Affiliate Marketing, in simple words, it’s just that, an affiliation to promote and sell someone else’s products or services. By doing so, you earn a commission by recommending those products or services.
The result is usually a sale after successfully selling this product or service.
However, some programs will pay you for leads, free trial users, website clicks, or app downloads.
You won’t have to worry about expensive initial charges because most affiliate networks are free to join.
This performance-based opportunity can evolve from a side hustle to a profitable online business idea by garnering you a solid income.
Thousands and thousands of businesses out there will share a few of their sales with you just by helping them bring some customers over.
Let me give you some of the most common platforms affiliates use to start their affiliate marketing businesses.
- ShareASale
- AWIN
- ClickBank
- CJ Affiliate
- Warrior Plus
To name a few, there are other platforms that you can affiliate yourself with and start promoting them now.
Almost everything out there has an affiliate program; remember, everyone needs sales, and they will pay you if you bring them some. The only problem is that some of these merchants require an extra layer of proof that you can get them sales; some will only let you affiliate with them if you already have an established presence online and a large audience. But, my advice is to apply and try to affiliate yourself with whoever you would like to work with. It will help a lot if you have an online presence, for example, a website promoting who you are and what you do.
Read: How to get approved by difficult retailers as an affiliate marketer
Decide on your NICHE
Starting your affiliate journey can be rewarding but confusing at first; there are tons of niches and ideas out there, but the question is, which one should you pick?
The best way to start is by choosing something you are passionate about, something you have knowledge and or experience. The reason is that it will be easier to reach your audience and promote your product.
I know it can be hard to decide on one specific niche; maybe you feel you don’t know enough, and it’s ok to feel lost; everything is at the beginning but do not panic. There is also a ton of information out there about your niche; you can learn as you go and become an expert so you can teach or inspire others.
Educate yourself so you can give some value to your niche.
What will you promote?
Now it’s time to find the right product; depending on your niche, you can visit any network mentioned above and navigate their marketplace for the best product to promote. They are Free to join, and they require minimal to no pre-requisites to promote their products. Most of them are FREE and easy to join, and some of you might need to wait for approval.
Read: How to choose a product from an affiliate network.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be from the network above; it could be anything that offers and affiliates but most importantly, try your best to pick a product with recurrent billing; why? You asked because this one product will pay a small commission every month as long as the client is subscribed to it.
Some people try to promote and affiliate with something they have used in the past because they feel that they know the ins and outs of the product—another affiliate with products they believe will bring a lot of value to the purchaser.
DO NOT promote products that are not good at all costs because you will lose credibility with your audience.
IF you want a personalized experience in affiliate marketing, a mentor, and a coach to guide you from start to finish, you can visit this page.
Learn Affiliate Marketing Step by Step with this program.
How do I promote my product?
This is the big question; getting a hoplink or partnering with a network is easiest. What’s challenging to some affiliates is how to bring traffic to your link. And this is the number one reason most affiliates fail and give up.
But don’t worry, depending on how you approach your traffic source, there are many ways you can go about this. First, you must determine whether you will be going organic or non-organic.
Organic means that you will reach your audience without paying anything. You can do this by leveraging.
- Social Media Groups (the most popular are)
- Tiktok
- Forums sites
- youtube
- websites that you can upload an ebook
- or websites that can help you add a link. (some will require payment but some do offer a trial version)
There are many more ways out there, but these are the most popular ones.
And non-organic means that you’ll probably need to spend some money to reach your audience by paying for ads on the different platforms.
- Social media paid ads
- Good ad
- microsoft ad
- adverse
So anything that you have to pay to get clicks.
Depending on your budget and how you want to approach this, both ways are great.
With the organic method, you’ll probably spend more time but less money
, and in non-organic, you will spend more money but less time.
Read: How to bring some traffic to your affiliate link for a detailed guide.
Where do I place my LINK?
Now that you have joined a platform or have affiliated with a product and have decided how you will attract traffic to your link, let’s talk about how you will promote it; for this example, I m going to use both organic and non-organic ideas. Remember, you can copy and paste your link anywhere in a Facebook group. (you’ll probably get kicked out) you have to be smart in presenting your offer to your audience. There are multiple ways to do this, so let’s mention a few.
- A blog: you can write your own blog and post your own links, it can’t get as simple as that. But it does require some work from you if you do it yourself or some money if you hire someone else to do it.
- A youtube video: this is by far one of the easiest way to promote your link, you create your video and on the description box you can place your link. (It’s always best to shorten the link, so it looks like a proffesional, authentic, trustworthy site)
- A one page site: (if you want something quick with your link.) you can create a site.google.com page which is free and it will publish on the internet.
- Forums: This platform is great for those one page site.
- FaceBook Groups: another platform where you can provide value to a lot of people and introduce your affiliate link.
These are just a few examples of how creative you could be.
If you become a pro at bringing traffic to your site, you will be successful.
Write down your plan and Take Action.
The best way to start that has worked for me is by creating a plan, and I suggest you write everything down. From which platform to join to what niche you choose to how and where you’ll promote, I m a fan of written plans. SO plan it out, follow this guide and take Action!
Do not procrastinate; the sooner you start, the better, but also remember, it’s never too late to start.
Test and Re-test
Affiliate marketing can be significant, and it can even replace your 9-5 job. Still, as with everything in life, it’s not easy. It does require some skill and patience, it’s not a get-rich scheme, and even though you can make more than 10k a month, it will not happen overnight. You need to test and re-test, you need to try different methods and find what works for you, and once you find the right strategy, **REPEAT AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN***
Master and expand and believe me; you’ll do it.
Best of luck.