Are you one of those who wish to earn passive income through affiliate marketing but do not know how to get started? Congratulations, because you’ve come to the perfect place.
In this super detailed affiliate marketing guide for beginners, we will explain in detail:
- What is affiliate marketing
- How affiliate marketing works
- Benefits of affiliate marketing
- How to choose an affiliate marketing program
- How to pick the best affiliate marketing niches for you
- And so much more!
Without further ado, let’s get started!
First, let’s take a closer look at what affiliate marketing actually is and how it works. I will also tell you what you need to become an affiliate marketer.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is marketing a company’s products or services in return for a commission. An affiliate marketer partakes in one or numerous affiliate programs, begins promoting digital products through a website, social media platforms, or newsletter, and earns a commission whenever a sale is made.
That concept has been around for as long as humans have been engaged in commerce—you are introducing a buyer to a seller in return for a slice of the action.
You see, affiliate marketing is the ideal way to earn money without having to build your products and services. How cool is that? Also, you won’t have to deal with customer support and product inventory.
All you got to do is to determine a product or service you believe in, the market that to the ideal audience, and earn your commissions.
How Affiliate Marketing Works?
How does affiliate marketing work? Before you can start earning money through affiliate marketing, you need to sign up for an affiliate program. We will tell you about that later.
Once it is approved, you will get your own affiliate link and get access to an affiliate dashboard. That dashboard shows how often your visitors have clicked on your affiliate links and how many sales you have produced.
You can also use that dashboard to create your affiliate links, pointing to a certain page of the company’s website you are marketing.
Here’s an example of an affiliate link: yourwebsite/aff_c?offer_id=8&raff_id_0920
You could add those affiliate links to all your articles, newsletters, or social media posts. Whenever a visitor clicks on the link, a cookie gets placed in their browser. If they end up buying the product, the affiliate program knows it was you who referred the visitor. In return, you will receive a commission.
Those cookies are more likely to stay valid between 1-30 days, but with specific affiliate programs, they could last a month.
Remember: You will only receive your commission when the visitor buys the product through the same browser on the same device. However, you are out of luck if they click on the unique affiliate link through her PC and buy the product a week later through their phone.
On top of that, it can happen that somebody lands on your website first, clicks the affiliate link, browses to another website, and clicks on an affiliate link there. Most affiliate programs often follow the “last cookie counts” principle, meaning the other website will get the commission.
What Are the Rules in an Affiliate Program?
On top of payment terms and cookie rules, affiliate programs have some conditions.
If you are like most people, your first instinct might be to skip the fine print. But you should not do this. That can cost you a huge amount of money if you are not completely aware of the affiliate program’s terms and conditions.
For instance, here are a few things that Amazon won’t let you do for this Amazon affiliate marketing program:
- Use their product images on your site (unless you utilize their API)
- Shortening affiliate links
- Using affiliate links in your emails
Fortunately, there’s an exception. Many affiliate programs are not that strict. That being said, it is a smart move always to read the fine print of any affiliate marketing program you will be working with to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Is Affiliate Marketing a Good Way to Earn Money Online?
In simple terms, affiliate marketing is a perfect way to earn extra income. Affiliate marketing programs pay, and they often involve performance-based marketing tactics. Therefore, their increasing popularity is an indication that they are an efficient way to market services and reach new consumers.
On top of that, millions of companies across the globe depend on affiliate marketing to produce the bulk of their business, irrespective of language or location. That makes it the perfect option for entrepreneurs seeking alternative revenue channels.
This type of affiliate marketing business is used by a growing number of companies. Still, consumers are receptive to valuable content because it is not being marketed directly by the company selling the product.
What’s more, numerous profitable verticals are just starting to adopt this kind of online marketing. Therefore, any affiliate that puts in the effort and time will have a high chance of affiliate marketing success.
Why Become an Affiliate Marketer?
Now that you understand what affiliate marketing is and how it works, it’s time for you to discover the benefits it has.
