Imagine earning money simply by recommending products or services you use or truly believe in. That’s the essence of affiliate marketing! Whether you are a blogger, social media influencer, YouTuber or a website owner, with affiliate marketing you can monetize your platform and turn your passion into an income.
With multiple affiliate programs available, it can be overwhelming to find the ones that offer the best commission rates while aligning with your niche and audience. In this article, we will explore a carefully curated selection of Canadian affiliate programs with the top commission rates in 2024. Regardless if you are an experienced affiliate marketer or a beginner, this guide will help you maximize your earnings in the dynamic world of affiliate marketing. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to discover the exciting world of affiliate marketing in Canada!
Does affiliate marketing really work in Canada?
Absolutely! Affiliate marketing can be incredibly effective in Canada. Canadian affiliate programs offer a wealth of opportunities, often surpassing their counterparts in the US. In fact, Canadian affiliate programs offer more than double the benefits, and all it requires is having a Canadian audience engaged with electronic devices. With the right strategy and audience targeting, affiliate marketing can indeed yield great results in Canada.
How much do affiliate marketers make in Canada?
Just like any other job, the amount an affiliate makes is based on their level of expertise and experience. While the range goes anywhere from $0/month to more than $100,000/month, according to Glassdoor, on average Canadian affiliate marketers make approximately $60k/year.
How does Canadian affiliate marketing work?
As you can see, Canadian affiliates can make a good living, so you must be wondering “How does Canadian affiliate marketing work?”
1. Select a niche and create your platform
First of all, you need to select a niche and create a great social media profile or a website/blog. This is the most important step as it will determine your affiliate income. Try your best to select a niche that aligns with your interests and/or expertise.
Why? Because you will have to do an extensive amount of research on affiliate companies, and work many hours on content creation to drive traffic to your platform. So, might as well pick something you like and have fun while working!
2. Assess market demands
Secondly, you need to assess market demands. Determine trends, and the wants and needs of your customer base, as this will allow you to close more sales and earn more.
3. Examine your competition
Examining your competition is another very important step in affiliate marketing. By studying their strategies, you can find ways to stand out and offer your customers a unique experience.
On the other hand, studying fellow affiliates can be beneficial in terms of partnerships as well. Collaborating with your competitors can expose you to both new affiliate marketing companies and to new customers.
4. Join affiliate programs or affiliate networks
Sign up for an affiliate program or an affiliate marketing network that best suits your niche and audience. Each program will provide you with a unique affiliate link that tracks your referrals and ensures that you receive the appropriate commission.
But, what is the difference?
Affiliate program
An affiliate program presents an efficient and adaptable approach for businesses to expand their customer base, explore untapped markets, and generate sales. As an affiliate marketer, you can join a company’s in-house program or utilize an affiliate network to form a partnership. By doing so, you will receive incentives for driving sales and generating leads.
Affiliate Network
An affiliate network serves as a collaborative platform that facilitates partnerships between merchants and marketers. It grants publishers and affiliate marketers complete access to a network of merchants. Meanwhile, merchants benefit from the crucial tracking technology provided by the network to monitor activities.
5. Create engaging content and start promoting products
Start creating high-quality content. Whether you are making “best brands” posts or “how to guides”, your content needs to stand out and it needs to be SEO optimized. These will both be crucial in driving traffic to your platform, which will significantly improve your return from affiliate platforms.
Bonus Step: Social Media Marketing
Make sure to utilize social media channels to market your platform as they can also send a ton of traffic to your affiliate offers and boost your income!
Best Canadian Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Networks
Amazon Associates Canada
Amazon is without a doubt one of the most popular online shops selling everything. Apart from its extensive product selection, it presents a profitable opportunity for content creators, online businesses, and influencers through its associates program.
They are found worldwide on the market, and offer products for most niches. Which means, you can create your own program and align it according to your target demographic.
You can refer products that people will purchase, and receive anywhere from 1% to 20% in commissions. This range is determined by the product category of your affiliate links.
The one down side of Amazon Associates is the 24-hour cookie duration, but in the event of a customer adding an item to their shopping cart, the cookie duration is extended to 90 days.
To sum it up, amongst all Canadian affiliate programs, Amazon Associates offers an excellent affiliate program for those who want to start their own affiliate business and work with other Canadian businesses.
If Amazon Associates seems like the best option for you, you can sign up to the program here.
Best Buy Canada
The first Best Buy in Canada was opened in 2002, and today they are among the largest retailers in North America. Best Buy’s products include electronics, beauty products, toys, and more.
The BestBuy Canadian Affiliate Program is one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in Canada. Wile the terms of service are not the greatest (7-day cookie duration and only 1% commission for each transaction), it is still a great option. Best Buy is a very well-known brand with a product line of many necessary household items. This is strictly an important factor since marketing is significantly easier and you will get a higher conversion rate. So, your 1% commission will eventually start accumulating larger and larger returns.
Something important to keep in mind before you sign up to Best Buy Canada Affiliate Program is that, they are not interested in working with all affiliate marketers. They strictly want to collaborate with affiliates that have a platform targeting a Canadian audience, and they require that your platform’s niche aligns with their product line.
eBay Canada- eBay Partner Network
Whenever I think of an “online business”, eBay is always one of the first stores to come to my mind. eBay is a great platform where you can sell anything from digital products such as online courses to old shoes. Just like the previous two options, eBay Canada presents promising affiliate opportunities.
In 1995 eBay was founded as a marketplace for connecting buyers with sellers online. Now, it features many industry leaders worldwide, and includes affiliate partners too!
