Earning money without much effort is a dream for many, isn’t it? And with the constant increase in the cost of living, making a passive income is always a great idea.
Having said that, affiliate marketing has emerged as one of the most effortless passive income or a side hustle over the years. All you require to do is promote or recommend a product or service by sharing it on different blogs, vlogs, social media platforms or websites. And the more people purchase from the link you share, the more commission you earn.
Today, 80 percent of the brands have started affiliate programs and about 94 percent of publishers use various affiliate marketing networks. On average, affiliate marketing accounts for 15 percent of the digital media revenue. It is also estimated that brands would increase their spending on affiliate marketing by 10 percent in the next couple of years.
Sounds interesting? Let’s discuss more on what affiliate marketing is and how does it work?
Table of Contents
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an approach by which an affiliate marketer earns a commission for marketing a product or service of a company or an individual. The affiliate marketer searches for products they can relate to and promotes them, and also, sometimes the brands contact the affiliate to promote their products. The brand or the company tracks the affiliate links and pays commission to the affiliate for each sale they generate.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Affiliate marketing involves three different parties, the seller (or the brand), the affiliate, and the consumer. The brand may not be actively engaged in the marketing but plays a vital role in sharing the revenue or the commission with the respective affiliate when it comes to affiliate marketing.
The affiliate could be an individual or a company that promotes the brand’s product and in return, gets a commission for every sale. In contrast, the consumers are the ones who buy the product if convinced by the marketing or promotion done by the affiliate. The consumers make the purchase and receive the product without paying any extra bucks, thus remaining unaffected by the affiliate marketing strategy.
How to Start Affiliate Marketing?
Mentioned below are the steps to participate in affiliate marketing for beginners:
Join an Affiliate Program
Before you start your career as an affiliate, you need to join an affiliate program. Mentioned below are some of the affiliate programs available in India that are trustworthy and provide a handsome commission:
- Reseller Club
- Flipkart Affiliate
- Amazon Associates
- vCommission
- BigRock Affiliate
- Yatra Affiliate
- DGM India
- Admitad
- Cuelinks
- CJ Affiliate
Choose a Niche
Affiliates should always choose a niche in which they are well-versed and comfortable promoting. It is an essential step because it gives the customers an impression that you are an expert in the particular niche and would rely on your recommendations while purchasing a product in future. Recommending every product would only make you a jack of all trades and master of none. Additionally, never choose a niche or product you can’t relate to on a personal level.
Obtain and Share the Affiliate Links
Once you have created your affiliate account, generate the unique link and share it with a proper recommendation on different platforms. Be certain that the words you write are highly persuasive for people to click on the link. It is the most crucial part of affiliate marketing and if not done right, you might lose many potential customers.
Collect Commission for Every Sale
Brands pay commission for each sale on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. So, wait for the customers to purchase from your link and get the commission for your hard work.
How Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?
Affiliate marketing is a quick and hassle-free way of selling a product and making money. Mentioned below are three types of affiliate earning plans followed by an affiliate marketing program:
Pay Per Sale: The most common strategy followed by an affiliate program is pay per sale, where the brand pays the affiliate a percentage of the product’s sale price. So, the affiliate earns a part of the sale price for every product sold through the link shared.
Pay Per Lead: The affiliate marketer gets a commission based on lead conversion in the pay per lead model. The affiliate convinces the customers to visit the website and perform an action, such as signing up, booking a slot for the product trial, or filling up an online form.
Pay Per Click: The pay per click model is used mainly for brand or product awareness. The affiliate is paid when the customers click on the link and visit the landing page.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
Let’s discuss why one should become an affiliate marketer. Or to be specific, what are the benefits of affiliate marketing?
- Affiliating marketing is a medium to earn passive income without investing any capital.
- Risk-free career as there is no need for any capital investment.
- You can work from anywhere you want.
- You only need to spend time on creating the content and earn every time someone purchases the products.
- Need not worry about customer support. All the customer-related issues will be taken care of by the brand or the merchant.
Top Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Follow in 2022
Being an affiliate marketer means you must establish yourself as an expert in your particular niche, for which you need a well-articulated strategy. Here are a few well-proven affiliate marketing strategies to follow in 2022.
Contact a Product Expert
If you are new to a product, always try to contact an expert to know about the product in detail. Remember, people would purchase a product or a service based on your recommendation and therefore, you must provide them with correct information.
Promote Products of Different Brands
Never stick to a particular brand or merchant and try to associate yourself with different brands. By doing so, you avoid the possibility of failure if the brand or the product doesn’t perform well in the market. Also, you create an opportunity to earn more by recommending a wide range of products.
Track Your Conversion Rate
It is crucial to track your conversion rate constantly because this way, you will get to know if your affiliate marketing strategy is working or not. In case the conversion rate is low, it is always better to work on a different strategy.
Track Your Traffic Sources
Focus on your traffic sources and find out about the demographic of your audience. You can use Google Analytics to check your audience’s age, gender, location, etc., which will help you customize your recommendation based on your audience preferences.
So, if you want to become a successful affiliate marketer, you must follow the above-mentioned strategies. Furthermore, do remember that trust plays a big part in affiliate marketing as people need to trust you before they purchase what you recommend. Therefore, only suggests the products that you think are worth it.
