Affiliate marketing is said to be one of the best online businesses to earn passive income. So, what is affiliate marketing and how does it work? I got you covered.
To put it simply – “affiliate marketing is a process of recommending a company’s product or service either on a blog, YouTube channel or social media and if a sale is made through your recommendation, you get paid a percentage of what you sell”.
The concept of how affiliate marketing works is simple:
You find a product you like or have used before, you sign up with the program as an affiliate then you promote it to others (your customers) and if they buy through your recommendation, the product owner (the vendor) pays you a commission.
Table of Contents
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a process, tactic, or marketing method in which a website or blog owner partners with an affiliate program. The affiliate program then offers marketing tools along with a unique link to its website.
And paid the affiliate for every successful referral they send to their website.
In other words.
Affiliate Marketing is when you earn a commission (money) for promoting a product or service created by another individual or a company.
Is It Really Worth Trying?
Well, to put it simply – yes, affiliate marketing is worth it as long as you’re willing to put in the necessary work.
Affiliate marketing can allow you to leave life on your own terms.
I mean, you can run your affiliate marketing business from the comfort of your own home and still make a handsome income.
Especially, if you have good knowledge about your chosen niche and you’re willing to put in the time and work, affiliate marketing can filthy make you rich.
In my opinion, I think affiliate marketing is probably the best and easiest way to start making money online even as a complete beginner.
Why? Because all the heavy lifting has been done for you in terms of product creation, customer service, shipping, refund, etc.
And your job as an affiliate marketer is to just market the product.
Also, the amazing thing about this business model is that.
It’s free to join any affiliate program: You don’t have to invest any money to join any affiliate program.
- Recommended Reading: Is affiliate marketing worth your effort
Does It Actually Pay?
Well, I think you mean, whether or not affiliate networks or programs pay their affiliates for promoting their products or services?
If that’s what you mean, then yes, they do.
Or do you mean does affiliate marketing still work? and can one still make money from it? If that’s what you mean then you want to check out this post:
Anyway, affiliate marketing does work.
The thing is, a lot of affiliate companies don’t want to lose their credibility and reputation just for some lousy dollar, so they certainly pay their affiliates.
If truly your audience or visitors click on your affiliate links and purchase the product or services, you’ll get paid for your effort.
However, I am not saying all affiliate programs or companies are legit, there are some really bad ones out there that actually run away with people’s money.
That said, when joining any program – I recommend you take your time to do thorough research about it before anything.
I wrote another post where I share with you how to know if an affiliate program is legit, safe, or not. Check it out!
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work For Beginners Step-By-Step
How does affiliate marketing work?
Well, as I stated early on – the concept of how affiliate marketing works is simple:
You find an affiliate program you like and you join the program as an affiliate, as you join, you’ll be given a special link (which is called an affiliate link).
This link is what you’ll use to promote the affiliate product on your blog or website, etc.
And it is this same link you’ll use to track all your earnings and stats.
Now, as you have your affiliate link ready. You’ll need to drive traffic to your affiliate link and when someone clicks and buys the product through your link.
You get paid money which is termed as a commission.
NOTE: To succeed in affiliate marketing or generate affiliate sales.
You need to send targeted traffic to your affiliate link, who may be interested and more likely to purchase your product.
If you’re sending unqualified traffic or some kind of freebie seekers to your affiliate offer, chances are that you’re not going to make any affiliate sales.
That said, since affiliate marketing involves promoting other people’s products.
And sharing the profit with the merchant (I mean the product creator).
The best way for you as an affiliate to make this more effective and successful: Three parties must be involved.
- Merchant (product creator, brand, company)
- The affiliate ( That’s you)
- The consumer ( buyer, your audience, or your traffic)
Now, you need to first understand how each of these three parties operates individually before you can ensure success in affiliate marketing.
So, let’s dive into each of them:
The Merchant
The merchant or the product creator can be a large company or an individual, a seller, vendor, brand, or retailer.
Who has or creates the product and wants someone to promote it for them.
The product can be digital or physical, eg:
- Courses
- Ebooks
- Computers
- Tools
- Services, software, etc
And they’re ready to share the income with anyone who can bring sales.
The Affiliate Marketers Or Publishers
The affiliate can be a company or an individual.
The main job of affiliate marketers is they market the merchant product in a deserving way to potential customers who may need it.
The affiliate promotes the product to his audience through email marketing or any marketing medium and convinces them to purchase the product.
And if they purchase the product from the affiliate, the merchant then pays the affiliate a percentage of the income.
How Do Affiliates Get Paid By Merchants?
Well, the concept is simple – The merchant provides the Affiliate with a unique link (URL), and the affiliate promotes or sends traffic to the link given to him by the merchant.
And when someone clicks on the affiliate link and purchases the product, the affiliate gets paid.
What is the purpose of an affiliate link?
An affiliate link acts as an identification number that allows the merchant to track and identify any traffic and sales the affiliate sends to their website or product.
The consumer
The consumer is the main driver to which Mr. Affiliate Marketer shows the product or service to and gives him information about how it works.
And how it’s going to help him or her accomplish his goals or solve his problems and challenges.
