Affiliate Marketing Explained and Understood
Money & Lifestyle
Affiliate Marketing Explained and Understood
You are interested in affiliate marketing. You’ve heard it’s a great way to make money online and a great way to monetize your blog. But you have more questions than answers, and you’re not sure where to turn. Well, that’s why I wrote this article!
In this quick-read, I am going to answer 10 questions (some of which you are probably wondering about) that will bring you a complete understanding of affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing demystified. I’ve been around this block, and I know how frustrating it can be to figure something out when you don’t know which way to turn.
You’ve probably heard so much about affiliate marketing, yet you can’t seem to find consistent answers. I’m here to clarify and demystify affiliate marketing once and for all.
I’m going to cut straight to the point and make this easy, and I won’t waste your time. I am going to explain the following 10 things you need to know about affiliate marketing:
- What is affiliate marketing?
- How does affiliate marketing work?
- Who uses affiliate marketing, and do I need it?
- Do I need a blog or website for affiliate marketing?
- Is there a correct way to promote affiliate products?
- How do I choose the right affiliate products?
- Is it ethical?
- Why would they pay me instead of selling it themselves?
- Are there rules?
- What do I do next?
I will keep this post as short as possible. At this stage, you are probably wanting (or even needing) to understand this stuff once and for all. The purpose of this post is to eliminate the confusion so you can make decisions and move forward.
Now that we are on the same page, let’s get right into it…
1. What is affiliate marketing?
Keeping things uncomplicated, affiliate marketing is simply selling someone else’s products or services and getting a commission for the sale. I told you this was going to be easy!
2. How does affiliate marketing work?
Selling for commission is nothing new, but doing it online is way different than those conventional sales models. If selling scares you, just keep reading… this is different.
The online world has opened a ton of opportunities, and affiliate marketing is one of those awesome opportunities we can take advantage of.
Affiliate marketing works like this: You find a product (we’ll get into that in a moment), you get a unique link that goes to a sales page, a product page, or directly to a checkout page for the product. The unique link is just yours, so when someone makes a purchase after clicking that link, it tracks the commission back to you. How cool is that?
Do you see the power here? You can use that link almost anywhere, and anytime someone clicks on it and makes a purchase, you earn your commission! Here is an example of an affiliate link: “All of my blogs, including this one, are hosted with Bluehost. I trust Bluehost, and recommend them for new bloggers.”
I am not trying to sell you on hosting, and you are not reading this article to learn about hosting (for those who need hosting, that link is an affiliate link which earns me a commission at no additional cost to you). It is important to promote products that your readers are looking for. My link example above is just to show you how you can insert an affiliate link into a post. The post that you put it in should be relevant to people getting started with a blog who may need a recommendation for a host. Does that make sense?
3. Who uses affiliate marketing, and do I need it?
There are many ways to make money online, and affiliate marketing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get started making money online.
People who use affiliate marketing for income do so often because it is fast. Therefore, it is great for beginners (beginner Internet marketers, beginner bloggers, etc.). Because you are promoting someone else’s products, you don’t have to take the time, energy, and expense to produce your own.
And even if you do want to make your own products, affiliate marketing is a great way to test the market to be sure there is a need before you exert the time and expense in production.
There are also plenty of experienced and successful marketers who use affiliate marketing as their primary source of income – so it’s not just for beginners.
If you are interested in making money online, now you know that you can focus on your marketing skills without the worry of products to create. Only you know where you are in your online journey, so you can make the decision if affiliate marketing is right for you. If you are still not clear, just leave your questions in the comments below and I’ll help you out.
4. Do I need a blog or website for affiliate marketing?
The direct answer is “no”, but it helps.
In the earlier days of Internet marketing, you were able to put a PPC ad (pay per click) on Google and link directly to an affiliate offer. Back then, this type of selling was fairly easy.
Today it’s practically non-existent for two reasons…
- Google doesn’t allow linking to affiliate offers directly anymore
- people don’t typically buy through an arbitrary click anymore… now trust needs to be established first.
There are some exceptions to this, but I promised you I would stay on point and keep this article short.
Having a blog allows you to interact with your readers. It allows you to help them, to add value to their experience, and to build trust. When you recommend a product from your heart, a product that you know will help your reader, especially if you use it, then affiliate sales becomes a no-brainer.
Your blog provides an interactive platform to communicate and interact with your audience. As such, it is extremely helpful for affiliate sales. It’s also extremely important if you choose to make your own products down the road as you build and grow your online business.
Just to be fair and answer the question fully, you can also promote affiliate products by purchasing advertising space on other websites, you can send your affiliate link via email either directly to someone or to your list, you can even print flyers or business cards with a URL that forwards to your affiliate link. There are too many ways to list here.
