If you want to earn money online without spending tons of your own money creating products, then affiliate marketing may work for you. With affiliate marketing, you can earn a side income by promoting products and services and receive a commission from that sale.
Most affiliate marketers use their blogs or websites or social media platforms to promote products. In fact, some marketers have multiple sites and join several affiliate programs to increase their potential for earning more income.
Joining Affiliate Programs
Before you begin promoting products and services, you must join a company’s or an individual’s affiliate marketing program. Search the Internet and you will find reviews from affiliate marketers on programs that have high commission rates and programs to avoid. Not surprisingly, Amazon Associates is among the top affiliate programs around because Amazon has thousands of products available to promote. So, you can market anything from electronics to clothing to garden hoses.
In reading reviews, you will find that Amazon, Share-A-Sale, and Commission Junction are reputable programs that regularly pay affiliates.
Choosing What To Promote
When deciding what to market, look for products or services that:
• You feel comfortable promoting
• You have an interest in
• You have first-hand knowledge about
For instance, if you follow technology trends, consider promoting digital or physical tech products or services. Since there are many types of tech products available, you may want to narrow your product selection. So, instead of promoting everything from PCs to personal drones, you may want to start by only marketing smartphones and smartphone accessories.
Whatever you choose to promote, it may help to check out reviews about the products or services you want to market. You do not want to promote poor-quality products and have your followers lose confidence in your ability to recommend high-quality products or services.
Earning Money
The way affiliates earn commissions depends on how the program operates. Two of the most common ways affiliates earn money include:
Pay per click. Affiliates earn a commission when a person clicks on an advertisement on an affiliate’s website or blog that leads to a merchant’s website. While on the merchant’s site, the person signs up for the merchant’s trial offer or becomes a subscriber or takes some other type of action that can lead to a potential sale.
Referral fees. Affiliates earn a fee when a person clicks through a link that leads them to a merchant’s website. Affiliate marketers have customized links that help merchants keep track of sales brought by each affiliate. When the person makes a purchase on the merchant’s website, the affiliate earns a referral fee.
Merchants may also offer affiliates bonuses as an incentive to market more of their products and earn more commissions.
Read the Fine Print
When you apply for an affiliate marketing program, carefully read the Terms of Agreement. It is easy to get caught up in a merchant’s promises to help you make money as an affiliate. But, there may be expectations merchants have that you cannot meet. For instance, a merchant may require affiliates to generate a certain amount of money in sales each year.
Some merchants may ask how many people visit your site each month. If you are still building your audience, you may not be able to meet the annual sales quota or have thousands of visitors each month. Also, some merchants must approve your blog or website before allowing you to join the affiliate program.
Once you know that you can fulfill the Terms of Agreement and carry out your responsibilities as an affiliate marketer, the income will follow.
If you do not yet have an online presence, it may take time to set up a blog or website and drive traffic to your site. But you will not regret it when you begin to see your consistent efforts turn into extra income.
Lisa Kroulik is a freelance content marketing writer with eight years of experience. She has a special interest in helping readers make sound financial decisions and financial recovery topics. After having filed bankruptcy in 2008, Lisa took the opportunity to make a fresh start and learn from her mistakes. Today she has a credit score of 830 and no debt other than a mortgage.
