Do you want to learn about how the #affiliatemarketing industry works?
According to Statista, it has been expected that in 2022, affiliate marketing spending will hit the $8.2 billion mark in the US alone! Isn’t that amazing?
Are you interested in getting into this field? If yes, then you have landed in the right place. In order to help you get started, we have created a concise yet informative guide regarding affiliate marketing. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
What is Affiliate Marketing?🤔
Simply put, affiliate marketing is #promoting the products of other companies and brands. When a customer purchases that product, specifically through your #affiliate link, you will be rewarded with a particular amount of #commission.
You will act as a salesperson for the company you will partner with. You will assist them by selling and marketing their product. For every sale, the company will give you a certain commission.
Unlike traditional sellers, with affiliate marking, you can sell multiple products of various companies. This gives you an opportunity to scale and grow your business as you will earn commission from every company. Indeed this makes affiliate marketing one of the most #profitable businesses.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?🤔
Every partner is provided with a unique link by the seller in order to track the individual who is responsible for the sale of the product. It is done so that the salesperson (you) can be rewarded with a commission. When someone clicks on that affiliate link, a small file which is referred to as a cookie, will be stored on their system. Following are the two main purposes of an affiliate cookie:
It makes it convenient for the salesperson to match the sale with that particular partner who completed it.
It has an expiration date which ultimately ensures that you get your commission even if the buyer does not transfer the funds on time.
Imagine a reader visiting your article on beach umbrellas. He clicks on one of your affiliate links, which leads them to a product on Amazon. And that's good for you. When the reader previously clicked on your affiliate link, a cookie was saved on his device. Because Amazon cookies have a 24-hour expiration date. Now when the same person decides to shop for beach chairs, your umbrella will also show. That’s how you will receive commissions on both beach chairs and beach umbrella - even if you haven't promoted the chairs.
How To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing?
In order to get started with affiliate marketing, you need to follow the five simple steps described below:
STEP 1: Choose a Platform
Affiliate marketing can be done through every kind of platform. In fact, you can use Instagram for that purpose as well. With that being said, it is better to use Youtube or Website as your primary platforms in order to boost your affiliate sales and ultimately increase your audience. They are the easiest and simple platforms to use.
Let’s say you opt for the website. The first thing you will be required to do is to launch your website. Once you do that, the next step is to optimize your website so that it can rank high on search engines. After the optimization process, the next step involves adding affiliate links to your website article or blogs. This step requires certain skills. Well, don’t worry as we will guide you regarding it later in this blog.
STEP 2: Find your niche
Here is where most people make mistakes. They don’t choose a specific niche and discuss general topics on their website. This is not going to be helpful for you. In order to boost your chances of being successful, you need to choose a narrow niche.
Select a topic that discusses one particular category. For instance, automotive is a huge category, and covering it will not be a good idea at all. Instead, you should narrow it down and become more specific. For example, discussing car stereo or writing on seat covers would be a better option.
As mentioned before as well, our aim should be to rank high on search engines and get your website on the first page. It will only be possible if you target a particular audience and are working on a narrow topic.
STEP 3: Find affiliate programs to join
You can find a number of affiliate programs for your niche products that are high-paying and gives you an opportunity to get a good commission. Even though you will get a lot of commission from high-paying affiliate programs, the competition in those affiliate programs is also very high. Therefore, you should expect that it might take you some time before you can make as much money as the already established marketers are. Competing these established marketers is going to be very challenging for you as you are just starting out.
For consumers goods, there are various low-paying affiliate programs out there. However, the size of commission in such affiliate programs is most of the time counterbalanced by the number of products that are available for sale. #Amazon affiliate program is a great example of it. You get an opportunity to earn up to 10% commissions on most of the products being sold on Amazon.
STEP 4: Create quality content
Of course, it goes without saying that you will need top-notch and high-quality content on your affiliate website in order to make it more successful. Also, you need to ensure that you add your affiliate links to your content in such a manner that it looks natural to the readers.
STEP 5: Drive traffic to your affiliate site
There is no denying that more traffic ultimately means higher chances of getting clicks on affiliate links. You need to make sure people are visiting your site, reading your articles, and following the affiliate links. Now, there are two effective strategies that you can implement in order to boost the traffic on your website. These include search engine optimization and effective advertisement.
The aforementioned steps and tips can certainly help you get started. However, you need to realize that affiliate marketing requires a lot of patience, and you should not expect to get rich overnight. Make sure to stay consistent, implement all of the strategies in a proper manner, and work on ranking your affiliate website. You will soon get your reward.