Of all the ways to make money on the internet, affiliate marketing is definitely one of the most popular. Affiliate marketing works through the magic of tracked references – affiliates are paid by businesses for referring them clients. More simply, the more referrals sent to a business, the more money can be made. The relationship between a business and an affiliate marketer can involve a number of platforms including, but not limited to blog posts, web pages, websites, emails, and social media posts and pages.
Marketing affiliate relationship can take different forms. The simplest is to partner with a brand launching a specific product and using a referral link to compensate for an agreed-upon percentage of the final price. Another option is possible when working with a company like Amazon, where a percentage can be paid on item purchases throughout the entire website, not necessarily the intended one that came in the initial referral link.
1Altogether, affiliate marketing is a great opportunity for self-employment with small initial investments that don’t require a lot of overhead expenses (stock, shipping, rent, etc)1.
How Much Can Be Earned with Affiliate Marketing?
According to statistics website Statista, affiliate marketing is a growing field. In the United States alone, affiliate marekting is predicted to become an 8.2$ billion undustry by 2020, which is a markable rise from the 5.4$ billion it represented in 2017 or the 1.7$ billion it was in 2010.
Another statistics website, Vigilink, revealed that 9% of publishers produced more than 50,000$ through affiliate marketing in 2016. Nearly 65% of merchants said they were making anywhere from 5%-20% of their annual revenue from affiliate marketing. By looking at the merchants with the highest revenue, over 60% had been working with affiliate marketing for more than 5 years. 2
Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing
There are many reasons someone may want to choose affiliate marketing for their business. Here are some of the most popular rationales.
1. Low initial start up cost: because you won’t be building the network yourself but rather sending them traffic, you can massively reduce your initial costs.
2. Flexibility: there are many different set ups and styles to affiliate marketing. You can do some research and find the style that works best for you.
3. Business Development: as you learn which products or traffic is delivering the best to your affiliate marketing partners, you can apply these lessons to your own business. This way you are growing along with your partners.
Developing Affiliate Marketing Strategies That Work
Getting started with affiliate marketing is pretty straightforward, but being able to generate consistent income is a more difficult challenge. Before giving it a try, it is advisable to come up with a strategy first.
Start by imagining the intended audience. Maybe there is a particular good or service that they want. Maybe there are products currently in use that would synthesize well with the targeted audience. These might be preferred affiliate links to add to the website. In general,however, it is advisable to stick with products that are linked to the website to facilitate the click-through-rate and to keep audiences engaged.
Next, look for affiliate programs as a way to compare their structures. Some factors to consider would be size of the commission and how often that company pays its affiliates. Understanding what kind of rules that apply to their affiliate programs is good practice before signing up.
Finally, be honest with the readers. Disclosures for the blog allow readers to get a heads up that they may encounter some affiliate links on the blog. Not only is this required by the Federal Trade Commission’s endorsment guidelines, but it will also add some credibility to the platform.
Getting Paid – Understanding Different Payment Systems
Getting paid is the next step in learning how to make money with affiliate marketing and it requires one to learn a little bit more about how the commissions and the whole payment system actually works.
Receiving compensation is the next logical step in earning money with affiliate programs. It requires one to learn some information on how the commission and payment system work. Put simply, one get compensated based on the agreed upon payment plan.3
1. Pay-Per-Sale
Every time a purchase is completed, a payment will be made. Depending on the arrangement, payment can be immediate, or set to be applied on specific days of the week, month, or quarter.
2. Pay-Per-Click
Pay-per-click is another common type of payment system where a payment is made based on the merchant’s banner ad or when a link is clicked on the right website. Since payments are made regardless of whether the customer makes a purchase, the volume is higher but the yield is lower.
3. Pay-Per-Lead
Leads are potential customers that can be followed up with, and they are of immense value in the marketing cycle. Pay-per-lead systems are similar to pay-per-sale, except the ‘proven victory’ is that a qualified lead was produced
Conclusion
Making money with affiliate marketing can be boiled down to a few simple keys for success: be comfortable with the resources at hand, follow what the right path work had and be patient. The rest is sure to come!4
[1] Duermyer, Randy. “Does Affiliate Marketing Work?” The Balance SMB. 17 January, 2020.
[2] Lake, Rebecca. “Make Money With Affiliate Marketing.” Investopedia. 27 October, 2019.
[3] Smith, Brad. “How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing.” Oberlo. 5 November, 2019.
[4] “Make Money with Affiliate Marketing.” Smarter Affiliate.