Affiliate marketing has been around for quite some time now, with the ever growing world of digital media, chances are you might know someone really close to you working full time or as a side gig in affiliate marketing.
But what is it exactly?
In this post we will look to cover what is affiliate marketing, how you can get started and what to expect
Table of Contents
What is Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate Marketing is a process where publishers earn a commission by promoting a product or service made by another retailer or advertiser. The affiliate partner is rewarded a payout for providing a specific result to the retailer or advertiser.
Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so you don’t have to worry about high startup costs. Done well, this performance-based opportunity can go from side hustle to profitable online business idea by netting you a healthy income.
So to put it simply, in affiliate marketing there are three roles, the vendor, the consumer and the affiliate. In a normal business transaction you need the vendor to sell the product or provide services to the consumer.
But with affiliate marketing the middle man comes in and acts as a broker of some sorts, helping the business get the customers in and help them sell their stuff. Getting a commission in the process that is.
Affiliate Marketing A Good Business?
In the world today, there are millions of different types of websites, some selling products, others providing services. These businesses cover either B2B audiences or B2C, it could be both as well.
The idea of competition increasing as more businesses are entering the game, has made it tough for traditional form of marketing to work, with time digital marketing was the it thing for businesses to drive more sales and leads.
But seeing how referring or word of mouth has always worked from the beginning, affiliate marketing became a norm. Understanding that paying people a small fee or percentage to help them get customers will not be such a hassle and makes the business’ job easier
With people earning in thousands of dollars (depending not everyone can though), it seems affiliate marketing is here to stay and grow even.
In the beginning Amazon started the affiliate marketing trend (way back in 1996!), knowing the traffic coming onto their website in millions may not be enough anymore as people needed outside guidance or ‘signals’ to purchase a product specifically from Amazon.
So What Should I Do?
Starting out, you need to understand how you will start in affiliate marketing. Previously it was solely done via blogs (although it is still really effective) but people have found other means of market as an affiliate and drive sales to websites
Some people prefer the blog technique, while others create social media channels to market products, the audience is sitting there you just need to know how to nab it.
Others have also been known to use email marketing as a means to perform in this regard. Emailing previous consumers of the product/service or people who are interested of acquiring it can be targeted via emails to help generate more sales on the platform and in turn make money on the side
What Do I Need?
Affiliate Marketing tools, you can start from those. There are tons out there you can start with, but knowing what each tool does is important.
For affiliate marketing, it would be important to know the types of tools that you would need in order to be a success
Some types of tools that you must have are:
Content creation:
- Grammarly
- BuzzSumo
- Jasper AI
Landing Page Creators:
- Instapage
- Clickfunnels
- UnBounce
Conversion Optimization Tool:
- Optin
- Visual Website Optimizer
Email Marketing Tools:
- Klaviyo
- Mail Chimp
Ads Spy:
- WhatRunsWhere
- PowerAdSpy
- Social Ad Scout
- Hyros
These are some of the affiliate marketing tools you can check out, (not all of them are free) to start working on your affiliate marketing campaign
Be Prepared To Fail
Like anything in life, be prepared to expect success and failure. It is like two sides of a coin. Affiliate marketing sounds good in the regard that you don’t have to worry about fulfillment of orders and just provide the direction to the consumer.
Doing that though sounds easier said than done, you could register with different affiliate marketing programs, have the best tools, an already established audience even
Even then chances are you could fail, without a proper plan or strategy.
Even the best of the best plan and prepare to execute that would work and get them more profits as well
So Now What?
There will be a lot of people talking about online how they earned through affiliate marketing, and chances are you will come across them as well
They although not everyone does, but lie at times just to get you to sign up for their work and they could earn more.
It is always good to follow some success stories but don’t let them go their head, not everyone can have the same success, (although don’t get discouraged that you can’t always be positive (:)
People in this field have either boomed over one night or gradually built up there repertoire, and slowly climbed the stairway towards success.
Be patient, work hard and always hope for the best, knowing good times come to those who wait
