Just several years ago, if an affiliate network wanted to compete in the affiliate marketing space, it needed to offer some kind of a rewards program that distinguished their top affiliates with special gifts and prizes. But, as the market became more saturated with networks and other direct response marketing companies (and also the low margins on many offers) rewards programs were harder to maintain.

Now, however, it seems that with the industry stabilizing, companies are starting to look at rewards programs as a method of recruiting and keeping affiliates on their teams.

The following are the top affiliate networks offering some kind of rewards programs.

MaxBounty

MaxBounty is an affiliate network that’s been launched in 2004 with a unique ideology that publishers should be paid the lion’s share of the bounty generated by their marketing efforts, and that everyone should be treated with the same respect, regardless of size.

2012 was a great year for MaxBounty and since they want their affiliates to share this success they’ve launched a great rewards program that has begun on August 1st, 2012, and will end on January 31st, 2013.

The contest is open to all affiliates. On February 10th, 2013, MaxBounty will select 13 winners, and each winner will receive a single trip to Affiliate Rewards: Las Vegas (2013).

Now, the best thing is that you don’t have to be the top earning affiliate to win this. There are four categories of winners:

• Winners 1-6: top performing affiliates.


• Winners 7-11: most improved affiliates. People who have increased their earnings the most.


• Winner 12: randomly selected affiliate.


• Winner 13: special guest. The details will be announced shortly.

You can find out more at: http://affiliaterewards.com/.

Adknowledge

Adknowledge has been on many “top affiliate networks” lists for a number of years now. It’s simply one of the most respected and largest companies in the industry.

Currently, they’re running a rewards program called “Escape to Paradise.” The main prize is a 6-day trip to an all-inclusive resort on the gorgeous island of Grand Cayman.

The core rules are quite simple. Ten affiliates qualify to win the trip. To be on the team you have to either be one of the top five highest revenue earners, or one of the top five highest incremental growers.

The contest has started in September and will last till the end of December, 2012. The winners will depart on February 5th, 2013.

You can find out more at: http://lm.adknowledge.com/li06/.

PeerFly

It seems that becoming one of the top affiliate networks was inevitable for PeerFly. The network has a big number of affiliates as they accept publishers from all countries, their software package is custom built, and they welcome almost any type of traffic.

PeerFly also hosts an ongoing rewards program that has very simple rules.

Every month they split $1,000 in free Amazon gift cards to the top 10 revenue earning publishers who have entered the contest. The more an affiliate earns, the bigger their cut. (To enter this contest you have to sign up as a publisher, and then see your account.)

You can find out more at: https://peerfly.com/rewards.php.