Do you want to monetise your content? Do you want to earn money from home, while you travel, and even while you sleep? With affiliate marketing, you can achieve all that and more.
Affiliate marketing is a popular business model for bloggers, publishers and content creators. Many of your favourite YouTubers, TikTokers and writers derive a significant percentage of their income from affiliate marketing.
Leading content creators can generate five (sometimes even six) figures in monthly affiliate commissions. Combined with other revenue streams such as ad revenue, and merch sales, affiliate marketing offers great earning potential.
Multiple streams of passive income is the ultimate goal for any content creator, and with affiliate marketing you have the opportunity to start, grow and sustain a profitable ‘lifestyle’ enterprise.
In this post, you’ll learn the fundamentals of affiliate marketing, what it is, how to get started and how to maximise your revenue.
Let’s dive in!
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is a performance-based business model where individuals (affiliates) earn commissions for promoting another company’s (merchant) products or services. Content, campaigns and promotions are used by affiliates to drive traffic, leads and sales through unique tracking links.
When a customer clicks the unique tracking link and purchases a product within a specified time frame (usually 30-90 days), a commission is earned. This commission can be a percentage of the sale, or a flat rate.
There are three key players involved in the affiliate marketing process; the merchant (creates products), the advertiser (promotes products) and the customer (buys products). The affiliate (you) acts as a bridge between merchant and customer.
Affiliate marketing is an appealing revenue stream because of it’s low barrier to entry and earning potential. It doesn’t require any product development, purchasing or warehousing and can be run from a laptop, or smartphone anywhere in the world.
The Pros of Affiliate Marketing
Now that you know what affiliate marketing is, here are the main benefits:
- Low barrier to entry. All you need is a single social media account and an affiliate product to start affiliate marketing.
- Low start up costs. Build an entire business without developing, purchasing, warehousing or distributing any products. Content creation is your main expense.
- Follow interests and passions. Create content about things you are passionate about and the problems you want to help people solve.
- Work from home. Work from home, or anywhere with an internet connection, using a laptop or smartphone.
- Passive Income. Earn money ‘passively’, when you travel, rest and sleep. Get paid multiple times for your efforts.
- Scalability. Affiliate revenue can be scaled with strategy and systems, as opposed to working more hours.
The Cons of Affiliate Marketing
There are many reasons to start affiliate marketing, but it’s no walk in the park. Here are some of the obstacles and pitfalls that you should look out for:
- Time to profitability. Affiliate marketing is easy to get started but it takes time to build traffic, engagement, trust and revenue.
- Affiliate network acceptance. Some affiliate networks, especially those that offer high-ticket items, have more stringent criteria for acceptance. You often need to build out your content and follower base first.
- Competition. Every niche has a pool of competitors creating similar content and promoting similar products. A great strategy is required to cut through the noise consistently and produce a sustainable income.
- High-traffic requirements. If you promote lower priced products, you will need a high amount of traffic and sales to make it worthwhile. Higher priced products, on the other hand, require fewer sales and traffic to produce an income you can survive on.
- Consistency. You can’t just create a piece of content and sit back while the cheques roll in. Affiliate marketing requires consistency and iteration to be successful.
Top 5 Affiliate Marketing Networks
The top affiliate marketing networks include Amazon Associates, ClickBank, CJ Affiliate, Impact and PartnerStack, each with different strengths and products to promote. Here’s an overview of the most popular affiliate platforms:
Amazon Associates: The most widely known affiliate programme, offering a wide range of products to promote, from books to electronics. Great for getting started.
ClickBank: Global affiliate marketplace, founded in 1998. Over 6 million users worldwide. Focus on digital products (eBooks, courses).
CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction): Previously know as Commission Junction, a global affiliate marketing network known for high-profile brands and advanced tools.
impact.com: BuzzFeed, CNN, The Times, Forbes and TikTok partner with Impact to promote well known brands such as Shopify, Squarespace, Uber, Adidas, Coach and Target.
PartnerStack: Ideal for B2B and SaaS companies. Founded in 2015, partners include Intuit, Asana, Freshworks, Zendesk, Aircall, Intercom, and more.
4 Steps to Start Affiliate Marketing
Now that we’ve identified the leading affiliate marketing networks, it’s time to sign up and create your first affiliate offer.
Here’s how to start affiliate marketing in 4 simple steps:
Step 1: Join an Affiliate Program
Create an account with Amazon Associates (https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/). The sign up process is easy and you can start recommending products right away.
Once you have your account set up and a link ID, make a list of products that you would like to recommend. Target a single niche to begin with and try to be specific rather than broad with your choices. For example, the best podcast microphones rather than technology in general.
If you want to focus on software and higher-ticket items, identify which affiliate programmes offer are available in your niche. A simple Google search will uncover potential networks. For example, best fashion affiliate programs.
We recommend creating a spreadsheet to keep track of the networks you have joined, the products you recommend and their link IDs. This resource will make things easier for you as you grow your affiliate marketing business.
Step 2: Review Products in your Niche
Choose which kind of content you are going to produce (blog posts, podcasts, videos, shorts) and create your first product review. What platforms and formats do your target audience consume the most?
Videos, especially short-form TikToks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts have exploded in popularity. They’re easy to create and easy to consume, showcasing products in a quick and engaging way.
