Intro.

I don’t know of a better demographic that can benefit from becoming an affiliate marketer than South Africans. You have every opportunity with digital technology, very high unemployment rate and below average incomes.

It doesn’t make for inspiring reading, and I wouldn’t blame you for pursuing your affiliate marketing dream. After all, there’s loads of benefits to affiliate marketing, and the earning potential is just one.

So let’s take a look and see why South Africans are searching in droves for this kind of lifestyle.

Why Are You Reading This Article

I can only assume that as a South African, you’re searching for a legitimate way to make money online. You understand that affiliate marketing could be right for you, and you want to know more.

If this is the case, I’ll explain what affiliate marketing is, how it works and where to get started, if this sounds like something you want to pursue.

One thing I want to bring up is that the affiliate marketing opportunity, in fact any online opportunity to earn money, comes with effort on YOUR part. That means there is no easy way to do this. You cannot expect to work half an hour per day and expect large monetary returns, it doesn’t work this way.

This is a legitimate way to earn money online, without all the BS. I could show you how to earn money via dropshipping, or selling products on Amazon, both are great options to earn online but take even more effort.

The more you put in, the more you get out, and affiliate marketing is ideal to start off slowly and build as you progress and become more comfortable with it.

What Is Affiliate Marketing

So let’s take a look at what affiliate marketing actually is, and how it works.

The easiest way for me to get the message across, is to explain via an example. So, let’s say I create a website about jewelry, in particular bracelets. In fact, jewelry is ideal for selling as an eCommerce dropshipper, but we’ll still use it as an affiliate marketing example.

I create my website and write several articles about various bracelets that inspire me from around the world. I then find some appropriate bracelets at an online store that has an affiliate program. This means I can sign up to this store’s affiliate program, and promote their bracelets on my website.

So I grab a few of their images, and unique ‘affiliate links’ that the affiliate program gives me, and place them on my website. Now, if a website visitor of mine clicks on the affiliate link (whether it’s attached to the image or text), they will be taken to the online store.

Here they can view more information about the bracelet. If they purchase the bracelet, or anything else in the store on the same visit, I will earn a commission on all the products that person bought.

Maybe they buy 5 items, a couple of bracelets and 3 necklaces. It may have cost them $300, and my commission rate could be 20%, maybe more.

As an example, let’s say it’s 20%, which means I’d earn $60 from that transaction. Not bad for getting somebody to buy from an external store. But what’s even better, I could get hundreds of people buying from that store, it all depends on how many people I get to see my website.

Your Affiliate Marketing Education

Is affiliate marketing simple? I always say the process is simple, but it’s the effort you put in at the beginning that will set you up for online success. Yes, the process is easy enough, but it’s very hard to learn without the correct education.

The reason for this is because there are several elements that you need to get aligned. Yes you need a website, but what about promotion? This is where social media can play a big part. So you need to learn how to create social pages on several platforms.

What about getting ranked in search engines like Google, Bing etc. This is where SEO comes into play, and you’ll want to learn how to do this. You could use paid advertising, or other forms of traffic generation like solo ads. All this requires an education.

While there are several places to learn affiliate marketing, the No.1 platform is called Wealthy Affiliate. They offer all the training, support and will even give you a website. They also offer a FREE membership, and you can see all the premium features for a week.

There’s another brilliant affiliate marketing training program called Legendary Marketer, which will show you a different model. They teach you to sell high ticket offers via funnel building, which will earn larger commissions. For a few dollars ($7 I believe at the time of writing this), you can view a 15 Day Challenge which explains exactly how this will be achieved, and how to get started.

These are the best 2 affiliate marketing courses I’ve seen, and would certainly recommend.

Why Affiliate Marketing Appeals To South Africans

With a staggering unemployment rate of 35% in South Africa, this has no signs of improvement in the near future. It’s not surprising that many South Africans are looking at alternate methods to generate an income, and affiliate marketing is one such option.

Although affiliate marketing has been around for a long time, it’s only recently been more popular in some countries due to the accessibility. South Africa is one of those countries that is now benefiting from the work already done.

Affiliate programs and networks have been perfected over recent years, so now is the best time to get a start.

The remoteness of many South Africans in such a large country also appeals to this demographic, and the laptop lifestyle certainly appeals.

What Commissions Can Be Made

This all depends on the affiliate programs you join, and the niche your in. For those in a niche that is targeted to people that pay larger premiums for what they’re interested in, they will earn larger commissions due to the large costs.

