Many people believe that affiliate marketing is a scam, probably because there are hundreds of ridiculously priced courses that claim to guide you on how to make money online quickly. Unfortunately, it takes years or months before you can make money online. That doesn’t mean though that you can’t make money off affiliate marketing. As a matter of fact, according to ZipRecruiter, the average yearly salary of affiliate marketers is $154,700/year! Did I get your attention now? Stick around as I explain to you How Can You Make Money from Affiliate Marketing.
Here is a video of how affiliate marketing works:
The video shows that to make money from affiliate marketing you need to
- Apply to an affiliate program
- Create a content where you can promote the affiliate product
- Insert your affiliate link to your call-to-action
- Show your content to your audience
Affiliate Disclosure – I am an Affiliate of many products promoted on this website and may earn a commission if you purchase something.
Hopefully, from the video, you learned a lot about affiliate marketing. If not, then keep reading and I will explain what and how affiliate marketing works.
In this article, you will learn,
- What is Affiliate Marketing?
- How Can You Make Money On Affiliate Marketing?
- How Affiliate Marketing is Similar to Traditional Marketing
- Where to Learn Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Maybe this is your first time hearing about affiliate marketing, or have heard it in the past but really don’t understand the concept of it.
The easiest way for you to understand what Affiliate marketing is to think of your favorite Youtube channel, blog, or social media influencer.
What if I tell you that your favorite YouTubers, blogger, and social media influencer are affiliate marketers?
And what do you know about them?
Most make a looooot of money!
Okay. If that didn’t clarify what affiliate marketing Is, then let me explain it further.
Salespeople “catches” attention of potential customers
If this is your first time you affiliate marketing, then the best way to understand it is for you to think of salespeople. You may already know that salespeople make money through commission but before that happens businesses and salespeople need to do the following steps.
To catch people’s attention, a business will put up a flashy advertisement. It could be ads on a billboard, fliers, t.v./radio commercials, etc. An interested customer will usually visit a store to see the products or services they are interested in.
Salespeople guide potential customers through a buying process
As soon as a “potential customer” shows up in the store to browse or inquire about a product, a salesperson will warmly greet him or her. They will answer all the questions of a customer may have and they will try to convince the customer why they should buy the product.
Salespeople make a sale
After several back-and-forth question and answer session, a salesperson will finally make a call to action; ask a customer to buy the product before they miss an awesome opportunity.
Salespeople make a commission
If a customer buys the product then the salesperson makes a commission.
How Can You Make Money From Affiliate Marketing?
In a nutshell affiliate marketing follows the same exact concept. The only difference is it is done online and the potential income is on steroids.
In affiliate marketing, you do not need to convince a customer one at a time and you do not need to work over and over again. Once your blog or social media is set up, anyone who visits it is a potential customer. In addition to, since the content you wrote about a product is always be there, then you do not need to make a sales pitch over and over again. All you need to do is to let them read or view a product review content that you previously made and hope that there visit will turn into sales.
Since you are smart, you probably have figured out that if you have a large number of readers then you will have lots of potential customers, hence your potential income depends on your ability to draw readers to your website.
Affiliate Marketing Vs. Traditional Marketing
Affiliate marketers “catches” attention of potential customers
Instead of a brick and mortar store, affiliate marketers use a “virtual marketing space” to gather their customer. They either create a niche-specific blog or use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to catch the attention of potential buyers.
Affiliate marketers guide potential customers through a buying process
Similar to salespeople, affiliate marketers also guide their potential buyers through a buying process. The most common and most lucrative strategy that is being used by affiliate marketers to accomplish this step is through writing or video recording a product review. They usually give the pros and cons of the product, why you should buy it and why you shouldn’t, provide an alternative product to buy etc.
Affiliate marketers make a sale
At the end of the product review, affiliate marketers make a call to action. They usually ask their readers or viewers to click the link they provided. When a customer clicks the link, they usually transferred to Amazon website or other online shopping stores.
