4 Successful Affiliate Websites to Learn From

To run successful affiliate websites, it is essential to understand how they operate and how they make money. Affiliate websites promote a product or service making compelling recommendations while linking the product, when a viewer visits the link and makes a purchase the company/retailer tracks back the purchase and pays the affiliate a commission on the sale.

The most popular affiliate program is Amazon Associates enabling millions of affiliate marketers to make fortunes. Let’s take a look at 4 great examples of successful affiliate websites and see how they’re generating money.

VPNOverview.com

VPNOverview is an affiliate website that puts out useful and extensively researched content about VPNs, online security, privacy, and internet freedom to educate visitors. They review different VPN (Virtual Private Network) services and make recommendations regarding the best service.

This website by David Janssen goes over all possible features a certain VPN provider offers and puts together articles and posts regularly guiding an average consumer about topics like VPN usage, setting up a VPN, and installation across multiple devices. VPNOverview aims at arming its users with as much knowledge regarding cybersecurity as possible.

They publish articles regarding antiviruses, password managers, malware, backups, and the best possible business practices to opt online.

Moreover, news regarding cybercrime, privacy, legislation, and overall happenings in the cybersecurity world are posted daily. This content strategy helps them capitalize on recent affairs and lure more traffic in. It not only advises you about the best VPN providers but also explains how and why they picked it, with more security tips, best practices when using a VPN, and other dos and don’ts.

From high-value guiding posts for beginners to VPN service comparisons based on multiple factors, you’ll find everything you’re looking for at this site around your online safety. VPNOverview does not use AdSense and monitors all their advertising themselves, which is highly lucrative in terms of networking and also helps with consistency and income predictability.

A small team of privacy professionals behind VPNOverview works tirelessly with VPN affiliate programs that use links in top VPN listings and while reviewing VPNs to earn a commission. VPNOverview also offers deals and discounts on VPN subscriptions from the links on the site.

TheWireCutter

Known as the “MythBusters for gadgets”, The Wirecutter recommends and reviews gadgets after serious testing and examination by professionals (at times) and has surfaced as the most well-known and famous affiliate website. You’ll get to see monstrous posts on each product with their respective pros and cons, user experiences, and all information that a user might need to know before getting an electronic good. The site is all about reviews, buying guides, and recommendations about gear, gadgets, consumer goods, and electronics put out after intensive, in-depth research and thorough testing.

The Wirecutter was created by Brian Lam in 2011 and has paved its path through the years to reach amongst the top 6000 websites for finding “best of” products in every consumer category. The best part about these product reviews? They come straight to the point right in the first paragraph for people who are not so fond of reading lengthy paragraphs and want a reliable source to tell them what to buy without wasting much of their time. Every post will start by telling such impatient users exactly what they should get while being completely transparent about their quality testing and reviewing procedure to build trust.

More than 60% of the traffic at The Wirecutter comes from organic searches. They regularly promote affiliate products with daily innovative deals and highlight affiliate links with red CTAs with their best picks and runner-ups. Moreover, their sister site called “The Sweethome” is doing just as well with home-focused products. This expansion is separate from the 11.4K referring domains they have already secured from the main content at The Wirecutter.

Just like their processes, they’re pretty transparent about their monetization tactics. The Wirecutter primarily makes money from their Amazon affiliate program but uses Skimlinks and takes affiliate programs from other retailers too.

Webhostingsecretrevealed.net

This is a site made for everyone who’s just starting out with a website. Web Hosting Secret Revealed (WHSR) is a dedicated website that develops tools that help building and hosting websites and publish regular content regarding web hosting, web tools, web design, cybersecurity, guides for beginners, business advice, eCommerce, copywriting, blogging tips, and much more. They mainly review website hosting service providers and put out statistical data regarding each host’s storage, control, transfer, etc.

They work on building trust by personalizing their user’s experience at the site by giving free advice and valuation of their website with personalized web host recommendations and integrating A.I chatting. They offer performance trackers and detailed information about hosting providers, costs, cybersecurity, SSL, and useful comparisons. It’s more like an information center where you’ll find articles, blog posts, and statistical data regarding every web-related topic. They have step-by-step guides for newbies, more technical content, and tools for the professionals.

The main source of traffic at WHSR is from searches and it generates revenue predominantly from affiliate programs, and approximately earns up to $10k+ per month. It earns a good amount from affiliate programs by some of the most famous VPN providers like NordVPN, which is offering up to 40-100% commission, and ExpressVPN, which runs a rather flexible commission structure where they have payouts based on the number of sales and on the 90-day cookie policy. WHSR explicitly disclosed if links in a particular article earn them referral fees at the end of that article to keep the readers informed.

Gaming-Reviews.com

Gaming-reviews, as the name says, posts reviews and provides helpful and informative content for all the tech geeks out there. It’s a great example of an affiliate website that sparks the reader’s interest with engaging posts and publishes well-researched and up-to-date content for audiences around the globe.

Unlike many gaming-related affiliate websites, Gaming-reviews does not publish generic comparison articles on a certain type of product. You’ll find in-depth reviews about gaming components, and equipment in the form of “the best” articles along with exhaustive buying guides and FAQs to cater to every gamer’s queries. It is popular mostly among pros or first-time buyers who like to know each and every specification of a product before they buy it.

This website earns money from its affiliate links that are clearly highlighted in red Call to Action buttons. Their content is designed around the newest trends and happenings in the gaming world and targets gamers of all ages and types.

Global interest in the gaming niche has drastically increased during the past year and thus presenting such affiliate websites with more opportunities to grow. Not only has the number of gamers risen, the number of people who like to make informed purchase decisions have also increased. Websites like gaming-reviews.com target such people and offer their earnestly picked and thoroughly reviewed products for buying right there and then.

Needless to say, Gaming-reviews has become one of the successful affiliate businesses by gauging and prioritizing their audience’s needs and interests. And, like any other affiliate website, it has been built to provide massive value to their vast and growing audiences.