And if the consumer decides to purchase the product, the affiliate earns a commission in which he shares the profit with the merchant (the product creator).
I want you to take note of this:
Whenever you’re promoting a product whether on your blog, YouTube channel, or any platform.
Make sure to show a Full Disclaimer informing your customers you’re a partner of an affiliate marketing relationship.
And that you are getting a commission if they do buy the product through your link.
Why? is “Affiliate Disclaimer” important?
There are several benefits of that but the most important thing about affiliate ‘Disclaimer’ is that first:
- It helps you build trust and credibility with your audience.
- Second, it protects you from lawsuits.
For example: If you place a proper disclaimer before a customer buys a product from you.
And after using the product, he or she is not satisfied with the product.
Guess what?
He can’t sue you for selling a fake product to him.
But he can confront the company, meaning you being an affiliate, you’re free from that.
Why Affiliate Marketing?
“Affiliate marketing is an attractive and a good career and as well as one of the popular and best ways of generating income online”.
When you hear a lot of affiliates say they’re making passive income online with affiliate marketing, it is true.
You can make a substantial income as an affiliate marketer.
Speaking of affiliate marketing, it’s certainly a great option for people who want financial freedom to do more of what they want.
Or who want to quit their 9 to 5 job and be their own boss.
The amazing thing about affiliate marketing is that you can spend a few hours a week working on your business.
And generate a healthy and sizable amount of income over time.
On that note, I want to share with you a list of reasons why you need to start affiliate marketing:
- It’s Easy To Get Started: You don’t need to have any technical knowledge or degree or wait days or months to start affiliate marketing, you could start in less than an hour. You could build a blog in less than 30 minutes, sign up with an affiliate program in less than 5 minutes, grab your affiliate link, and be ready to make money.
- It Offers Unlimited Earning Potential: There’s no specific income designed to earn in affiliate marketing, which means, how much you earn doing affiliate marketing is endless. However, it’s important you understand that it is not a quick way of making money online. It takes time and effort to earn an income that supports you full-time.
- It’s A Scalable Business: Affiliate marketing is the only online business that’s scalable. You can reach tens and thousands of customers all at once and increase your income using automated processes.
- Independence And Location Freedom: Affiliate marketing allows you to become your own boss and work on your business anytime and anywhere you want as long as you have a computer with an internet connection.
- Passive Income: After you have done the necessary work (put in the time and effort) after a while you’ll start to generate passive income from your affiliate business without having to do anything. Nothing is as beautiful as while you’re on vacation or sleeping, there’s money rolling into your accounts.
- Automation: One of the things I like about affiliate marketing is that you don’t necessarily have to do most of the work by yourself. You can automate, which means you can hire or outsource most of the process. But it cost a few dollars to hire or outsource but believe me, it’s absolutely worth it in the end.
- You Sell What You Want: In affiliate marketing, no company or individual can force you to promote their product or service. You decide which product to partner with and which one not to. I recommend you work only with brands you believe in.
- You learn High Income Skillset: By being an affiliate marketer, it exposes you to great opportunities to learn so many skill sets such as content creation and marketing, website building, SEO, Social media marketing, email marketing, etc. Having these skills can allow you to earn more income online.
- You Help People: By being an affiliate, you help other people by solving their problems. You can be in a niche or market where people have many challenges and pain and you can recommend a specific product that helps, educates, and solves problems they’re facing.
- Recommended Reading: Is Being An Affiliate Worth It?
What Is The Most Important Skill In Affiliate Marketing?
Well, if you want to become a successful affiliate marketer, there are some important skills you need to learn such as:
- Learning how to build a website
- Finding profitable niche and product
- Creating content that people are actually searching for
- Problem-solving
- Marketing (how to promote a product the right way to the right audience)
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- How to convert a website visitor into a customer or a buyer
- Creative idea
- Understanding how the internet works
- Decision-making
However, above all these skills.
Creating content that other people are actually looking for to read or consume is the most important skill in affiliate marketing.
The secret behind most successful affiliates is that they focus more on creating content.
And doing so helps them to attract customers to their brand organically and increase brand awareness.
And when customers get exposed to their brand, it allows them to make more money in their business.
That said…
If you can create content that helps another individual, you’ll probably win in affiliate marketing.
When To Become An Affiliate Marketer?
Well, there is no specific time or requirement in order to become an affiliate marketer.
If you have built a solid audience, who Know, Like, and TRUST you and follow either your blog or subscribe to your YouTube channel.
You can join any affiliate programs of your choice and start promoting your product to them.
What Do I Have To Do As An Affiliate Marketer?
As an affiliate, your main job is to send people (ideal customers) from your website, email list, or social media to an affiliate offer that you think will help solve their problems.
Plainly put – Your focus is to share information that people will find valuable and then recommend an offer that you think will help solve a particular problem or challenge they’re facing.
And if they decide to purchase the offer through you, great.
And if they don’t, it’s absolutely okay.
Why?
Well, because you’re just trying to offer them a solution to their problems.
When they’re not ready to purchase the product now, don’t force them.
Let them make that decision themselves
REMEMBER: Your job is to just suggest the product and explain how it’s going to help them.
