The really big money, online is in affiliate marketing. Getting to it isn't easy, you need good quality traffic and great affiliate programs, to really earn well.

In this article we will be looking at some of the hottest niches and the highest paying affiliate programs, in those niches.

Publishers don't like to talk about these affiliates, because they aren't looking for the competition.

Some important concepts

1.Cookie time length: Cookies are what identifies the traffic, you refer to affiliate sellers, as your traffic. Let's take Amazon as an example, they set their cookies to 24 hours. So, if someone you referred to Amazon buys something in the following 24 hours, you get a commission.

Clearly Amazon is ripping us off, 3 days would be much fairer. Also their commission percentages are pretty low.

2.Your platform

Some of us use blogs, others Hubpages or Squidoo lenses to sell our affiliate products. Hubpages does not allow some of the affiliates that I am going to discuss. For those, just use Squidoo, as the service is fairly similar.

3. If they ask you for a web address

If you are using Hubpages and they ask for a web site address, try giving them your profile page. If that doesn't work open a free blogger.com account and give them that address.

Software has always sold very well, online. There are many different kinds of software, making it easy to find low competition keywords.

RegNow

Commission: 50%-75%
Minimum Payout: $100

RegNow sell the kind of software that you download, not the kind that needs to be shipped to the client. This means you can sell to everyone, not just the US market. Also the commission is much higher.

Many of the products they sell can be downloaded on a trial basis. Then when the client decides to buy it, you get paid. I have found this system greatly improves sales.

Generally you get around $20, per sale.

Web hosting can monetize world wide traffic, not just US traffic, like with many affiliates.

Lunarpage

Commission: $65 on every sale
Minimum Payout: $195 - 3 sales

Lunarpage is a very big web hosting company. Definitely in the top 10 world wide and has one of the highest paying affiliate programs. If you are a web designer and you want to pay for the accounts directly, you can still get the affiliate commissions.

This has always been one of the most profitable niches online.

Adult FriendFinder

Minimum Payout: $50

Hubpages: No

This is the highest paying affiliate program, in this niche. They call themselves an adult dating service and they operate world wide. There are several programs, definitely worth checking out.

Expedia

• Airline transactions: $4 per transaction
• Expedia Special Rate hotel transactions: 5.5% to 6% per transaction based on monthly Merchant hotel sales
• Agency hotel transactions: 3% per transaction
• Rental car transactions: 2% per transaction
• Cruise transactions: $20 to $30 per transaction based on monthly Cruise sales
• Vacation package transactions: 2.5% of vacation package
• Destination Services/Activities transactions: 5% per transaction
  

If you look at the rates, it might not seem like much. But, let's look at an example. Say you refer someone to Expedia. They are a family of four, the family plans to fly to Paris from New York then rent a car and drive around France, for a week. They will stay in pre-booked hotels and the whole family will need travel insurance. Now work out the commission on that.

There are many high paying affiliates in this niche, here is just one:

Commission Account

Hubpages: No
Commission: 20-35% or $75-$125 per subscriber

You can pick the system that works best for you. But they have to be active for a while, before you will get paid.

The medical niche has some of the highest paying affiliate programs. The cost of creating and shipping the goods is relatively low, while the price is relatively high.

MedStore

Commission: 21-29%
Cookies: 3 days
Minimum Payout: $200

They pay lifetime commission. So if someone registers, you get a commission, every time they buy from MedStore.

Affiliate networks are brokers that bring affiliates and publishers together. You will have to shop around to find a high paying affiliate though.

Pepperjam

Minimum Payout: $25

They have a number of very well known brands.

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