Affiliate Marketing 101

I’m sure for many the first question to that headline is, “How can I make money from affiliate marketing”? This approach to making money on the internet is known as affiliate marketing. You market other people’s products and when they make a sale you get a commission on that sale. Affiliate marketing can be a way for people to get started making money from the internet without having to spend tons of time creating and marketing their own products. Just know that this isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Just like any other business, you will have to put in some hard work and keep at it before it will pay off. For those willing to learn the ropes and put in the work affiliate marketing can be a source of passive income that can supplement your regular income, or even let you run your affiliate marketing business full time.

What makes affiliate marketing something the average person can get into? First, you can reach just about anybody in the world who has Internet access if you market products online. That means a wide market, which can translate into large profits. Setting up an online business requires only a fraction of the cost required to set up a brick and mortar business establishment. This is an advantage for those wanting to start a business but without a lot of money to invest.

There will obviously be some startup costs. Unless you can design a web site and set up a hosting package you will have to hire someone to do those things. But with a web site built on WordPress, you can run your web site with minimal training once it is set up. (If you need a web site and web hosting package feel free to contact me.)

As I stated earlier, you don’t have to have your own products when you do affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you can start making money by selling other people’s products. Getting started with this kind of marketing is actually pretty straight forward. You can start out by signing up for a program with a web site called ClickBank or even Amazon. Both are easy to join and every time you send someone to the seller’s site and they make a purchase you receive a commission. Some commissions on Clickbank are half or more of the sale price.

The merchant provides the affiliate with banners and text ads that link to his site. The affiliate will then post the banner or text link ads on their website. The affiliate will get paid whenever traffic or sales is directed to the merchant’s website. Affiliates are often paid on commission basis, although other online merchants may opt to pay a fixed fee.

Starting to make money online with affiliate marketing is relatively quick and easy. You just need to sign up as an affiliate for an online company that offers affiliate programs. An alternative method is to sign up as a member of an affiliate network—a network that hosts a variety of affiliate programs for different online merchants or retailers. Signing up is usually free, although some companies and networks may require you to pay a fee. The fees are usually made as payment for additional services that the company may offer, like providing you with tools and assistance to jumpstart your online business.

When you sign up with an affiliate marketing program, you are usually required to fill out a form containing information about yourself. Some affiliate programs may also require you to present the URL of your website and describe its contents. This will allow the retailers to verify that you actually have a website with content that relates to their products. Some affiliate programs don’t require you to have a website. You can choose the affiliate programs you want to promote and build your web site around them.

After signing up with an affiliate program and being an actual affiliate, you are now ready to start making money selling other people’s product online. How do you make money? There are actually a number of ways for you to earn money as an affiliate, and most of these ways depend on the type of affiliate marketing program you’ve joined.

Many affiliate marketing programs compensate their affiliates in one of three ways: pay-per-click (PPC), pay-per-sale (PPS), or pay-per-lead (PPL). For pay-per-click affiliate marketing you are paid whenever you direct traffic to the merchant’s site. PPS and PPL affiliate marketing programs work differently. In PPS, you get paid when the sale is completed by the customer. In typical PPS affiliate programs you are typically paid 15% to 20% commission for each conversion. PPL affiliate programs work the same way. Affiliates are paid a fixed fee whenever a referral converts to a lead for the company.

Some affiliate marketing programs are two-tier programs. In a two-tier program the affiliate is also allowed to sign up other affiliates for the merchant. In a two-tier program you as the referring affiliate would not only be paid for the traffic or sales that you direct to the merchant’s site, but also for the traffic or sales referred by the affiliates who signed up with the program through your recommendation.

Yet another way of earning more profits through affiliate marketing is through a residual affiliate program. Residual affiliate programs are affiliate programs where you get paid a number of times for as long as the merchant keeps the customer you have referred to his web site. One form of residual program pays a commission to the affiliate marketer every time the referred customer purchases something on the merchant’s site. Another form of residual affiliate program gets the affiliate paid a percentage every month for as long as the company keeps the referred customer.

With a lot of options available and a lot of ways to earn money, affiliate marketing is undoubtedly the most popular and the easiest way to make money by selling other people’s products online. As to how much money one can make from affiliate marketing, that actually depends on the drive and determination of the affiliate. A dedicated and hardworking affiliate can certainly from affiliate marketing compared to someone who doesn’t put in the effort and work needed to succeed.

Let me know your thoughts about affiliate marketing in the comments below.