How To Start And Make Money With Affiliate Marketing (4 simple steps)
Though affiliate marketing is a broad topic, niche, or industry, it can be broken down into 4 simple steps.
Below Are The Simple Steps To Start Affiliate Marketing:
Step #1. Pick A Niche
Everything starts by first picking a niche.
So…
What then is a niche?
A niche is simply a topic you’re knowledgeable about, interested in, or are passionate about, and want to learn about.
It can also be an area you want to focus on and build a business around.
That said,
When it comes to picking a niche, it’s very important you pick the right niche.
What do I mean by this?
I mean when choosing a niche, you should choose something you’re at least interested in and have a bit of knowledge about.
Why do I say you should have good knowledge about your niche?
Well, the thing is…
Your chances of succeeding in affiliate marketing will depend on the knowledge you have about the niche you’re in.
How?
Well, the thing is, the more knowledge you have about the niche you’re in… The more value or help you will provide to your target audience or the marketplace.
Which over time will eventually lead to more money.
That said…
If you go after a niche simply because of money and you don’t have any knowledge about it.
Guess what?
You’re going to find it difficult to rise to the top in that niche.
I mean, you won’t be able to create content that speaks and resonates with people.
That said…
If you want to be successful online, you have to provide value to others. Money follows value.
The more value you provide the more money you’ll make.
So…
If you ask for my advice…
Don’t go after a niche simply because you see other marketers making a ton of money from it.
Choose something that interests you, something that you have knowledge about, and go all in.
Disclaimer: That does not mean, you can’t go into a niche if you don’t have any knowledge about it. You can, but if you’re going to take that path, then I recommend as soon as you get into it, take time to research and educate yourself about it.
- P.S: I have another post where I share with you some of the best and most profitable niches in affiliate marketing.
Step #2. Join Affiliate Programs
Now, as you’ve decided on your niche, the next thing is to pick and sign up with an affiliate program.
I recommend you join programs that you believe in or have used before.
Don’t join any program that you have no experience with.
However…
If you haven’t used the product before or have no experience with it.
I recommend you take time to do thorough research about it before pushing it to your audience.
Again…
Don’t recommend things you haven’t tested or used before. Don’t promote anything just for the sake of making a commission.
Now…
If you’re not with any affiliate program yet.
To find one just (Google your niche+affiliate program) and you’ll discover some really cool ones.
But before anything, do research about them.
Or…
If possible, you can just hover to Clickbank and you’ll find some great and legit programs to join.
ClickBank has over a thousand products available in any niche.
By the way…
You can check my Resource Page for my #1 recommended program.
This program offers a high ticket product meaning no more small commission.
They have a team that does the high ticket selling for you.
They also offer one-on-one coaches that work directly with you.
- P.S: I have another where I share with you how to choose a profitable affiliate program.
Step #3. Build A Website (or pick a platform)
Here you want to choose a platform or traffic source where you’re going to be promoting your product.
There are tons of platforms out there like:
- Blogging
- YouTube
- Social media
- Forum, etc
That said…
Among these platforms, if you ask for my suggestion, I recommend you do both Blogging and YouTube.
I know some of you will say oh, I’m comfortable being in front of a camera so I’ll do only YouTube.
That’s great.
But again, you still need to have your own personal blog.
Why?
Well, the thing is, with a blog, you really own it and you can do anything with it. You can promote your affiliate link in your blog without any third-party restrictions.
With YouTube, you don’t actually own that platform and they can get your account deleted or banned anytime.
So…
I recommend you combine both.
If you really want to build a real affiliate marketing business for the long term.
The benefit of building a website around your niche will help you stand as a reliable source in the eye of your audience. It also helps you build credibility, authority, and online presence.
That said…
If you’re ready to build your own personal website for your business and have full control over it.
I’ll recommend you look no further than WordPress for building your site and Bluehost for hosting.
Why Bluehost and WordPress?
Well, the thing is, WordPress powers over 40% of the world’s websites. Every big company or brand you can think of all have its site built on WordPress.
And host their site with Bluehost.
Amazingly, Bluehost is also recommended by WordPress on their platform.
Bluehost is one of the best and most popular hosting companies out there in the website hosting industry.
And with just a click of a button, you can get your website up and running.
Now…
Starting your website with Bluehost will cost you $2.75 a month with a free SSL certificate and a free domain for one whole year.
You Can Get Started Here With Bluehost in Under 30 Minutes.
(I’m an affiliate to Bluehost, meaning if you decide to go through my link I’ll receive a small commission which is no additional cost to you but help me to focus on delivering more content for you and others) Thanks For Support!
Here Is The Link To BlueHost Again.
Warning!… Don’t build your website on a free platform such as,
- Square Space
- Blogger
- Weebly…etc
Why do I say so?
Well, the thing is, you don’t have full control of your site or blog, data, or files.
And if in case something happens to that platform, guess what? All your efforts are gone forever.
And also…
One annoying thing is that you’re tied with a host and you can not move your site to any hosting company of your choice.
- P.S: If you haven’t started your blog yet, you can do so based on this tutorial on how to start a successful blog.
