Affiliate marketing is a highly competitive industry. There are 57.44% of affiliate marketers in the U.S. alone (1). Unfortunately, some start with income as their only motivator, and that is one of the main reasons sites get abandoned.
Below are the affiliate marketing websites that continuously take the time and effort to offer immense value to their readers. In fact, some of those listed here are not built to look like a typical affiliate site, which helps to attract and retain leads.
Before going over different affiliate website examples, it is important to know that there are different types of websites created for affiliate marketing (2), including the following:
According to MediaKix, 81% of brands and 84% of publishers leverage affiliate marketing programs to increase their sales (3). The good news is there are many affiliate programs in different niches available and not just from Amazon. This offers an aspiring marketer like you with several options. I will start by showing you examples of non-amazon dominated affiliate websites.
Overview
Niche: Gear and Lifestyle
Established: April 2007
Mission: Create a world where everyone is empowered with the right products and knowledge
Main Challenge: Keeping the articles organized and easy to find while making sure the site is easy to navigate and has a fast loading speeds
Gear Patrol was started by Eric Yang and Ben Bowers back in 2007 as a digital lifestyle magazine for men. Despite having limited resources, they still managed to increase their affiliate revenue to 92% each year (4).
79
1.1 Million
22,700
432,500
1.6 Million
10,700
136,000
132,000
50,100
30,600
Office Chairs
3,260 words
327
52
8,100
Office Chairs
3,260 words
327
52
8,100
This specific page gets around 19,000 organic traffic each month. It identifies which chair is best for almost every possible use. It also cleverly combines the brands’ story with the product review.
Pappy Van Winkle
603 words
24
57
826
This article talks about Pappy Van Winkle but the shift between storytelling and product review is notably seamless. This speaks a lot about the branding of the website.
Tell a story – it is part of their branding to touch on a readers’ emotions. The site does well in telling a brand’s story, which may be the reason why it gets decent revenue from affiliate links.
Develop a brand – Gear Patrol managed to have multiple streams of income as they built their brand. From just a small and simple digital magazine, they ventured into offering creative collateral for their clients too.
Niche: Parenting
Established: March 2001
Mission: Empower men to raise great kids and lead more fulfilling adult lives.
Main Challenge: Give sound advice and practices that are applicable to the current times and varying situations
Fatherly has been around since 2001 but it officially launched in April 2015. Back then, it did not have enough audience even after a year (5). In fact, according to Rothman, Fatherly’s CEO and co-founder, 100 venture capitalists did not like his idea. They thought the parenting market is not for men (6).
Fast forward to 2020, let us take a look at how Fatherly is doing:
78
1.9 Million
17,300
349,000
2 Million
13,900
3 Million
182,000
19,600
20,200
Fatherly publishes lists and how-to articles mainly about parenting. It covers different stages of fatherhood, even tackling the trying & expecting part of it. The site became a lifestyle blog for dads and men in general as it features content on health & science, love & money, news, etc.
Gift Ideas
1,143 words
1
148
6,400
Riddles
975 words
20
974
5,800
In fact, the top 5 keywords for Fatherly revolves around jokes and the one that makes them rank #1 on Google SERP is riddles for kids (7).
Believe in your niche – Fatherly emerged in a time when men were not considered as part of the parenting process. Even after countless rejections, it continued to build its identity and modern dads are benefiting from it.
Engage audience – apart from the website, Fatherly established a presence in social media platforms. This increased audiences’ trust and drives more traffic to the site, something successful affiliate marketing websites must have. It boosts revenue too!
Be creative with content – Fatherly has been doing a great job with its topics, providing the audience with the right balance between informative and trivia content while sticking within its niche. This allows Fatherly to get as many organic keywords and traffic.
Niche: Finance
Established: February 2009
Mission: Provide clarity for all of life’s financial decisions
Main Challenge: Stay on top of on the current offers and deals from various financial institutions
NerdWallet was launched by Mike Chen in 2009 after he was laid off from work. He initially spent $800 on the essentials. Today, his website is worth at least $500 million (8). It started as a credit card comparison site but has now expanded to other financial products.
