In your search for a great work at home career, you may have come across the term “affiliate marketing”, or “affiliate program” and you are wondering what the heck it actually means?
What is Affiliate Marketing & How Can I Make Money?
Affiliate marketing is an attractive and viable means to earn some extra cash in your spare time and create multiple residual income streams. Hundreds of businesses, in an effort to reach more customers and get the word out about their products and services, offer affiliate programs. They allow people, like you and me, to post a small link to their website or online store in exchange for a small percentage of their sales generated. This earnings percentage can range from 5% to 25% of the sales made. Each link is unique to you as an “affiliate” and so they can track the sales that are generated from your link. Periodically, a payment is sent out to you based on this program. It’s very low cost advertising for the companies, but it can add up substantially if you get involved with numerous stores and post their links on your websites and blogs.
There is another way that affiliate marketing can help you earn money and that’s by incorporating earnings programs like Google Adsense into your websites. While this is also a form of advertising, the more people who come to your site and click on the ads there, the more money you can earn by getting lots of “hits” to your website.
So essentially, we’re talking about a chance to earn real money every month, for very little effort. But make no mistake; you will still have to dedicate a nice chunk of time initially building it to where it is capable of generating the income you want.
Simple steps on getting started as an affiliate marketer:
Step 1 - Set up a blog in the industry that you are passionate about, hopefully something that is not too saturated. One way to do this is by doing a quick Google search to see how many similar blogs are out there for your particular niche. Keep in mind that most popular topics will be about the travel industry, fitness, insurance and money. Don’t forget there are many untapped niches out there. Think about some of the unique things you are into and you’ll get the idea. Do your research now and it will save you headaches later on. And don’t worry if you are interested in several things; you can have multiple blogs, covering different topics.
Step 2 - Once your blog is set up, start writing interesting posts about your subject. It can be sort, like 100-200 words per post. Make regular posts and keep your ideas consistent. It doesn’t have to be professional writing, just write what you are thinking, watch your grammar and spelling and make sure your writing flows and stays on topic.
Step 3 - Promote your blog(s) all over the place. There are free directories you can submit your blog to like technorati, and you may also want to consider swapping links with other bloggers. Create an e-mail signature and include a link to your blog. You can also promote your blog on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or Twitter. Just don’t over do it or it can be annoying to others. Visit community forums on the subject and promote your blog in your membership profiles. Again, be careful not to overdo it or spam others. A casual “posted something on my blog” is acceptable vs. sending a link out to all the members of the site unsolicited.
Step 4 - Once you have some visitors or “traffic” to your blog, you can then start looking for affiliate programs. This generally takes a couple of weeks of regular posting and promotion. Start reviewing some affiliate companies and some companies that have something to do with your blog. For example, if you are blogging about your wedding plans, then you would want to start searching for companies that offer affiliate programs for wedding supplies, formal attire and even honeymoon or travel sites. You can also check affiliate management companies such as commission junction or shareasale. Remember that when you sign up for these affiliate marketing sites, you are referred to as “publisher” or “affiliate”.
Step 5 – Add the affiliate links to your blog, keep adding to it and just enjoy adding blog posts to it. Over time, as your site becomes popular and people start to visit it often and making purchases through your affiliate links, you will start earning small residual payments. Keep in mind that some companies pay out monthly, while others less frequent. Most of the affiliate programs have a reporting section where you can track your earnings. The more you get the word out about your blog and the more people use your affiliate links to make their purchases, the more money you can earn.
Please note: In order to be successful as affiliate marketing, you must be able to generate good traffic to your site. You have to write interesting content in order for your readers to keep coming back for more. Lastly, continue learning affiliate marketing and blogging techniques in order to stay current. Most of all, have fun with it and soon you will be earning money with very little effort.
{ 3 comments }
do I need to use an affiliate program outline or company to handle the tracking…how do I go about it. Can you recommend a company that is reputable. How can I be sure I get the percentage paid to me…thank you so much..
Eileen Miller …www.creationselin.com
Can you recommend an affiliate software or company that is reasonable and reliable..thank you
Hi Eileen,
Are you asking as a marketer? (sell other peoples product) or as a company wishing to create an affiliate program?
If it’s the first, then it all depends on the company you want to sell products for. Each company with affiliate program either use an affiliate management company or create their own in house.
If it’s the latter, then you need to look at incorporating an affiliate program,install it in your site, create the banners and links, and sometimes manage it. Starting an affiliate program is much like having distributors, you need to keep them up to date, motivate them to keep on selling, giving them tips etc.
With this you have two choices:
1. Hire affiliate management company for you to do the whole thing, including paying the affiliates. They will charge a set up fee, plus ongoing fees such as SHAREASALE, COMMISSION JUNCTION.
2. Hire a freelance ( tech savvy moms) to find the best software (such as http://www.idevdirect.com, jrox.com), set it up, and you do the managing and paying the affiliates their commissions.