Having tested and done in-depth research on Affiliate Programs, here’s our approach to the best affiliate programs that pay per click.
There’s one thing that appears to be gigantic to noob affiliate marketers.
…and that’s making sales.
Funnily enough, that’s the core of affiliate marketing.
There are situations when you get to promote poorly made or overpriced products.
And hence, you get to see poor conversion rates.
Well, they’re a result of the few successful sales made from lots of product clicks.
This is quite bad…I once felt that though
And sometimes, I do feel like earning a percentage for those wasted clicks.
Little did I know that there was actually a way to earn per click.
Although not all affiliate programs operate on this model, there’s still a list of Affiliate programs that pay per click.
However, in this article, we’d be taking a deep look into these affiliate programs.
Contents
What is PPC?
Fully known as pay per click, PPC is an advertising payment model used by advertisers to pay publishers for every click on ad display.
Although PPC is used as a payment model in Affiliate marketing, it works differently.
Rather than having to join a third-party affiliate network or a self-hosted program, most PPC affiliate programs require you to Join an Ad network.
Because it’s basically used by ad networks.
In other words, “best affiliate programs that pay per click” can be said to be “best Ad networks”.
Hence, rather than having to promote a single line of products, as in other affiliate programs, you’d be promoting several types of ads, based on your preference.
The good thing here’s that there is a lot of these programs. But the actual problem lies in choosing a suitable one.
Well, since you’re here on this article, you don’t need to do additional research for these programs, because we’ve got them all covered.
What Makes a good Affiliate Program that pays per click?
There are a lot of things to consider before joining affiliate programs.
But when it comes to affiliate programs that pay per click, we majorly place our focus on the payments.
In essence;
- How well does the company pay? High, average or poor?
- How long is the company’s payment cycle?
- What is the minimum threshold?
- What are the payment methods?
In addition to payments, you’d love to pretty much know the policy of any of these programs before you think of joining.
There are a lot of personalized policies for most of them.
But one of them which stands out –of which is repetitive among these programs– is content optimisation, kind off.
Avoiding topics such as politics, religion, sexuality, violence, guns, obviously illegal activities, malware, torrents, hacks, etc, are basically not allowed in almost every program.
Additionally, there are a lot of these programs that tend to place emphasis on your traffic before joining them.
Giving you strict traffic requirements before joining them.
This is actually discouraging for starters and I won’t like to rank them up in this list.
But, if you take a look at it, the other way round, you see that they basically want you to earn big. And hence priding their integrity.
14+ Best Affiliate Programs that Pay Per Click
1. Adsense
So this is the first on our list…
Adsense has been a big-time earning platform for a vast amount of blogs on the internet.
It is evidently one of the best Ad networks, especially for starters.
As a top-ranking program, there are always a lot of advertisers bidding for space.
Hence, there is a large variety of displayable ads.
You can customize the ads displayed on your website, to the extent you want or even leave them on Autopilot.
Although Adsense has a payment model based on pay-per-clicks, the company also pays by RPM.
Adsense is one of the popularly known run-to-ad networks for start-ups.
And this is because there are basically not many requirements before joining.
Requirements like “traffic limits” are usually common among big pay-per-click affiliate programs.
But thank goodness, Adsense has no such.
However, the company has a very poor approval rate.
It’s even up to the extent of people selling their approved Adsense accounts for hundreds of dollars.
Also, the company’s policy is damn strict. They can just wake one faithful morning and decide to take your account down, all because you clicked on your ad.
Aside from that…
If you’re looking forward to joining a pay-per-click affiliate program that works based on contextual and user history, then you should consider joining Adsense.
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – 21st of the coming month (Net 30)
Approval Rate – Difficult
Sign Up Page – Adsense
RPM – Variable
Minimum Threshold – $100
2. Ezoic
Formerly, Adsense was like a sole goldmine for online creators.
If you’ve got Adsense on your site, then you’d be seen as a successful blogger but if not, then you’ve not even started.
Most people even quit blogging due to Adsense’s inability to approve their site, Funnily enough.
But thank goodness, it’s no longer like that, anymore.
There are a lot of viable Adsense alternatives and Ezoic is one of them.
Launched in 2010, Ezoic is an advanced Ai platform that fully engages in the PPC payment model.
Over time, the company has gained a lot of popularity among publishers and affiliate marketers.
And this is major because of its better rates of ads RPM.
Actually, Ezoic is not just an Ad network.
According to the company, Ezoic is a technology (or a system) that assists informational websites in improving usability, content discovery, and ad revenue.
So by signing up with them, you’ve got them, handling your basic technical problems to help you get the bag (earn).
And unlike Adsense, Ezoic isn’t that strict.