87
13.2 Million
21,000
1.6 Million
3.3 Million
1,900
172,000
33,900
63,500
4,120
NerdWallet compiles important pieces of information one would look for when shopping and comparing financial products.
House Loan
1,345 words
386
2,200
-
Taxes
935 words
1,000
2,500
22,500
Readers can see the transparency of this site because, when everything is placed at a minimum, the recommended lenders disappear. It is also worth mentioning that the title of this page is simple yet catchy.
NerdWallet is purely reader-supported and it makes money mainly through affiliate links. Having grown this large, it managed to partner with a lot of consumer finance brands such as Allstate, American Express, etc. You can find their full list here (15).
Offer tools – In most of their pages, NerdWallet incorporates useful tools that could help readers see results for themselves and make sound decisions. It also makes the experience a lot more personal.
Give honest recommendations – The integrity of this site is very evident as it provides truthful feedback with the help of the tools available.
Niche: Travel and Finance
Established: November 2015
Mission: Help readers maximize their travel experience
Main Challenge: Keeping track of the points and miles offered by various airlines, travel, and consumer finance companies
The Points Guy was started by Brian Kelly and ran it by himself during the time. Back then, the website was focused on airline travel loyalty programs but slowly became a travel and consumer finance website.
After years of hard work, TPG managed to generate at least $50 million in profit last year (9).
79
3.4 Million
27,700
1.4 Million
2.1 Million
7,100
1.9 Million
379,000
361,000
60,900
Chase Credit Card
787 words
3,300
2
577
Amazon Bonus
523 words
140
3
373
Offer exclusive deals – in an interview with Brian Kelly himself, he mentioned that he and his team negotiate exclusives and demand for higher commissions with credit card providers (10). This is a great way to differentiate from the competition.
Scale the niche – TPG managed to tap on the different sectors that offer points, rewards, and miles which allowed it to become an all-in-one travel website.
Niche: Business
Established: June 2013
Mission: Provide clear, comprehensive, and actionable content to help small business owners to succeed
Main Challenge: Stay up-to-date with how current businesses run and operate
Fit Small Business was started by David Waring and Marc Prosser in 2013 when they discovered the absence of articles that focused on small business owners. They felt that there was no content that went into detail regarding important information entrepreneurs need.at least $50 million in profit last year (9).
83
516,000
8,250
225,000
425,000
11,200
14,000
380,000
6,200
19,000
Free Software
1,290 words
65
9
762
Net Working Capital
1,290 words
9
4
632
At the bottom of the page, there’s an affiliate link of a highly recommended software, resulting in a natural transition.
Fit Small Business makes money from commissions through affiliate links. It is partnered with 99Designs, Agile CRM, and GoDaddy.com to name a few. It is also evident that it is one of the affiliate websites that make money on genuine product reviews rather than display ads.
Review free versions – despite running mainly on affiliate commissions, they took the time to review free software and programs which most starting owners would prefer to use.
Give valuable starter materials – Fit Small Business offers free ebooks, which is one way for them to acquire their readers’ email addresses and leverage on email marketing from there.
Niche: Technology
Established: April 1996
Mission: Provide comprehensive resources for tech enthusiast of all skill levels
Main Challenge: Staying on top of current advances in technology and maintaining tradition and reputation of unrivaled thorough reviews
Tom’s Hardware was started by Dr. Thomas Pabst in 1996 and was one of the first few sites that brought technology journalism to the internet.
83
3.7 million
460,000
6.1 million
3.8 million
1,700
288,000
3,900
6,000
24,800
Tom’s Hardware publishes news, reviews, and how-to articles on different parts, software, and accessories. They also have content on consumer technology such as laptops and computers.
Graphics Cards
3,155
16.5k
1.1k
13.2k
Windows 10
2,844
314
1.3k
19.6k
Use keywords – most of the articles published by Tom’s Hardware are evidently high in keywords, even in the title. They include words that readers would impulsively click on but read right through to the end.
