Consider having more financial freedom to travel or enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle at home for a while. If this sounds too wonderful to be true, it doesn’t have to be a pipe dream.
There are numerous ways to make money online using the Internet. According to Upwork and the Freelancers Union, in 2019, 35% of the American workforce did some freelance work. Furthermore, 77% of them said that technology made it easier to find freelance work.
Affiliate marketing is one of the ways to make money on the internet. Does affiliate marketing really make money? Let’s take a closer look at it.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Simply said, affiliate marketing is the act of selling goods and services from another person or company. It works in the same way as a referral service. You set up a website or blog and enroll in affiliate programmes that are relevant to your target audience. Affiliate networks, such as VIP Response, which provide you with a link to place on your website, can be used to access these programmes. When someone clicks on the link and buys the product, you get a percentage of the sale as a commission.
The affiliate marketing industry is still growing. Affiliate marketing average income spending is expected to reach $8.2 billion in the United States alone by 2022, according to Statista. As a result, there is unquestionably an opportunity for advancement and profit. We believe this even more when we see examples of super-affiliates publicly disclosing their revenue figures and success stories.
Get Inspiration From Famous Affiliates
To obtain some ideas, consider the following renowned super-affiliates:
- Pat Flynn, a well-known affiliate marketer, built his affiliate marketing income $8000 to $100.000 per month in just two years
- Tom from OnlineMediaMasters increased his affiliate marketing earnings from $20k to $150k in just two years
- Doug Cunnington made $70k in 2017 from just one specialty website.
Isn’t it motivating? However, after a few months of no or minor revenue, consumers become impatient and distrustful. Some people lose hope and give up; others begin to ask questions and hunt for new ways to make money. Because they are still far short of the desired figures.
How Much Do Affiliate Marketers Make?
The affiliate marketing industry is still growing. Affiliate marketing spending in the United States is predicted to reach $8.2 billion by 2022, according to Statista. From $5.4 billion in 2017 to $1.6 billion in 2010, this is a considerable gain.
VigLink has released a new research that examines how much money affiliate marketers make. According to the research, 9 percent of publishers made more than $50,000 in affiliate revenue in 2016. Affiliate marketing was estimated to contribute between 5% and 20% of annual sales by the majority of retailers (65%). A link between revenue and experience was also discovered in the survey. Affiliate marketing has been used by 60% of the top-earning merchants for at least five years.
Is Affiliate Marketing Profitable?
Affiliate marketing, indeed, is profitable. Also, you can easily call it a “passive income”.
While we’re on the subject of making money, you’ve probably heard that affiliate marketing can supply you with a steady stream of revenue. What exactly does that imply? Any money you earn in a way that doesn’t involve much effort and is simple to retain is referred to as passive income. It could be an eBook you produced a long time ago or a video tutorial — whatever it is, as long as it continues to make you money, it counts as passive income. So, how does affiliate marketing work in this case?
Assume you run a food blog where you publish recipes you’ve tried, rate places you’ve been, and rate culinary courses, utilities, and gadgets. You’ll make money as long as people click on the affiliate links you included in a review of a useful cooking tool. Even if you wrote several months ago, you may still be able to earn income.
It’s not as simple as putting an affiliate link into your blog entries, though. You’ll have to put in some real work first, like with any sort of passive income, from choosing the ideal products to market to developing content and building an audience. To avoid falling behind, you’ll also need to keep an eye on affiliate metrics to see how your content is performing and identify any gaps in your affiliate plan.
Make Money as an Affiliate Marketer
Almost everyone who enters affiliate marketing hopes to earn four or five figures each month. Unfortunately, only about 1% to 5% of affiliate marketers can do this, and success does not happen immediately. Typically, it takes anything from 6 months to several years before you see any return. Unfortunately, you’re more likely to face financial losses than solid earnings initially.
It’s pretty simple to get started with affiliate marketing, but producing long-term revenue from affiliate networks is a completely different story. If you’re thinking about giving it a shot, you should first build the basis.