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – Monthly (Net 30)
Approval Rate – Easy
Sign Up Page – Ezoic
RPM ~$14+
Minimum Threshold – $20
3. Media.Net
Founded in 2010, Media.net is a prominent advertising firm with one of the industry’s most extensive advertising technology portfolios.
…including search, native, display, mobile, local, goods, and video ads.
And just like Adsense, it shows ads contextually.
For example, if I’m reading a blog post on “weight loss”, I’d likely be seeing a lot of ads on “weight loss”, if the website is a publisher for Media.net
However, since it has no access to user data, it doesn’t match up with Adsense to display ads based on user search history.
Howbeit, Media.net is a great Affiliate program for affiliates who want to earn via pay per click
According to many reviews, Media.net appears to be more profitable compared to Adsense.
Authority hacker’s “Niall Roche” claims a 5× increase in earnings, with the same traffic volume, after joining Media.net
Obviously, this is probably due to the mixed ads coming from Yahoo and Bing Network, that Media.net provides.
Additionally, you should be earning around $10 for RPM – This could be lesser or higher, it sure depends on some factors.
Likewise Ezoic, Media.net has a mind-blowing affiliate program that pays up to a 10% commission rate.
Traffic Requirements – 5,000 monthly visitors
Payment Cycle – Monthly (Net 30)
Approval Rate – Medium
Sign Up Page – Media.net
RPM ~$14+
Minimum Threshold – $100
4. Propeller Ads
If you’ve just started your journey in this digital marketing/blogging space, then “Propeller ads” should be a considerable option.
If not for anything else, the requirements and policies on most of these affiliate programs that pay per click are usually something else.
From traffic limits to site quality to contents and blah blah blah.
You can get ads running on those little sites of yours.
Mind you, Propeller ads is a generic ad network and it’s applicable to all types of site.
Propellerads is totally compatible with Adsense. In essence, you can have both of them on the same site, without running into any issues.
It’s also worth mentioning that Propeller Ads, from my view, are not really friendly for visitors.
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – Weekly (Net 7)
Approval Rate – Easy
Sign Up Page – Media.net
RPM ~$6
Minimum Threshold – $100
5. Mediavine
So here’s actually the boss of affiliate programs that pay per click.
Yeah…when it comes to hard traffic requirements.
Mediavine is a profound ad network that basically helps optimize websites in every respect, improving page speed, traffic, and revenue.
The platform works Similar to Ezoic.
However, to protect their integrity between advertisers, Mediavine has a strict policy.
Apparently, this is done, either to scare away spammers, irrelevant sites, or underdeveloped websites.
And then, focus on providing perfect ROI for advertisers.
The goodies here are that the company pays more than most of the affiliate programs on this page.
With Mediavine, you can earn as much as $30 per 1000 visitors or even more.
That’s about 3× better than Adsense and 2× better than Ezoic.
But, however, the actual problem lies in getting your website approved for the program.
According to Mediavine, before applying, you should have gained some traffic authority, generating over 50,000 ‘sessions’ monthly.
You got that right, “sessions”, and not even page views.
Additionally, the company still requests that your traffic should be mainly from the U.S., Canada, or the U.K.
Apparently, it seems like Mediavine is already debilitated on receiving more publishers.
Rather, they want more quality websites on their list.
Traffic Requirements – 50,000 monthly sessions
Payment Cycle – 65 days (Net 65)
Approval Rate – Difficult
Sign Up Page – Mediavine
RPM ~$30
Minimum Threshold – $25
6.AdThrive
Just like Mediavine, Adthrive is a leading ad network that tailors its activities to niches like food, home, parenting, and DIY.
Adthrive is one of Mediavine’s viable competitors since they tend to work in the same way.
In case I didn’t tell you earlier, Mediavine has an already predetermined niche that they accept.
And that’s the same as Adthrive.
Coming to Adthrive requirements, it’s really intimidating.
And if I should say, Adthrive is not the right pay-per-click affiliate program for new startups.
The program requires you to have nothing less than 100,000 monthly visitors.
While it tops your RPM to around ~$30
Traffic Requirements – 100,000 monthly visitors
Payment Cycle – 1½ month (Net 45)
Approval Rate – Medium
Sign Up Page – Mediavine
RPM ~$30
Minimum Threshold – $25
7. Outbrain
And so the 7th number on our list of affiliate programs that pay per click is Outbrain.
As the name sounds, Outbrain slightly goes out of the box.
Outbrain is basically a native advertising network that connects publishers like CNN, Bloomberg, and others with advertisers.
Outbrain ads are somewhat attractive, in a way. And can possibly increase your conversion rate.
However, the program has a major downside. An intimidating one, if I should add.
Outbrain has a minimum traffic requirement of 10 million monthly page views.
However, if you have a high-standard blog with quality content, then you can get approved with as low as 3 million monthly page views.
