Are you tired of your regular 9 to 5 job? Do you often stay up late thinking of ways that can increase your income? Well, then Affiliated marketing is precisely for someone like you. It doesn’t matter if you own a business or not. Affiliated marketing works on the principle of Revenue Sharing.
If you are promoting your product, you can also join in with other companies and promote theirs too for a fixed commission with every sale the company makes. So here’s how you can earn those extra bucks without working up a sweat.
Definition: Affiliate Marketing is the method of promoting someone else’s product and earning a commission with every sale made.
According to Wikipedia, there are four main components of Affiliate Marketing:
- Merchant
- Network
- Publisher
- Customer
The main ones are the product creator and the affiliate marketer, which are explained below.
The Product Creator: Also known as the merchant or vendor, the merchant can be anyone, a single person who sells products or services, or even a multinational conglomerate. One of the advantages of being the merchant is that the merchant only needs a product.
Affiliate: The affiliate is also known as the publisher and can also be a single person or even big companies. There is no cap on the earnings of an Affiliate Marketer. Most of the Affiliate Marketers can promote the merchant’s product by writing blogs reviewing the products or even set up websites with the same intent.
Consumer: The consumer is one of the essential links in the chain of affiliate marketing. This is because if the consumer does not purchase the product, the sale will not be made, and thus, the affiliate cannot earn their commission. The affiliate decides whether the consumer knows if they are a part of an affiliate marketing system.
Network: Whether the network is an integral part of the affiliate marketing system or not is a question of debate. Still, it is equally important to know that network plays an essential role in connecting the merchant and the affiliate. Networks also help the affiliates in choosing the products they wish to promote from their extensive database and also handle most of the transactions.
It is thus easier for affiliates to find the right merchants and vice versa using these networks. One of the examples of a big affiliate network is Amazon’s. Wherein anyone can become an affiliate for any product on the website and also earn a commission if their link is used.
To further clarify any doubts, here is an overview of everything outlined above.
Overview
Any person interested in the world of affiliate marketing can go about it by becoming a merchant or an affiliate. By becoming a merchant, you can increase your sales in a minimal amount of time in exchange for a commission. The only downside of becoming an affiliate is that it’s time-consuming and hence the ways of becoming a merchant in 4 steps are mentioned below.
Become a successful merchant in 4 easy steps
Step 1: Come up with a new product idea.
The best part of becoming a merchant in the affiliate business is that one doesn’t always need to have a mind-blowing idea to make money. It is advised that people should not be attached too much to the products they try to sell. The concept of the product doesn’t need to be anything new.
It can also be something that is very common, although you will need a selling factor. That’s where you’ll have to use your knowledge and expertise and try to improve on some already existing products. Even the smallest improvements to any existing product can ensure great results because it is the little inconveniences caused by most of the products that trigger people.
Step 2: Validating the Idea.
To make sure that you are not wasting your time on creating a product that people are not interested in buying, one of the key steps in becoming a merchant is validating your idea. The best way to make sure people like your idea is by directly asking them if they would buy it. This doesn’t mean that they would directly reach into their wallets and give you loads of cash; most of the time, people just say these things to sound considerate.
Make sure you provide links for payments if speaking online with such people. If people legitimately are interested in your idea, that’s when you know that you should start creating the product.
Step 3: Creating the Product.
There are a ton of methods to create a product of your choice. It is advised for first-time merchants to start with digital products which are much more easy and affordable to make than any physical products which require a good amount of capital. There are various online programs that help beginners create digital products like software, podcasts, or even E-books which can bring in easy revenue and are easier to promote.
One can also create courses based on their particular skills or interests they have developed over a long course of time. Once the product is created and has started making sales, a merchant should start looking into the affiliate network.
Step 4: Search for adequate Affiliate Programme Partners
Thanks to the invention of the internet, finding an affiliate program partner has never been easier. There are various websites and tools dedicated solely to finding the perfect affiliate and giving them commissions. Finding an affiliate is easy, but the tough part is finding someone who has the ideal audience for your products. It’s only logical that your product should appeal to the masses and not some specific group of individuals as it makes finding the affiliate all the easier.