Niche: Home and Lifestyle
Established: February 2011
Mission: Offer practical, real-life tips and inspiration
Main Challenge: Adapting to the continuously changing trends and styles
The Spruce is one of About.com or Dotdash’s brands. It was initially launched as a home website but today, it includes Pets, Eats, and Crafts as part of the site.
88
10.9 million
15,000
2.5 million
5.4 million
3,900
1.3 million
186,900
0
382,000
Party Games
184
16.5k
1.1k
5,900
Washer & Dryer
2,600
314
245
3,300
Branch out – The Spruce is a brand under Dotdash. Instead of making a general site, Dotdash made several sites that focused on different niches and just made sure they were the best in that specific category.
Like most affiliate websites, Best Reviews’ income comes from affiliate commissions and direct partnerships wherein syndications and licensing are offered. The site does not accept advertisements.
This website gets around 100,000 monthly visitors and makes money through affiliate marketing, display ads, and by offering personal blogging courses.
The site gets around 240,000 organic monthly traffic and generates income from various travel providers and commission from affiliates.
Dating Advice makes money through affiliate commissions and direct partnerships. It also indicated that compensation affects where certain articles and recommendations appear.
Niche: VPN
Established: January 2007
Mission: Share which VPNs actually work and which VPNs do not make the cut
Main Challenge: Providing unbiased reviews and keeping articles up-to-date with most recent updates and new VPN providers.
Best VPN was started by Alex Grant back in 2007 after realizing VPNs are hard to understand.
90
351,000
583
33.2 million
177,000
103,900
0
0
0
0
Best VPN mainly has review articles identifying which VPNs are best for different uses but also has few articles on internet security.
Torrent Sites
2,111
0
0
10,800
IP Tool
17,900
314
0
7,000
Best VPN thrives mainly on affiliate commissions, which is stated in the banner. The site does not run any display ads. However, it is unclear whether this site accepts direct partnerships.
Have passion – this site is most likely self-run by the founder and thrives in affiliate commissions. While this is not always easy, with the level of depth each review has on the VPN, it is evident that Alex Grant just really wants to help out readers who have the same frustration as he does.
Niche: Personal Security
Established: November 2001
Mission: Help readers figure out the right protection for their “wheres” and “whos”
Main Challenge: Recommending products that would be beneficial to the majority and are applicable to different situations
Safe Wise was launched in 2001 with a focus on home security products. After a few years, it expanded to personal security products.
76
598,000
2,288
2 million
374,000
56,300
14,200
0
1,500
84
Safe Wise mainly publishes reviews and comparison articles on multiple personal security products. It also has guides and how-to articles to further help readers.
Wireless Cameras
2,778
113
61
14,600
CO Detector
1,288
218
134
1,800
Safe Wise makes money through affiliate commissions from some of the products it recommends.
Give honest reviews – despite only making revenue through affiliate links, Safe Wise gives truthful feedback on products their partners offer and dishes out on those that do not meet standards.
Niche: Mattresses
Established: August 2018
Mission: Help consumers select the right bed
Main Challenge: Be able to clearly differentiate seemingly similar products
55
358,000
793
24,900
96,900
79,600
928
393
585
39,600
Purple Mattress
2,737
91
4
1,400
Duvet vs Comforter
896
0
7
2,200
Make articles easy to understand – Product review articles are oftentimes too technical for the average consumer to comprehend but Slumber Yard’s writing style is the key to its successful affiliate marketing. This is because the articles are written on a consumers’ perspective which makes them easily understandable.
Niche: Dog food
Established: October 2008
Mission: Help consumers make informed decisions when buying dog food
Main Challenge: Keeping track of recalls and staying on top of the latest releases
Mike Sagman launched Dog Food Advisor in 2008 after losing his dog over poor nutrition from food manufactured by well-trusted brands.
