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How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing – A 7 Minute Guide

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Affiliate marketing is one of the most known (and most lucrative) ways to earn money online.

However, not every blogger is able to generate a good income from affiliate commissions.

I tell you more, with more than 1 billion websites out there (source “internet live stats“), many will not even be able to generate a single sale.

total number of websites February 2015 - screenshot

But let’s look at the glass half full.

Indeed, many bloggers have taken affiliate marketing a step further and have devoted their entire professional lives to working online.

I’m sure it’s the dream of many of you.

But what turn a good affiliate into a great affiliate?

In truth there is no easy answer, as the range of potential products and services that can be promoted through affiliate marketing means that there has been an equally diverse range of practices and methods used to exploit it.

If you’re completely in the dark about this whole affiliate marketing though let me fill you in.

Here are some points you need to consider when choosing the path of making money online with affiliate marketing (this post contains circa 1500 words and takes around 7 minutes to read).

 

What is Affiliate Marketing and How It Works?

It’s a relatively modern form of marketing that has its roots in the early nineties, when companies would hire members of the general public to direct people to their stores.

The reasoning is that people are more likely to trust ‘one of their own’ than a company drone.

The affiliate marketing of today is essentially the same practice, only online.

Essentially everything boils down to uploading links that direct your viewers to your affiliate partners site.

If some of them are going to purchase that product or service, you’ll get a commission out of it.

Generally the standard is 10-20%, but for specific products, the commission can be up to 50% or even 70%.

So basically the commission amount can fluctuate from as low as $1 up to greater sums, like $1.000, $2.000 or even $10.000, depending on what product or service you are recommending.

With this regard, check this post:
4-Step Plan You Need to Make $2,000/Month with High-Ticket Offers

Now, when you register to affiliate programs, you will get a unique affiliate link, that you are going to use when promoting that specific product.

This is a tracking URL, which companies (or affiliate networks) use to record if the sale was generated by your referral.

Every affiliate program you are going to register to, has its own terms of service like, for example, the cookie period.

If this time is set to 30 days, this means that if your visitor use your affiliate link to check a product web page, but decide to buy it within the next 30 days period, then you will still receive the affiliate commission.

Here are some important affiliate marketing terms you should read about.

  1. Affiliates: people (webmasters, bloggers) who will use affiliate programs in order to generate an income.
  2. Affiliate Marketplace: networks you can sign in, to find different affiliate programs in a specific niche (for example, ShareASale, ClickBank, Amazon, etc).
  3. Affiliate Link: the unique tracking link you will receive when signing up for an affiliate program.
  4. Commission: it’s the amount of money you are going to get for each sale of the specific product or service you promote.
  5. 2 Tier Affiliate Marketing: another source of income for you. Basically, if you recommend registering to an affiliate program and some of your readers will do, you will get a percentage of the commissions this user is going to generate (for a certain amount of time – generally one year). Some examples? SeedingUp, LinkVehicle, LinkVehicle.

The above mentioned are just the basic terms you need to know to start your journey as affiliate marketing.

Soon, you will learn about coupons code, URL shortener, landing pages, and so on.

 

Choose the Right Partners

Obviously if your blog adheres to a specific niche, you’ll want to use partners whose products reflect that market.

For example, if you’re running a blog that deals with health and fitness you should be looking for affiliates that deal with products such as health supplements and gym equipment and services such as personal training.

If your blog is less focused of course you’ll have potential options, but it’s always best to have a clear, defined focus.

Also, try not to focus on affiliates that only sell small ticket (inexpensive) items and services.

For bloggers who write about WordPress or websites creation, HostGator affiliate program gives a fair commission for each sale.

Signups per month:

  • 1-5 ……………..$50 /signup
  • 6-10 …………..$75 /signup
  • 11-20 ………….$100 /signup
  • 21+ …………….$125 /signup

And when you receive an email in your inbox, announcing that you made a sale, you can party!

Screenshot of email informing to have earned a new commission with HostGator

 

Find a Balance

As a blogger, affiliate marketing can potentially create an enormous amount of revenue for you and whomever it is you’re partnering with, but if you’re too heavy handed with it, your blog could lose its credibility.

As your blog loses credibility it will lose viewers and that will send it spiraling down the search engine results ranking, leading your partners feeling like they’ve backed a lame horse.

