Affiliate Marketing

ARTICLE TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is Affiliate Marketing
• Does Affiliate Marketing Work
• Why Be An Affiliate Marketer
• Cons of Affiliate Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing Training
• Successful Affiliate Marketing
• Can You Really Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
• What You Must Follow Up With
• Final Words

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is probably the best way to make money online today. There are hundreds if not thousands of Affiliate Marketing Programs and Affiliate Networks available to sign up for if you perform your due diligence. Affiliate Marketing is a process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s or companies’ (vendors) products as an affiliate. You find a product you like (your niche), promote it to others (customers) and earn a piece of the profit (commission) for each sale that you make.

Just research the programs you feel the most comfortable with that are relevant to your niche. Some that you are very interested in and hopefully excite you. Make sure the program or network satisfies the requirements you have established. Things like commission rate, cookie duration, commission pay frequency, payment method, etc.

Some affiliate marketing programs pay very high commissions especially after you establish a good track record with them. You will find some affiliate marketing programs and networks pay as little as 2 – 3% to as high as 250% or more.

The nice thing about Affiliate Marketing is that you can represent multiple vendors which equates to multiple income streams. In simple terms as an affiliate you market other people’s products without the hassles, inventory, customer service, or shipping. What can be easier? And this happens 24/7 – even while you sleep. Nice passive income stream!

Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Many people ask if Affiliate Marketing really works. The answer is YES. However, to make it work, it takes hard work and dedication. It is not a get rich scheme. You must put in your due diligence and a lot of research and planning to get the right niche and vendors to become successful.

You have the opportunity of representing multiple vendors thereby establishing multiple income streams. These income streams become passive income streams and you can make a lot of money this way once they are established.

It is easy to participate in an affiliate marketing program. Just follow the steps below:

Step One: Research a niche you are interested in. Identify a product within your niche that your what to sale. Then research an affiliate program or network that is offering the product. Take the time to study the demand for the product before promoting it. Make sure to research the seller with care before teaming up. You want a reputable seller.

If you have multiple similar products, look at the benefits of each product you want to sale. Do some research on each product online and give the major benefits of each product. This way your customer will be better informed and can select the product that interest them more. You also build your expertise and reputation by doing this.

Remember you can select more than one vendor and offer more than one product. This is multiple streams of possible income for you. If you have several products that complement your niche equally, offer them for sale and let your customers select the one they prefer.

Step Two: Join an affiliate marketing program or network offering the product(s). Join a competitive program. A program that keeps up with the trends.

Step Three: Share those links on your blog, social media platforms, or website. A blog is a very good media to get your product seen. So is a good website. Be creative. Don’t use just one media. Make sure whichever media you select, it looks professional.

Step Four: Obtain a unique affiliate link for each offer. Look for a product that is popular but is also unique. Look at the competition. Make sure your offer is unique and better than the competition’s offer.

Step Five: Collect a commission anytime someone uses your links to make a purchase.

Why Be An Affiliate Marketer?

There are many reasons to become an affiliate marketer. Some of biggest reasons are:

1. No inventory – As an affiliate marketer you carry no inventory. The vendor has all the inventory. You only have the link to the vendor’s site. The vendor takes care of the shipping too.
2. No customer service – The individual vendors offering the products or services deal with the customers and ensure they are satisfied with what they have purchased. The entire job of the affiliate marketer is to link the vendor with the consumer. The vendor deals with any customer complaints after you receive your commission from the sale.
3. Passive income – After the initial work of setting up your affiliate site, your work is basically complete and runs automatically. You just performed some routine maintenance to make sure your links work properly. Your income becomes a source of passive income. It works for you 24/7, even while you are sleeping.
4. Work from home if you want – You work from home if you want to when you do affiliate marketing. Some affiliate marketers still like the idea of “going to work” and rent an office space. But that is by choice. All you need is a computer, an internet connection, and a space to work from. Some affiliate marketers work from the local coffee shop. It is your choice.
5. Convenient and flexible – Convenience and flexibility are what you get with affiliate marketing. You work from wherever you have an internet connection and whenever you what. You decide your hours. Disciplined affiliate marketers set regular hours and treat it as a job. You can even do this type of work while on vacation if you want to. If your niche is travel related, you might be able to right off your trip as a business expense. Check with your tax advisor.

Cons of Affiliate Marketing

No matter how promising Affiliate Marketing looks, it does have its downside. Below are some of its cons:

1. Time – At the beginning it takes a lot of time to research your niche and the right company to join.
2. Hosting Site – Finding the right hosting site that you will be comfortable with.
3. Competition – You will be competing with many other Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate Marketing Training

It is advisable to get training to setup your Affiliate Marketing site be it a Blog or Website. You want your site to be professional looking and able to reach as many people as possible.