Begin by considering your target audience. What kind of products and services are they looking for? Which items are you currently utilizing and would confidently suggest to your readers? Any affiliate program’s links can be added to your site at any time. To increase the click-through rate and keep your audience, it’s better if you stick to products that are related to your websites.
After that, look into specific affiliate programs to see how their systems differ. You should think about things like the commission size and how often the company pays affiliates. Make sure you’re familiar with any guidelines they have in place for affiliate network members. Always keep in mind that affiliate marketing material that is similar to your own is likely to earn you more money.
Finally, be honest with your audience. Including a disclosure in your blog entries or on your website alerts readers to the possibility of affiliate links. The Federal Trade Commission’s endorsement criteria necessitate this disclosure, which adds to your credibility.
Here are three factors that can make or break your affiliate marketing success:
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Choose A Valid Niche
It’ll make all the difference if you can choose the perfect niche for your affiliate marketing efforts. Knowing what your audience wants and creating content around it will be easier if you have a passion for the topic you chose. It will also take less time for you to select a product to promote that is a good match.
If you already have a following on your blog or YouTube channel, the ideal strategy is to hunt for affiliate programs that are relevant to your specialty and then include product promotion into your regular material. If you’re beginning from scratch, you’ll need to devote a little more time to identify a topic that is relevant to your passion and about which you can confidently write. However, the time spent will be well worth it.
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Make High-Quality Content
Your primary responsibility as an affiliate marketer is to show your followers things that they would find useful. Then you must gently persuade them to buy the things you recommend, which is exactly what your affiliate content is for. Whether you’re writing a gardening tool review or demonstrating a beauty tutorial, your content should address the queries or issues that your audience is having and allow you to offer solutions.
While using affiliate links, remember to tell your followers that you’re a part of an affiliate earning program. Also, tell them that you’ll get paid if your readers buy something through the links in your posts.
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The Best Affiliate Marketing Scheme
Because there are so many programs and networks to choose from, selecting one may appear to be a difficult endeavor. Where do you begin? As previously stated, rather than focusing on the offered commission, you should constantly hunt for programs and products linked to your expertise. Not just because the competition in the high-paying programs can be fierce, but also because it will be easier for you to develop material centered on a topic about which you are passionate and eager to share your knowledge.
Tip To Become A Successful Affiliate Marketer
Brands will be well-positioned to attract traffic back to their e-commerce pages and engage niche groups of customers who are ready to discover new products by starting affiliate marketing campaigns across high-quality blogs and magazines.
Make money with affiliate marketing by using these tactics to optimize your campaigns.
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Create A High-Quality Creative Environment
You’ll be more likely to create interest from affiliate publishing partners and, of course, produce results among your target audience if you have interesting advertising at your fingertips.
Consider which goods may be simply incorporated into affiliate blogs or articles when creating your affiliate campaigns. It’s critical to create graphics and language that will entice new readers whether you’re creating display ads, banner ads, native ads, or affiliate connections.
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Take Control Of Your Market
You don’t want to utilize a spray-and-pray strategy when it comes to affiliate marketing. It’s best to focus on a specific specialty and target audience. You can be sure you’re reaching customers with material that’s relevant to their interests and requirements. You can also collaborate with publishers who have created hyper-targeted, engaged communities.
Common niches are
- Real estate
- Finance
- Dating
- Fitness
- Technology
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Set Payment Rates That Are Competitive
Choose one of the following ways for paying your affiliate advertising partners:
- The price of a click: The publisher is paid every time a reader clicks on your affiliate link or ad.
- The price per lead: The publisher is paid every time a reader completes a desired activity, such as signing up for a newsletter or starting a free trial.
- The cost of each sale: When a publisher refers a customer to your website and that customer makes a purchase, the publisher is paid a commission.
It’s critical to select payment rates that are appropriate for your items, target audience, and content. You might employ a cost-per-click model instead of a cost-per-sale approach if your ads are only aimed to raise awareness.