76
534,000
5,300
237,900
173,000
69,400
147,600
290
7,900
0
Best Dry Dog Foods
4,671
242
5,600
4,900
Dog Food Recalls
2,315
2,600
9,400
1,100
Dog Food Advisor explicitly denies paid advertisements and sponsorships from brands and manufacturers. Instead, it receives affiliate commissions from private distributors such as Chewy.
Maintain integrity – Dog Food Advisor reviews products separately from the manufacturer.
Niche: Mobile applications for Apple
Established: October 2013
Mission: Help consumers make the most out of their time and attention
Main Challenge: Keep track on each app’s updates and stay on top of new releases
The Sweet Setup was launched in 2013 by Shawn Blanc who has been writing about apps and gadgets for Apple users since 2007.
70,000
63,100
1,900
47,700
170,000
82,100
0
0
11,900
0
Fantastical App
2,587
139
3
170,000
Word on iPad
3.022
6
0
2,400
Make content relatable – The Sweet Setup does well in telling stories that are commonly experienced by most of its readers, and they blend it perfectly to their recommendations.
Offer private courses – From their reviewed apps, they have dedicated courses on how to improve their readers’ life and experience.
Niche: Survival DIY
Established: August 2010
Mission: Provide an array of resource for survival gear, skills, and tips
Main Challenge: Standing out in a competitive market
Survival Life started in August 2010 with the vision of becoming the ultimate one-stop destination for those who are interested in survival and preparation.
64
2,000
962
136,900
6,400
120,000
16,500
51,500
6,800
16,600
Survival Gear
183
16,700
68
91
Paracord Projects
2339
184
980
127
Have a dedicated store – what makes this website unique is how it has a clear separation between information articles and product links.
Niche: Ecommerce startups
Established: February 2011
Mission: Give sound business advice to first-time entrepreneurs about different online businesses
Main Challenge: Provide information without submitting to the hype
72
65,400
211
5,900
61,500
19,300
1,800
0
3,000
0
Platforms
6,797
180
206
1,900
Product Ideas
3,031
110
106
2,200
Brand Positioning – while being an affiliate website, eCommerce CEO does well in making readers feel that they are the expert in the startup field.
Niche: Website development
Mission: Help beginners create their own websites, blogs, and online stores using the right tools and platforms
Main Challenge: Provide tools and platforms that are based on modern practices
81
475,000
194
91,400
205, 000
18,800
25,200
0
2,000
0
Shopify Tutorial
2,796
194
77
205,000
Web Safe Fonts
1,027
315
283
8,100
Keep it simple – what it lacks in design and illustrations, it makes up with a seemingly unmatched level of guidance.
Niche: Gear and Gadgets
Established: September 2011
Mission: Make shopping easy by telling you the best one to get
Main Challenge: To have a very strict and selective criterion on how to identify the best product in each category
The Wirecutter was started by Brian Lam back in 2011 and, at that time, the site only focused on consumer technology. It consistently offers in-depth and substantial reviews that fueled its massive success and made it one of the top Amazon affiliate sites.
In just 4 years, they were able to bring $150 million in e-commerce transactions (13). The figure was impressive enough to gain the attention of The New York Times who acquired it for at least $30 million dollars a year later (14).
With New York Times behind it, let us take a closer look at how The Wirecutter is doing:
82
5.2 million
2,622
1.5 million
3.9 million
5,700
125,000
21,500
97,100
26,300
From pure consumer technology, The Wirecutter expanded to publishing review articles on almost any category one can think of. At the same time, it also has helpful blogs and guides.
Wireless Earbuds
11,374
550
88
6,600
Amazon Reviews
1,145
5
16
311
Regularly update content – The Wirecutter does a great job of staying on top of their posts, making sure that they are kept current and relevant.
Quality over quantity – Only a few product comparison articles are published to make room for more reviews and guides.