Step#4. Produce Quality Content
Here you want to identify what problems, challenges, and pain your targeted audiences’ are experiencing.
And start creating content that answers or helps solve those problems they’re facing.
I don’t mean any kind of content, I mean problem-solving content.
Why?
Online content is KEY.
It is producing relevant, valuable, genuine, and high-quality content that will make people click on your affiliate link and purchase what you’re promoting.
how to start affiliate marketing by Bright KershCan I Do Affiliate Marketing Without A Blog?
Well, the short answer to that is yes you can. There are many great ways that you can do affiliate marketing without the need for a blog or website and still get sales of affiliate products or services.
Here are some of the best ways to do affiliate marketing without a website.
- Email marketing
- Comment on a blog related to your niche
- YouTube
- Join a forum and participate in a discussion
However…
Among these methods of promoting your affiliate links without a website.
One of the best methods that I found most top affiliates leverage to boost their income without a website is paid advertisement.
Paid advertisement is quick and fast, you can easily scale and grow your business with paid ads.
However…
I’d advise before you take this path. Take time to learn about it (I mean enroll in a course and learn everything about it).
If not, you’ll lose money.
By the way…
- PS: I have written another post where I share with you some of how you can do affiliate marketing without a website or a blog.
How Much Can I Make From Affiliate Marketing?
How much you can earn doing affiliate marketing is endless. You can make little or no money or a lot of money doing affiliate marketing.
The amount you earn depends on the amount of work and time you put into promoting your product.
And also the amount of targeted traffic you’re generating on your affiliate link.
However…
Generally speaking, most beginning affiliate marketers earn anywhere between $100 to $1,000 per month.
While most top affiliates are earning anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per month.
There are a lot of affiliates out there who are earning a significant income from affiliate marketing.
People like Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income are examples of that.
This guy earns a lot of money from his affiliate business.
Here Are Some Tips To Help You Increase Your Affiliate Income
In this section I’ll be sharing with you some of the ways in which you can literally increase your affiliate revenue:
So, let’s roll…
Build An Email List
This is the first rule of running a successful affiliate marketing business.
If you really want to make money off affiliate marketing, then you need to get serious about building an email list.
Building an email list allows you to absolutely own and control your traffic.
And be able to remarket or do repeated sales with the same customer over and over again through email marketing.
Capturing your visitors’ email addresses.
And…
Leveraging the power of Email Marketing is the best way to really scale your affiliate business and income…
Rather than sending visitors to a direct affiliate link.
If you’re not building an email list.
Guess what?
You’re leaving huge money on the table.
REMEMBER: The money you want to make is in the list, so, get serious about building Your email list.
That said…
If you are ready to build your list and increase your income… You can get started with GetResponse.
AGAIN: If you’re an affiliate and you are not building an email list for your business. You’re Lacking behind.
- P.S: I have Another Post Where I share With You The Important Of Email Marketing For Affiliate Marketers.
Build Trust With Your Audience
When it comes to buying a product online, people are very skeptical.
And the only way they’re going to feel connected to you and buy what you’re recommending is when they TRUST you.
So…
How can I build this trust with my audience? Great question!
Well, you can build this TRUST factor with your audience simply by focusing on helping them by providing useful, valuable content that helps solve their problem…
…Instead of just trying to sell products to them all the time.
However…
Building this trust with an audience is not easy, especially in a competitive niche like affiliate marketing.
It takes time.
So…
Be patient and keep providing more helpful content to your audience.
Promote Only Quality Product
People love to do business with people that offer genuine, high-quality products that help solve the biggest problems and challenges they’re facing.
That said…
To increase your affiliate sale.
Don’t promote a crappy product for the purpose of making a commission…
But instead, focus on promoting a product that’ll actually add value to your customers’ lives.
Promoting crappy products to your audience just for the purpose of making money.
Well, guess what?
They’ll buy the product once but later they’ll find out, and if that happens.
They’re not going to trust you and your recommendation again and that can literally hurt you and your business.
Here is what I want you to do…
Before you start pushing any product to your audience, I want you to first take time to review or do research about the product.
And if you’re satisfied with what you see then go on and start recommending it to them.
Don’t ever promote anything that you have no experience with or have not tested before.
How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?
Well, you can get paid in various ways as an affiliate. The thing is, you don’t necessarily have to sell a product as an affiliate marketer to get paid.
Depending on the program structure, you can get paid differently such as cost-per-sale, cost-per-lead, and cost-per-click.
Let’s break that down…
● Cost Per Sale (CPS) – With this type of affiliate marketing model, you only get paid as an affiliate for selling a product.
● Cost Per Lead (CPL) – In this affiliate marketing structure, affiliates get paid for every completed lead they send to the merchant.
● Cost Per Click (CPC) – With this affiliate marketing model, the affiliate gets paid for driving traffic to other people’s websites.
- PS. You Can Read More Here On: How Do Affiliates Get Paid
What Are The Types Of Affiliate Marketing Programs Out There?
Well, there are tons and tons of affiliate programs out there in any niche that anyone can join and promote.
If you take a close look at every big company out there that you can think of, you’ll see that all of them offer affiliate programs.
