You’ve probably seen the videos online. A popular influencer talks about getting some hot new product recently as part of a promotional marketing deal, and then asks you to visit their sponsor’s website if you’re interested … which for some reason you need to do by adding the influencer’s name to the end of a link. Have you ever wondered why?
This is one of the most common forms of Affiliate Marketing. If you follow the link using the influencer’s name and buy something, or simply give the website some info, then the sponsor will pay the influencer. The sponsor gets sales or leads, and the influencer gets paid over and over, even long after they made the video. With plenty of these deals and enough interested viewers, many influencers manage to pull together a decent passive revenue stream.
Of course that’s the catch. If your content doesn’t get enough viewers, you won’t make very much. Yet if you have even a moderately successful content channel, you might be wondering how you can get into Affiliate Marketing.
Basics of Affiliate Marketing
The Affiliate – sometimes known as the influencer or publisher – talks about someone’s product or service and provides a personalized Affiliate Link for people to follow. Then the business – also known as the seller or brand – will pay an Affiliate Commission for every person who follows the promoted Affiliate Link and does what they want there. In this way a little of their profit becomes your profit.
Everything is tracked using the Affiliate Link, such as number of visits or sales. Getting paid for each sale is how most Affiliate Marketing works, but some businesses also pay for every time someone follows the Affiliate Link or when you can convince those marketing leads to give the business some information or start a trial program.
The most important thing is for people to follow the Affiliate Link because they are interested in the product or service, so make sure your content is engaging with a well-placed link and gives people some strong reason to click through and buy. Businesses that have a great product which people want will make marketing them much easier, so always look up the company’s history, product ratings, reputation and reviews before creating content for them.
If you want to become an Affiliate Marketer, first you need content that people already pay attention to, such as blogs, social media posts, podcasts or videos. Your audience should have the ability to buy things, so videos that are just for toddlers won’t get much unless their parents are watching too, and you need some skill at making the product or service sound interesting and worthy of a look. When you know who your viewers are and what they’re interested in, you’re ready to find Affiliate Marketing offers and make content promoting the Affiliate Link.
Why People Become Affiliate Marketers
There are a lot of benefits around being an Affiliate Marketer, such as the freedom to work when and how you want, on your own schedule, and how you don’t hold or directly sell the product. Affiliate Marketing deals do not (or should not) require you to purchase their product or pay them for the Affiliate Link. Your only loss if no one follows the link is whatever time you used making the content.
Running a businesses can be difficult, but all you need to do as an Affiliate Marketer is make content for people (which hopefully you already enjoy doing) and include the link. You’re not an employee of the company, so all questions about the product can be directed to them. Affiliate Marketing deals allow you to make other deals with as many different companies as you want, all of which can combine into a nice sum if you promote all of them and get people to follow a lot of those links.
Finally, the greatest benefit is that you can promote products you actually like, either chosen from a big list on Affiliate Marketing sites or after being offered a personal Affiliate Marketing deal. You have the ability to get paid for your free content, whether that be videos of you running down trails in the woods and then adding Affiliate Links for your favorite brand of running shoes, or creating an entertaining story which occasionally mentions relevant products and services.
Why Businesses Love Affiliate Marketing
The benefits for companies range from how this form of marketing is very hands-off and easy, to the simple fact that any profit they share probably comes from sales they wouldn’t have made otherwise. They also get more leads and customer information, along with a greater widespread awareness of their product or service, while only paying for the times someone follow the Affiliate Link to their website.
Essentially this form of marketing allows them to have a large marketing team for very little cost, which is great for small businesses. The promotional work is done by many different people trying different things, some of which might really resonate with people and get a lot of interest.
Tips and Tricks of Affiliate Marketing
Most Affiliate Marketers forge their personal brand by only promoting a single type of product or service, which helps their audience remember them. If you don’t see offers to promote a business you like, you can always reach out to them and ask directly for an Affiliate Link. They might say yes if you can show how much you like them and the unique value your marketing can offer, allowing you to only promote the products and services that fit your brand.
On the other hand, you could promote anything by checking with Google on what terms are being searched for the most. Trends play a big part of what people are interested in and looking to buy, so stay informed on what’s in the news and the social consciousness for ideas on what to promote next, then write your content is some way that pulls in the most people.
Don’t just post content to one platform and in one style! Videos might include showing your audience how to use a product you already own, teaching them how to do something that the product would help them with, or tips on how to find the best service for an activity you love. Blogs are an obvious medium for Affiliate Marketing, but also consider putting together free online guides, lists of recommended products around a theme or news articles based on your personal expertise. Include the Affiliate Link which people can follow as a way to thank you for your work.
Mix things up by creating different content for several different platforms and audiences to maximize the results, then promote that content on even more platforms, see what works best and focus there. By creating your own website to post Affiliate Links, you can personalize everything such as how the links are presented and how your content supports the promotion, while also creating your own brand and gathering more information about who clicks on the links. Your Affiliate Links don’t need to look like links if you can control the content, such as posting a picture that serves as a hyperlink.
If you’re really confident in your marketing skills, you could try advertising with Google or platforms like Facebook where you only pay every time someone clicks your ad. You’ll make money based on the difference between what you pay for the ad and what you make from the Affiliate Commission.
Content can simply be a post on a forum or other online community, although this is often frowned on by the community moderators – but if you find a place full of people who should be very interested in the product or service, all that you’re really doing is bringing something to their attention they may not have already known about. Sites like Reddit already have those extremely focused subreddit communities where Affiliate Marketing can be targeted, though you should first check whether such posting will get you banned. Instagram is another well-known Affiliate Marketing platform, though they restrict how links can be placed.
How To Find Affiliate Marketing Offers
Most businesses and online platforms have an Affiliate Marketing presence, which they either do directly or through other websites known as Affiliate Networking programs that collect many offers in one place:
2checkout
3dcart
Affiliaxe
Amazon Associates
Avantlink
AWeber
BH Cosmetics
BigCommerce
Bluehost
Boatbookings
Capitalist Exploits
Cheapflights
CJ Affiliate
Clickbank
Constant Contact
ConvertKit
Coursera
eBay
Elementor
Fiverr
FlexOffers
Flywheel
GetResponse
GreenGeeks
Hammacher Schlemmer
Hostgator
HubSpot
Invoice Ninja
iSpring
Kabbage
Kajabi
Kinsta
Leadpages
Market Health
MaxBounty
Momondo
MoreNiche
Murad
Pabbly
Pepperjam
Px.com
Rakuten Affiliate Network
Rocher
Sage Financials
Sandals Resorts
Scentbird
SEMRush
Sendinblue
ShareASale
Shopify
Spocket
Target
Teachable
Thinkific
TripAdvisor
Typeform
Unbounce
Volusion
Wix
WP Engine
Yves
