If you're looking to promote products or services, there are a few affiliate programs you can consider. When choosing an affiliate program, you'll want to keep in mind the avenues or platforms where your audience spends the majority of their time. Alternatively, is your buyer persona someone who's always looking for a good deal, and would appreciate a link on a coupon site? Or are they more interested in doing tons of research before purchasing, making your promotion efforts more worthwhile on a review site?

While those are questions you'll have to consider for yourself, let's take a look at some general types of affiliate programs so you can begin brainstorming potential avenues for your own marketing efforts:

Search Affiliates
With this program, marketers pay their own money to promote affiliate offers on search results or other online advertising platforms like Facebook Advertising. This is a great option for marketers with an SEO background who want to A/B test to see which ads result in the most referrals — and ROI.

Influencer Programs
If you’re a blogger or social media influencer who engages with a specific audience, consider partnering with a company whose products would appeal to them. For instance, if you are a food blogger or YouTube influencer who creates recipe content, consider partnering with a company that sells kitchen appliances by featuring their product in your content in exchange for a commission for every product sold via your affiliate link. Ideally, this would result in additional revenue if your audience likes the products you’re promoting.

Review Sites
Blind buying products online can be daunting for consumers, which is why they often turn to review sites during the buyer’s journey so they can conduct research before purchasing. Review sites partner with individual companies or affiliate networks to review products and services in exchange for an affiliate link.

Coupon Sites
Similar to review sites, coupon sites partner with companies to provide buyers with discounts on products and services in exchange for a kickback.

Email Marketing
This is best in small doses. You don't want to send out bulk emails to an audience that isn’t interested in promoted products or services. However, with proper consideration for who's receiving the email, this could be an effective method. For instance, if you work for a marketing agency, you could partner with a company that sells design tools and include an affiliate within emails you send to design clients. This could help your clients create higher-quality content while providing an added source of revenue.

Affiliate Networks
Instead of offering products from only one company, affiliate networks act as a marketplace and provide a larger pool of brands and offers to choose from. This option may appeal to beginner affiliate marketers because you don’t have to manage as many partnerships at once. Plus, there’s no limit on how many affiliate networks you can join, so the possibilities are endless.