Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting another company’s or person’s products. An affiliate is a person who promotes another person’s or company’s products to earn a commission. As an affiliate, you can search for a product you like, promote it, and earn a commission from every sale you make. Your sales will be tracked through affiliate links from one website to the next.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
For affiliate marketing to work, 3 parties are involved. These include:
• The seller and the product creator
• The affiliate (marketer or advertiser)
• The consumer
Here’s what you need to know about each of these parties and how they play into affiliate marketing.
1, The Seller And Product Creators
In affiliate marketing, the seller can be a large company, vendor, product creator or a retailer with a product to bring into the market. The product can be anything from a physical object or a tutorial.
The seller is also referred to as the brand and isn’t necessarily involved in the marketing. However, in some cases, the seller/product creator might be the advertiser thereby getting some profit from affiliate marketing.
2. The Affiliate/Advertiser
The affiliate is also known as the advertiser, promoter or publisher. It can be an individual or a company. The affiliate’s job is marketing the product to target audience. Their job is to convince consumers that the product is beneficial or valuable so they can buy it.
Once the consumer buys the product, the affiliate receives a commission from the sale. Affiliates market their products to specific audience so they adhere to their interests. As a result, there is a defined niche and a personal brand to help affiliates attract customers who are attracted to the product types.
3. The Consumer
Even if the consumer isn’t aware of it, they are an integral part of the affiliate marketing process. Affiliates share their products to consumers through social media, websites and blogs. Once consumers buy the products the seller and affiliates enjoy the profits.
In some cases, the affiliate will be upfront with the customer and disclose that they will receive profits from the sale. In some cases, the consumer might be oblivious about the process.
How Can You Make Money As An Affiliate Marketer?
If you are getting started on affiliate marketing, here are the ways you can make money.
1. Pay Per Sale – Here, the seller/product creator will pay the affiliate a percentage of the total sale price of the product once the consumer makes a purchase. Here, the affiliate must show a lot of effort in making customers interested in the product to make a commission.
2. Pay Per Lead – Here, the product creator pays the affiliate for conversion of leads. As the affiliate, you need to convince the customer to visit the website and complete the specific action. It could be filing out a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, downloading software or files, signing up for a trial of a product or buying the product itself.
3. Pay Per Click – With this payment method, the affiliate redirects customers from the affiliate marketing platform to the seller’s website. The affiliate is required to engage the customer so they are interested in moving from the affiliate marketing platform to the merchant site. Here, the affiliate will be paid based on the overall web traffic statistics.
How To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a very lucrative way to make money on the internet but it needs to be done the right way. Here are a few ways to get started as an affiliate marketer.
• Create a blog in a targeted niche then use it to promote products. It’s the cheapest and effortless way to get started as an affiliate marketer.
• Next, you can buy traffic from pay per click sites like Facebook, Google or Quora. You can drive traffic from these sites to any affiliate products or services you are promoting. It is referred to as PPC marketing and it is beneficial because you can get paid for every click on the merchant’s website.
• Also, you can create a YouTube channel and promote products. It might take a while to get enough subscribers to the channel but you can engage other users on the platform or share the link on your social media profiles for the best engagement.
• Also, you can create a podcast and use it to promote products. Make sure you share the podcast on various channels to attract more audience.
To start a strong affiliate marketing business you need to have a clear basic ideas about basics of affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, there are only a few recommended trainings available. Read Wealthy Affiliate Unbiased Review to know one of them.
Why Should You Become An Affiliate Marketer?
Now that you know how to get started and how to get paid as an affiliate marketer, here are a few reasons why you should get started today.
1. It Is A Passive Income
A regular 9-5 job requires you to be present to make any money. With affiliate marketing, you can make money at any time, even when you are asleep. You have to invest an initial amount to get started but you can count on a constant commission as people buy the products.
Note that, you will receive the commission as long as the consumers buy the products or click on the website. You don’t need to be present to watch the whole process.
2. No Customer Support Needed
Sellers and product creators have to deal with their customers. They need to make sure that the consumers are satisfied with the products before and after the purchase. As an affiliate, you don’t need to worry about customer support or satisfaction.
Your job as an affiliate marketer is simply linking the consumer to the seller. Therefore, the seller deals with the customer complaints and you will receive your commission once the products are sold.
3. Working From Home
Do you hate working in an office? Well, with affiliate marketing, you can work from home and enjoy a good income. You can create affiliate marketing campaigns and get revenue from home without ever going to an office.
If you want to be a successful affiliate marketer, you need to develop a good rapport with your customer and review products and services honestly.