Making money as an affiliate marketer is easier than you think. In fact, with the right tools and strategies in place, you could see a healthy return on your investment in no time at all.
In the United States, 16% of online orders come from affiliate marketing referrals. This number is expected to grow in the coming years, making affiliate marketing an increasingly viable option for those looking to make money online as an affiliate marketer.
With some effort and dedication, you can start generating a passive income stream by incorporating affiliate marketing into your website or blog. And those efforts will be well worth it in the long run as you watch your affiliate marketing earnings grow.
This experienced-backed guide will show you how to make money as an affiliate marketer in just a few simple steps.
Who Is an Affiliate Marketer?
An affiliate marketer is someone who promotes products or services on behalf of another company in exchange for a commission on the resulting sales.
Affiliate marketers use a variety of marketing techniques to drive traffic to the merchant’s website, including email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing.
How Affiliate Marketing Works?
When a potential customer clicks on the affiliate link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission(also called an affiliate income). The amount of the commission varies depending on the affiliate program.
Affiliate marketing is a popular way to make money online because it’s a performance-based system. This means that affiliates are only paid when they generate affiliate sales.
Here’s a video that’ll clear any confusion you have about affiliate marketing:
6 Simple Steps: How to Make Money As An Affiliate Marketer
The affiliate marketing industry is growing rapidly every day. The number of affiliate networks and affiliate programs is also increasing day by day. So, choosing the best affiliate network or program is becoming difficult.
If you are new to affiliate marketing, you might wonder how to find affiliate programs in your niche. We have compiled a separate guide with the help of experienced affiliate marketers, which you can read here.
But assuming that you already have some affiliate marketing experience and are looking to take it to the next level, this post is for you. Keep reading to learn the successful affiliate marketing strategy step by step.
1. Create a Content-Rich Website or YouTube Channel
Search platform Google.com saw approximately 89 billion visits in May 2022. Of these, a staggering 89% of users said they began their search for a product or service by using a search engine.
This data clearly shows that if you want to make money as an affiliate marketer, you need to have a website or YouTube channel where you can share high-quality content with your audience.
The content you create should be informative, engaging, and relevant to the products or services you want to promote as an affiliate. It should also be optimized for search engines so potential customers can easily find it when searching for your niche information.
A website gives you an online platform to share content that interests potential customers and leads them to your product’s site to make a purchase.
If you want to get results from your content, creating a mix of informational and promotional material is essential.
Because a recent product update of Google makes it harder to rank a commercial site if it is not also informative.
Read the guidelines of Google on how to write high-quality product review content here.
On the other hand, YouTube is the second-largest website in the world, with over 2.6 billion monthly active users.
Videos are an excellent way to engage potential customers and promote affiliate products or services. Due to the short time span and easy consumption, most people love watching videos rather than reading long blog posts.
YouTube is an excellent platform to host your videos because it’s free to use and has a huge audience. Plus, it’s owned by Google, so your videos will be indexed in Google search results, making them easier to find.
To get started, read the guide we have created on how to make money on YouTube as an affiliate marketer.
2. Joining an Affiliate Network
This step is pretty easy. You just need to find a good affiliate network with products or services related to your niche.
For example, if you promote health and fitness products, you can join an affiliate network like Clickbank or Amazon Associates.
But if you want to promote B2B products or services, you can join an affiliate network like Rakuten or Avangate.
Each affiliate network has its own set of rules and regulations. So, it’s important to read them carefully before joining. This will help you avoid any potential problems in the future.
3. Learn How Affiliate Programs Work
This step influences your goal of how much money you want to make from affiliate marketing. Because the more you know about how affiliate programs work, the easier it will be to achieve your desired income.
An affiliate program is an arrangement between a merchant (i.e., the company that sells a product or service) and an affiliate (i.e., you). The affiliate agrees to promote the merchant’s products or services in exchange for a commission on each sale they generate.
Here’s a breakdown of how an affiliate program works:
- One Tier: Earn a commission on the product or service you promote.
- Two Tier: In addition to earning a commission on the product or service you promote, you also earn a commission on the sales generated by affiliates you’ve recruited into the program (your “downline“).
- Pay Per Lead: Earn a commission whenever someone you’ve referred completes a specific action, such as filling out a form or signing up for a free trial.