One thing to keep in mind while using affiliate marketing to sell digital products is that the commissions can be 50% or higher because they can be replicated very efficiently and at a little cost. So it is advised to split your profits to ensure your product reaches the people. A much easier option is to team up with social media influencers who already have a considerable audience and use them to promote your product. The most important thing here is to be patient because after all, you have to start, no matter where it is.
If becoming a merchant sounds too tedious for you or if you lack the motivation and patience to follow all of the above steps, then it’s better if you become an affiliate.
Becoming an online Affiliate Marketer in simple steps
Becoming an Affiliate Marketer is one of the best ways to earn money online. Here are four steps beginners should take in order to become an Online Affiliate Marketer.
Step 1: Provide reviews for products of your niche.
The best part of becoming an Affiliate Marketer is that one gets to skip the “creating your product” and the innovation part, which are the most important ones for merchants. The products are all there, and the only thing the affiliate has to do is talk about them to large audiences. You can start anywhere by writing reviews on any product online, and you’ll see that people will look for it.
It can be the most basic of things and still get results. It would be even better if you trust and use the product yourself as people will relate to that and increase your credibility in the eyes of the consumer. One way of attracting consumers is by reviewing products from competing brands and comparing them because people look forward to unbiased reviews and comparisons.
An affiliate marketer should always provide affiliate links on their reviews so that consumers can use them to ensure their commissions. One way to recognize affiliate links is by locating the /ref tail, which is usually at the end of the URLs. One of the best ways to get an affiliate link is by using Amazon Associates, where you can get the affiliate link to any product of your choice.
Step 2: Build a list of emails along with your prospects.
Contrary to popular belief, email is still the best way to promote any product. One of the best ways to know the email address of people visiting your blog is by using HelloBar. HelloBar displays a call to action at the top of the website which, when clicked on, consumers can get more information regarding the product or see different ones by giving their email addresses.
Another way is by using Exit Gate, which can be made using HelloBar. Sidebar widgets can also be used for this task, but it should be kept in mind that the sidebar should not be clustered as people often do not find it appealing. The sidebars can also be used to promote your reviews instead of just advertisements to keep the readers more interested.
Step 3: Spread knowledge with the help of live Webinars.
One of the most exciting parts of becoming an affiliate is hosting webinars as they are equally fun for you and your viewers. The consumers are also excited to hear about new products coming up and are sure to sign up given that you have created enough hype about your webinar. There are various tools that you can use to sign people up for your webinar.
Google has an excellent web hosting platform, and the best part is that it’s absolutely free. Keep your webinar short and to the point. Ask your merchant to allow some incentives to people watching the webinar like some discounts or coupons to excite the audience. You can also subtly ask the consumers to use your link at the end of the webinar.
Step 4: Grow your business with PPC advertising
This step should be taken only when you have started making money as an Affiliate and want to use paid advertising. PPC can be used for many things which include growing the email address list, getting more people to sign up for the webinar, and also effectively make more sales. One of the most efficient uses of PPC is for advertising your live webinar as you’ll automatically get the consumer’s email addresses and most probably buy the products you promote.
In order to get into the affiliate market business, you either need to be a merchant or an affiliate which is explained in short. For aspiring merchants, you need to first come up with a legitimate product idea and then get it validated by people you know or online. This is followed by creating the product and perfecting it to fit the needs of the market. The last thing you need to do as a merchant is to find a good affiliate that has the audience you need to sell your product or services.
A good affiliate can be anyone right from a big company to even a single person. To follow the easier path and to become an affiliate, one should start reviewing products regularly that appeal audience and can bring you consumers after which you should build an email list and using them to promote the products or services. One can also start live webinars which are pretty fun to do and also gives a massive boost to sales.
You can use incentives for the people watching you and also attract new consumers by promoting yourself on social media. The last thing you should do is use paid advertisements which must only be used once you have started earning money and are sure that you can make your money back after investing it in ads. In the end, it’s always going to depend on what you do.