You see, it’s a business model that provides substantial benefits, particularly for the affiliates (you). Here are some of the perks you’ll get:
· Low Risk
Many affiliate marketing programs are free for you to join, so there’s no need for you to worry about pouring all your savings into this business venture.
Practically, that indicates you can begin earning money by promoting an established product without upfront investment.
On top of that, you can keep costs to a minimum by choosing proper marketing methods (like advertising on search engines or blogging).
· Flexibility and Convenience
Your part of the job is to educate your customers and sell the product. There’s no need for you to stress out over making the product, keeping the stock, or even giving customer support.
All thanks to its structure, after you link the seller with the customer, your job ends there. On top of that, you’re free from any company regulations or restrictions since you are just a freelancer.
That enables you to determine the hours you work, set your goals, and diversify your portfolio to your tastes.
For instance, focusing on affiliate products that interest you allows you to become more authentic and establish trust with your audience.
· Performance-based Rewards
That’s another major difference between a regular job and becoming an affiliate marketer. With the latter, your earnings aren’t flat since the job focuses on using a performance-based marketing tactic. They purely depend on your performance.
You will gradually see your checks getting larger by improving your skillset, writing engaging content, and establishing your trust with your audience. The more mature you are in affiliate marketing, the more you’ll earn.
In all honesty, who doesn’t want to get paid the amount of money they deserve for that dedication and hard work?
· SEO Benefits
In the era of digital marketing, you have a strong companion that you’d be wise to use. And that is a search engine.
By doing link building, keyword research, and on-page SEO, you can bring a whole lot of organic traffic to your site or blog without paying a single dollar! How awesome is that?
What Do You Need to Get Started?
An affiliate marketing business is perhaps the best option for you if you are looking to make money online. Anyone who has access to the internet can participate in their own affiliate marketing program and launch campaigns that strive to make affiliate sales.
However, it’s important that you have a basic understanding of the different stakeholders that make up the affiliate ecosystem.
You will find some supporting entities, but the key players in the affiliate marketing industry are the following:
· The Consumers
Consumers are the users that businesses want to promote products and services. Remember that the consumers you are targeting must be at the center of your campaign and each decision you take.
Always study the users you wish to attract until you have as much knowledge as possible.
· The Advertisers
Advertisers are organizations that create affiliate programs (also known as offers) to market a service, product, or brand.
In other words, these companies are searching for affiliate marketers to help them sell their affiliate products and solutions. It may vary depending on the affiliate marketing offers, but many affiliate advertisers pay a commission for each sale, lead, or other types of conversion produced by affiliates.
Also, direct advertisers are businesses developing and managing their own affiliate marketing programs. In such scenarios, many affiliate marketers engage directly with those brands, but that could limit flexibility when it comes to payout and support options.
On the other hand, affiliate networks specialize in connecting advertisers with affiliate marketers that could help them promote products.
· The Publishers or Affiliates
An affiliate marketer (also known as an affiliate) is a marketing professional specializing in promoting affiliate products developed by advertisers.
You’ll find many types of affiliates, but most of them create content in one way or another and utilize it to convert digital prospects into leads and customers.
Traditional affiliates own an app, website, or similar publishing platform. Those affiliate marketers concentrate on attracting a big following, creating content, and promoting affiliate offers through their publishing platforms. That’s why they are also called publishers.
Moreover, they have full control over the platform where their valuable content appears. Nonetheless, these affiliate marketers need to maintain their websites and guarantee all elements are properly updated.
Affiliate media buyers are those marketers that do not work with a publishing platform. Instead, they buy web traffic from ad networks, publishers, and various traffic sources. Media buyers don’t need to worry about keeping a site or other platforms, meaning they can invest more time in optimizing their platforms.
However, these marketing specialists do not have much control over the platforms where ads are placed, resulting in unique challenges.
· The Affiliate Networks
An affiliate marketing network works as a middleman between publishers and advertisers that want to promote offers. In short, an affiliate network works as a gallery of offers, so media buyers and publishers can browse through various accessible options and work with the programs which align best with their skillset and their platform or traffic sources.
