In this capitalist society we live in, the tradition has been to work hard, go to school, and get a good job to earn your money for a decent life.
There is a bible quote that most people are familiar with that says, “He who doesn’t work should not eat.” It still holds for the most part, but times have changed and the extent to which this hold is decreasing.
Quite a good number of people are actually earning as they sleep or while seated on their seats as opposed to being somewhere physically getting sweaty and tired of providing labor manually.
It turns out things have become much easier and all credit goes to the internet. That’s right. The internet is now the new money machine.
When it comes to the internet, there are endless ways to make money. Among them is affiliate marketing which will be our focus in this article.
What is affiliate marketing all about?
Affiliate marketing is all about promoting products and/or services for someone else or a company and receiving a commission for doing so.
They are not your products but you get to market them through affiliate links and you earn commissions for every complete purchase.
Visitors must click your affiliate link and buy products through that link for it to be considered a complete purchase.
Commissions are paid based on performance and are a percentage of sales. Therefore, affiliate marketing should not be confused for a quick way to get money when you are in a fix. You must deliver results or else you won’t earn even a dime.
There are quite several different types of affiliate marketing. You can, therefore, choose the best marketing platform that suits you best.
Types of affiliate marketing that you may consider.
- Unattached affiliate marketing
With this type of affiliate marketing, you are required to promote a company’s products and services and make your earnings through the pay-per-click affiliate campaigns.
There is usually no connection between you and the end consumers as all you need to do is simply promote the client products through sharing the affiliate links. You can convince more potential customers by sharing links through social media platforms for more sales.
- Related affiliate marketing
With this type of affiliate marketing, you are required to specialize in a specific niche that suits your career or interests.
It is similar to unattached affiliate marketing; however, with this type of affiliate marketing, you will need to share affiliate links on your site that are related to your niche or operation.
The related affiliate marketing is more preferred as you will be more attached to the products being promoted. You can, therefore, respond to customer’s comments and questions related to the products.
- Involved affiliate marketing
With this type of affiliate marketing, you promote a product or a service you have previously used. Your experience with these products and services makes the offer more attractive to the consumers, hence promoting more sales.
There are quite a few affiliate marketing sites you can join to promote more sales and earn you more commissions for every sale made.
Twitch affiliate and Fiverr affiliate programs are some of the top sites you may consider joining, most of these affiliate links make payment based on the referrals and sales made and it is therefore important that you are active to convince more potential clients.
Please see the below videos for my recommended affiliate programs!
You can earn money through affiliate marketing through the following ways:
Market products that will fetch you a good cut.
Products that are pricey normally give good commissions. You may have to select a few for promotion but that should be after you have determined the customer’s needs.
Percentages may be small for each product. Therefore, what you must maximize sales so that your cumulative commissions are higher. This means you must be consistent and persistent.
You may also seek to market for reputable online retailers such as Amazon, eBay, just to name a few. Such online marketing authorities pay commissions but are sometimes at lower percentages.
Target the right markets
An affiliate marketer is a marketer just like any other. So, you must conduct a need analysis and accurately identify the needs of your audience.
If you are to promote a product, it must have a high demand. Then try to meet these high demands with the right products. If you do this, you are likely to have sales, and hence your commissions.
Most of the world’s population is on social media and this is the number one venue to target. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have the most traffic.
Post your unique affiliate links in these sites because the probability they will be clicked onto is extremely high. If your website has a lot of traffic, it is also a good avenue to leverage on the heavy traffic through your affiliate links.
Build relationships with your customers
This starts right from identifying the right market. If you do, you will be able to accurately meet the needs of both your existing and potential customers.
This means your customers will build trust in you. As a result, your commissions are bound to increase with time. Relationship with customers is an invaluable asset for any affiliate marketer because your existing customers refer you to other potential customers.
Your network becomes your net worth. After making a sale, provide more value to your customers by giving after-sales services such as customer support and follow-ups.
Always keep your head up and take constant action!
Affiliate marketing techniques change with time. As an affiliate marketer, you must go with the trends. For instance, coupons have been a dominant cash cow for affiliate marketers for many years.
However, the heavy attention on coupons is shifting to other strategies such as Pay Per Click advertising, email marketing, use of online seminars (webinars), Pay Per Lead, and Pay Per Sale advertising.
Now that you know what affiliate marketing is all about, making money does not necessarily have to be boring. Consider the tips highlighted in this article and use them to assist you in making more money from the various affiliate marketing networks.