NordVPN Affiliate Program: Make $1,000 a Month (2024)
NordVPN is the biggest name in the VPN industry. Even people who don’t know what VPN is and what it does have probably heard about NordVPN. They have a very massive budget for advertisements and run ads constantly across multiple channels.
Unsurprisingly, NordVPN also has an affiliate program.
In this review, you will learn everything about the NordVPN affiliate program.
You will also learn how much you can earn as a NordVPN affiliate and tips on how you can approach promoting VPN services in general.
NordVPN Affiliate Program Overview
Commission: 30-100%
Cookie Duration: 30 days
Where to Join: In-house affiliate program, Impact, CJ Affiliate, FlexOffers
Payment Options: Payoneer, PayPal, Electronic Funds Transfer
NordVPN Affiliate Program
The NordVPN affiliate program can be joined through multiple affiliate networks and also has an in-house affiliate program.
You can join the program at the following affiliate networks: CJ Affiliate, Impact, and FlexOffers.
The programs do not differ much. They all have 30 days cookie duration.
However, the commission structure is best for the in-house affiliate program, so I would recommend joining the program there.
NordVPN does not specify the requirements for joining their program, but you will definitely need a website. You need a website to create an account at any of the previously mentioned affiliate networks, and NordVPN also asks for a website during the sign-up to the in-house affiliate program.
On Impact Radius, the NordVPN affiliate program has over a 90% acceptance rate, so getting accepted does not seem difficult.
The advantage of becoming a NordVPN affiliate is that you can have an audience from anywhere in the world. Unlike many affiliate programs, NordVPN does not limit its program to sales from a few locations. If your website doesn't have traffic from the USA, you can still promote NordVPN.
For some strange reason, the in-house program does not allow deep linking. You will only be able to link to the NordVPN homepage.
Deep linking is possible if you join the program through affiliate networks.
NordVPN Affiliate Program Commission
As you can see from the table below, the commission for the NordVPN affiliate program ranges from 30-100%.
The default commission is 40%, and 30% is the recurring commission. This applies to the in-house affiliate program.
If your referral purchases just a one-month plan, you get 100%. The cheapest one-month plan costs $14.
The longest 2-year plan costs around $100 (promo price for the first two years), so your commission would be $40 for the first two years. If your referral remained a paying customer after two years, you would receive $30 every year. After two years, a customer is switched to a yearly plan that costs around $100.
If you joined the program on CJ Affiliate or Impact Radius, you would also receive 40%. However, the commission would not be recurring.
Also, you only get 40% for the one-month plan sales, while in the in-house NordVPN affiliate program, you get 100%.
If you became a NordVPN affiliate through Impact Radius, you also have the option to promote NordPass and receive a 30% commission.
NordPass is a secure password management tool.
Promoting NordPass is currently not possible through the other affiliate networks or through the in-house program.
Can You Make $1.000 a Month as a NordVPN Affiliate?
NordVPN has a high affiliate commission, but it still takes quite a lot of sales to reach the $1.000 benchmark.
Be prepared that lot of your referrals will purchase just a one-month plan. People who get a one-month plan often just want to access geo-restricted content and don’t need to use VPN continuously.
Let’s s assume you would receive just referrals to the one-month plan for which you get $14.
You would need 72 sales to get to $1.000.
If your conversion rate was 1%, you would need 7.200 people to read your content with NordVPN affiliate links.
Of course, you would also get some referrals to one of the higher plans, so the number would be a bit lower.
The best thing about the NordVPN affiliate program is the recurring commission.
If someone purchases one of the higher plans, there is a high probability that he/she will renew the subscription.
Most of the people who buy the higher plans use VPN for its primary purpose; to protect their online privacy by hiding their IP address.
These people can be customers for long years, and since NordVPN has a recurring commission, you get a commission for each renewal.
NordVPN has a very high promo price for the higher plans. For the 2-year plan, there is a 60% discount.
However, after the promo subscription expires, the standard pricing applies.
This means you will earn a nice passive income if you accumulate a decent number of loyal NordVPN subscribers.
Specifically, you would need just 25 subscribers for the yearly plan to passively earn $1.000 each year.
If you wanted to earn $1.000 each month ($12.000 a year), you would need to have around 300 loyal referrals.
How to Promote NordVPN?
You have most likely seen many VPN comparison websites like the one below.
This promotional method is highly effective if you manage to rank for keywords like "best VPN".
Obviously, such keywords are highly competitive, and it is extremely difficult to rank for them.
Keywords that include the word "best" are hard to rank for, no matter your niche.
People who search for "best VPN," "best hosting," etc., have a purchase intent. They are ready to buy and just need to decide which option is the best for them.
Keywords with the word "buy" are often called transactional keywords. Transactional keywords are different from niche to niche, but some, like “buy,” “for sale,” and “discount,” are common across most niches.
Articles that include transactional keywords tend to have a higher conversion rate. In our dummy example earlier, I assumed a 1% conversion rate. If you had an article ranking for "best VPN," you could easily have a 5% conversion rate.
Just because you have a new website does not mean you should never try to rank for "best" keywords. There are often good "best" keyword opportunities with smaller search volumes.
These keywords are more specific and can, for example, target a particular country.
Ranking for "best VPN Japan" is much easier than ranking for "best VPN."
Besides transactional keywords, you should also rank for informational keywords.
You can write about privacy and security on the internet, avoiding geo-blocking, etc. Anything that you can connect with VPN.
Before writing an article, always research the keywords you intend to rank for. You don’t want to spend time on an article that has no chance of getting any traffic due to high competition or no search volume.
When you write an article, use SEO tools like Surfer to optimize your articles with your keywords.
Summary: Pros & Cons
Here is a brief overview of the main advantages and disadvantages of the NordVPN affiliate program.
Pros
- High commission rates of 7% on products not on sale and not purchased with a coupon or cashback
- 30 days cookie duration
- Trusted brand
Cons
- Very high competition for transactional keywords
- In-house affiliate program does not allow deep-linking
Should You Become a NordVPN Affiliate?
VPN affiliate programs offer high commissions, and NordVPN is no exception.
The NordVPN affiliate program offers a high 40% commission rate and a 30% recurring commission.
The 30-day cookie duration is decent as well.
Moreover, NordVPN is a leader in providing VPN services. Promoting a company that people have heard of is always easier than a new emerging one.
The only big downside of becoming a NordVPN affiliate is the high competition.
