What is affiliate marketing and how does it work

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

Kevin Ocasio

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

Anyone who has dreamed of making passive income online in the comfort of his own home may have heard of Affiliate Marketing.

It may be too good to be true, but yes – affiliate marketing is what they say it is. It is one way to make money while you sleep.

If you want to know more about affiliate marketing, you have come to the right place. This article will tell you all the basics about affiliate marketing the easiest way possible.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning money in the form of a commission by promoting the products or services of other people online.

Another term for affiliate marketing is perform ance-based m arketing .

The affiliate earnings you make depend on several things: How effective you promote your offers The number of people you refer to a seller’s website The percentage commission an affiliate program offers Also, the process of affiliate marketing involves three or four parties : 1.

2.

3.

4.

Seller (Web merchant, vendor, brand, or advertiser) You (Affiliate marketer or publisher) Customer Affiliate network (optional)

What Kind Promote?

Of

Products

Should

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

You

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

Choosing the kind of products to promote on your website depends on your interest. Think about what would you like to sell online.

The secret to a successful affiliate marketing campaign is to choose a product that you’re truly interested in.

How else would you be able to convince your audience that your offers are worth their while? If you have a hard time choosing your niche, it would help to think about the things that m ost people spend their m oney on .

For example, you know that most people are take interest in staying fit and stylish.

If you’re not sure, you can do your own market research. Try checking on industry trends to find out how customers within a specific niche behave over a certain period.

In House Affiliate Program Or Affiliate Network?

As someone who wants to become an affiliate marketer, you would want to start by doing either of the following: Directly sign-up under a seller’s affiliate program ( In-house affiliate program ) Join an affiliate network so you can gain access to thousands of sellers

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

The Difference Between An Affiliate Network And In-House Affiliate Program An affiliate network acts as a link between you and a seller.

If you join an affiliate network , you are leaving it up to the network to track your performance (they provide tracking tools) and pay you on behalf of the seller.

There are many affiliate networks in the world today and a number of them are really performing well.

These industry-leading affiliate networks provide fast, accurate payments and only the best tracking tools.

Meanwhile, joining an in-house affiliate program that’s run by a brand allows you to receive payouts straight from the seller.

You receive bigger commissions too since you bypass the processes involved with joining an affiliate network.

How The Process Works The process of affiliate marketing basically goes this way: 1. Once you have chosen a product to promote and joined an affiliate program, you will be given an affiliate link which contains your unique ID. 2. When a potential customer comes across your website in the process of searching for a product online, he may purchase your promoted product through your affiliate link.

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

3. Your visitor’s action is tracked through a cookie which will be stored in his computer for a number of days. If the person buys the product via your affiliate link, the cookie will help identify that the sale was made through you.

4. By the time you reach the minimum payout amount required by the affiliate program you’re in, you’ll get paid with your commission.

Common Models

Affiliate

Marketing

Payment

Affiliate programs, whether in-house or those offered by affiliate networks, feature different payment models.

The most common affiliate marketing payment models are Cost per Action (CPA), Cost Per Click (CPC), and Cost Per Sale (CPS).

Cost Per Action (CPA) You will be paid a commission for every specific action that a potential customer completes.

This action can involve filling up a signup form, completing a survey, or downloading a web merchant’s app.

Cost Per Click (CPC) This is where you receive a commission for every click that a unique visitor makes on your affiliate link regardless of whether that visitor makes a purchase or not.

Cost Per Sale (CPS)

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

You get a commission each time a customer buys a product through your affiliate link.

Starting An Affiliate Blog To get started with affiliate marketing, you need a blog.

Choosing a blogging platform is easy. There are many blogging platforms out there and all you have to do is to pick out the best one.

Instinctively, you would want a blog creation tool you often hear about by word-of-mouth.

A highly popular tool to use for your affiliate marketing blog would be WordPress.

Think of a good domain name to use for your blog. Lastly, you will need to get yourself a reliable hosting service such as SiteGround.

Your Ultimate Goal Is To Solve People’s Problems People can always go directly to a brand’s website to shop online. So why would your blog matter?

Here’s the answer: Most of the time, people are browsing online to learn something about a topic or product that they intend to buy for the future.

If by any chance they arrive at your blog, they would be able to access a product through you. Your role will be to create a need in them.

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

You will do that by writing interesting, valuable content. You can write product reviews, tips, and useful advice.

SEO For Affiliate Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of affiliate marketing.

Why do you need SEO for your marketing efforts?

In simple terms, SEO is all about using the best techniques for your blog to rank high in search engines. That way, you’ll be more visible and gain more website visits – also known as traffic .

One of them is to make high-quality content that provides value to people (as mentioned earlier).

You will need a trusted SEO tool such as Yoast SEO to guide you in the process of creating those interesting articles or product reviews before they go live. You can’t risk making a bad first impression on your audience.

Final Words Venturing into an affiliate marketing business is great.

Affiliate marketing remains to be one of the best ways for you to earn fast – if you know how it goes and if you do it the right way.

It’s convenient too because there’ll be no need for you to create your own service or product.

All you have to do is to focus on promoting those goods or services and follow the best techniques to gain more web traffic.

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?

Hopefully, you have learned a lot from this article. I wish you luck on your affiliate m arketing journey!

What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?