However…
Not all of them offer the same affiliate program.
Some of them offer One-Time-Commission Affiliate Programs, and Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs, while some offer Two-Tier Affiliate Programs.
- One Time Commission Affiliate Program: With this type of affiliate program, you only get paid once for selling a product.
- Recurring Commission Affiliate Program: With this type of affiliate marketing program, you receive a recurring income every month as long as the person you refer to the system remains a paid member of the service.
- Two-Tier Affiliate Program: In this type of affiliate marketing program, you don’t only receive a commission on the sales of your own product but you also receive a commission on the sales generated by other people you refer to in the system.
What Is The Best Affiliate Marketing Program For A Beginner To Join?
Well, in my opinion, I think the best affiliate program to join and promote is the one that’ll add value to your audience or customer’s life after purchasing it from you.
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking all affiliate programs out there are legit and best to promote to their audience.
And they randomly pick anyone they come across and start marketing it to their audience.
Well…
That mistake can possibly break your affiliate business.
Why?
Well, the thing is not all affiliate programs out there are legit.
Some of them may not have quality products that’ll add value to your audience’s lives and some, they MIGHT run away with your commission.
So…
When picking an affiliate program to promote…
This is what I want you to do, buy the product yourself and use it.
So, you can take a first look at the quality of the product or training they provide.
Then look for the type of support team they have in place.
If the product is GREAT…
And the support team is active and always available to assist or support you in terms of troubleshooting.
And even try to get on a phone call with you, that’s a GOOD sign of a great program to promote.
You can then have the passion, confidence, and dedication to promote it for the long term.
That said…
One of the best affiliate programs currently on the internet, which is available to many countries around the globe is Legendary Marketer.
Legendary Marketer is a complete training platform for both beginning and expert online marketers that is made up of several low, medium, and high-ticket products.
They offer high-quality training courses that teach a proven step-by-step guide on how to market online the right way.
They also offer one-on-one coaches who work directly with you to make sure you’re on the right path.
“Legendary marketer affiliate program already come with a landing page which allows you to promote your affiliate links directly and without the need of creating any landing page”
Your job perhaps after this is to drive traffic to your affiliate links in order to get sales.
They have very good promotional strategies that you can follow.
You can read my review of Legendary Marketer here.
ALSO…
Here Are Some Of My Best Affiliate Marketing Examples:
- Amazon Associates – Amazon is one of the biggest and most popular affiliate programs on the internet. It is them that make affiliate marketing popular on the internet. Amazon offers over 12 million products in every niche you can think of. However, the only problem with them is that they pay a low commission to their affiliate.
- ClickBank – Apart from Amazon, Clickbank is the second largest affiliate network in the world and one of the largest platforms for digital products. They pay generous affiliate commissions up to 40%. They also have offers that pay more than that 40% in commission.
- ShareAsale – Shareasale is also one of the best affiliate networks out there, they have been in business for more than a decade. They have quite some quality products and offer a long cookie lifetime for their affiliates.
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs To Earn Passive Income From
Before then, why a recurring affiliate program?
Recurring commission affiliate programs allow you to earn money month after month on a purchase that your referral makes once.
You’ll continue to get a commission over and over again without having to do anything again
How do recurring commission affiliate programs work?
If you promote software or any product that comes with a monthly subscription fee.
And if a customer clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission for that first purchase.
And then…
You’ll still continue to receive a commission month after month as long as they remain using the product or service.
Here Are Some Of The Best Recurring Affiliate Programs Out There:
| Recurring Programs | Recurring Commission % |
| ConvertKit Programs | 30% Commission |
| GetResponse Affiliate Programs | 33% Commission |
| AWeber Affiliate Programs | 30% Commission |
| MailerLite Affiliate Programs | 30% Commission |
| Sendlane Affiliate Programs | 30% Commission |
| Instapage Affiliate Program | 30% Commission |
| Landingi Affiliate Program | 30% Commission |
| LandingCube Affiliate Program | 30% Commission |
| SalesHandy Affiliate Program | 20% Commission |
| ContentStudio Affiliate Program | 30% Commission |
- P.S. I have another post where I share with you some of my best recurring commission affiliate programs.
Tips On How To Select The Best Affiliate Marketing Product To Increase Your Income
As the internet is filled with so many affiliate programs, deciding which affiliate program is best for you and your audience can be a little bit difficult sometimes.
But guess what? I got you covered, below I share with you some of the ways to pick an excellent affiliate product.
Here are a few steps to take to select the best affiliate product for you:
- Make A List Of Affiliate Programs. You want to make a list of products you’re interested in and are related to your niche.
- Research. Now, before you start pushing that product to your audience, you want to first spend a little time researching whether or not it’s of good quality before going after it.
- Analyze The Demand Of That Product. Generally, if a lot of people are in need of a particular product, chances are that they’re likely to buy that product. So, you want to research the demand for the product before promoting it. Why? So that you don’t waste your time promoting things that people are not interested in.
Things That You Should Look For When Pick An Affiliate Product:
- Commission level – When picking any product to promote, the first thing I want you to look for is the commission level. Thus, how much are you going to get paid for promoting the product? I recommend you find a product that pays a commission of 40% and above.