Take note that networks often offer numerous payment options that are applicable to all affiliate marketers, even marketers that live in remote areas. You also need to make sure that the affiliate network that you pick offers you access to high-quality affiliate programs and exclusive offers from trusted advertisers.
Is Marketing Experience a Requirement for a Successful Affiliate Marketing?
There are numerous misconceptions about affiliate marketing. However, one of the most typical misunderstandings is that you must have experience and knowledge in advertising to become a successful affiliate marketer.
You need to keep in mind that becoming an affiliate marketer is totally easy, and although it takes practice, anybody can specialize in this type of online marketing.
Honestly, the only thing you need to do is to make sure you work in an industry that you actually find interesting. You must perform comprehensive research no matter what, but working with an industry you are passionate about could help convert mundane work into a fulfilling and entertaining experience.
Furthermore, remember that affiliate marketing needs continuous learning. The technologies that power keyword research platforms, networks, trackers, ads, and other important tools are continuously enhanced.
To remain competitive in the market, affiliate marketers should stay ahead of the newest trends and ensure they obtain vital new knowledge often.
The Recipes of a Successful Affiliate Marketing
It is essential to bear in mind that all affiliate marketers need to begin somewhere, and no one is born a professional marketer. It is completely normal to make mistakes, but you should take each one as a learning experience and prevent repeating the same mistakes.
That will help shorten your learning curve and offer you the highest chance of getting the best results.
But before you create high-quality content, take time to make a detailed strategy that involves the goals you wish to accomplish, and you’ll accomplish those. You must be as detailed as possible and ensure to add long-term goals and short-term milestones that help you evaluate your progress.
· Take an organized approach
Many new affiliate marketers start creating campaigns as a side project and become overwhelmed because they never provide the results they want. However, the reality is that the amount of effort you put in is correlated to your chances of success.
Affiliate marketers that do not spend time optimizing and monitoring their campaigns will not yield the results they like.
Instead of looking at it as a basic side project, it will help if you take an organized approach and treat your affiliate program efforts as your own business. On top of registering it, you must set a few hours aside to regularly work on it and commit more time as you begin noticing results.
· Constant skill development and learning
Affiliate marketing needs constant learning. Not just are the tools continuously being updated, but social, fashion movements, and other consumer trends shift over time. As an affiliate marketer, you should study those changes and learn how they impact the way consumers perceive the ads they are exposed to.
On top of just learning, you must make it one of your goals to learn skills you can apply to enhance your content’s overall performance. For instance, understanding how to perform excellent keyword research and look for terms with a higher chance of converting.
· Practice and Patience
You may have already heard that affiliate marketing business is a fast way to make money online, and although seasoned marketers could throw together a campaign in a short period, new affiliate marketers should be patient and refine their strengths before expecting a massive return.
The ideal way to learn how to create engaging campaigns is to get first-hand experience. Every time inexperienced affiliates plan their strategies. They must set aside part of their budgets for practicing and testing out the waters.
· Find a good information resource or a mentor
Navigating the world of affiliate marketing business could be tough for seasoned professionals, let alone a new affiliate marketer. Rather than committing mistakes, it will help if you find a good resource of information or a mentor who offers you valuable insights about becoming an affiliate marketer.
Also, finding a physical mentor can be challenging, but there are many affiliates who have made learning platforms that are made to help new affiliate marketers. Those could play a role of a mentor and offer you the information you need to get started.
You can also opt for other resources, such as online courses built by expert marketers, ad networks, affiliate technology providers, research firms, and other reliable parties.
The Different Affiliate Programs Available
What are the different affiliate programs? You see, there tend to be massive differences between the right affiliate programs, especially when it comes to commission rates.
Fortunately, you can sign up for as many affiliate programs as you wish. Here are some examples of each type of affiliate program.
· Affiliate Networks
As discussed above, an affiliate network is a middle between entrepreneurs (publishers), website owners, and companies (advertisers).
Through a platform, you will get access to a wide array of products from companies that do not have their own affiliate program and which you cannot find on big ecommerce sites.