Niche: Baby Products
Established: February 2011
Mission: Create the best baby product reviews in the world
Main Challenge: Limited streams of income
58
123,000
861
4,300
114,000
166,000
2,200
0
632
770
Car Seats
9,105
103
63
1,500
Baby Essentials
4,650
8
6
1,300
Give valuable information – Baby Gear Lab achieves affiliate marketing success by giving in-depth reviews and providing helpful buying tips in almost all of their articles. There are plenty of actionable guides too. There’s also a section on the site that is dedicated to explaining the testing process.
It is not always about selling – The creators know the proper places where they should put affiliate links, and they make sure that they back their claims with solid facts. To be more specific, they only place product links when they have thoroughly reviewed a product.
Care about quality – Baby Gear Lab buys the products reviewed directly from the retailers and performs the testing themselves.
Niche: Emergency Preparation
Established: February 2006
Mission: Help you survive emergencies
Main Challenge: Keeping up-to-date and limited streams of income
What makes this website great is the fact that the founders are preppers themselves. Plus, according to them, more than being a blog, they want their site to be a Wikipedia for survival and preparation.
48
88,000
253
15,146
62,000
60,500
3,400
0
1,600
13,700
Body Armor
4,790
37
127
3,600
Emergency Kit
11,374
173
1,000
2,900
Update posts – what makes this site organized is the fact that it does not have too many articles. Instead, it keeps a log on the current topics and updates them once in a while.
Engage the audience – a section of the website allows readers to craft their own first aid and emergency kits. This is a great tactic to keep attracting traffic as the audience can get curious about what others made.
Niche: Music
Established: February 2013
Mission: Break down gear, tools, and products used by artists, pros, and influencers
Main Challenge: Keeping musicians’ profiles accurate
58
253,000
81,300
39,600
570,000
44,000
13,000
5,300
8,900
344
Guitar Strings
2,486
12
3
1,300
John Mayer
102
46
6
1200
Provide fun content – in order to keep readers hooked to their site, Equipboard compiles a list of tools that artists use, something music enthusiasts are sure to love and appreciate.
Niche: Technology
Established: March 2004
Mission: Become the go-to for technology news and reviews
Main Challenge: Stay on top of the current events and trends on technology
Engadget was launched in 2004 as a consumer tech news and reviews site. Today, it is one of the leading global multimedia organizations that feature articles that shaped our future.
91
4.4 million
577,400
16.9 million
7.4 million
1,027
1.6 million
351,000
2.4 million
1 million
IKEA Smart Blinds
204
3,655
607
576
Tesla’s Model 3
202
2,445
541
693
Support multiple languages – Engadget built their site using different languages in order to reach a global scale.
Stay relevant – they incorporate product promotions on current global events.
The Wing Rep makes money entirely from affiliate commissions.
This site makes money purely from affiliate commissions.
Niche: Running
Established: March 2004
Mission: Make it possible for readers to get the right gears without wasting money
Main Challenge: Providing recommendations that are widely applicable and having a criterion on how to rate the products
64
297,000
5,015
45,900
280,000
78,400
5,800
98,600
2,400
6,600
Walking Shoes
5,846
1,494
88
2,600
Garmin Vivoactive 3
2,195
5
1
1,700
This page discusses each shoe in detail, provides separate ratings for the qualities, and offers special deals.
This page offers a more thorough review of each of the specifications.
Cover all niche’s aspects – what makes Runner Click’s website great is the fact that it has useful built-in tools that are relevant to running. These include Race Finder, Deal Finder, and an Injury Finder.
Niche: Swimming Pool & Hot Tub
Established: March 2007
Mission: Help keep the swimming pool & hot tub clean
Main Challenge: Consistent production of content
64
144,000
267
16,200
76,600
180,900
15,700
0
5,600
30,800
Fix Cloudy Water
2,255
101
68
693
Pool Calculator
1,801
7
9
1,500
This page discusses the different solutions for cloudy water.
The content on this page makes pool calculation a lot easier to comprehend and less intimidating for beginners.
Offer free glimpses – Swim University has paid courses but gives readers a preview on a few sections for free.