- Interest or enjoyment – It’s very important you promote a product you’re interested in. If you’re not interested in the product, don’t promote it. The thing is, making money with affiliate marketing is delayed gratification, I mean, it takes a very long time to start making significant income with affiliate marketing. That said, if you’re not passionate or interested in the product you’re promoting, it’s likely that you’re not going to promote it with passion. You’re not going to focus on creating helpful content around the product and you may easily give up.
- Include up-sell or high ticket – The secret of making a lot of money with affiliate marketing is to promote high ticket offers. High-ticket affiliate products are products that pay you a higher amount of commission. They normally pay commissions ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 and more.
- Recurring income model – Another important thing to look out for when picking a product is to check whether or not the product offers a recurring income. Recurring income programs are great as they allow you to earn a regular income every month. The truth about recurring products is that you just have to do the work once and the commission will keep coming in every month.
Following the above step can help you select the best kind of product that can increase your revenue.
How To Promote Your Affiliate Marketing Product?
Well, the thing is, promoting your affiliate product is not the main question.
The main question is, do you reach the basic requirement?
What is the basic requirement before joining or promoting an affiliate program?
Well, the basic requirement is to first build an audience who doesn’t only listen to you just for listening seek.
But also…
Know, Like, and Trust you and are ready to do business with you or ready to purchase whatever you recommend to them.
So…
How do I build an audience that knows, likes, and trusts me? Great question!
Well, first of all, you need to pick a platform where you can communicate with them on a daily basis so you can identify their pain point.
This platform can be either:
- Blogging
- YouTube
- Social media
- Forum ect
And as you’ve identified their pain point.
And then you can start building that Know, Like and trust factor with them by consistently adding valuable content to their lives that helps solve the pain they’re facing.
Now…
As you continue adding those values to their lives, over time they’ll begin to see you as a trusted and reliable source and an expert in the industry.
And that is when you have to start promoting your affiliate link to them.
Where To Post Your affiliate links?
Well, there are tons of ways that you can share your affiliate link and be successful but only if done correctly.
Here Are Some Best Place To Post Your Link:
- Emails – You can add your affiliate link within your email content when sending an email to your subscribers.
- Blog posts – For blog posts, links are typically placed in review posts or just normal blog posts.
- YouTube – When you take a look at some of the successful YouTubers out there, you’ll see that they’ll have links in the description box of their video if they’re reviewing a product or anything.
- Social media – You can join social media groups like Facebook and share your link there. But it has to be done right and genuinely.
- E-book – You can create an ebook and place your affiliate link within the content in the ebook and give it away for free.
What Is The BEST Way To Get Traffic To Your Affiliate Links
There are several ways you can get traffic to your affiliate link, however, one of the commonalities among all top affiliates is that they all get half of their traffic from social media sites.
That said…
In my opinion, I think as an affiliate, you should try to have a list of traffic sources at your fingertips.
But…
Make sure the traffic source is a trusted, reliable source that you can turn to whenever or wherever you need it.
Here Are Some Of The Best Pace To Drive Targeted Traffic To Your Affiliate Link:
- Facebook Marketing – Facebook marketing is one of the best ways to grow and scale your business, it has a huge user base and allows you to set up conversion pixels to increase your traffic. You can run paid marketing campaigns on Facebook and reach a mass audience. You can set up targeting and retargeting for all visitors to your site.
- Pinterest Marketing – Pinterest is a huge platform for bloggers nowadays. The site is 90% female and heavily toward certain niches. You can get tons of traffic from Pinterest if your business or niche falls under topics that people search for mostly on Pinterest.
- LinkedIn Marketing – If your main purpose is to generate target leads for your business, then LinkedIn might be the place to look up to. It’s also good for B2B marketing (business-to-business marketing). If you have a professional, good-looking funnel you can generate tons and tons of leads for your business.
- Twitter Marketing – Twitter is also another great platform for driving traffic to your affiliate offer. You can get a lot of attention from people to your business. You can also set up ads on Twitter and drive hundreds of thousands of traffic to your site.
- Instagram Marketing – You can drive tons and tons of targeted traffic to your affiliate link using Instagram. You can create Instagram stories or images and link your affiliate link in the description field.
Above are some of the best places to drive traffic to your affiliate marketing links.
These platforms have the potential to increase your sales when done well.
However…
If you want to reach a mass audience and grow your business faster on these platforms, well, you need to run paid advertisements.
But if you don’t have the fun, you can absolutely run it for free and still be successful but it’ll take time.
Here are 2 tips that will help you use Social Media sites more effectively.
- First, build up your social media profiles with a quality picture of you and details about you and your business.
- Make sure you’re publishing your content during hours your audiences are online so you can get high engagement on your post.
NB: When you are building up your social profiles, you need to be patient!
It takes months or even getting to a year to see a spike in traffic to your blog or affiliate links.
What Are Some Of The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Affiliate Marketing?
The affiliate marketing model is one of the most popular ways to earn income without investing heavily in tools.
It allows you to earn a passive or recurring income without having to build out a complex sales system.