Then again, you could earn lots of money from many smaller commissions. Many variables come into play, and these will have an effect on your earning potential.

Some affiliate programs will pay a large percentage on smaller amounts, while others pay a small percentage on a large amount. If you find a really good affiliate program like ClickFunnels, they will pay 30%-40%. Their One Funnel Away course will even pay you 100% commissions. They pretty much rely on people signing up to their flagship product.

In terms of earning enough money to live comfortably, yes this can be done. But… as I mentioned earlier, you get back what you put in. Those willing to make the effort and put in the work will be rewarded with good consistent commissions.

Affiliate Marketing Options in South Africa

You have just as much chance as anyone else in the world. Most affiliate marketing programs are open to anyone worldwide, although you may want to check before signing up with them, just in case they are locally based.

Think about the potential reach of your audience. It’s huge!

It’s possible to sign up to the Amazon affiliate program also. You can sign up to the Amazon Associates program and promote anything on the Amazon.com website. Not that I’d recommend Amazon for commission based income, as they’ve recently reduced their commission rates dramatically. Selling your own products on Amazon as a dropshipper is still a good option, and you can learn how to do this here.

There’s really nothing stopping you as a South African to become an affiliate marketer over anyone else that chooses this path. You have every right to become one of the top affiliate marketers in South Africa, let alone the world.

Is Affiliate Marketing Difficult

I won’t lie, affiliate marketing is time consuming to begin with. It’s like any online business, or any business for that matter. You wouldn’t expect to open a physical store with just a few hours of research and preparation, so why should an online blog be any different?

Okay, it is different, it’s easier than opening a physical store and much cheaper to get started. But still does take some time and effort to build a foundation.

When you think about it, you will be up against many other online websites, stores and blogs. So… why should your website and articles be ranked higher than those that have been doing this for years.

Even though there’s competition, there is also no reason you cannot compete with them. But… you need to do the hard yards in the first few months. Once you have a website set up, some articles being ranked and some social media posts, Google will begin to see what your website is about. That’s when they’ll begin to rank you higher.

So, is affiliate marketing difficult? No, but keeping motivated and showing consistency is difficult. Many people start this, but give up when they don’t see any results within a couple of months. This is totally the wrong mindset. You should be persistent until you DO see results. It will happen.

South African Affiliate Marketing Programs & Networks

With loads of affiliate networks to join, there’s a plethora of opportunity for global commissions. You can find a list of global affiliate networks here, but you may want more local affiliate programs to join.

If this is the case, here’s 2 of the more common affiliate networks dedicated to South Africans.

AdMarula

Although specifically a South African company, Swedes Daniel Gross and Daniel Bernholc founded AdMarula as a marketing partner for businesses and affiliates. With top brands such as Budget, Rhino and Cellini luggage, there’s a good range of affiliate programs to choose from.

Offerforge

Another local marketing platform that is dedicated to helping affiliates and advertisers. I don’t believe they have as many large brands as AdMarla, but a wonderful selection of smaller affiliate programs that are targeted towards local people.

Some of the better affiliate programs that you may want to consider contacting directly, as opposed to via an affiliate network are Master Health Products, Safari Now for all safaris in southern Africa, or 4aKid, children’s eCommerce store.

Can South Africans Make a Living Out of Affiliate Marketing

I’ve already mentioned how you have as much chance as anyone else. Statistics show that over 2 billion people are purchasing products online. That’s a huge pool of people that you can target and offer products to sell, and make great commissions.

Affiliate marketing can be done from anywhere in the world, assuming you have connection to the internet. The lifestyle of working via your laptop from home, abroad or the pub/bar is one of envy for many. I’m sure you’d love to be doing it yourself.

If so, I’d urge you to sign up to Wealthy Affiliate for a free trial. If you see the value in their premium membership, then join me and I’ll help you along the way. Alternatively, keep the free membership and take what you’ll learn in the first affiliate marketing course.

Either way, you’ll learn the steps required for affiliate success. And you’ll get to keep the free website!

Final Thoughts

Like anyone else, South Africans are given the same privileges to begin an affiliate marketing career. The world is open to the internet, and many South Africans have already taken this opportunity and become successful at this.

I hope this has opened your eyes to what’s out there. You don’t need to be stuck in your office job any more. Start your new online blog now and grow until you’re ready to ditch your day job.

Maybe you don’t have a day job. If so, you’ll have more time on your hands to make a great start.

All the best to a new online career.