Whichever platform you use, the most important thing to remember is to be original, honest and authentic.
Consumers can smell a scam a mile away these days, so aim to be a credible source from the outset. Try to recommend products that you use, have tested, or have experience with.
Product reviews, best of lists, try-on hauls and unboxing are all popular types of content. They help answer buyers questions and are a proven way to drive affiliate sales.
Whenever you mention products in your content, add your affiliate link. This can be within the body of a blog post, as a link in the description, or as a link in bio using Linktree, or any of the other link in bio tools.
When someone clicks on an affiliate link, a cookie is stored on their device. This tracks their activity, and if they make a purchase within the cookie window (usually 30 to 90 days), you receive a commission for the sale.
Step 3: Build an Email List
Social Media, Content Marketing, SEO and PPC are all great ways to build awareness, but in order to build an affiliate marketing business you need an engaged email list.
Too many affiliate marketers rely on social media and search engine traffic to earn commissions, putting themselves at the mercy of search engine and social media algorithms.
Which, as we know, can change overnight.
The best way to run your affiliate marketing business is with email. It’s still one of the most effective marketing channels today, offering a more reliable way to build trust over the long-term.
You don’t need 1000 names on your list either, just a few hundred engaged readers and buyers is enough to generate significant sales.
Add an opt-in form to your website and socials to start collecting names. You can offer a free PDF to increase opt-ins, and publish a monthly newsletter to keep them active.
Establish a regular schedule (weekly or monthly) to ensure subscribers keep opening and engage with your emails.
Step 4: Grow Your Business with PPC Advertising
Once you start making money with affiliate marketing, you can grow your business with PPC Advertising.
Create PPC Campaigns and Ads that promote your products, stimulate email sign-ups and drive traffic to your best performing blog posts. This will increase your sales and give you more actionable insights to make further improvements.
Make sure to check the terms and conditions of your affiliate network as not all of them allow PPC advertising.
Best Affiliate Marketing Books
- Affiliate Marketing For Dummies, by Ted Sudol & Paul Mladjenovic
- Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: From Side Hustle to Financial Freedom in 10 Simple Steps, by Shane Finley
- From Nothing: Everything You Need to Profit from Affiliate Marketing, by Ian Pribyl
- Affiliate Marketing: The Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide, by Kevin Ulaner
- Evergreen Affiliate Marketing: Master the Mindset, Learn the Strategies and Apply the Systems Used by the World’s Wealthiest Affiliate Marketers, by Nate McCallister
- Crush It! Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion, by Gary Vaynerchuk
- $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No, by Alex Hormozi
- DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online, by Russell Brunson
- Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Website and Funnels with Your Dream Customers, by Russell Brunson
- Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing, by Simon Kingsnorth
Affiliate Marketing Quotes
“Affiliate marketing has made business millions and ordinary people millionaires.” – Robert Foster Bennett
“It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme; it’s a serious business model.” – John Chow
“The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to invest the time and effort to create a product to sell.” – Mike Stelzner
“Being an affiliate marketer is very cost-effective. You don’t have to put much money in an affiliate program in order to gain a lot.” – Russell Brunson
“Affiliate marketing is not a ‘push-button’ solution. It takes focus and commitment, and a certain choreography to make it happen the way you want it to.” – Pat Flynn
“Affiliate marketing is an excellent opportunity if you truly believe in the value of the product you’re selling. Because many times, you can make money off of something you would probably recommend anyway.” – Neil Patel
“The true power of affiliate marketing is harnessed when you recommend products that you truly believe in.” – Syed Balkhi
“Many people who get into affiliate marketing do so with the same mindset: making money first, and thinking of their audience second (if they think of them at all!). That’s a recipe for disaster or at least lousy results.” – Pat Flynn
“It’s the ultimate win-win situation. All affiliates get something from the arrangement, as does the company running the affiliate program, making it a mutually beneficial relationship.” – Russell Brunson
“There’s no point in getting into affiliate marketing if you can’t monetize it, and you can’t drive traffic and sales. You’d just be spinning your wheels.” – Neil Patel
Frequently Asked Questions
To start affiliate marketing, pick a niche that you have expertise in and passion for, join an affiliate network (like Amazon Associates, ShareASale or ClickBank), choose products to promote, create valuable content consistently (reviews, how-to’s) with affiliate links included, and drive traffic to those links.
Affiliate programmes like Amazon Associates and ShareASale are ideal for beginners because they offer a wide variety of products to promote and user-friendly interfaces. They also have resources to help you get up and running.
There are a few ways to increase affiliate marketing revenue. These include: 1. Promote higher priced products with 10-50% commission rates, 2. Get more specific with your niche and target audience, 3. Build an engaged audience, 4. Build an email list, 5. Increase the amount of traffic to your affiliate links.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is a popular business model for bloggers, publishers and content creators. It allows almost anyone with a laptop and an internet connection to start, grow and sustain a profitable ‘lifestyle’ enterprise.
If you don’t have the time or the skills to develop product, affiliate marketing is a great way to earn a part-time, or even a full-time income. Leading content creators can generate five (sometimes even six) figures in monthly affiliate commissions.
Choose your niche, find products to review and keep creating content. It really is that simple to start affiliate marketing.