Learn Making Money With Affiliate Marketing in Ten Minutes

In my previous blog, I highlighted the different ways of making money online and one of the methods mentioned was affiliate marketing.

In this post, I will go into detail about what affiliate marketing is, how it works, the pros and cons for both individuals and businesses to get into affiliate marketing and provide some tips for making money with affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model where a business pays its affiliates for promoting its products or services. It’s an effective way for businesses to reach a wider audience and increase sales without increasing overhead, while affiliates earn a commission for each sale made through their unique referral link.

Affiliates typically work with a number of different businesses, so the ability to scale as an affiliate is present, giving affiliates endless potential to make money.

So What is Affiliate Marketing?

For those who are unfamiliar with the term affiliate marketing, it’s a form of online marketing that allows affiliates to earn a commission by promoting a company's products or services.

Affiliates receive a unique referral link that they can share on their website, social media, or through email marketing. When someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission. The commission amount varies depending on the company and the product or service being sold.

It’s the exact same concept as when a sales rep for a furniture store sells a product and earns a commission, the only difference here is that everything is done in the digital world. Think of affiliate marketers as digital sales reps who sell products through many different online channels such as websites, social media, and email marketing.

Affiliate marketing has become so popular that today there are millions of people making money with affiliate marketing around the world and it stands out as one of the best ways to make money online from home.

Some links on this page are affiliate links that will pay me a small commission at no cost to you if you use them to make a purchase.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing works by creating a partnership between a business (company which pays the commission) and its affiliates (person or company which receives the commission). The business provides the affiliate with a unique referral link, which the affiliate can then use to promote the business's products or services. When someone clicks on the affiliate's link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission. The commission is paid out by the business, and the affiliate does not have to worry about processing payments or shipping products.

You can see how this takes away a lot of the complexities that can bog you down if you’re running a business with operations and inventory. With this method, you can simply make sales and focus on making money with affiliate marketing, avoiding all the other things that can make you lose focus and cause a lot of stress in your life.

The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Businesses

Affiliate marketing provides businesses with valuable opportunities, including:

1. Increased Sales: Affiliate marketing allows businesses to reach a wider audience and increase sales. Traditionally, businesses would have to go through a lengthy hiring process and many interviews to hire just one sales representative, however with affiliate marketing, businesses can have hundreds of different affiliates marketing and promoting their products within a matter of days.

2. Cost-Effective: Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective way for businesses to promote their products or services. They only pay affiliates when a sale is made, so there is no risk involved. There is no need to hire full time staff, businesses can access affiliates by joining networks such as Commission Junction, ShareASale, Clickbank or set up their own affiliate program directly on their website.

3. Increased Brand Awareness: Affiliate marketing helps businesses build brand awareness and increase their online visibility. Businesses will have their brand being marketed through many channels such as social media, email, and many websites therefore increasing the likelihood that people will find out who they are and what they do.

4. Access to a Larger Audience: Affiliates have their own audience, and by partnering with them, businesses can reach a larger audience. There are many affiliates who have huge followings on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that can give businesses access to many eyeballs looking at their offer compared to before.

What are some disadvantages of affiliate marketing:

1. Lack of control over affiliate activities: Since affiliates are independent entities, businesses don’t have much control over how they promote their products and services. This can hurt a businesses brand and reputation if an affiliate is acting in an unethical manner in order to gain a sale.

2. Dependence on third-party networks: If you're not a well known brand already chances are you will have to rely on a third-party network to set up your affiliate program. This can create problems at times as you have no control over certain elements of your promotion.

Furthermore you want the best affiliates to sign up for your promotion. With a third-party in between it may be harder to get the attention of top affiliates as there are hundreds of other offers in front of them.

The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Affiliates

Affiliate marketing also provides affiliates with beneficial opportunities, including:

1. Flexibility: You can work from anywhere and at any time, making money with affiliate marketing is an ideal opportunity for those looking for a flexible work schedule. If you are self motivated and able to manage your own time well, all you really need to do affiliate marketing is literally a laptop and an internet connection.

2. Potential for High Earnings: You can earn a commission on every sale made through their unique referral link. This is probably the most exciting part about being an affiliate. The sky's the limit on earnings potential. If you can create effective marketing campaigns whether it is through your website, social media, email or any other digital channel that you use, you can make unbelievable money!