However…
Despite all those benefits, affiliate marketing does have a downside just like any kind of business out there.
Let’s quickly take a look at a few of them.
Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing
- You can do it anywhere around the world.
- You don’t have to create Your own product.
- You don’t have to deal with customer service and chargeback.
- You don’t need a lot of money to get started.
- You have the opportunity to work on your business anytime.
Disadvantages Of Affiliate marketing
- Affiliate marketing is very competitive and challenging.
- It’s very saturated today.
- You don’t have absolute control over the product you promote.
- It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, it takes a very long time.
- It is a long-term business model that requires patience and knowledge.
- (see also). The Downside Of Affiliate Marketing.
What Are The Common Mistakes In Affiliate Marketing?
Well, there are tons of mistakes people make when entering into the affiliate marketing industry.
However…
“One of the most common mistakes I see a lot of people make when entering into affiliate marketing is that they don’t take the time to first study, research, and learn the overall process of affiliate marketing”.
People are so eager to make money online without first taking the time to follow a proven step that’ll get them there.
And in the long run, they came to realize that there’s so much they should have learned before rushing into things.
Things like:
- Taking a course on how to market online properly
- Taking time to study how the affiliate marketing model actually works
- Learning about how to drive target traffic to an affiliate offer
- How to build a website
- Learning and growing skillset
Now…
When entering into this business model, I highly recommend you take the time to learn everything you can about affiliate marketing.
Why?
Well, the thing is, the more knowledge you have about the topic, the higher your chances of succeeding at it.
Here Are Some Other Common Mistakes Make By Many People:
Mistake #1: Jumping From One Thing To Another.
When it comes to making money online, especially with affiliate marketing, many affiliates are impatient.
A lot of people don’t know what they want to succeed in, so they keep moving from one method to another.
Simply because they see other people make this and that amount of money with that method.
And they also try to go in that direction.
But guess what?
After a few weeks or months, when they’re not making any income from using that method.
They move to another thing, they keep repeating this practice…
And at the very end, they end up scattery themselves everywhere and not getting any attraction (result).
Solution?
Any method of making money online has the potential of driving significant income into your life when done correctly.
So…
The best thing I want you to do is to stick with one method for a long time until you master it, and are getting attraction and making enough profit from it before moving into a new one.
Mistake #2: Not Focus On Producing Quality Content On Niche Marketing.
Providing valuable, genuine, and high-quality content is equal to more visitors, more trust, and more sales.
However…
If you’re not providing VALUE for other people to consume, well, chances are that you won’t go far.
Why?
Online content is king, the more value you add to people’s lives, the more money you’ll make.
So…
Try your best to be the expert on a topic or the niche you are in.
Always try to position yourself as a reliable source by delivering useful content to the marketplace.
And the money you want to make will honestly follow you after.
Mistake 3: Not Caring About Your Audience Need
The concept of building an online business with affiliate marketing is to help others achieve what they want.
People don’t visit your site to buy stuff, they are there for a specific reason, thus, they have a problem, a pain, they need a solution to.
Provide them with that solution…
Instead of just trying to sell to them anytime.
That said…
Don’t force your audience to buy your product, but rather focus on helping them with your content.
P.S: The Biggest Mistakes In Affiliate Marketing
(Appreciate If You Pin This Into Your Pinterest Board)
That Is It Folks!
Affiliate marketing in simple words is a business model whereby you recommend or promote someone else’s product through your own blog, YouTube channel, or social media in exchange for a commission.
When you sign up with an affiliate program, the program then offers you marketing materials such as links, banners, videos, etc.
And this is what you’ll use to promote the company’s product.
And when someone comes across your link and purchases the product through your link, you get paid money.
Now…
When trying to make money off affiliate marketing, you must be ‘Patience’
What do I mean by that?
Well, what I mean is that affiliate marketing is not a quick way of making money online.
And most people make the mistake of approaching affiliate marketing as a solution to their financial problems.
No!
It’s not a quick way of making money online. It takes a fair amount of time and effort to start making income from affiliate marketing.
That said…
It’s extremely important you approach affiliate marketing with a long-term mindset.
And recommend only products you think are the best solution for your readers.
Hence…
When you are new to this business model, I recommend you go on YouTube and search “Affiliate Marketing”
And learn about it.
If possible I’ll recommend you enroll in a premium course to learn everything about it.
What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work FAQs
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that helps or allows you to generate income by recommending other people’s products or services.
Can Beginners Do Affiliate Marketing?
Yes, you can. Affiliate marketing is a good way to earn money online as a beginner. However, if you’re just starting out it can be a little overwhelming as there is so much misleading information out there and if you don’t take care, it can lead you down the wrong path.
That said, when starting out I recommend you find a quality in-depth course to give you proper guidance and direction.
But remember it is not a quick way of making money online, it takes work and time to see success.
Focus on building trust with your audience by providing valuable content and staying away from ‘shiny object syndrome. I mean, pick one method and follow through.
Learn more here: How To Start Affiliate Marketing As A Beginner
How Much Money Can You Make As An Affiliate Marketer?
There’s no specific income design for one to earn doing affiliate marketing.