There are several companies that can help you set up your site. They will explain and the ins and outs of a good site and what you should and shouldn’t do.

I have investigated many of these sites and I highly recommend Wealthy Affiliates. Their training is superb, and they go the extra mile insuring you know what you are doing. They have a very large community that will help you when you feel lost.

Disclosure: We believe in transparency. The highlighted links and banners to Wealthy Affiliates are to affiliate links. This means that we earn some revenue (at no cost to you) when you click through the links and purchase something on their site. Wealthy Affiliates is what I use to make my web pages and I fully endorse them.

They helped me get my site up and running and it looks great now. I tried others and there is NO comparison to Wealthy Affiliates. I was lost with the other sites. I struggled for weeks with the other trainers and still didn’t have a good site. Now using Wealthy Affiliates, my site looks and feels good.

Successful Affiliate Marketing

Once you have built your platform, your site be it a blog or website, it is time to build up your list of customers. This is the hardest part in my opinion. You need to get your information out to as many people as you can. There are many ways to do this. Paid ads, buy lists, free sites, etc.

You must build up your brand so your customers will trust you and keep coming back to you. They will also recommend you to their friends, so you get additional customers. Ensure you have quality products that you promote. That will ensure your brand will be recognized as a good brand and bring in more customers.

Make sure you are transparent and place legality statements on your site. Tell your customers that you receive compensation when they click on the links on your page. Tell them that they don’t get charged extra by clicking on the links that the vendors pay you.

Affiliate Marketing is like any other type of home business, success in affiliate marketing depends on investing the time and effort to grow your business. It also depends upon building relationships with your customers and partner brands. You can make money through Affiliate Marketing, but it will take hard work, dedication, and patience.

If you have any questions about this post or anything dealing with affiliate marketing, please leave them below. I’ll be glad to answer them. If you have any topics relevant to affiliate marketing that you want me to research and write about, let me know in the comment section below too.

Disclosure: We believe in transparency. The highlighted links and banners within this post especially to Wealthy Affiliates are to affiliate links. This means that we earn some revenue (at no cost to you) when you click through to the links and purchase something on their site.

Can You Really Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?

This is a common question which is asked all the time. Can you really make money with affiliate marketing and the answer is a giant YES! It is probably one of the most uncomplicated ways of making money online. I didn’t say easiest. It takes dedication and some hard work at first. You won’t make money overnight.

On average, it takes about 6 months to start making money. There is a lot of work that you must put into your site to get it ready. Don’t let this scare you. The rewards will be greater than you ever imagined.

There are things that you must do first to make money with affiliate marketing. Don’t listen to people who tell you that you can start making money with no money. That is a lie. It takes a little investment on your part to get a really good web site up and running. One that is professional looking and functioning properly. Wealthy Affiliates can help you get your site up and running.

There is research on several items you must do. There is planning which must be done up front. Basically you have to do everything I mentioned above. It takes hard work, time, dedication, and lots of effort.

What You Must Follow Up With

There are things that you must constantly follow up with. This includes keeping your blog and website updated. This should be daily. Your customers must know that your sites are not stale. The must rely on you to provide fresh information and new deals. You should constantly research your niche for new innovations and offer them new products. You should offer sales whenever possible if your vendors offer sales.

You should monitor the success or failures of your affiliate programs. Which ones are making you money? Keep track of the programs which are the most successful and which products your customers like the best. Get rid of the ones not making you money. Which products seem to bring in the most profits are the ones you want to promote on your site. You must be proactive.

Final Words

You really can make money with affiliate marketing. If you put in the effort, you can make significant income from it. You can make a very good passive income.

I found it invaluable to have a website to make money online. You must have an outlet to show your products and there is no better way that a website. The best site that I found to help you put together a website that offers hosting, security, training, and support is Wealthy Affiliates. Their price is very reasonable for what they offer.

The common mistake I see with people trying to make money with affiliate marketing is they give up too soon. You must realize that affiliate marketing is NOT a get rich scheme. It takes hard work, determination, and patience. You must pick a niche and a product that you can sale, that your customers are interested in. If your initial product you pick for your niche isn’t working, pick another one. If your merchant doesn’t have the right product, pick a different merchant. Don’t give up.

Keep working hard. You will succeed. It just takes hard work. If your niche isn’t working for you, it is okay to switch niches. Find the right combination that will make you money. Just don’t give up. Remember, that hard work and perseverance will pay off in the end. Keep at it and you will be happy and make money.