Be sure to keep your blog stocked with content that isn’t affiliate marketing based or people will soon see through you and you’ll not only lose your blog but also any potential revenue you could earn through it.

If your content is not worth reading then nobody will read it, it really is that simple.

affiliate marketing circle

 

Research Affiliate Companies

Unfortunately as an affiliate, there’s very little chance you’ll be going it alone.

If you really want to make a decent amount of revenue you’ll need to use an affiliate program.

The company who run the program will be the ones paying you so make sure that you do as much research as possible into the companies rates in comparison to their competitors and ask around to see if the company you’re considering have a good track record with their users.

Most affiliate programs will operate on a ‘pay per click’ or ‘pay per sale’ basis.

With PPC, you’ll get a commission for every person who visits your site and is referred to your affiliate partners site through your links and with PPS you’ll only get your commission if the visitor eventually ends up purchasing an item or service from your partner’s site.

Obviously you’ll generally gain more commission from a PPS system, but the commission will be far more infrequent.

Whether you decide you prefer PPC or PPS depends very much on your own personal preferences but make sure that the company you choose to work for uses the payment arrangement that you’re most comfortable with.

 

Produce HIGH-QUALITY Content

Do you know your audience?

Well, be sure to promote just those specific products or services which are relevant to your users and strive to create content that solves their problems or needs.

This is a good article from MarketingLand, that explains 7 big mistakes that new affiliate marketers make.

The first mistake is “Selling, rather than helping”.

Be sure to write genuine posts to help your audience solving one of their needs or issues, and you will be right on your way to finally generate an income with affiliate marketing.

 

Use the Right Tools

When it comes to affiliate marketing, as any other tasks online if you are going to use the right tools, everything become much simpler.

First of all, you want to have a blog.

Do you need a complete FREE guide to help you create your first blog and make money with it?
How to Start a Blog (And Make Money With It) – Step by Step Guide

If you use WordPress, I have two tools to suggest you.

The first is called MBP Ninja Affiliate plugin, which is going to make your affiliate marketing work much easier.

Basically, it helps managing all your affiliate links under one single dashboard, making easy to add them every time you create new content.

Also, you can create groups for your links, cloak and customize them.

Here’s a guide I wrote last year about MBP Ninja Affiliate plugin.

The second tool I suggest you is WP Product Review plugin, which allows you to create nice graphics with different options for your reviews (with pros and cons of the product or the ability to easily insert affiliate links) and offers you a fast and easy way to add different interesting functionalities to your blog content.

Here’s the link to the WP Product Review in NoPassiveIncome blog archive.

 

Conclusion

I hope this small guide to affiliate marketing is going to help you to get started.

There are many possibilities to earn money on the web. Most of them have in common that you need high quality content.

To generate truly high class journalistic content an education is the best way. Open School of Journalism offers a distance education program in journalism with many electives including online journalism, content marketing etc.

 

And you, are you making money with affiliate marketing?

Do you have any other suggestions to add?

Please share your experience in the comments below, thanks!

 

Comments


  1. Twitter:
    Hi Erik,

    Another great post. For full time bloggers, a large part of the earning comes from affiliate marketing. It is very important that you choose to market the right product according to your niche, as you have mentioned in the post. Marketing a wrong product will not generate any revenue as it will not cater to the needs of your target audience.

    You might want to change the typo in the title Erik, I suppose ‘With’ is mistakenly written as ‘Wih’ 🙂

    This was an informative post. Have a good week ahead.
    Arpit Roy recommend you to read:Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G Vs Micromax YU YurekaMy Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Arpit,
      thanks for the kind comment,
      and I really appreciate you making me aware of the typo (a big one, actually).
      I should have been “blind”, this morning! 😉

      Reply

  2. Hi Erik,

    These are some great tips on Affiliate Marketing. The best way to promote a product is to write an honest review. You would also need a big subscriber list. Most of the people now a days don’t open all their emails. So, you’ll have a low open rate. Sending newsletters is the best way of affiliate marketing because you’re targeting specific audience and you have a higher chance of selling.

    Thanks for sharing these great tips.
    Brian ( recommend you to read:32 Experts Reveal Their Top Content Productivity TipsMy Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Brian,
      thanks for the kind words.
      It means a lot, said from you, an expert marketer!

      You’re right.
      Your readers will notice if you are writing for them, or for the sake of selling the affiliate products.

