How To Make Money Online As An Affiliate Marketer?
Making money online as an affiliate marketer is a quick way to get started as an internet marketer.
There are many advantages to affiliate marketing, with very few disadvantages, but first let me explain what affiliate marketing is.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is basically selling other peoples services and products ( physical or digital) for a percentage of the sale price (a commission) when the sale is made.
Usually you would sell these services and products using online marketing (so that you can sell globally) but you also have the ability to sell offline using direct mail, postcards, classified ads, etc.
You can sell as many different products, for as many different businesses, as you like.
So, as an example, you may set up a model train blog and sell model train related products as an affiliate for eBay, Amazon and Clickbank for example. These model train products may be physical products or digitally downloaded information products.
eBay would pay you a commission of their sellers listing fee and for a new signup to eBay. In the past I have been paid over $20 just because the person I had referred to eBay had never registered before with eBay. So, when they did register and buy something, I got paid for the new signup.
Amazon would pay a commission of any product sales made from your referral.
Clickbank provide information products and the commission payable to an affiliate marketer can be from 40% to 75% of the product sale price.
Each product owner will have an affiliate program, which you would sign up to and agree to sell their products for the specified commission, and on their terms and conditions.
The product owner would then give you an affiliate link for each product. You then use this affiliate link on your website, and when your visitor clicks your unique affiliate link and buys the product, you get credited for the sale.
These commissions accumulate and are then paid out when the payment threshold is met. For example, Clickbank pay me directly to my bank account every Wednesday, if my payment threshold of $100 is met.
What Are The Advantages of Affiliate Marketing?
There are plenty of advantages of affiliate marketing, but the biggest one is that it is very quick.
Within minutes you could be selling a quality information or physical product on your blog. You don’t have to spend weeks and months creating your own product, writing the sales page, dealing with fulfillment, collecting payments or having to deal with the support issues that come with having your own product.
The second big advantage of affiliate marketing is the profit.
If you are selling downloadable information products from Clickbank you can get paid as much as a 75% commission (or more) for every sale you make.
There are even places like Digiresults where you can get paid a 100% commission directly into your Paypal account within seconds of the sale being made.
Affiliate marketing can be very profitable, especially if you’re selling products worth $50, $100 or even $1,000 and getting paid a 50% commission!
Some products are continuity programs or subscriptions and you as the affiliate get paid your commission every month for making the sale once!
How Do You Get Started as an Affiliate Marketer?
Most beginner affiliate marketers make the fatal mistake of finding a product they think will sell, and then building their affiliate marketing around that. That is a big mistake that will lead to disappointment.
Here’s the best way to succeed as an affiliate marketer:
STEP #1
Find a hungry or passionate market.
Golfers are always looking for the next best driver or information to drive longer and straighter. Model railroaders spend hundreds of dollars to get the next locomotive with all the bells and whistles. Scrapbookers always want the new information.
These people don’t buy once, they are insatiable and will buy whatever new product is available, if it looks like a good product and will fill a want, even if it is for a short time.
STEP #2
Choose a quality product to sell as an affiliate.
Look at what your market is already buying and offer a complimentary product. You can find out what they are buying by doing some research on forums and blogs. Look for the products that are hot now.
Don’t fall in love with that product, because if it doesn’t sell, you will need to test other products. You should always be testing and measuring to optimize your profits.
STEP #3
Build a list of potential buyers.
A common beginner mistake is to start promoting your affiliate link and not capturing your visitors email address.
If you don’t have some sort of email capture system in place, your new visitors will leave and you’ll never see them again.
By offering a free report, newsletter or something similar in exchange for an email address, you get an opportunity to get that visitor back to your website or blog numerous times. This drastically increases your potential to make a sale.
STEP #4
Promote, promote, promote.
Once you have a list of potential buyers you can promote your affiliate link as much as you like. You can test different products and get feedback from the market which will help you to maximze your profits.
A big tip is to add value to your offers. This will set you apart from the other affiliates and encourage people to buy through your affiliate link.
Everyone wants a good deal, so if you are selling barbeque grills and supplies as an affiliate, then you may offer a free BBQ cookbook to anyone who orders grills and supplies through your affiliate links. you can easily create this in minutes by buying a PLR product. These are information products that you buy the rights to resell or giveaway the product. For under $20 you could have a great bonus that you can rebrand and giveaway as your own.
