Affiliate Marketers Guide on How to Make Money in a Pandemic

Intro.

Can it really be done! I can probably guess your situation right now, as you’ve been researching how to make money in a pandemic. The pandemic that we’re currently going through has destroyed so many livelihoods, and millions of people have been laid off.

Whatever your thoughts are about the pandemic, the simple fact remains that all economies have crashed. With so many people out of work, it’s only logical that many people will be searching for possibilities to earn money online.

As an affiliate marketer myself, I want to show you the opportunity that can give you an income. This is not to say that you will be earning money in the short term. However, it does give you the opportunity to earn money over and over again.

What Is Affiliate Marketing

There may be some people reading this that have absolutely no idea what affiliate marketing is, it may be that you’re just looking for any opportunity to earn money online. So in a nutshell, here’s how affiliate marketing works.

Although it’s possible to do affiliate marketing without a website, having your own platform to promote whatever you want is more beneficial, and recommended in my opinion. I’ll touch on affiliate marketing without a website shortly.

Here’s the general process with your own website:

1. Website – Create a website that targets a specific niche, or targeted audience. This can be anything from sports, to cooking, to hobbies, to finance or even building services.
2. Content – Write informative content specific to the niche you’ve chosen. This allows Google and other search engines to rank your articles, which will get you website traffic.
3. Affiliate Programs – Sign up to ‘affiliate programs’ of companies that sell products related to your target audience. Over 80% of companies now have an affiliate program. This means you become an affiliate of theirs, allowing you to promote their products.
4. Promote – Now you can promote the products of these companies on your website. You’ll be given special links (unique affiliate links) which you place on your website. For instance, let’s say you have a fishing website, and you want to promote a fishing rod. You can get the specific link for that fishing rod, and place it in a fishing rod article.
5. Click to Product – Somebody visits your website, and clicks on the fishing rod link. They are then taken to the store to get more information, specifically the fishing rod product page.
6. Earn Commissions – If this person buys the fishing rod, or anything else on that store visit, YOU WILL MAKE A COMMISSION.

Because the links you receive from the affiliate program are unique, the store can track that you specifically initiated the sale of any items. This is how the commissions are controlled.

I hope this brief explanation gives you the basics of how money is made via affiliate marketing. For a more thorough explanation of affiliate marketing, you can read my Step by Step Beginners Guide to Affiliate marketing here.

Alternatively, here’s where you can learn affiliate marketing from scratch. This is a comprehensive tutorial of what you can expect as an affiliate marketer.

What Is a Pandemic

There’s been many examples of a pandemic but not everyone has been exposed to one. Until this recent coronavirus pandemic, many people would not have really understood what actually makes a pandemic.

The actual pandemic term relates to a global outbreak of a disease. They start off as an epidemic when confined locally, but when a disease spreads globally, they are referred to as a pandemic.

These pandemics are supposed to be fatal and extremely infectious.

Affiliate Marketing Without a Website

I did state that affiliate marketing can be done without a website. This is a more uncommon strategy, but can work quite well. It basically utilizes social media platforms to promote on.

For instance, YouTube is probably the best example. You can create a video of the ‘10 best xx products’. Let’s say digital radios as an example. You can explain the pros and cons of what you consider 10 of the best digital radios, showing their features and maybe customer reviews.

Then leave affiliate links in the description box underneath the video.

Are there any issues with this strategy? Sure, what if YouTube goes offline for any reason. You’re only leveraging their platform, which you have no control over. Having said that, your website hosting provider may have similar issues.

The worst thing would be to have your YouTube channel suspended, or even removed. This can happen, but if you’re selling ethical products it shouldn’t be a problem.

I’ve seen lots of YouTube channels being suspended currently, many for speaking out about the current pandemic. Many people think it’s not what the media are telling us, and I tend to agree. But that’s another issue.

You will need to be aware of which social media channels accept affiliate links on their platform. Some do, some don’t, and some flip flop. Pinterest is one that used to allow affiliate links, then removed this right, then allowed them again. So do your homework on which social channel would work for you.

Do You Need To Get Educated

Absolutely yes, it is necessary to get educated. However, that doesn’t mean you need to pay for lots of courses. What I mean by getting educated can be as little as some YouTube or Google searches.

In saying that, this may not be the best way to get educated, and here’s why. There’s a lot of information out there, and often the information is either not correct, or it’s outdated.

Strategies and guides that used to work well years ago are no longer best practices, and therefore you may be taken up the wrong rabbit hole by people that thought they knew best.

I know this is a little contradictory, but what I’m saying is this. I believe it’s best to get a paid education, but you can supplement this with well researched guidance. You want to get the basics of affiliate marketing correct, and have it all set up correctly from the beginning. That’s why it’s best to find a top affiliate marketing course to begin with.

Once you have this in place, you’ll be set to go.

My No.1 Recommended Affiliate Marketing Course

The reason why I recommend Wealthy Affiliate as my No.1 affiliate marketing source is because they are not just a course, but an all encompassing platform.

Along with updated information on how to build your own online income generating website, they also incorporate the required tools necessary to succeed.

This includes a ‘Website Builder’ which will allow you to build your own website in under 1 minute. From there, you’ll get all the training to advance your website into a flourishing online business.

One aspect I really like about WA, is the free trial. You can gain access all the premium features for a whole week, then decide on keeping the free membership or progressing to go premium. You’ll be provided with 10 full lessons on the free WA membership.

Final Thoughts

If you’re considering the education I mention above, I can guide you along the way. I’m still an active member of WA myself, and can clarify anything you need to know. Simply join up here and I’ll be in touch.

I understand how difficult it must be to have your employment taken away in these hard times, and I feel so blessed that I chose to begin this affiliate marketing journey a few years back. Understanding how to make money in a pandemic is not easy, but affiliate marketing can be your starting point to get back in control.

I’m not going to say it’s easy, and you may not make money in your first few weeks. But I’m proof that you can make decent money if you stick at it.