      Thanks for adding your views.
      Have a great week.

      Reply


    • Twitter:
      It may require less traffic, but it does need trust in the author of the content, in order to buy something from his affiliate links.

      Glad you enjoyed the post, George.
      Thanks for commenting today.

      Reply


  4. Twitter:
    Hi Erik,

    I am huge on churning out the big, in-depth posts that really gain the trust of your readers. Once you have that trust, you’re golden on the affiliate side of things. Excellent points Erik, because if you create helpful content, and in-depth stuff at that, and if you give it away for free, you’ll generate affiliate sales or product sales, no problems.

    Erik, well done buddy.

    Keep on inspiring!

    Ryan
    Ryan Biddulph recommend you to read:Visit the Blogging from Paradise Library on AmazonMy Profile

    Reply


  5. Twitter:
    Hi Ryan,
    you know what reputation means.
    You are building a fantastic dream around your name, living on an island thanks to blogging.

    Thanks for the kind words!

    Visiting your latest blog post right now.
    Happy week, my friend.

    Reply

  6. Hey Erik,

    I wish I had this guide a couple of years ago when I was trying my hand on affiliate marketing. I was successful in using PPC and generating leads, but you know what? I wasn’t getting a lot of sales! But I didn’t have a strong, basic foundation on affiliate marketing and I believe this post would’ve directing me in the right direction. Now I know I’m heading in the right direction. The only thing that sucked is that it took me a couple of years to realize this LOL…

    Thanks for sharing Erik! Have a great rest of the week!
    sherman smith recommend you to read:5 Common Power Words You Need To Instantly Put Your Blog Audience To ActionMy Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Better late than never, Sherman! 🙂

      There are so many different things to learn online, that you would need months to dedicate just to “study”.

      Glad you liked the post, I really appreciate the share.

      Thanks for leaving your views,
      and have a great rest of this week, my friend.

      Reply


  7. Twitter:
    Hey Erik,

    That is a wonderful post with lots of tips. I see the “produce high quality content” in all caps – that’s very important.

    For affiliate marketing to work, it is essential that we first build the trust. It is not about one off sales and commissions. It is about a long term relationship.

    If we can prove to people that we are being genuine (in our recommendations) and helpful (in the reviews and tutorials), it is easy to earn that trust.

    Once the trust is built it will not be hard to make those sales 🙂

    Thanks for putting this up!

    Cheers,
    Jane.
    Jane recommend you to read:The 7 Step process to successful website conversionMy Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Jane,
      good to see you! 🙂

      You’re right.
      If people don’t trust the author of the content, they won’t buy anything from his affiliate links.
      It’s all about building a reputation.

      Thanks for your visit and comment, Jane.
      Have a great rest of this week.

      Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Hamim,
      glad you enjoyed the post.

      You mentioned two important things to consider when writing for placing affiliate links.
      As you said, at the end it’s all about the trust you inspire to your audience.

      Thanks for commenting,
      and have a good one!

      Reply

  11. Hello Erik,

    Simply nice post. Affiliate marketing is one of the finest ways to earn money online through your blog but doing it right way can only work. Just adding few affiliate links in your posts don’t work mostly.

    Hosting companies pay well. I am using CJ and planning to start using ShareAsale too.

    My experience with Hostgator was not good. They cancelled my commission when I made few sales on cyber Monday deals.

    Good post mate.

    Thanks for sharing
    Atish Ranjan recommend you to read:How to Make Your Emails More Clickable?My Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Atish,
      thanks for the nice feedback.

      You said wise words.
      Just adding few affiliate links within your content does not work at all, it won’t make you any sales.

      Appreciate you sharing your experience,
      have a great day!

      Reply

  14. That is an eminent post with loads of tips. I see the “produce brilliant substance” in all tops – that is imperative.

    For associate promoting to work, it is fundamental that we first form the trust. It is not around one off deals and commissions. It is around a long haul relationship.

    In the event that we can demonstrate to individuals that we are being certified (in our proposals) and accommodating (in the surveys and excercises), it is anything but difficult to procure that trust.

    When the trust is manufactured it won’t be tricky to make those deals 🙂

    Much obliged concerning putting this up!

