4 Steps to Success – How Does Affiliate Marketing Really Work

Intro

There’s a bit of a myth that affiliate marketing is conspired by witches, that it’s an unconventional method to make money online and that it’s almost abnormal. Whilst I’m sure in the past there has been some shady form of affiliate marketing, the concept and application is genuine.

And while many folk will continue to downplay the arrival of this commission based system, it continues to rise in popularity. The knockers are still unsure about how it all works, so how does affiliate marketing really work? Read on to find out how you can change your life with affiliate marketing.

I will walk you through the following sections to help you get a feel for this new adventure.

• Step 1 – Sign Up to Affiliate Programs
• Step 2 – Add Products to Your Website
• Step 3 – Initiate a Sale
• Step 4 – Get Paid a Commission

Companies Require More Sales

The whole premise of affiliate marketing is to help get sales for various merchants. The majority of companies now have an online store and they always need more sales. So, they virtually employ a middle man, which could possibly be you.

This is why affiliate marketing will stay popular. As more online traders become aware that the creation of an affiliate program will boost their profits, more affiliate marketers will be required to promote their stock.

For those unsure about what an affiliate marketer actually does, I’ll give you a rundown of the process. You can then decide for yourself if you think it’s an unethical way to make money online. As for me, I’m 100% behind this as a genuine way to make a living.

Another key indicator of the authenticity of affiliate marketing, is the number of affiliate networks now available to sign up with. Merchants with an affiliate program will partner with affiliate networks. This helps them run a tighter ship in regards to who they accept into their program.

There are so many niches to get involved with also, like selling guitars, selling bags or a very popular option is selling watches.

So, let’s take a look into the affiliate marketing process and see why it’s a viable option to make money online.

The Affiliate Marketing Process Explained

Although it’s a little more involved than what I’m about to explain, the following steps are a basic rundown of how affiliate marketing works. I’ll assume you’ll already have a website but if not, I have a case study explaining how to do this.

Creating a website is the easy part. Getting visitors to your website is the more difficult challenge.

So, to reveal how affiliate marketing really works, here’s the process in a nutshell.

Step 1 – Sign Up to Affiliate Programs

With a plethora of companies or merchants willing to offer commissions to anyone happy to promote their products or services, you won’t be stuck for choice.

Some companies choose to have their own internal affiliate program, others opt to have an affiliate network do much of the heavy lifting for them. Merchants can often get more exposure via these networks, which will be more beneficial for them.

So, how do you go about all this?

Option 1

Go to a company’s website directly and search the bottom of their homepage. The footer is a common location for an affiliate program link. It may be in a footer menu, maybe in among their site information such as ‘privacy policy ‘ or ‘about us’ page.

If you cannot find it in this location, do a search for ‘affiliate program’ within their search bar. One last option is to Google search ‘company name affiliate program’.

If you still can’t find it, they may not have an affiliate program available.

Option 2

As I mentioned earlier, many companies use affiliate networks to help promote their affiliate program. Here’s a list of just some affiliate networks. There are many others also which may focus on a particular niche. A the bottom of this list you’ll see Moreniche, they predominantly promote within the health niche.

shareasale.com
Max Bounty
CJ Affiliate
ClixGalore
ClickBank
PayKickstart
Moreniche

All you need to do is sign up with any of these programs and view their ‘Marketplace’. There will be hundreds of stores or services companies that you can apply to join. It will also be possible to filter your search results so that only the most relevant companies that suit your niche will appear.

When you do sign up with these affiliate networks, they’ll ask for your payment details and a minimum threshold, usually about $50. This is the minimum amount of your commissions earned before they’ll send you the money.

Your tax information may also need to be included, as this is all above board. You’re creating an online business so your tax information in vital. Don’t worry if you can’t make a sale, this tax information won’t be used for anything else.

So, once you’ve applied for one or more affiliate programs, you’ll have to wait for approval. This can take anywhere between 1-36 hours in my experience.

Once approved you can get your unique affiliate links for each company and add them to your website. I’ll show you how this is achieved below.

Step 2 – Add Products to Your Website

What you are trying to achieve here, is to get visitors to click on your affiliate link. Your unique link, when clicked, will register with the affiliate program your associated with. This is what will generate you a commission.

You can add this affiliate link to an image, button or within text.

Adding this link is exactly the same as adding an internal, external or jump-to link. Simply highlight the designated text you want linked, and then click the ‘link icon’. Then simply insert your link.

My preference is to have the link open in a new browser tab. I don’t do it for internal links, just external linking. The reason for this, is to keep my website open on my visitors browser for longer.

This external linking is simple to achieve. All you need to do is open up the link box settings, and tick the ‘Open link in new tab’ box.

Step 3 – Initiate a Sale

The best way to get a visitor to click your link, is to write a review or content article about the product or service. Giving your opinion can be an emotional trigger for readers to take action. Writing content in the form of a review is the best way to initiate a sale, but it’s not the only way.

Whilst reviews are great, just adding a link to a product in a story also works well. You could be writing a travel blog, and mentioning about a recent adventure. You could bring your backpack into the conversation, and link your ‘backpack’ text, to a backpack on Amazon for sale. Write how this backpack was exactly the one for your needs and how durable it was.

Obviously this is to be a true story, I don’t advocate lying to your readers.

Step 4 – Get Paid a Commission

Obviously the most satisfying part of the affiliate marketing process, is when you get paid! Once you’re job is done by sending a potential sale to the merchant you’re working with, and the visitor has made a purchase, you’ll have made a commission.

So let’s say the sale cost is $100 and you’re signed up with Amazon, who by the way only offer a 7% commission. You’ll make $7 from this transaction. Many merchants have better commission rates than this, and some even have a recurring commission structure.

Obviously you can earn more if you sell more expensive products. Not only that, depending on the amount of articles and reviews you have published, multiple posts can be working for you concurrently. Just imagine when you have 400 – 600 articles out there, all directing traffic to earn you revenue.

Customers often buy more than one product in the one transaction, so the potential for commissions increases. If they use your link for the initial purchase, you’ll also earn commissions on any products in their shopping cart. Isn’t that a great incentive.

Wrapping Up

Does this sound like a legitimate money making opportunity to you? This is not an unethical way of earning a crust. It’s about taking the time to build a sustainable online business by offering valuable information and opinions.

Anyone who values their own reputation would use this opportunity to build trust, authority and reliability. It’s not about deceiving your audience into purchasing any type of product. Do this and you’ll lose all credibility.

I hope you’ve found this article useful and you have a clearer understanding of what affiliate marketing entails.

If you have any questions or thoughts on how affiliate marketing really works, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment below. I will reply as soon as I can!