Is Affiliate Marketing a Business for Me?

So, Is Affiliate Marketing A Business?

Many platforms and companies are currently promoting the "opportunity" to make money online. Too bad most of them turn out to be scams. That's why most people still wonder if affiliate marketing is a business worth trying? This article will cover what affiliate marketing is and what it can do for you.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Simply put, affiliate marketing is one of the ways for you to earn a commission for recommending a product or service to your friends, family, or strangers. In simpler terms, affiliate marketing means that affiliates (members) gain commission when they can convince others to try/sign/buy out a product or service offered by a company.

Most people have described it as a freelance business opportunity to give you money at home. You get to earn a commission when you encourage people to buy products. One of the fascinating facts about this business opportunity is that you can market from anywhere globally.

To make this business opportunity work for you, you would merely need a laptop or a smartphone with an internet connection. With just these simple tools, you could begin earning commissions from your referrals right off the bat.

Another thing you will find interesting about affiliate marketing is that there is no pre-defined amount of money you can earn, unlike most companies that promise that anyone can make a massive fortune in less than a month. With affiliate marketing, the amount of money you can make depends solely on your dedication and determination to work.

This business opportunity is performance-based.

If you have any particular skill in the marketing field, you can make huge profits from this business from the comfort of your home or anywhere you rather be.

It is vital that before you dive into this business opportunity full steam, you keep an income stream active, like your 8 to 5 job. Put work into affiliate marketing, see how much you can make, then you can finally decide the right time to venture into it full time.

This is a life-changing business opportunity. The better way to increase your chances of becoming a successful affiliate marketer is to start this excellent step-by-step program. 

This affiliate marketing course will educate you on creating a niche website from scratch, covering all you need to know and learn at your own pace.

How to Earn Money From Affiliate Marketing

There are several ways you can profit from affiliate marketing. I will now mention some of the most popular ones.

Build your niche website

A niche website, as the name states, is a website that targets a narrow audience with a specific and common interest. The great thing about them is that they are relatively easy to rank on search engines.

One typical way to monetize this website is to write product reviews or best articles. First, create value, then share a link to your affiliate product so you can earn a commission when someone clicks on it.

Build a hybrid e-commerce website

When we first look at this site, we might confuse it with an online shop/store. The great thing is that you won't need to hold inventory or deal with shipping and chargebacks.

When people click "buy" on your product, they click on an affiliate link taking them to Amazon or any other affiliate program you refer to. You can have a website selling anything you like without owning a single product yourself.

Start a blog

Starting a blog is the most common way to earn money with affiliate marketing. You can share things like your hobbies and passions and turn them into a profitable online business.

You can have links to affiliate products like kitchenware, groceries, and cookware on those recipes. You get a commission when someone clicks your affiliate link and buys something. For example, let's say you love cooking, and you decide to write blog posts about old recipes you learn from your Grandma back in the day.

» Related article: Best way to start a blog

Become an Influencer

If you are an extrovert type of fella, this might be the thing for you!

Making videos on Youtube or sharing photos on Instagram can earn you money.

Creating a Youtube channel, making videos about unboxing products, and doing reviews are clever ways to make money with affiliate marketing. With all the competition, you must get creative and make your videos stand out either because you look fun, crazy, or retarded!

Many people make money with Instagram by sharing photos of places they've been and then dropping affiliate links to hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and even flights.

Some can make lots of money just by taking a pic with a piece of cloth dressed... For Instagram to work for you, first, you need to build a legion of followers, which might not be easy!

Why Should I Start With Affiliate Marketing?

There are several reasons why you should start an affiliate marketing business. These reasons are:

Opportunity

According to statistics, over 84% of publishers and over 81% of brands leverage the power of affiliate marketing. Guess what? That number will continue to increase for the next couple of years.

Total control

Unlike working for people, affiliate marketing allows you to control how many hours you put into it. With affiliate marketing, you can reach a global audience.

It is cheap to get started.

Most companies that offer you the opportunity to make money while working from home charge you outrageous prices. Affiliate marketing has no start-up cost.

Interestingly, you do not have any product you are to sell. 

All that you need to do is create a free website/blog and market the products or services from the comfort of your home or any other place of your choosing.

Professional independence

As stated above, you have total control over how many hours you want to work per day. You are your boss. With just an internet connection, you can work from literally anywhere.

It is fun for those that love to compete.

The analytics aspect would motivate you to do your best to outdo your competitors. Even so, there is healthy competition among affiliate marketers.

You decide to sell what you are comfortable with

Unlike your regular jobs, where you would have to sell whatever your boss seems fit, affiliate marketing gives you the privilege to choose whatever you want to promote. You can better sell whatever you feel fits your personality, experience, and lifestyle as an affiliate marketer.

How To Start Affiliate Marketing

First, you would have to start with something familiar. You can start with some of your favorite products or services. You have to find out if the brand behind the products has an affiliate program. If they do, apply, and they will be pleased to bring you on board.

Also, starting with something familiar to you would mean that you would market from a user's perspective, thus encouraging more people to try it out. To become a successful affiliate marketer, you must honestly believe the product you are promoting.

Building a website is the next step to take.

Now that you figure out what brand or product you want to market, the next step would be to create a website. Most affiliate programs require you to own a site and may even ask you to send them your URL.

To ensure that you do not meet any roadblocks to becoming an affiliate marketer, you must get a website right from the start.

The best way to build your affiliate website is by using WordPress. The reason why is because it's simple to set up and has tons of plugins you can use to your benefit.

To start with no fuss, I recommend checking this excellent site builder. It's free, and you get your website ready in less than 60 seconds. All you need is to pick a template you like, and you are set to go.

How Affiliate Marketing Works

Affiliate marketing needs three involved parties, each one with specific responsibilities. These parties are:

The product creator, the seller, is either an individual or brand that creates or has a product for sale. These products could be physical or digital.

The affiliate marketer is the person who promotes or markets the product made available by the product creator. The affiliate marketer would have to set up a website, create content, and build strategies to promote and reach potential buyers to sell this product.

The consumer, the end of the chain, could be an individual or an organization that seeks to purchase/acquire a product. Compel their buyers to do what they are supposed to do, BUY, make the sale, and profit from it. The products are created specifically for the consumer, and the affiliate marketer is responsible for hijacking the prospective client's interest.

How One gets paid in Affiliate Marketing?

Each affiliate program determines how and when they pay. It is up to you to make sure you join a legitimate affiliate program.

The most common metrics are

PPS, or pay per sale, is the most common way to get paid with affiliate marketing. The product creator pays the marketer a percentage of the price of the sold product.

PPL or pay per lead, although a more complex, the product creator would pay the marketer for any lead that gets converted into sales.

Final Words.

Affiliate Marketing is successful year after year, 81% of worldwide brands have affiliate products. In 2017 people spent an estimated $5.2 Billion on affiliate marketing. Impressive huh?

So if you ask me, Is Affiliate Marketing a Business for the Future? It sure is. Get on the train while you still can! We live in the golden age of internet marketing.