There are several ways to make money but affiliate marketing is one sure way that hardly comes to mind, and this is largely due to the lack of awareness or insufficient information about the gig economy.
Thank God for the internet, making money has become much easier, and even easier for affiliates. A lot of research is currently going on and what we are going to have here are my personal and verifiable findings on affiliate marketing.
Basically, affiliates earn their pay as a commission for referring businesses, brands, products, and services. A classical example of affiliate marketing: Moses wears an Arsenal football club Jersey for the coming season, it looks good and the fans of Chelsea, Man United, and even Manchester City want the same type of Jersey. He tells his friends that it’s the new Jersey he initially posted on his Instagram page.
He sends his folks supporting Chelsea, Man United, and Manchester City his affiliate link and they buy the same type of Jersey on his recommendation. So, Moses will earn a commission every time someone buys the same type of Jersey through the said link – the selling company gives Moses a percentage commission from the sales.
Unknowingly, people make recommendations to their folks and family on products and services but why not monetize these recommendations? The biggest flex for affiliates is the opportunity to work from anywhere in bar locations without internet services.
At this point, you must have started to leak your lips knowing the opportunity that awaits all affiliate marketers or enthusiasts of affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by recommending or promoting the products and services of others.
It is one of the many online businesses but this one stands out for being easy and cheap to start because you do not have to create or sell your own product.
Also, you do not necessarily need a website to become an affiliate. Although it may be tough, you can as well start up on social media platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and the like.
Types of affiliate marketing programs:
There are various types/kinds of affiliate marketing programs with different payment terms.
One Tier: The easiest is one tier where the affiliate gets a percentage commission when sales are generated via his/her link.
Two-tier: This follows the pyramid and here, the affiliate marketer gets a commission when he refers other affiliates who start making sales.
Climbing tiers: The climbing tier sees the affiliate earn more commission as sales increase.
Recurring commissions: For this type, a commission is earned when people are signed up for a subscription service. EG: If I use beautlifestyle for email marketing, and if someone signs up for beautilifestyle through my affiliate link, I’ll get a commission for each time beautillifestyle is used.
Pay Per Lead: A commission is earned every time a person provides his contact information on the advertiser’s website.
Sitewide Commissions: In this type, the affiliate marketer can get a commission regardless of what is bought on the advertiser’s website. Amazon is one of the merchants that offer sitewide commission.
Step-by-step method of how affiliate marketing works
By now, you should have a little understanding of affiliate marketing and how it works, but without assumption, I’ll further explain how affiliate marketing works in steps.
Step 1: Place or embed an affiliate link on your relevant social media post or websites
Step 2: A visitor to your social media post or website clicks on your affiliate link which takes them to the advertiser’s website.
Step 3: The visitor decides to buy a product or service from the advertiser’s website.
Step 4: You earn a commission which is usually a percentage of the sale.
Why you should own a blog
The question of how to make money without a website as an affiliate marketer has arisen in several discussions but without further ado, it’s a yes as long as the affiliate has social media accounts like an e-book, YouTube, or if he is a regular contributor to forums or online communities, or email campaigns. However, it is not a great idea to be an affiliate and not have a blog. Every serious-minded affiliate should own a blog because it is easier to engage and inform your target audience through this medium.
Having a blog is the easiest and best way to make money through affiliate marketing
With a blog, you can target a particular audience and reach more people than on social media platforms.
Following are a few cogent why reasons you should consider owning and using a blog to do the affiliate marketing business.
- A blog is the best way to give your audience access to valuable free content. Blog visitors tend to be frequent and so it is much easier to do promotions for affiliate programs to an already existing and domiciled audience who are captivated and informed by your content.
- A blog is a great way to help your audience solve a problem.
Google is a mine for information and if in the process of searching, your blog is found while promoting a product, you can be sure to make money as an affiliate marketer. - A blog is yours. You own and have full control over your website. A major advantage of owning a blog is the fact that you are in total control, unlike social media pages. A platform like Facebook may change its algorithm which will see marketers lose the ability to reach their audiences.
It is noteworthy that you own a website as an affiliate marketer
Many affiliate programs like to review your website for quality content and navigation purposes before accepting your proposal to join them. This is basically to see how good your contents are for their products.
What if you decide to sell your website? the blog will suffice. The plan for affiliate marketing must be long-term. Assuming you’re earning passively through your blog every month, you can put up the blog in the market as well.
How to be a successful affiliate
First off, get yourself a website, a blog, social media pages, and emailing list, and then you can follow the steps to get started as an affiliate marketer.
- Get to know the affiliate program. You must research the affiliate program you intend to join and understand when and how you’d earn money.
For this, you have to decide on the product and services that tickle your fancy to promote to your audience.
.2. Build trust with your audience. Trust is fundamental to the success of all businesses, therefore, you must promote products that you know so well and not compromise on quality. This way, you’d maintain the quality of your brand and get recommendations.
- Choose products that match your niche. If your audience is expensive designer products, you wouldn’t want to do affordable fashion for moms. So the product has to match your niche.
- Be patient. A virtue called patience is also needed because no one has ever become successful overnight. Regardless of the platform used, it takes time to get an audience which naturally comes before engagement and education on the products to be promoted.
How much money can you make from affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketers do not earn fixed fees. While others can earn about $100 per month, some people earn as much as $10,000 per month. The amount earned is largely dependent on the product promoted, which has to match the interest of the audience and how engaging they are.
It is a tad difficult to make money with affiliate marketing if your audience does not engage with your content.
There’s the story of Zion who owns a blog for fashion, She makes over $20,000 a month from affiliate marketing and her audience gives her lots of engagement.