Examples of such affiliate networks are CJ Affiliate, Awin, and ShareASale. These networks let you promote affiliate products from all types of small online businesses but also massive companies like Logitech, Ubisoft, and American Express.
Also, the commissions you can earn through such networks tend to vary, normally between 5-50%.
· Individual Companies
Affiliate programs from individual organizations are likely to provide much higher commissions than those from online stores. About 50% of the purchasing price, often even more, when there’s a high customer lifetime value.
We are talking about services and affiliate products that could cost hundreds of dollars, so for an affiliate marketer, that can move the needle.
You will find those types of programs in one of the following niches:
o Dating, Health, and Beauty
o Financial Products (credit cards) and Investing
o Marketing, Business, and Entrepreneurship
Such types of affiliate programs could be lucrative, but there’s also a catch. Those product types need much better content than your normal ecommerce product.
For example, if you plan to market enterprise-grade software efficiently, you must have a deeper knowledge than when you are writing about your favorite laptop mouse. On top of that, the competition around such affiliate products is higher, as there’s more money to be made
Some examples of companies with their own affiliate programs are ConvertBox, Wix, and Shopify.
· Large eCommerce Stores
If you are new to affiliate marketing, the programs from large ecommerce stores could be an excellent way to get your feet wet.
Even though the commission rates with such programs are pretty low (between 1-10%), they still provide unique benefits. For instance, you will receive instant access to hundreds of products you can market. When we talk about administration, that’s more convenient than working with a multitude of separate programs.
Also, everybody knows the giant ecommerce shops. That results in great conversation rates. Oftentimes, you will learn your first affiliate commissions faster than with other affiliate programs.
They also provide automatic payouts. These massive ecommerce stores automatically transfer your commissions at the end of the month. With numerous affiliate programs, you need to request payouts manually.
Some examples of giant ecommerce stores with their own affiliate program are eBay, Walmart, and of course, Amazon.
The Pricing Models of Affiliate Marketing
You’ll find numerous variables to consider when selecting an affiliate offer. From the company that created the affiliate program to how the affiliate program pays, ad format, and how much traffic sources are permitted, all those factors will have an effect on how well your affiliate program campaign performs.
That is why the pricing model will help you identify the ideal formats, regions, and other variables. Remember that affiliate marketing programs are performance-based, but they could have various pricing models, such as revenue share, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-sale, among others.
Also referred to as rev share, this pricing model is made to collect subscriptions and pay affiliates a percentage of the revenue generated from every client. Often, revenue share offers last for the duration of every client’s description, but that may vary based on the affiliate program itself.
Also, rev share deals are famous among well-established brands and companies that are on the rise. Such poses an excellent option for seasoned affiliate marketers seeking to bolster their passive income tactics. However, such offers have a longer conversion flow.
· Pay-Per-Click
PPC is a common pricing model in the world of online marketing. It only requires affiliates to create clicks and send traffic to the advertiser’s offer page.
The goal of PPC is to produce more traffic, so advertisers might not even market a certain product or deal. As an alternative, such companies are satisfied with increasing the number of visitors on their website, so you get paid by increasing their traffic and following the offer’s requirements.
It’s also worth mentioning that PPC campaigns are the simplest to convert on this list. Still, you should keep in mind that they have the lowest average payouts.
· Pay-Per-Lead
PPL is a pricing model where affiliates are paid for every prospect that leaves their contact details and becomes a lead. Getting users to leave their contact info constantly can be difficult, even though it’s simpler to gather leads than sales.
Keep in mind that PPL offers do not pay as much for every individual conversion. But if you can collect enough leads, you can produce the same profits with Pay-per-sale. The offer will also dictate what information should be collected to register a conversion.
You need to ensure you collect all the information listed on the affiliate program details.
· Pay-Per-Sale
As the name implies, PPS is a pricing structure where affiliates are anticipated to produce sales to receive a commission. This is probably the oldest pricing model out there. They are often created by publishers with low-cost items as consumers are more eager to buy such goods online.
Also, you can work with high-ticket products such as jewelry with lower sales rates and monumental individual commissions.
