.
Supporting pay per click affiliate programs
15. Linqia
Didn’t find the right pay per click affiliate program for you in this list? No reason to worry, because Linqia can help you to find the right brand that wants to pay for your traffic.
Linqia is a platform that connects bloggers and influencers with the right brands. This is therefore a great way for publishers to find the right brand to sell their traffic too.
Nader Alizadeh
Maria Sipka
Linqia was founded in 2011 by Nader Alizadeh (Co-Founder & CEO) and Maria Sipka (Co-Founder & VP). The company claims more fortune 500 brands trust them than any other influencer marketing company. They count McDonald’s, Anheuser-Busch, and GM among their 650+ clients.
16. wecantrack
Probably the best way to boost your affiliate income, is by integrating all of your different affiliate marketing networks and data in one comprehensible and insightful dashboard. With our affiliate dashboard, you have all your conversion and traffic data in one beautiful dashboard that can easily be adjusted to your needs.
