Affiliate Marketing is a 2 sided win for both parties. The company running the affiliate program gets sales agents paid on commission only. The person working for the company can get very lucrative bonuses for selling. Affiliate marketing has become a very popular way to gain customers. It is also appreciated by “ordinary people” as a great way to earn money online.
There are examples of teenagers earning over $ 500 a month doing affiliate marketing in their spare time. Many “adults” also earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way. As the number of people using the Internet continues to grow, more and more companies have started to use affiliate marketing. The idea is simple: every time you have someone visit the website of a given brand, buy something on the website, or simply register, you get a certain payment or award.
The system is extremely simple. You do not need to have direct contact with specific companies running their affiliate program. There are many affiliate networks that have hundreds of programs, products, and services from which you can choose. Anyone, even a computer user that is not very proficient, can earn money from affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing?
To start earning, you need to know the components of a system that will give you what you want, money.
- You – here we will call you “affiliate”
- Company – a company that wants to “show”, sell or provide information about a product.
- Affiliate network – Provides you with orders and tracks your sales and customer stream.
- Customer – the person who clicks on your ad, buys a product or subscribes to the website you promote.
Example:
The company sells phones and contacts the affiliate network to find people who will promote the product. The affiliate network places an ad on the forum saying that you will receive a dollar each time a customer visits the company’s website and $ 35 each time they buy a phone. When you get an ad from an affiliate network, you place it on your blog, website, or Facebook page. The client visits your blog – sees the ad – clicks on it ($ 1) – or buys a phone ($ 35).
Affiliate vs dropshipping
Do not confuse affiliate marketing with dropshipping. Dropshipping means you maintain your own business with all the responsibilities that come with it. With a dropshipper, you are the seller with a supplier. As an affiliate, all you need to do is find the leads and the parent company that is sponsoring the program handles all the details of the sale. You just sit back and collect your commissions for sending them the business leads.
Types of affiliate programs
- PPS (pay per sale)
- PPA (Pay per Action)
- Sales Bonus – About 80% of affiliate marketing is based on this variant. The company agrees to pay a certain sum or percentage of sales generated by an affiliate.
Earning money online through affiliate marketing
With the knowledge we present here, you can start working in affiliate marketing right away. The key is motivation and focus. You can make a lot of money so staying focused will pay off.
Find an affiliate network
As already mentioned, you can contact the company directly and ask to join the program. However, we do not recommend this method at first. The time will come when you gain affiliate experience. The best approach is to find an affiliate network. This is an online office that allows companies to promote their website/store through affiliate partners like you. Such a network gathers a large number of ads from various companies that you, as an affiliate partner, can use. For example Commission Junction
It’s a good idea to join about five such networks, which allows you to choose from a wide ad base. Membership is free and it is very easy to get access.
Affiliate networks:
- Refersion.
- Amazon Associates.
- ClickBank.
- eBay Partner Network (EPN)
- FlexOffers.
- JVZoo.
- LeadDyno / E-Commerce Affiliates.
- MaxBounty.
- Tradedoubler
- Tradetracker
Companies with affiliate marketing
- Amazon
- Udemy
- Getresponse
- Twitch
- Aliexpress
- Fiverr
- Walmart
Affiliate rewards
Affiliate awards are a little different. This is where large companies offer discount incentives on their own products to the affiliates that can bring in leads.
Browse through the ads and find the right one. After registering with the affiliate network as a user, you will see several types of advertisements. There are three factors in choosing the right ad.
- Existing blog or website
- Interests
- Earning opportunities
Preparation
Once you choose a product or advertisement, your task as an affiliate will be to set up a blog, website, or other space in which you will promote them. We will provide a brief description of the different media here:
Website
Websites are probably the most popular way to promote affiliate products and for good reason. The website offers many possibilities, limited only by your imagination and abilities.
One of the things that keep people from creating websites is the belief that you need great skill to design them. It’s not true! Nowadays, thanks to videos and articles on the subject, it’s very easy to learn how to make great-looking pages. The platform that Glenn Website Design recommends is the WordPress content management system. This is completely free software that makes website development extremely easy. The program is used by thousands of people around the world and is considered to be one of the best and easiest web development systems out there.
To use WordPress you need a domain, a place where your entire website will be stored – its name www.example.com and its content. One of the places where you can create a domain and build a website is Ipower. This place offers domain registration and hosting for less than $4 per month. We use Ipower ourselves and can recommend them.
If you want to learn how to create a website, you will surely find a lot of tutorials just by entering the word “WordPress” in google.
Blogging
Even if you don’t have a blog as an affiliate, it’s easy to create one. A blog allows you to share a large amount of great material on topics related to the selected ad and usually attracts a large audience. You can create a blog relatively cheaply. The only thing you have to pay for is the domain, that is, the website with the hosting account. When you create your blog, we strongly recommend that you use WordPress which is free. One of the places where you can place your home page is the Ipower we use ourselves. The cost of the cheapest registration is less than $4 per month.
Sales videos
Usually, these types of affiliate marketing activities are hosted on YouTube or Vimeo. In these short videos, you can review the product, show it in action, share your experience with the product, etc.
Pages on Facebook
Using Facebook you can create pages promoting your product for free. It is possible to create a page with product descriptions and reviews, and place ads from affiliate programs from time to time from which you will earn income. Facebook pages can also be a support for your websites or blogs. We recommend using them as an additional factor in the development of your brand.
If you have an Instagram profile with lots of followers, you can promote other people’s and businesses’ products and encourage your followers to buy! Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money on Instagram!
Reviews
Of course, reviews of various products are used in affiliate marketing. By using this method, you simply test a certain number of products within the category of the promotion. You can do this on a page specifically created for this purpose, or on other people’s websites or blogs. This type of affiliate marketing usually goes to consumers who are already looking for the product you’re advertising or want to hear about other people’s experiences with that product.
Website tracking and optimization
Once the website is up and running, it is important that it is as efficient as possible. This means that you have to try to get as many people as possible to enter it, click on the ads and buy the products you are promoting or sign up in the form. We call this process tracing and we can do it using different programs.
These programs, being part of some affiliate networks, check how many people visit your site, how long they stay there, how many people click on your ads, or what other activities they take. Thanks to these systems, you learn how to properly design a website and what content should be on it because you have information about what works best. Glenn Website Design strongly recommends the use of these programs as an essential factor in ensuring the success of your website.
If you need help getting started do not hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help you.