5. Is there a correct way to promote affiliate products?
Yes!
When you promote an affiliate product, you want to be sure to ALWAYS be helping your reader. Never push a product because it can make you money… that is the quickest way to the poor house.
Nobody likes to be sold something they don’t need… online or off.
There are people who “review” products they never even used… in hopes that someone will click their link and buy it. These people are phony, and they are not helping their readers. Please don’t be one of those people.
Unfortunately, it is often hard to decipher who is real and who is not (another great reason to have a blog where you can build trust). If you review a product, be honest. Tell them what you like and what you don’t, and why. Let your readers make the choice if they want to make a purchase.
You don’t have to do a review to promote an affiliate product. You can mix it into the copy of your article. Be sure that the product is a fit for the content of your post. Be sure it helps your reader in some way.
6. How do I choose the right affiliate products?
Choosing the right affiliate product is a matter of understanding your audience, and their needs. You can choose products that generally solve the problems of your audience, and for particular articles or posts, you can choose a product that is specific to that topic.
As mentioned earlier, it is always better to choose products that you use and know.
There are generally three places you can go to find affiliate products…
- Affiliate platforms/networks
- Product manufacturers
- Sellers/re-sellers
Affiliate Platforms/Networks
There are plenty of affiliate platforms, including Clickbank, Share-A-Sale, and Commission Junction (all of which I use). Affiliate platforms make it easy for vendors to sell their products because they don’t need to worry about tracking and paying affiliates… because that’s all handled by the platform.
Product Manufacturers
Many product manufacturers also have affiliate programs. That means you can promote a particular product that you like. Just go to their website, and look for a link at the bottom that says “affiliate program” or “affiliates” or “partner program” or something like that.
If you don’t see it, then try Googling “[NAME OF PRODUCT] affiliate program”. If you still don’t find it, you can contact customer service and ask if they have an affiliate program.
Sellers & Re-sellers
Many sellers (and re-sellers) also have affiliate programs. These include specialty stores such as Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Guitar Center. Even general retailers such as Target and Walmart, and even Amazon have affiliate programs!
7. Is it ethical?
Affiliate marketing is as ethical as you are. Selling and marketing in of itself is about fulfilling a need that someone has. Ethics aren’t in question.
Only the seller/marketer (you) can choose to be ethical.
When you go to buy a car, there are no ethics in the sale of the vehicle… after all, you need a car and you want to buy one. Ethics only play a part in the way a given car dealer chooses to market and sell. I find most are ethical, but certainly not all.
You should always be ethical in all your business dealings. Otherwise, you are subject to enforcement of laws, in addition to the loss of business. You will make more money by helping people than by deception. People who play games are not looking long-term.
8. Why would they pay me instead of selling it themselves?
Affiliates are a company’s dream sales force! There is no upfront cost to them. They don’t have to provide you with a desk or a phone… in fact there is no overhead at all. It’s a perfect scenario for them. They only pay you after you’ve made a sale, and they would have otherwise had to pay that commission to someone on their internal sales force anyway. Affiliates extend their reach.
9. Are there rules?
Yes. Most affiliate programs come with rules. Always read them and abide by them.
The rules exist for a reason, and they are (usually) understandably fair. For example, most affiliate programs will not allow you to bid on certain keywords for PPC advertising (such as the product or company name) so you do not compete with their PPC ads.
Affiliate marketing programs are usually very friendly to blogs.
10. What do I do next?
My intention for this post was to explain affiliate marketing and eliminate confusion. I hope this post has done just that.
Anytime you learn something new, there are going to be questions (and a learning curve). If after reading this post you are interested in implementing affiliate marketing, you should now have a better idea of what direction to go.
For instance, if you have a blog and you want to monetize it, you may now choose to find an affiliate product that serves your audience.
If you are still not sure what to do next then ask me in the comments below. I will help you.
A few closing thoughts
Some products offer high commissions, others offer a low commission.
Digital products (such as ebooks, ecourses, software downloads, etc.) tend to offer higher commissions and tangible (physical) products tend to offer lower commissions (due to cost of production and distribution).
Tactics will vary based on how you are promoting, where you are getting traffic, quantity and quality of your traffic, your niche, product cost, relationship with your reader, etc.
Some affiliate programs will be easy to join with no requirements, others will want more info on your marketing, and some may even require you to have a website (even if you market elsewhere).
Affiliate programs are FREE to join, so go out there and start promoting!
If you found this article helpful, may I ask if you can help me out by sharing it? It would mean the world to me. Thank you.
If you are not sure what to do next, or which direction to go, then tell me what’s on your mind in the comments below so I can help.
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