The site currently lists over 1.7 billion products and around 80% of these are brand new products. eBay Partner Network is very similar to the Amazon Affiliate Program. Just like Amazon, eBay’s commission structure is based on the product category. Affiliates can expect to make anywhere from 1% to 11% in commissions.
Once again, here are a few requirements to know before you sign up to eBay Partner Network Affiliate Program:
eBay requires that a customer purchases a product within 24 hours of clicking your affiliate link.
The requirement for auction-style products is a little different. For you to be able to claim a commission, a customer must bid on the product within 24 hours of clicking the affiliate link on your website, and win the auction within 10 days.
Also, eBay only offers electronic funds transfer or PayPal as a payment option for affiliates.
All things considered, eBay Partner Network is a great option for both beginner and seasoned affiliates.
Square One
Square One is a top home insurer in Canada with a score average of 4.7/5 with over 42,000 reviews. Its competitive prices start around 12 Canadian dollars per month.
Square One offers affiliate marketing programs based on a sliding commission wage system.
What is a sliding commission wage system?
Sliding commission is a payment method used to pay salespeople. How it works is; the commission rates you earn are based on your amount of sales generated. The amount could either mean units sold or the dollar amount.
So, the more sales you make through your affiliate links, the better your commission rates get!
How much commission do they offer?
You can expect to make as little as $50 CAD for every qualified tenant insurance policy you refer to, and as high as $175 CAD for each homeowners insurance policy sold through your link. Meanwhile, you will receive $100 CAD for each condo owners insurance policy sold.
In addition, SquareOne will publish quarterly reports about your activity. In this report, you will be able to see the amount of qualified clicks generated through your link, the number of policies sold, and the amount you earned.
Overall, Square one has a very organized and profitable affiliate program that I would recommend. If you want to sign up or read more about their program, make sure to check out their Home Insurance Affiliate Program page!
Lowe’s Canada’s Affiliate Program
Lowe’s Canada is one of the biggest DIY retailers in North America. Lowe’s has 61 locations throughout Canada, in 5 provinces; Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, covering 46 cities!
Lowe’s Canada’s Affiliate Program includes many tools, such as a dedicated affiliate manager, and many other tools for marketing your website and products.
Considering all the other major retailers, it comes without a surprise that Lowe’s does not offer the best affiliate conditions. It has a cookie duration of 24 hours and a flat commission rate of 2%, which is on the lower side of the spectrum. Though, reports claim that if you are a high contributor to their sales, you could receive higher rates (remember the sliding commission wage system that SquareOne has?).
A major competitive advantage of Lowe’s Canada’s program is the payment methods it offers; direct deposit and check!
Just like all the previously mentioned programs, Lowe’s has its advantages and disadvantages. Similar to Best Buy, it does not offer a great commission rate, but due to its immense popularity, closing sales will be easier, and the accumulated commissions will eventually be worth it.
Web Hosting Canada
Web Hosting Canada (WHC) is a web hosting service provider. With a constantly growing customer base and numerous sites, WHC is a Canadian favourite among bloggers, marketing agencies, and other businesses.
Apart from its successful business ventures, WHC is also known as a favourable affiliate company.
Why is it a Canadian favourite?
For the majority of sales, it provides earnings between $25 CAD and $300 CAD, which is based on the product sold. Although this is already amazing, on top of these rates, they also offer a whopping 10% recurring commission on all email marketing offers!
You may be thinking “Is that all?”. Rest assured that it is not.
WHC also provides a fantastic cookie life span of 6 months. While you also gain access to dedicated account managers, effective banners, high-converting landing pages, and detailed statistics in your Affiliate Console!
You can visit WHC’s affiliate program page, where you will find a detailed commission breakdown for each of their products.
While they are not the biggest brand on this list, I do not see any reason not to sign up to WHC’s program as they offer the best terms for their affiliates.
CJ Affiliate
While Commission Junction (now known as CJ Affiliate) is one of the largest, most established affiliate networks, it is also amongst the oldest affiliate networks which was founded in 1998.
It has an extensive affiliate marketing company list of Canadian retail merchants of every size including Indigo, Lowe’s Canada, The Source.
Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is another established affiliate network with a wide affiliate marketing company list.
They offer affiliate programs of all sorts and aim to connect brands with website owners, social media influencers, and various other types of content creators.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How to find the best affiliate program for you?
Each program has its advantages and disadvantages, hence, finding the ideal affiliate program for you involves thorough research. When searching for affiliate programs, you should look for opportunities to partner directly with brands you are interested in, or find affiliate programs through intermediary platforms such as websites, networks, or dedicated programs. Take the time to inspect each program, considering their pros and cons against your criteria.
Once you’ve chosen a program, dive into learning various tactics to drive audience engagement and conversions. Explore different marketing methods such as strategic networking or digital marketing to optimize your campaigns and generate passive income effectively. With patience and strategic planning, you can maximize the potential of your affiliate partnerships.
Do I have to stick with one program?
No! Never forget that you can always sign up to different programs, and change your partners.
What is a payment threshold?
It is the minimum amount of money that needs to be accumulated before a company can pay your commissions.
Do these programs have a payment threshold?
Yes! It is common practice for such programs and companies to have such regulations in place, but do not worry, if you cannot meet the threshold, your accumulated income will keep carrying over to the next month, until the threshold is reached and you can redeem your payment.
Which affiliate program is the best?
Shortly, it comes down to your preferences. After extensive research, our favourite is Web Hosting Canada’s affiliate program, but it is your responsibility to do your own research and determine who you want to work with.
Conclusion
While there are limited options, Canadian affiliate programs offer a relatively easy method of earning income for content creators, and everyone with a platform should try to utilize this amazing opportunity that today’s world offers!
Good luck, and you got this!