However, a beginning affiliate can make somewhere between $100-1,000 a month, once you invest more time in learning and improving your skill set. A super affiliate can earn anywhere from $10,000 or more a month depending on how much time, effort, and work they invest in their business.
How Much Do Affiliate Links Pay?
How much affiliate links pay will depend on the kind of product you promote the niche you are in and many more.
However, if you have already built a trusted audience and you promote digital products then your commission will fall between 30%-50% and you can earn somewhere from $30 – $1,000 or even more.
But if you promote physical products such as a book, radio, kitchen utensils, etc, then your commission will be a little bit lower.
What Is Wrong With Affiliate Marketing?
Well, to be honest with you there’s absolutely nothing wrong with affiliate marketing. However, the only reason why people keep failing with affiliate marketing is due to a lack of focus, lack of marketing skills, and lack of targeted traffic.
If you don’t focus on one thing and you keep moving from one thing to another and also you don’t know how to properly market online.
And also you’re not targeting the right traffic, chances are that you won’t do well in affiliate marketing.
But apart from that, the business model does work perfectly.
Why Can’t I Make Money With Affiliate Marketing?
If you are not getting any affiliate sales, hopefully, you may be making some common mistakes that might be delaying your success. Such as, you’re not targeting the right audience, you’re not providing enough value, or you are not promoting the right product.
That said, to make money from affiliate marketing, it is important you know who your target audiences are and then focus on providing value for them in order to build trust with them rather than trying to make money off of them.
Money follows trust.
Also, you need to make sure the product you’re recommending to your audience is of good quality other than that you’re not going to make a ton of affiliate sales.
- Learn more here: 12 Reasons why you’re not making money with affiliate marketing yet
Is Affiliate Marketing A Good Income Business?
Yes, it is. Affiliate marketing is one of the best online business models that pay well over the long term.
However, you need to go through the learning curve, and put in the necessary work, effort, and determination before you can start making good money with affiliate marketing.
Also, affiliate marketing is not just about picking any products to promote, it’s about finding the right products that your audiences’ are in need of.
A product that helps solve their biggest problem.
Also, you should:
- Be patient
- Take time to learn about the business model
- Focus on creating content
- Improve your high-income skills (learn to write better content and learn marketing)
- Build your email list
Affiliate marketing is a fantastic business when done right can allow you to make a good income online.
Is It Easy To Become An Affiliate?
Yes, it is extremely easy to become an affiliate. A lot of affiliate programs are easy and free to join, all you have to do is to choose your niche, pick which affiliate program you want to work with or would like to promote, and simply visit their website and apply as an affiliate.
Can I start Affiliate Marketing With No Money?
Definitely yes. You can start your affiliate marketing journey with no initial money needed. Most affiliate marketers actually start out with no money.
YouTube, social media and forums are great options for starting affiliate marketing without any investment.
Does It Cost To Start Affiliate Marketing Business?
No, it doesn’t cost money to start affiliate marketing, simply because in affiliate marketing you’re only promoting other people’s products and most of the affiliate programs are free to join.
However, if you want to succeed with affiliate marketing and make more money in the long run, then you’re going to need to invest some money.
You need tools such as an autoresponder which you can build a landing page with to capture your visitors’ email addresses and market your product to them through email marketing.
And this will cost you about $15 to $30 per month.
Also, you need to build a website for your business, although this is optional, it is very important, it helps you build an online presence, expertise, and credibility in the eye of your audience.
That said, building a website is going to cost you somewhere between $150 – $200 or even more in some cases.
- Learn more here: How Much Does It Cost To Start Affiliate Marketing
Can You Get Rich With Affiliate Marketing?
Absolutely yes. Affiliate marketing can make you rich as long as you’re willing to put in the hard work and effort and build a large audience that knows, likes, and trusts you and learns proper marketing strategy. But you won’t get rich overnight, it takes time.
Learn more here: How To Become Rich With Affiliate Marketing
Why Is Affiliate Marketing The Best Online business?
Affiliate marketing is the best business model because it offers a way to generate passive or recurring income without having to create your own product, and without dealing with customer service and shipping of products.
It can allow you to earn significant income from anywhere as long you have a laptop and an internet connection.
Anyone can start affiliate marketing because the upfront investment is low, you don’t need to hire employees to do the job for you, there are tons of tools that do most of the work.
Why Affiliate Marketing Is The Future
There are a lot of companies nowadays that rely solely on getting online and are looking for other ways to promote their product or business and affiliate marketing is proven to be one of the best options.
It is predicted that most companies will even invest more in affiliate marketing in the future and this makes the future of affiliate marketing looking bright and great.
Besides that, most of the work in affiliate marketing will be able to be automated.
There are so many tools that do most of the heavy lifting nowadays.
What Is Bad About Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great business model but it has a lot of downsides. One of these is, you will always come across posts, links, and ads with so-called gurus flashing cash, big mansions, and luxury cars saying how they made X amount of money in just an hour simply to deceive people to join their course.
For some, they promise Affiliate Marketing is easy and they can show you a strategy to set up a website, and the next day, you will start making money.
Also, there are some affiliate programs out there that run away with people’s money after they have made a sale for them.
