Anyone can start to learn affiliate marketing and put it into motion at any time with no technical skill and absolutely no prior experience yet you can use it to make money online. Yes, there are others who have been doing affiliate marketing for several years, and they’re now good at it, but there are simple things you can do to get ahead of the competition.
The Perfect Time to Be an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketers, new and experienced alike, have a wealth of resources available to them. There are many reasons for people to surf the Internet. For anything you may want to learn about or any interest you may have, a search using a search engine will typically reveal websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, forums, guides, events, and local meet-ups.
Best of all, there are more affiliate programs to choose from than ever before.
The Definition
On his Smart Passive Income website, Pat Flynn defines affiliate marketing in this way:
“Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.”
It’s passive income, meaning you make money even while you’re asleep.
How It Works
In affiliate marketing programs, you promote other people’s products, usually through an affiliate network. If your marketing is successful in motivating people to buy the products, you make a commission on each sale.
At the root of the concept is the idea of revenue sharing. Affiliate programs are developed by those who have a product and want to increase your sales. The affiliate structure offers a monetary incentive to affiliate marketers, those who don’t have any products of their own to sell but instead promote someone else’s product. Successful affiliates need to be confident that the product they’re promoting has value and can earn them a sustainable income.
Resources Page on Your Website
It is a good idea for any affiliate marketer to have a resources page on their website. This is a major strategy that has brought me lots of success.
Social proof provides a great motivation to buy a product or service. In this case, you provide the social proof by writing reviews of the products you are promoting. This raises another important point – your top priority is to provide value to your audience and build their trust as a result.
Authentic content will help you build relationships with them. Similarly, your reviews need to be genuine. Any products you promote as an affiliate marketer should be products you have used, or still use, and you should believe in them.
If the users coming to your website begin to suspect you are simply offering products to make easy money off them, they will not have any confidence in you or the products you recommend. It is important to remember that it is your repeat website visitors that will keep your traffic stats high. No trust, no repeat visitors.
If your audience feels you aren’t being honest, they won’t be interested in anything you may recommend.
Incorporating Affiliate Links into Your Content
Blog posts give you an opportunity to show that you are an authority in your industry.
if you add your unique twist to the topic, you may eventually be seen as an expert. In order to do this successfully, you need to define the characteristics or demographics of your target audience. This will help you to consistently give them real value so they stick with you for the long-haul and buy the products you recommend.
In the same way that your content should address problems your readers want to solve, your affiliate links should be equally relevant to your target audience. This ensures that your content and affiliate products are cohesive and useful to the same group of people. When your content and affiliate products reflect the same themes, it easier to naturally suggest helpful products and direct your audience to your affiliate links.
Always see yourself through their eyes. Particularly if they are coming to your website to learn about the topic you’re discussing, you are the knowledgeable person they rely on. You need to point them in the right direction and guide them carefully as they explore the topic. Create helpful content and you’ll build a solid relationship with your audience.
Final Thoughts
Spend some time getting to know the products or services you will be promoting so you can speak or write about them confidently and answer any questions your audience might have. You should also have a thorough understanding of your target audience.
There are two major strategies that will give you the best chance of success with affiliate marketing. Set up a Resources page on your website where you can share reviews of your favorite products and services and include affiliate links in those reviews. Affiliate links should also be incorporated into other content on your website, such as blog posts. When you combine both these strategies, you have a strong chance of engaging your audience and getting them to trust your recommendations and click on your affiliate links.
If done right, affiliate marketing can generate lots of sustainable passive income for you, with constant room for growth.