    Here’s to you,

    Rah
    Rahul Choudhary recommend you to read:Include Custom Robots.txt Document In BloggerMy Profile

    Reply


  16. Twitter:
    Erik, excellent stuff releaved again. First foremost thing is have your audience , with out them n doing something is useless. We should have our loyalty to the audience , our readers or if we do videos, we should precisely know our viewers or our listeners, and create something fantastic stuff, that talks about different ascepts of a well-defined topic and that, gives you a lots of flexibility so you can talk about different kinds of products on an affiliate basis. The next important thing is the content creation magic which always serves as key profitable to affiliate marketing. If you deliver good content means that you’re giving value to your reader.

    You’ve well statement your experiments on various products, you’re good marketer from your post I can see that you gives words and understanding how you use it, telling about choose right partners, find balance , care about, right tools that helps better understand about affiliates products as well.

    Thanks
    Siva
    Siva recommend you to read:How to get more hits on your blog?My Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Siva,
      how are you?

      Affiliate marketing is based on giving helpful and honest reviews of relevant products and services to your audience.
      Of course, they are more likely to buy from people they trust, so building authority is another step toward affiliate marketing success.

      Glad you liked the post,
      appreciate your positive feedback.

      Have a good day!

      Reply


  17. Twitter:
    Hi Erik,
    I got to your website from some source,but in the very first visit to your blog,I was totally amazed with your awesomeness! of the post,Your catchy titles really makes me of course others too click on it,The Post seems really great,you’ve explained everything from the scratch and that’s a cool stuff! 🙂 😉
    This article helped me so much in affiliate marketing
    Thanks for the share
    Regards
    Prajwal
    Prajwal recommend you to read:Best Audio and Video Players for WindowsMy Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Hi Prajwal,
      good to hear you liked the content! 🙂

      Hope you browse trough more posts and find more useful articles!

      Thanks for the kind feedback, and enjoy the blog.

      Reply

  18. Hi Erik,

    Earning money from affiliate marketing very hard for me, I started my affiliate program through ShareASale last 2 months back, till now I didn’t make any sale.

    Sometimes I feel I am dumb at affiliate marketing, after reading this article, I got a little hope of earning money from affiliate, let us hope for the best, thank you very much for sharing this information.
    Siddaiah recommend you to read:How To Create Monthly SEO Action Plan For Your Blog?My Profile

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      After all these years online, Siddaiah, I think the options to really make money with affiliate programs are two:

      – you become an authority, people will trust you and are going to buy from your blog/affiliate links;

      – you gain a LOT of organic traffic, and chances to make good sales really increase.

      In any of these cases, good luck! 🙂

      Reply

  19. In the very first visit to your blog,I was totally amazed with your awesomeness! of the post,Your catchy titles really makes me of course others too click on it,The Post seems really great,you’ve explained everything from the scratch and that’s a cool stuff!

    Reply


    • Twitter:
      Glad you liked the post, Chaten.

      About your question, HostGator pays his affiliates once they reach at least 100$ of valid commissions.
      Are you having results with their affiliate program?

      Reply


        • Twitter:
          Chetan, see:

          “Commissions are verified at the end of each month, 2 months after the sale was sent. Payments are then sent within the first week of the next month. The registered account must also meet our requirements per our TOS and be currently active and paid up to date at the time of payout, and there is a $100 minimum balance to reach before you are paid. If you have not accumulated $100 in commissions, any unpaid commissions would be held until you accumulated $100, at which time it will be paid out.”

          Taken from:
          http://support.hostgator.com/articles/affiliates/when-and-how-often-will-i-be-paid

          Reply

  23. Hi Erik,
    great post about affiliate marketing here.

    Definitely, it’s one of the most lucrative ways to generate a passive income online.
    However, not every blogger are able to get good money out of it.

    Using the right tools, producing great content, solving your audience needs and problems, choosing relevant products or services to promote are some tips to reach success with affiliate marketing.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Bhumi Pednekar recommend you to read:‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ Star Bhumi Pednekar :: InterviewMy Profile

    Reply

  29. Hi Erik,
    I have started a affiliate marketing few days before but I am not able to get more sales from my blog. Now today I got a quick guide regarding affiliate marketing and Now I will use the Plugin in my blog especially WP Product Review.
    Thank you for adding the valuable information and sharing the Tips of affiliate Marketing.. 🙂

    Reply

  31. This is the true which is presented in the blog regarding the number of websites: 1217253303 and the way one could earn money through Hostgator is also great. Blog post was really superb and inspiring one. hats off to you.

    Reply

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