Pay-per-sale offers are often made to be marketed in more direct strategies. You should not be frightened to create product-centric content that strives to encourage users to purchase.
Still, you want to have a personality and offer value through your content to keep all those potential customers engaged.
How to Start Your First Affiliate Marketing Campaign
Now that you have understood the fundamentals of affiliate marketing and the best affiliate pricing models, it’s time we move over to the next step: starting your first campaign.
But you need to keep in mind that there is no exact formula to success. You must evaluate your resources, niche, and other factors to identify the ideal approach. For those new to affiliate marketing, the entire campaign development process often includes the following steps:
1. Choose A Niche
The niche you choose will have a massive effect on how well your materials do. Ensure you pick a vertical that is common and popular with the customers.
The key here is to choose a niche that you like because you will spend a huge amount of time creating materials. The more engaged and entertained you are, the better.
You could always work with an industry you have experience with, even though that’s not a requirement. Always consider seasonality and where the product’s popularity is a long-term or a temporary alternative.
Some of the industries you can choose are the following:
· Sports betting and gambling – The global gambling industry produces billions of dollars each year, and it is positioned to keep increasing, at least for the future. Take note that many social media networks and ad networks have strict policies against this content. Be careful about the channels you promote such offers on.
· Gaming – This is another niche that can endure even the harshest economic downturns. Although many economies were rushed into an economic downturn, the sales of video games have remained stable, with major consoles selling out weeks after their newest versions were launched.
· Delivery services – The global health crisis has lessened the performance of numerous industries. Most of those are becoming competitive, but the delivery services niche seems to have glided between the cracks. From medication and cooked food to grocery shopping and other household products, affiliates could now work with delivery service offers from a selection of advertisers.
· Cooking and food – On top of sleeping, eating is one of the things that people do, making cooking and food niches a great option for your next best affiliate programs. The awesome thing about food websites is that it enables the production of quality content that uses innovative features. That leads to a more engaged audience.
· Forex and finance – Affiliates who love currencies, statistics, and numbers could specialize in finance offers and foreign exchange programs. From stock markets to brokers and banks to currency converters, finance offers are made by stakeholders seeking to attract new investors or customers.
· Fashion and beauty – The fashion and beauty niche are composed of a massive collection of subcategories, but those campaigns can generate stellar results at a specific time of year. Most affiliates find success when mixing beauty and health offers, as they’re closely related. Nonetheless, the content must be reader-centric at the same time.
· Fitness, health, and Nutra – The fitness, health, and nutraceuticals (Nutra) are evergreen niches that are relatively simple to enter. Staying healthy and fit are universal ideas, so those offers are ideal for organic traffic from across the globe. Also, there is tons of content available, so you could imitate what other efficacious marketers have done.
2. Find Affiliate Programs
After you choose which niche you want to specialize in, it is time for you to join an affiliate marketing program. There are different programs for you to choose from:
· Programs with high mass appeal and payouts – These are programs ideal for advanced affiliate marketers. That’s because they mainly attract seasoned marketers with massive budgets. A good example of this is the American Express Affiliate Program.
· High-paying programs with a limited pool of prospects – These are programs with more competition, in most cases, related to niche products. A good example of this is Moosend’s Affiliate Program.
· Low-paying programs with mass appeal – They often have to do with products or services that are relatively low value, like console games. A good example of such a program is Amazon’s Affiliate Program.
But you might be wondering: where can you all find such programs? The answer is easy: with a basic Google search. Or even better, you can join an affiliate network or platform.
Think of these networks as mediators, aiming to help them both earn more affiliate income. Some of the most popular ones are ClickBank, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Awin, and FlexOffers.
Using an affiliate network will help you choose which products to market since they offer insightful data on how well a product or service sells. On top of that, making data-driven decisions rather than “gut-focused” ones will positively affect your overall revenue.
As for the program selection, it will mainly depend on your expertise level and niche. As a rule, if you are targeting customers, you must begin with low-paying high-volume programs.
If you are striving to target a business audience, a high-paying program relating to web hosting and software solutions is your best bet.