- Recurring Commissions: Earn a commission every time a customer you’ve referred purchases as long as they remain a paying customer. SEMrush, CJ, and Aweber all offer recurring commission affiliate programs.
- Sitewide Commissions – You receive a commission on every product or service a customer you’ve referred purchases from the merchant, not just the ones they buy while they’re on their first visit to the merchant’s site. Amazon’s affiliate program is an example of a sitewide commission program.
- Climbing Tiers – The more sales you make, the higher the commission rate.
- Individual Affiliate Programs – A merchant has its own affiliate program, and you sign up directly rather than through an affiliate network.
4. Get Targeted Traffic from Google
Affiliate marketing success depends on getting targeted traffic from the right sources. And there is no better source than Google.
Because it is the largest search engine in the world, with over 3.5 billion searches per day, and if you can get your website to rank high in Google’s search results, you will get a ton of targeted traffic.
The best way to get ranked high in Google is to create content around keywords people are searching for.
5. Only Promote Products That Customers Are Actually Looking For and Pay High Affiliate Commissions
Don’t make mistakes that most affiliate marketers make when trying to make money from affiliate marketing.
They promote tons of products, hoping that they will make a few sales here and there. But the truth is, they end up making very little or ZERO because they promote products without research.
The best way to make money from affiliate marketing is to find products that people are actively searching for and are profitable as well.
To find such products, you can use Google’s Keyword Planner tool. This free tool allows you to research keywords and get traffic estimates.
Read our detailed guide on how to find the most profitable amazon affiliate products.
6. Tracking Results and Optimizing Campaigns for Better Conversion Rates
How do you know if your affiliate marketing campaigns are successful?
The answer is simple.
You need to track your results and optimize your campaigns for better conversion rates.
There are a number of ways to track results. But the best way is to use Google Analytics. This free tool allows you to track your website’s traffic and conversion data.
And if you want to know how many clicks your affiliate campaigns are getting, you can use the built-in analytics tool of the affiliate network you are using.
The greater your conversion rate more will be your affiliate marketing revenue.
Other Ways to Make Money as an Affiliate Marketer Without a Website
If you are looking for other ways to make money as an affiliate marketer without a website, then here are a few ways you can do that:
1. Facebook
You can create a Facebook page around a niche or topic and then promote products to your page followers. Read the guide on how to promote affiliate links on Facebook without being annoying.
2. Instagram
Since Instagram is a visual platform, you can create attractive images of products with your affiliate link in the caption. And then promote these images on Instagram to make affiliate sales.
3. Pinterest
With 363 million international monthly users, Pinterest can be a great platform to make money from affiliate marketing.
You can create pins(images) of products with your affiliate links and then promote these pins on Pinterest.
FAQs
How can marketing efforts be made more effective?
There are a number of ways to make marketing efforts more effective. But the most important thing has a clear target audience. Once you know your target audience, you can create content and campaigns that are more likely to resonate with them.
Why do people start affiliate marketing?
There are a number of reasons why people start affiliate marketing. But the most common reason is to make money.
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online. And if done correctly, it can be a very lucrative business.
How fast can you make money with affiliate marketing?
How fast you can make money with affiliate marketing depends on a number of factors. But the most important factor is the niche or market you are in. You can make money quickly if you are in a profitable niche and have a well-optimized campaign. Many affiliate sites start seeing income within the first six months, while some make money within the first few weeks.
Is affiliate marketing legal?
Yes, affiliate marketing is perfectly legal, provided the affiliates disclose their relationship to the merchant and inform their audience of any commissions they may receive.
The Federal Trade Commission states that affiliate marketers must disclose their relationship to the retailer so the consumer can decide how much credibility to give your endorsement.
Make Your Income Goals Achievable
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online. But in order to be successful, you need to set achievable affiliate marketing income goals. And you need to put in the work necessary to achieve those goals. If you do that, you will be on your way to making a lot of money with affiliate marketing. At Marketing Hacks Media, we’ve started an informational series on affiliate marketing, discussing everything from picking the right niche to finding the best affiliate marketing program. So keep visiting our blog for more tips on how to be successful with affiliate marketing.
And if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. We would be happy to help you out.