Traffic Requirements – 10 million monthly page views
Payment Cycle – 3 months (Net 90)
Approval Rate – Medium
Sign Up Page – Outbrain
RPM ~$30
Minimum Threshold – $50
8. Adsterra
So here’s the easiest
and most flexible “affiliate program that pays per click”, we have on this post.
Founded in 2013, Adsterra is a renowned ad network that hails with a network of over 18,000 publishers and 12,000 brands.
Meaning that there are a lot of ads to promote for typically every site.
Adsterra claims to approve sites under 10 mins.
But, however, this doesn’t stop them from analyzing such sites to make sure it follows their policies.
Adsterra appears to work like Propeller ads, both in terms of the ad type, format, and payment terms.
The company has 4 main ad types including CPM, CPA, CPC, CPO, and CPI (PPI).
Coming to their payment methods, you can receive payment either through Webmoney, Paxum, Paypal, Bitcoin or
Wire transfer.
If you’re looking for a way to easily monetize your website, then you should consider Adsterra.
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – Twice monthly (Net 15)
Approval Rate – Easy
Sign Up Page – Adsterra
RPM ~Variable
Minimum Threshold – $100 for Paxum and PayPal
9. Infolink
Infolink is a global ad platform that stands as a marketplace for both advertisers and publishers.
The company has over 100,000 publishers in partnership dispersed across 128 countries.
They also claim to be the world’s third-largest pay-per-click advertising company.
Who knows, it could be true. But there’s actually no proof to that.
But, however, you can find pretty good ads from them, coming from big brands such as Nike and even Netflix.
Infolink ads are highly customizable.
You can double your engagement on your ads, using Infolinks smart algorithm of implementing personalized unique ad positioning.
And as a result, you can increase your earnings.
Additionally, using their smart algorithm, infolink can monitor your website traffic in real-time and serve up ads that are most relevant to your visitor.
Hence, eliminating banner blindness on the platform.
There are no toxic requirements for joining Infolink. However, you’ll need to wait for 2 days before getting approved.
It’s also worth mentioning that Infolinks only work on a pay-per-click basis. And nothing else
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – 1½ month (Net 45)
Approval Rate – Easy
Sign Up Page – Infolink
RPM – Varies based on your niche
Minimum Threshold – $50 (PayPal)
10. Adblade
So here’s another prestigious affiliate program that would pay you per click, on the likes of Adthrive and Outbrain.
Adblade is pretty much standard and will require you not less than 500,000 monthly visitors before pushing their sign-up Button.
It is somewhat flexible, allowing a lot of ads customization and payment methods.
Ads on Adblade are usually News and story-based. So it doesn’t really work well for all types of sites.
A blog can be a perfect fit for Adblade. And to my opinion, niches such as food, home, parenting, DIY, travel, lifestyle, news, and entertainment would do well.
Their reporting system is top-notch, providing real-time reports for every essential detail you need.
Traffic Requirements – 500,000 monthly visitors
Payment Cycle – monthly (Net 45)
Approval Rate – Medium
Sign Up Page – Adblade
RPM – Varies based on your niche
Minimum Threshold – $100 (Wire transfer)
11. Adcash
A lot of these big programs tend to ignore or disapprove applications from little websites.
A typical example is Adblade.
Just imagine if Adblade was the only affiliate program that pays per click, then newbies won’t be able to earn any penny for their efforts.
But, thank goodness, it isn’t the only Ad network – they’re a lot of alternatives.
And Adcash is one.
Adcash is an Estonian-based global ad company founded way back in 2008 by two business partners, Christophe Avignon and Thomas Padovan.
With over 10k active campaigns, research has it that Adcash receives over 10 billion as requests, daily.
There is also a lot of Ads format on the platform. Ranging from Pop-under ads, push notifications, interstitials ads, to native and banner ads.
Traffic Requirements – None
Payment Cycle – Monthly (Net 30)
Approval Rate – Easy
Sign Up Page – Adcash
RPM – Varies based on your niche
Minimum Threshold – $25
Final Thoughts
So here’s the end to our list of the 11 best affiliate programs that pay per click.
You can say there are more to this, but we’re actually not here to give you a bunch of lists.
But rather, handpicked lists
These programs are great but it now lies in your hands to do needful, based on certain factors.
If you’re just starting your blogging journey as a newbie, you can go for Adsense, since it doesn’t have any traffic requirements.
But as you move on to start generating lots of traffic, you can then join some of the big networks on this list.
Like Media.net, Mediavine, or Adthrive since their payments are higher.
But on the other hand, if Adsense fails to accept your blog, as it usually does.
You can then go after basic Adsense alternatives like Ezoic or Propellerads.
Either way, bear in mind that all of these pay-per-click affiliate programs are not the same.
There are usually ups and downs.
So, you need to evaluate them and get started.
