Earning a passive income online has quickly become a goal and priority for many people. Even while having a well-paying job, an entrepreneur’s mind will always find ways to make passive income.
When it comes to passive income, affiliate marketing cannot be neglected. Let’s explore what affiliate marketing is all about.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Those who aren’t aware, affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products and get a commission from each sale. In simple words, affiliate marketers find trending products in the market, promote online it using different techniques, and get an adequate commission.
Understanding Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing for beginners is just about promoting and earning. Well, knowing the basic definition of affiliate marketing isn’t enough to make a decent amount out of it. Don’t worry, as complex as it seems, understanding affiliate marketing isn’t too difficult.
For the starters, there are many affiliate marketing websites and programs. Each offering marketers the ability to select the product of their choice and market it on their own channel i.e. social media pages/groups, websites, paid ads, etc. to make sales.
Top 7 Affiliate Marketing Websites & Programs 2020
The following are some of the most famous, used, and profitable affiliate marketing websites and programs to get started.
- Amazon Associates
- AliExpress
- ShareASale Affiliates
- Clickbank
- eBay Partners
- Shopify Affiliate Program
- MAxBounty
After selecting a product, you will provided with a unique referral link to that product and you will receive a commission from sales made through that link.
Pro Tip: Understand each affiliate program has different time durations for their tracking cookies. Here is how tracking cookies work. If a user opens your unique referral link and doesn’t make a purchase right away instead, he makes a purchase after a few days by directly opening the website, you’ll still receive a commission.
Tracking cookies can vary from 0 to 90 days on average. Terms and conditions apply according to your affiliate network/website.
Moreover, you can also become an affiliate of any dedicated e-commerce site if they offer an affiliate program. Just scroll down to the end of the perspective site and you’ll probably find an option “Become an Affiliate” or “Our Affiliate Program”.
4 Easy Steps to Start Earning Through Affiliate Marketing
So far, we’ve discussed the basics of affiliate marketing. The following are 4 easy steps to set you on the right track.
#1 Find a Niche
Jumping right into any niche (even if it’s your favorite) without any research is a major reason why people fail at affiliate marketing.
Before putting products on your website, you first need to select a niche and maybe its subniche too. For example, if your niche is sports, you can further niche down to sell writing about sneakers, helmets, sports apparel, and more.
#2 Find the Best Affiliate Program
Now is the right time to find an optimal affiliate program. Make sure to go through every affiliate website or program mentioned above and select one that suits your needs. For example, tax filings, your audience (if you already have an audience), and product types matter.
You do not want to promote products to the wrong community, do you?
#3 Create a Site
The easiest way to create a website is WordPress. The majority of affiliate marketing sites on Google are made on WordPress. It offers the best affiliate marketing themes, plugins, and other utilities to help people start affiliate marketing in a limited budget.
#4 Write Valuable & Unique Content
Start creating helpful and valuable content. If your content doesn’t provide value to the user, Google doesn’t care if it’s unique or not. You can post product reviews, comparisons, buying guides, and simple blogposts to promote your affiliate products. Sound good?
For quick results, marketers also leverage paid ads to bring in sales the very first day. Others relying totally on SEO which can take you weeks to make the first sale of your affiliate marketing career.
Good luck with making affiliate marketing your primary source of income.