3. Pick A Publishing Platform
Take the time and pick the publishing platform you’ll use in your campaign. You will find a wide array of options, but fortunately, you can easily mix and match publishing platforms, depending on which ones offer you the most conversions.
Also, the product you are marketing will help you determine the ideal publishing platform. Refer back to the offer if you have a tough time selecting promotion channels.
The most common platforms to promote your affiliate program online business are the following:
· Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the oldest types of digital advertising, but it is still efficient. Using the ideal language in your subject line allows you to spark consumer interest and produce a huge number of conversions after building your marketing list in the first stages.
· Video channels
Video platforms such as Vimeo and YouTube can help you share quality content at no cost while also increasing your campaign result. The only catch is that the creation of an excellent video needs more time.
Fortunately, modern smartphones are good enough to shoot decent quality materials, which could be edited with some filters.
· Social media channels
These social media channels have become an integral part of human identity, but they are also good platforms for market affiliate offers.
The only problem with social channels is that most have some limitations about the links that can be shared. However, affiliates could navigate such challenges by using bridge pages, pre-landers, or other techniques.
· Websites and blogs
Listicles, reviews, and other types of blog articles offer the ideal opportunity to promote your affiliate offers. Those articles offer a space to discuss the solution or product being advertised, not to mention they can be combined with search engine optimization (SEO) to attract high-quality organic traffic for free!
· Podcasts
This is another platform that concentrates on audio content. People love podcasts as they can listen to them even during routine tasks such as exercising or commuting.
Research shows that 54% of listeners consider buying from a company when they hear about it on a podcast, showing how podcasts produce brand interest. On top of making revenue from sponsorship deals, they can also be a good opportunity to generate affiliate revenue.
You can mention your affiliate website in the episode and post the affiliate link on your show notes and social media. Cool right?
· Combination of each
Chances are, you utilize more than one of these platforms. For the best results, why don’t you add affiliate links across all platforms, from your affiliate site to your blog post? That way, you can monitor which platforms your affiliate links do best.
4. Study Your Target Audience
The goal of every campaign is to engage users and motivate them to finish an action. Keeping that in mind, the only way to create engaging content is to understand your audience and the factors that make them engage with your paid ads or banner ads.
Do you have some experience making affiliate campaigns? The ideal way to learn about your target audience is to assess the conversions you have produced in the past.
Als, new affiliates can opt for tools such as Google Trends to unleash new tendencies and better understand how their audience members behave.
5. Pick the Content Types and Developing Materials You Want to Use
After researching your target audience, it will be a lot easier to choose the content type you wish to create. As a rule, younger customers prefer rich media content such as videos, while the older generations are more engaged by older formats like image ads and long-form content.
After you determine the content types you will create, it is time to develop your materials. It is impossible to create the ideal campaign from the get-go. That’s why you must create some ad variables to find the perfect combination.
Here are some ideas you can consider while understanding how to start affiliate marketing:
For written content, you can go for tutorials, ebooks, product review sites, how-to guides, best product lists, product comparisons, listicles, and case studies.
For video content, you can opt for top x lists, tutorials, product try-ons, product reviews, unboxing videos, and hauls.
6. Promote Your Affiliate Link
Your content must be engaging and interesting at the same time, but it should also feature your affiliate link. After you complete making your materials, publish them on your affiliate website or any other affiliate site you picked.
In most cases, social media is a good place to boost your materials and receive more exposure. However, you need to ensure the offer lets you use traffic from such channels.
Compared to traditional marketing, creating an affiliate campaign does not stop after you launch your Amazon affiliate program. You should also monitor the performance of your campaign. After you have sufficient data, check the results and make necessary adjustments to enhance your results.
That is not a one-time process either. Set up a regular optimization calendar and frequently adjusts your materials to boost your performance.
Here are some content affiliate marketing tips to help you bolster your marketing affiliate sales:
· Use Facebook ads and PPC marketing
· Use affiliate banners on your affiliate site
· Post on social media
· Post on forums and question-and-answer sites like Quora and Reddit
· Attract customers with coupons, deals, and sales
How to Choose the Best Affiliate Program
Whether affiliate marketing is a good way to earn passive income, it is important to choose quality affiliate programs.