Affiliate marketers make a commission
Once the customer makes a purchase using the link, affiliate marketers then get a commission. Usually, the commission ranges from 6-8% of sales value but it varies. There are some affiliate partners that give as much as 50% of sales. You just need to research what products and services that are in line with your niche and you are willing to promote.
Ready to Earn from Affiliate Marketing?
There are hundreds of resources on, “How to Earn From Affiliate Marketing” and that is a bad thing!
Why? Well, too many choices can cause decision paralysis. In addition, too, not all resources are trustworthy nor reliable.
If you are really SERIOUS about making money through Affiliate Marketing, then I suggest that you enroll for FREE at Wealthy Affiliate!
If this is your first time hearing about Wealthy Affiliate, then I suggest that you read two of my unbiased article about them and decide for yourself if WA is for you.
- Is Wealthy Affiliate Worth It?
- Does Wealthy Affiliate Really Work?
- Wealthy Affiliate is a Scam – Or is it?
If you enroll TODAY, I promise you that I will personally coach you and will help you in every way I can to help you earn your first affiliate marketing commission!
Questions, Comments, Feedback!
Hi Guys!
I hope you liked this article and more importantly, I hope it added value to your life!
What do you love the most about this article?
What are the things you learned from this article and how will you apply it in your business?
Where or what area of the article should I improve?
Please feel free to answer those down below!
You mentioned that affiliate marketing is very similar to sales in terms of advertising and marketing.
I am wondering if you have to have a salesperson mentality in order to succeed with affiliate marketing? Can someone who doesn’t have a sales background succeed with this? I would imagine that most people don’t really like sales people because they think of sleazy car sales.
Hi,
Yes you can still succeed with affiliate marketing even if you do not have a background with sales although it would help a lot if you know how to guide your readers to a sales funnel.
I hate car sales people as well, but remember! You can make a sale by being honest and really showing care for the well-being of your readers. In other words, make sure that you are helping them and not just asking for their money.
Regards,
John Greg
That’s awesome. I have never thought of affiliate marketing, can only see its a great open opportunity for someone like me, looking for an online adventure.
I was involved in internet marketing the whole of 2016-2017. I would buy Evon products like cream lotions and deodorants at a discount and then sell them in my town at bit higher price. I earned some money, but I tell you, the earning are very limited than what you are explaining on affiliate marketing.
I just loved affiliate marketing because I will not need to order the products anymore, that’s an amazing advantage.
I have just signed up with Wealthy Affiliate free starter and I will be looking at how it owrks in the next 7 days. If everything goes well, I will definitely upgrade
Hi,
Yes, with affiliate marketing you can basically sell whatever is on Amazon. You can sell items that you are really passionate about and best of all you do not need to ask people every time that you are selling a product. All you need to do is to write a helpful review article and leave your affiliate link.
Regards,
John Greg
Nice article that explains in a simple and easy way to understand how affiliate marketing works for those that are just starting and don’t know how this whole thing works. WA is a great tools platform and it has the advantage of taking you by the hand and guide you all the way until you know all the basics and how to create your blog posts. There is no other better platform that offers so much value.
Affiliate marketing seems to be hot and trendy right now but my question is how many people are really earning a living with passive income through this means. How much can one really earn, and how long does it take before someone begins to see the result of all the hard work.
Nothing good comes easy and this is actually true for affiliate marketing, any recommendation of niches with no so much competition would be much appreciated.
Hi Zuchii,
Yes you have a point. Many people advertise that you can make money in just few weeks after you set up your website, but realistically speaking it takes about 1 to 2 years before you get a meaningful income. Meaningful means at least $2k to sky is the limit.
As we know many YouTubers makes millions a year. So depending on what platform you use, your potential income may vary, but the concept is all the same.
Regards,
John Greg
Thank John… Great detailed article on how affiliate marketing can make you a serious amount of cash. Anyone looking to start a business online then affiliate marketing is an awesome option. I look forward to more articles from you
Hi,
I am glad that you like this article.
Good luck on your own affiliate marketing business. If you ever have a question just give me a shout @ wealthbuildertips.com and I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Regards,
John Greg