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Collaborate With The Best Publishers
Find the most relevant and brand-safe affiliate partners by researching publishers, influencers, and blog owners in your niche. You can accomplish this with a basic Google search or by using keyword search tools like SpyFu and SEMrush to locate top-ranking sites. Examine the websites’ comment areas to determine if and how the audience responds to content and product recommendations.
Take, for example, The Points Guy, which has grown to become a leading travel affiliate publisher. “The credit card offers that display on the website are from credit card providers from which ThePointsGuy.com receives money,” the website states. As a result, affiliate marketers may be sponsoring goods like this one in their post, “The top travel credit cards of 2020.”
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Select The Correct Affiliate Network
The affiliate network you choose can make or ruin your affiliate marketing business. You’ll need to work with a high-ticket platform that can connect you with high-quality, brand-safe publishers.
That’s why VIP Response offers exclusive connections with the world’s best digital publishers, allowing advertisers to target the most relevant audience groups with recommended articles and videos.
Marketing Strategies For Affiliate Marketers
Although affiliate marketing might help you increase engagement and revenue, it’s no longer enough to just run ads and hope for the best.
Organic reach on platforms like Facebook and Instagram has been falling for many businesses and publishers. As a result, earning money with affiliate marketing isn’t as simple as producing high-quality content and sharing it naturally. To assist you attract users to your ads and partner sites, you’ll need the correct advertising and marketing methods.
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PPC
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is placing ads in places like search results or web pages to generate clicks. The advertiser pays and the hosting platform or publisher gains money every time a customer clicks on a PPC ad.
For example, a Google search for “fall boots” will return organic results topped by sponsored results — or pay-per-click adverts.
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Social Media
Advertisers can reach billions of individuals across the world through social media platforms who are eager to learn more about their favorite brands and products. According to GlobalWebIndex, nearly half of adult Internet users conduct product research on social media sites.
Affiliate marketers should distribute their content, build a following, and participate in popular topics on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Customers may even buy things right from their feeds using social ad capabilities, so they don’t have to leave their apps to convert.
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SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) makes your web pages more visible to the people who need to see them. You may improve your chances of getting found in search results — and engaging those who are looking for exactly what you have to offer — by deliberately integrating popular, searchable keywords in your prose, picture tags, and metadata.
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Blogging
Blogging is one of the most successful ways for firms to promote themselves through affiliate marketing. Starting a blog can help you demonstrate knowledge in your field, position yourself as a go-to source for useful information, and cultivate a readership that returns for more.
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Helpful Videos
Internet users are devouring social and web videos and live streams, which is driving rising online video consumption. People spend an average of 84 minutes each day watching internet video, according to Zenith, with that number anticipated to rise to 100 minutes by 2021. Between 2013 and 2018, digital video consumption increased by 32 percent on average.
Affiliate marketers may utilize online video to promote new items, have Q&A sessions, reach out to specific audiences, and give live demonstrations, creating dynamic, visually engaging experiences for potential customers.
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Email Marketing
Globally, there are about 3.9 billion daily email users, with that figure predicted to rise to 4.3 billion by 2023. More than a third of B2B marketers consider email newsletters to be their most successful lead-generation tool.
It’s unsurprising. Brands and publishers can provide customized content straight to people’s inboxes through email, which is an opt-in channel.
Email marketing can be used to deliver personalized offers, promote trending blog material, and direct customers to product pages. Bombas, an e-commerce shop, does a good job doing this by delivering weekly emails suited to audience interests.
Final Thoughts – How Long Does It Take To Get Paid From Affiliate Marketing?
It may take some time to get to the point where you can generate consistent affiliate earnings. So you should not quit your job right away. Affiliate marketing might take anything from 6 months to several years to start paying off. Your ability to develop great content, optimize for SEO, drive traffic, and market your affiliate products will determine your total success. Don’t forget to use social media and email marketing to promote your business. You won’t become a millionaire overnight. However, having the appropriate marketing approach and being constant in your affiliate product promotion will get you to your goal income.