A quick guide to affiliate marketing 101, Considering adding another stream of income to live more comfortably? Maybe just looking for ways to make some extra bucks on your downtime? Or perhaps you’ve heard of affiliate marketing before but never figured out what it is?
Are your answers to any of those questions “yes“? If so, you’ve come to the right place, lets start with this guide to affiliate marketing 101.
In this article, we’re exploring a quick guide to affiliate marketing 101: what it’s about and how to get into it, among other things. Read on and find out if being an affiliate is a good fit for you!
What is affiliate marketing?
In its simplest sense, affiliate marketing is a type of marketing where you
earn a percentage of a sale when you promote someone else’s digital products,
online store products, or services.
It is a sales tactic that allows online business owners to increase their sales
by widening their target audience through affiliates (marketing people) who
join to earn a commission by recommending certain online products
and services to others.
This applies not only to the business owners but to the affiliates (you) as well
when you earn money on the business’ sales that you bring in online
promotion without having to make a website, products,
or anything on your own.
You can join affiliate programs by joining through the affiliate page if it has one,
at the bottom of a website, look for a page called ‘Affiliate’, or via
affiliate networks such as Clickbank, Shareasale, Maxbounty,
JVzoo just searches for the keyword term Affiliate Network.
Who uses affiliate marketing?
As an affiliate (you as an online marketer), you help to market or promote a
third party’s online service or products by curating photos on your social
media accounts, writing posts on your Blogs, making videos for Youtube
Channels, and other content marketing that features affiliate links
of what you are promoting.
The other part of this exchange is, of course, the companies. They can be an
advertiser, a retailer, a merchant, a brand, or even a startup business. They
are online companies that are willing to pay affiliates a percentage on
commissions for promoting their products or service.
Online businesses typically partner with and seek for affiliates to generate
more sales and leads for their companies.
How does it work?
Affiliate marketing works when somebody (affiliate) refers to a product or a
service to their audience by sharing or linking it on their blog, website, or
even social media accounts.
When this happens, you get to earn an agreed percentage commission every
time someone purchases through your promoted link.
Companies who make use of this type of marketing pay affiliates for helping them grow their audience (visitors) and sales. Affiliates can also promote a Cost Per Action
(CPA) is usually paid on a Pay-Per-Click, pay-per-sale, or pay-per-lead basis.
This depends mostly on the company and its online goals.
Do I need any money to become an affiliate?
It is important to know that you don’t need to spend any amount of money to start
being an affiliate.
All you have to do is find a program that fits you (your website, social media,
and branding, if you are a smaller business or an influencer,) sign up, and
obtain the affiliate link that is unique for you.
Who can be an affiliate?
Absolutely anybody with access to the internet and social media can give it a shot at affiliate marketing.
You might be more familiar with it because of Youtubers and other social media
influencers, but even ordinary people who have no celebrity status can earn from it.
An affiliate can be an individual or an entire company. For the most part,
affiliates often tend to become bloggers or other content creators.
They usually belong in industries that are closely related to the company’s
an industry whose products they are promoting.
How to become an affiliate marketer
A quick guide to affiliate marketing, here are some basic steps you have to take:
- Look for affiliate programs that are in line with your niche and interests.
- Pick the products or offers you want to promote, try to find one which will pay a recurring income if possible.
- Get your unique link, always send your online traffic to a ‘Bridge page or Optin Page’ first, then call to action link to the affiliate unique link.
- Share your link on your blog, social media accounts, online classifieds, online forums, or in your email marketing campaign.
- Earn a commission every time someone uses your link to purchase the company’s product.
When joining an affiliate program a website or network may ask for your
email or phone number, just to call and ask some simple questions regarding
your online marketing experience. Depending on the size of the company, it
might take a while to approve your request to become an affiliate,
but more often than not, it is approved and you become a partner.
How much do you earn with affiliate marketing?
Commission percentage earnings as an affiliate vary depending on the website products and services and their offer to you. If you have a following on your website
or social media then you may see sales coming straight away if you have the
same niche as the affiliate program.
Why affiliate marketing?
It is low-risk
Like we have mentioned, there is absolutely no cost involved to become an affiliate.
Unlike most other businesses such as eCommerce and franchises that require
you to invest some amount to start, you can start affiliate marketing for free
use your social media accounts for advertising, and branch out from there
doing pay-per-click on Facebook Ads if you know what are doing.
It makes for an additional income stream
One method that more and more people are beginning to hop on these days
is diversifying your income and this is a great way to do it. This is a good
way to get income without the hassle of dealing with the customers.
It has the potential to grow into a good source of passive income down the road.
Once you get a good footing as an affiliate, you can slowly scale your new
business into something bigger to earn more on social media.
It’s also best to choose affiliate programs that provide recurring income,
meaning if your customer purchases a monthly subscription from your
affiliate link, then you will be paid for the lifetime of that customer’s subscription.
The great thing about affiliate links is that usually, they have a cookie is set
on your visitors/customers’ browsers for certain limited days (see affiliate terms)
if they don’t purchase on their first visit they can come back days later and
make a purchase and you will still get paid.
You don’t need the expertise to become an affiliate
If anything, you might need a good amount of knowledge in creating blog posts
and other kinds of content, but other than that, you don’t have to be
any kind of expert to start.
You just need a gadget, an internet connection, a social media account,
and the persistence to make it work.
In conclusion…
There is a good amount of reason why affiliate marketing is one of the easiest
ways to start a business or a source of passive income. It is not only easy
to “build” in a sense, but also low-risk apart from the time you have to harbor
at first when creating promotional content. Apart from this, it is also a
win-win situation for you and the online company. As they gain more audience,
traction, or sales, you get to earn some extra buck from promoting products
and services you care about.
Free Ebook Download Guide to Affiliate Marketing.
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