Passive Income Online..
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular methods available to make money online in the digital age. It’s a low-cost, high-reward business model that anyone, influencers, and companies alike can use to generate income without the effort of creating their own products. Instead, affiliates identify and promote other businesses products or services, and earn a commission for every sale or lead they produce.
Industry research predicts that worldwide spending on affiliate marketing could surpass $14 billion by 2025, underscoring the growing significance of the affiliate marketing industry. Whether you are a novice looking to launch a side hustle, or an entrepreneur seeking to add an additional revenue stream, affiliate marketing can be an opportunity worth pursuing.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model where a business pays a commission when an affiliate is able to send a traffic, lead, or sale to their product.
There are three main players in affiliate marketing:
Merchant/Advertiser – This is the person who created the product or service (e.g. Amazon, Nike, or Bluehost).
Affiliate/Publisher – This is the person who is recommending the product (this is potentially you).
Customer – This is the person that buys from the affiliate’s link (this is someone you actively promote).
Example: You wrote a blog post about a fitness program and recommended program. One of your readers clicked on your unique affiliate link and bought the fitness program. You earned a commission from that sale. Commission rates will typically be a percentage of the sale price.
How Affiliate Marketing Works
While affiliate marketing will differ from plan to plan. Most steps will be these:
Join an Affiliate Program – You will sign up with a brand or through an affiliate network like Clickbank, ShareASale or Amazon Associates.
Get Your Unique Link – You will receive a tracking link that keeps track of all clicks and paid orders you generate.
Promote the Product – You can recommend the product by blogging, creating a you tube, creating posts on social media, writing an email, etc.
Earn Commissions – If a person buys a product or signs up using your link, you will get paid.
Here’s the upside to Affiliate Marketing
Low Costs to Start – You do not have to create a product or deal with any inventory.
Passive Income – You can make money while you work, or even when you are not working.
Flexible – You can work from anywhere at any time.
Scalable – You can promote different products or branch out into different niches.
Types of Affiliate Marketing
Unattached Affiliate Marketing – You have no relationship with the product or audience, just advertising the product.
Related Affiliate Marketing – You are advertising a product related to your niche or audience, just you have not used the product.
Involved Affiliate Marketing – You recommend products that you actually use and recommend to build a solid trust with your audience.
Popular Affiliate Networks
Amazon Associates – Great for beginners with a ton of products to promote.
CJ Affiliate – High quality partnerships with brand.
ClickBank – Digital products with high commissions.
Impact – Partnerships with large brands within every industry.
ShareASale – Over 4,500 merchants to choose from.
Affiliate Marketing Success Guide
Select The Right Niche
Identify and focus on a niche that you care about that has a substantial high demand. Popular niches: health & fitness, personal finance, tech gadgets, beauty.
Build An Audience
Use content marketing such as blogging, and video or audio content marketing to build trust and get traffic, or growth using social media.
Provide Value
Educate, entertain, and help people, don’t just sell to people.
Use Both SEO And Paid Advertising
Make sure your website is SEO friendly (optimized for search engines) and use paid advertising for fast growth if you have a budget.
Track Sales And Optimize
Most affiliate networks give you analytics so you can quickly know which products convert. Track them, and adjust your strategy as needed.
Common Mistakes People Make
Promoting too many unrelated products.
Not providing value to the audience by only focusing on commissions.
Not disclosing affiliate links and/or relationships (in many countries this is legally required).
Giving up too soon! Affiliate marketing is similar to starting most businesses, it takes time to get a return on investment.
Income Potential
The amount of money you can make is dependent on a variety of factors such as niche selection, amount of traffic you can generate, and how much the products you are marketing pay. Some affiliates may only make a couple hundred dollars a month, while the elite marketers may earn six and seven figures per year.
