Beginners Guide To Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is all about…..?

It is all about promoting a product on your blog and earning a commission every time some of your visitors decides to buy the product. For that to happen, he or she needs to click on the affiliate link and make a purchase. For every such purchase, a commission will be granted on your account. That’s what affiliate marketing is all about.

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Affiliate commission 101

Basically, there are three types of affiliate commissions:

  • Fixed amount: You agree to a fixed commission regardless of the price of the product.
  • Commission per lead: In order to get paid there is no need for a purchase, just the person to open an account with them. Typically, the commission is rather low.
  • Percentage of the sale: Typically the percentage is higher for digital products (up to 50%) and lower for physical products (often less than 10%)

Affiliate marketing: pros and cons

Pros

  • You get to start a business with almost zero investment
  • You can choose products that you believe in and can sell well on the market
  • You can get commissions for years, even if you are not actively promoting them
  • You can only focus only on promoting the product or products. Someone else will be in charge of shipping, packaging and all that follows.

Cons

  • Your affiliate network can remove the product you are selling
  • Tons of competition that you will go against. Especially if it is a popular product.
  • Can’t control the payout threshold

How to select the best affiliate program

The affiliate networks are intermediaries between the affiliates and the companies. They provide the software and the links, and all in between that makes affiliate marketing work. They provide a selection of programs that make sure the process is smooth and uninterrupted. Some of the best known and most used affiliate programs are:

  • Amazon associates

Amazon’s affiliate program is one of the biggest out there offering commissions from 4% and up to 10%. Getting into the program is fairly easy and straightforward. Plus, there you can find almost any product you could think of. Not to mention that is a super reliable network with zero chances to be scammed.

  • Affiliate networks

Like CJ.com, Sharesale, Linkshare etc.

  • Independent affiliate programs

You can have your own independent affiliate program and give commissions to bloggers that want to promote your product or service. You make your own rules and decide how big the commissions are. Of course, you need to have a product or a service to sell.

Top strategies on how to promote affiliate links

There are all sorts of promotion techniques that have proven to be effective throughout the years. The following ones remain popular:

Social media

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram…were once goldmines for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs. Nowadays, they are goldmines only for those that truly understand the mechanics of social networks and how they work. Facebook still remains the most popular social network for this type of business. There are plenty of Facebook groups with millions of members where you can promote your products.  Then there are the influencers with armies of followers that can promote whatever you might be selling. Of course, for a fee.

Email marketing

Yup, still works like charm, and yet is still largely underappreciated. But then many marketers don’t like to speak about it because it is their sweet spot, how they make tons of money selling or promoting products.

Read more about my favorite email provider – Why Choose MailerLite Over ConvertKit When You’re Just Starting Out

Write a tutorial

Write a tutorial to educate people and to promote a product or a service as well. And if it is your name on it you get to be recognized as an expert in your niche.

Write an honest review of the product you are promoting

Don’t hesitate to talk about its flaws, not just how good and effective it is. More importantly, compare it with similar products and explain why you prefer it. People with a nose for an honest review will cherish that and it can help them whether it’s worth buying or not.

Add affiliate links to older posts

Especially if you got some posts that are always visited and are relevant to the product that you are promoting. Just by making a few slight changes and adding a link you can add more cash in your pocket.

Important stuff to remember when starting an affiliate marketing business

  • Place an affiliate earning disclosure on every post.
  • Add no-follow to each of your affiliate links. That way you can preserve your ranking with the search engines.
  • Recommend products that you truly believe in and have used or still using.
  • Be authentic and honest! That’s what sells, that what made people earn a ton of money, and that’s what can help you earn big as well.
  • Less focus on promotion, more on recommendation!

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