3. No Inventory or Shipping: No headaches or stress about stocking inventory or shipping products, as this is handled by the business! This is a huge benefit of affiliate marketing as you won’t have to worry about logistics of the business. You can focus on what matters most and what you do best, which is marketing and selling the product or service.

4. Increased Reach: Just like how businesses can increase their reach by utilizing affiliates, affiliates can do the same by working with businesses. You can reach a larger audience and increase your online visibility by promoting the business's products or services. In particular if it is a product or brand that people know and trust, it will also bring credibility and reach to you as you’re promoting it.

What are some disadvantages of affiliate marketing for an affiliate:

1. Competition: In order to make a sale, you have to compete with other affiliates. With the affiliate space gaining more popularity through the years, competition has become more fierce, so in order to make sales you will have to put in time and out compete other affiliates.

2. Changes in Commission or Fee Structure: Businesses can change or cut commissions which can have a negative impact on your earnings. What’s important to take from this is that you should never be too reliant on one product or company for your affiliate income. By taking this into account and working with a few different businesses, you can diversify your affiliate income rather than being too dependent on one product or company.

Tips for Making Money with Affiliate Marketing

1. Choose a Niche: Choose a niche that you are passionate about and have knowledge of. People always ask me if they should choose a niche that they are knowledgeable or passionate about. The answer is you don’t have to be passionate about a niche to be able to build a successful campaign around it. However, and in particular when you’re first starting out, working on a niche that you’re knowledgeable and passionate about will make it easier and more fun for you to promote the products and services.

Just think, wouldn’t you be a lot happier creating marketing and sales tactics around something you’re actually interested in? This will also help you avoid burning out easily. So when you first start out, it isn’t necessary but it is beneficial to focus on something that you have knowledge and are passionate about.

2. Build a Website: A website is very important if you are looking to get into affiliate marketing. This gives you more credibility as a website acts as a face to your brand. In addition there are many businesses that will only approve you as an affiliate if you have a professional looking website. So, build a website that showcases your affiliate products and provides valuable information to your audience.

I had a great experience building this website with Wix. Wix makes it really easy to design and build a website as they have many professional templates to choose from and drag and drop options which allows you to get your website up and running in a few steps. On top of that, Wix also has great customer support, if you are having any trouble on any topic about the website, they offer fast and immediate support through chat, email, and phone calls.

I recommend using Wix as a website builder tool as it is easy, professional and most importantly allows you to focus on what’s most important, marketing and sales!

3. Promote Products on Social Media: If you have a social media following on any of the platforms, make sure to utilize it to promote products and services to your followers. Even if you do not have a following currently, start making use of social media.

The best way is to get started is focusing on one first, get to know it and build from there. Don’t start with every social media platform all at once as you will get overwhelmed by doing this. Once you’re familiar with one platform and you're gaining some traction then add another one to your marketing.

4. Create Valuable Content: Don’t just create any content, create valuable content that provides information and solutions to your audience. Your audience will know if something was well put together or just put together in a few seconds. If you focus on providing value, you will build trust and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

5. Utilize Email Marketing: The use of email marketing to promote products and services is often overlooked by beginners, but is oftentimes the most powerful form of digital marketing. Building an email list is extremely important as with that you can contact your list anytime you want, promoting any offer that you want. This is different compared to social media where there are guidelines as to how you can promote things and add links.

With your own email list you get to decide how you do this. Furthermore, with every email on your list, you own it, unlike contacts on a social media platform.

In addition to building an email list, you have to be able to utilize and manage it. The tool that I use for all my email campaigns is Getresponse. Getresponse has everything you need with effective email campaigns, from landing pages to setting up autoresponders to send out on certain days to your contacts. If you’re serious about affiliate marketing and utilizing email marketing I suggest signing up with Getresponse.

Summing it up with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective and flexible way for businesses to promote their products or services and reach a wider audience. It is also an opportunity for affiliates to earn a commission while promoting the products or services they believe in. With the ability to track clicks, conversions, and sales, both businesses and affiliates can monitor their success and adjust their strategies accordingly. Affiliate marketing has proven to be a successful marketing strategy for many companies, and it continues to grow in popularity as more businesses and affiliates see its potential.