Obviously, seventy-six percent of affiliate markets fail to make money from affiliate marketing only because they choose the wrong products to market. But there’s no need for you to worry. Below we gathered the important things that will help you determine the best affiliate marketing programs for you.
· Commission Amount
This is perhaps the most crucial factor in every newbie affiliate’s mind. The more an affiliate marketing program does in making affiliate sales, the better for you.
But you need to keep in mind that selling a product with a higher price is more challenging than selling a cheap one. We recommend not obsessing over it.
· Commission Type
You will find two types of commissions: recurring and flat.
The flat commission model is where the company pays you one time for the sale. That model is more typical for physical products. Rates could also vary from 10-100% of the product’s value.
In recurring commissions, things are a little bit different. Each time a customer uses the product or renews their subscription, you will receive a commission. In other words, you get recurring payments. That commission is often seen in SaaS companies.
A good tip to use here is to choose a healthy combo of both types to accomplish a more sustainable affiliate income.
· Payments Specific
Do you need to give your bank account info to receive the money? Can you get it through a check or PayPal?
It’s important that you ensure your bank account accepts the currency used by the affiliate program. Oftentimes, you will have programs paying in USD, but there are some exceptions, too.
If it is a recurring model, when do you get paid? Every quarter? Every month? All those matters. Also, it is good to know if the affiliate marketing program you aim for has a minimum payment.
For instance, does a product has a minimum payout of $1,000 and the standard commission is $10? That might be too challenging to accomplish without a solid audience.
· Niche Relevancy
Is the service or product relevant to your target audience? Does it solve their issues? Or are you simply selling it due to its high commissions? Remember that the most crucial part of your blog post or affiliate site is the audience.
Without them, there could be no affiliate commissions.
· Cookie Lifetime
How long does the cookie stored in your site visitor’s device last? One year? One week? Or one day? You must determine because it plays an important role in maximizing your affiliate efforts.
For instance, Amazon Associate’s program provides a 24-hour cookie window. If the customer purchases from your affiliate link within that time frame, you receive your commission.
· Refunds
Let’s say a customer purchases a product from your affiliate link, and sometime after, they request a refund. What happens with your commission? Are you insured?
That’s also associated with selecting trustworthy items to lessen the chance of such cases.
· Assets
Does the affiliate marketing program provide any resources, like a banner ad, coupon, etc., to help you accomplish conversions? Or do they simply offer you a text link to market?
Affiliates are likely to value such resources as they earn most of their commissions through assets.
· Competition
This involves the competition you experience in terms of the number of people you’re promoting the product.
If you are a beginner and the product seems saturated, then perhaps, it’s worth choosing another one.
On top of that, established brands are a go-to since they have high sales quality. Still, you should consider newer programs seeking affiliate partners to enlist.
· Promotion and Conversion Rates
What is the strategy on the vendor’s side to motivate the sale? Do they just use a mundane landing page or capture the visitor’s attention with an appealing video?
If there is no real effort to secure the affiliate sale, then the product will have poor conversion rates. And whether you believe it or not, products that convert well are much better even when their commission rate is low.
Final Thoughts – Are You Ready to Start Affiliate Marketing Business?
So, are you ready to start your affiliate marketing journey? Wrapping your head around all of the principles that play a role in affiliate marketing is not simple, particularly if you are also learning about a niche.
The possibility of passive income is not impossible since affiliate programs pay decently. However, you should not rush and quit your 9-5 job. Rather than waiting for a miracle to happen, it will help if you invest time in developing your affiliate website or blog post, optimize your campaigns for the search engines, make smart choices, and have patience.
Soon, your affiliate sales will begin increasing, and you will be generating a good amount of money. But most especially, you will be reaping the rewards of all your efforts!
Hopefully, our ultimate affiliate marketing guide for beginners has helped you understand this marketing strategy a little more.