Niche: PC Parts
74
3.1 million
106,500
2.5 million
1 million
2,400
34,700
9,300
45,700
178,000
AMD Ryzen 9
0
310
0
435
AMD Gaming Build
524
19
5
1,600
This page makes it easy for readers to find which retailers carry their chosen parts.
Learn how to build the best performing mid-level gaming PC. Given the content, it’s no surprise that the page generates around 30,000 in organic monthly traffic.
The PC Part Picker makes money solely through affiliate commissions.
Engage readers – There’s a dedicated page wherein readers are allowed to showcase and share their custom builds.
Niche: Gardening
Established: March 2013
Mission: Make gardening easy and share the secrets of a green thumb
Main Challenge: Giving advice on crops that only grow in certain areas
61
10,500
393
1,400
11,000
846,500
166,100
177,000
19,900
382,000
Lawn Aerators
1,281
15
12
1,500
Raised Beds
4,440
21,000
161
209,000
This page discussed in detail their top lawn aerators.
This is a list article on the different DIY raised beds that are easy to build. This page had display advertisements rather than affiliate links.
Have passion – The founder of Epic Gardening was very much into plants. This helped him produced quality articles naturally which contributed to how large the site has grown in just a short amount of time
Niche: Riding boards
Established: July 2008
52
33,700
631
0
39,100
283,400
5,900 & 137
16,500
627
1,300
Skateboard Decks
4,651
3
4
4,700
DIY Deck
634
2
4
710
This page gets around 4,000 monthly organic traffic.
The content here guides readers on how to build a DIY deck.
Roger Skateboards earns through affiliate commissions.
Simple layouts work – Comparing other riding board sites, Roger Skateboards has the most basic looking website. However, in terms of stats, this website is very competitive.
Shaver Guru was launched in January 2015. It mainly publishes list and review articles on different shavers. This site earns mostly on affiliate commissions. However, it is not clear whether direct partnerships are accepted.
Car Seat Answers was started in July 2013 and are self-run until today. The site mainly has to buy guides, comparisons, and review articles on different car seats. It earns from affiliate commissions but does not provide information on whether it accepts direct partnerships and sponsorships.
Gift Idea Geek was launched in June 2018 by Andrew and the website has an endless scroll dynamic on seemingly unique gifts. It is similar to This Is Why I’m Broke, except that there are short product reviews and descriptions for each item. The readers are not automatically redirected to the affiliate website’s page.
Another thing is that this page has a blog section for featured posts. It is highly likely that the featured items were paid for by the advertiser prior to posting.
Thank Your Skin was started by Hannah Do in September 2014 and publishes reviews, DIY articles, lists, and how-to guides on skin products and related concerns. This site earns solely from affiliate commissions.
The Flooring Girl was founded in October 2011 by Debbie Gartner. This site provides how-tos, guide, and review articles on home and floor improvements. Its source of income is advertisements, affiliate commissions, and private consultations.
Nootriment was founded in July 2013 by Sharifa Darani. Her success in affiliate marketing is due to the buying guides and review articles focused on the body and health concerns that she publishes. This site earns money through display advertisements and affiliate commissions.
Headphones Addict was established in May 2000. Founded by a group of music lovers and headphone fans, namely Matija, Justin, and James. The site is a treasure trove of buying guides and review articles on different headphones. This site makes money through affiliate commissions.
Podcast Insights was launched in January 2016 with the aim to help readers start podcasting and become successful with it. The site contains buying guides and reviews articles and earns through affiliate commissions and display advertisements.
Best Roof Box was launched in August of 2019. This affiliate marketing website offers buyer guides, product reviews, and comparison articles that help consumers find the best roof boxes. It generates revenue through affiliate commissions, display advertisements, and sponsorships.
Conclusion
This sums up the list of the top affiliate sites on the web today. If there is one common factor among them it is the quality that marketers invest in their work.
Looking over each of the websites, it is almost hard to differentiate which ones are new and self-run by successful affiliate marketers. If you’re an aspiring affiliate, these are the best affiliate websites you should emulate to become successful in this industry.
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