Affiliate marketing is a good way of creating a passive income through your current website, blog, forum or email list. In a previous installment I spoke about how and why to keep a blog, here we will look at one more way in which a blog can make cash for you even if you only write on areas of personal interest.
Affiliate marketing started as a side effect of people linking their websites to the sites of others. It was very quickly understood that if you created a trusted following and that you suggested a product to them then they were a lot more likely to purchase that item. Therefore sellers have for a long time now employed people to advertise on their own personal or business websites to bring in more clients.
Affiliate marketing then is a true and tested way both of marketing and of creating an income depending on which side of it you are on. Nowadays a lot of large businesses, such as Amazon for example, run an affiliate program that rewards bloggers and similar people for forwarding people to their sites.
Why Should I Be Thinking About This?
If you run a website, a blog or even have a large social media following then you have access to a huge potential market of customers looking to buy goods and services digitally.
Affiliate marketing then is a true and tested way both of marketing and of creating an income depending on which side of it you are on. Nowadays a lot of large businesses, such as Amazon for example, run an affiliate program that rewards bloggers and similar people for forwarding people to their sites.
Why Should I Be Thinking About This?
If you run a website, a blog or even have a large social media following then you have access to a huge potential market of customers looking to buy goods and services digitally.
By using that market you can start to make cash from your website/blog despite the fact that it is only a personal blog or website. There is no good excuse why you shouldn't be earning money from all the time and effort you spend working in your chosen field.
What's In It For Me?
For each and every product an affiliate refers a buyer to the affiliate makes a percentage of the sale price. Different businesses offer different percentages ranging from a few percent to upwards of 50%. Usually large businesses offer the same percentage across all of their stock whilst individuals or small companies will often offer a bigger percentage on digital or downloadable products.
What's In It For the Companies?
For companies affiliate marketing is an extremely efficient method of marketing. After all there is no initial cost for this way of marketing, they simply pay you when someone buys something. This means a business might use lots of affiliates who talk with hundreds of potential consumers and can therefore reach a market of tens or hundreds of thousands of buyers with absolutely no upfront layout.
How Can I Get Involved?
Before you start counting your cash there are a few things you will need to get done to start with. Obviously if you don't have any followers yet then you will have no one to sell ideas and products to. The first thing you need is a website, blog, email list, or other method of interesting people online.
As soon as you have got viewers entering your website, or whatever other place you have gotten their interest, then you can begin thinking about joining an affiliate program. The simplest way to become an affiliate is often by going directly to the company or website that you want to advertise for and ask about an ongoing affiliate program, which you could then sign up to, or if they would be interested in starting one.
What's In It For Me?
For each and every product an affiliate refers a buyer to the affiliate makes a percentage of the sale price. Different businesses offer different percentages ranging from a few percent to upwards of 50%. Usually large businesses offer the same percentage across all of their stock whilst individuals or small companies will often offer a bigger percentage on digital or downloadable products.
What's In It For the Companies?
For companies affiliate marketing is an extremely efficient method of marketing. After all there is no initial cost for this way of marketing, they simply pay you when someone buys something. This means a business might use lots of affiliates who talk with hundreds of potential consumers and can therefore reach a market of tens or hundreds of thousands of buyers with absolutely no upfront layout.
How Can I Get Involved?
Before you start counting your cash there are a few things you will need to get done to start with. Obviously if you don't have any followers yet then you will have no one to sell ideas and products to. The first thing you need is a website, blog, email list, or other method of interesting people online.
As soon as you have got viewers entering your website, or whatever other place you have gotten their interest, then you can begin thinking about joining an affiliate program. The simplest way to become an affiliate is often by going directly to the company or website that you want to advertise for and ask about an ongoing affiliate program, which you could then sign up to, or if they would be interested in starting one.
What Can I Sell?
When looking into opportunities for affiliate marketing there are two key points to be remembered,
1. Keep your marketing relevant. If you blogabout motorcycles for example, but are trying to sell knitting patterns then it is very likely you will get little to no interest from your readers. The most useful items are items that you have reviewed personally or that integrate well with whatever you have been talking about.
2. Only market products you personally trust. If you start recommending poor quality products to your readers then they will lose all interest in paying attention to what you have to say. Imagine having a friend who keeps giving you horrible advice, you may keep him as a friend, but would you continue listening to his/her advice?
Is There Actual Money To Be Had?
The answer to this question is yes and no. You see a lot of people who use affiliate marketing sell only the occasional product of small value and so get a limited return. Of course your layout is still zero so any money you make by this style of advertising is an extra.
To make bigger money though you either need to be selling large amounts of small profit products or a smaller quantity of higher value items. Again this all depends upon carefully picking the item(s) you wish to work with.
So, Where Is The Negative?
When looking into opportunities for affiliate marketing there are two key points to be remembered,
1. Keep your marketing relevant. If you blogabout motorcycles for example, but are trying to sell knitting patterns then it is very likely you will get little to no interest from your readers. The most useful items are items that you have reviewed personally or that integrate well with whatever you have been talking about.
2. Only market products you personally trust. If you start recommending poor quality products to your readers then they will lose all interest in paying attention to what you have to say. Imagine having a friend who keeps giving you horrible advice, you may keep him as a friend, but would you continue listening to his/her advice?
Is There Actual Money To Be Had?
The answer to this question is yes and no. You see a lot of people who use affiliate marketing sell only the occasional product of small value and so get a limited return. Of course your layout is still zero so any money you make by this style of advertising is an extra.
To make bigger money though you either need to be selling large amounts of small profit products or a smaller quantity of higher value items. Again this all depends upon carefully picking the item(s) you wish to work with.
So, Where Is The Negative?
The biggest negative to being an affiliate marketer is that you will obviously need to sell things. This usually means placing banners or affiliate links onto your site or blog. A lot of people don't like doing this as they feel it will make their site untidy and that it is morally wrong to sell products to people who have faith in you.
Once again so long as you are circumspect in the method in which you place advertisements on your site and as long as you only market products that you trust then these concerns will be relatively minor.
Any More Tips?
Any More Tips?
Like all things experience is invaluable. Of course because there have been people doing this for a long time already there are lots of people out there that can show you how to become successful within the industry. Many affiliate marketers who have already done well for themselves sell lessons or ebooks about how they were able to make money digitally.
As I always say with all of these things be careful who you buy extra information from as there are also a handful of people out there that just want to make some quick money. So, please do your research and exercise a little caution when looking for a teacher in this area.
Also keep in mind that if done properly this is not a miracle money scheme. The amount of money you can get from affiliate marketing depends for the most part on the amount of effort you put in.
As I always say with all of these things be careful who you buy extra information from as there are also a handful of people out there that just want to make some quick money. So, please do your research and exercise a little caution when looking for a teacher in this area.
Also keep in mind that if done properly this is not a miracle money scheme. The amount of money you can get from affiliate marketing depends for the most part on the amount of effort you put in.
I earn $20 for a 20 minute survey!
ReplyDeleteGuess what? This is exactly what major companies are paying me for. They need to know what their average customer needs and wants. So large companies pay $1,000,000's of dollars every month to the average person. In return, the average person, like myself, answers some questions and gives them their opinion.