With the changing world and all its changing ways, the way we do business has taken a leap too. The world of E-commerce has grown on a large scale and many people are turning towards it. The biggest advantage of working online is that it is an opportunity available for all age groups. If you are looking to make money online, then you ought to try affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing? Basically, as an affiliate marketer you place an ad or a link to a particular product/service that belongs to another company and earn commission for any sales made through your marketing efforts.
Drive Traffic to your Vendor
In the field of affiliate marketing, you refer to potential customers as traffic (on your website). The building blocks of your career as an affiliate is a relationship based on trust and loyalty which works both ways. You get paid a commission for making a sale or for simply leading traffic to your seller.
Affiliate marketing has existed before its success as an online business. It was Amazon.com that launched its own affiliate program and ran it successfully. It worked something like this; an affiliate placed a link on a website and upon clicking that link purchased a book or some other product on Amazon.com. On this sale, the affiliate would earn a commission. In 2000, Amazon.com received a patent for their methods.
Affiliate Marketing Growth with Social Media
We have read above that affiliate marketing is a growing industry. It is a multimillion dollar industry with the graph still going up. The introduction of social media has had a positive effect on affiliate marketing. Instant communication, blogging, sharing, rating and posting have all become useful tools of marketing.
If you are thinking of how much you could earn as an affiliate, then think of a number between 25% and 70%. Rates depend program to program and conditions are also different for all. While some programs might pay you for making an actual sale, others might pay you for number of clicks or leads.
Yes, I know the numbers are looking very attractive, like gold left for grabs. But for you to earn that much commission, you need to do the business right. If you succeed in driving traffic on your merchant’s website, they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is why you see people looking for opportunities as an affiliate marketer.
Below is a list of advantage of working as an affiliate marketer:
- No development or stock holding costs. All costs are dealt by the merchant.
- In case of tangible costs, shipping will provided by the merchant bearing all the costs.
- After sale services will be provided by the merchant.
- You can work with more than one product or contracts at a time.
- There are multiple products to choose from according to your niche.
- Minimal or no set up costs, you need only have a website of your own.
- Your product and offer are available to all around the globe making a much larger potential customers list.
- In case of intangible products, commission can be up to 70%.
- No defined working hours. Money can be made 24/7/365.
The first step of your career as an affiliate marketer is research. Remember, research is the key. Look thoroughly on the web at niches and products. Once you decide and then create a website in accordance to your chosen niche.
3 Reasons to Use Affiliate Marketing To Start Your Online Business
If you are looking to make money online, there are two ways to do so. By selling products or services. If you are looking for a long-term contract and making a working relationship, then opt for product marketing. Below are three reasons why:
- You Get To Test What Works
You must have seen hundreds of claims online that go something like “make easy money” and “get rich now”. Sorry to crush your dreams, but that’s not true. Neither is the fact that you get to earn money without any effort. To be successful as an affiliate marketer, you need to learn from your own experience. Read my “affiliate marketing for beginners” guide.
You need to be able to survive any bumps that might be on your way. If you are indeed looking for a long-term contract, then find something you are passionate about. If you aren’t certain, then experiment and learn and find out what is it makes you excited and yearn to work.
You Can Figure Out Where Passion and Profit Meets
I won’t believe you if you said you don’t have any passion. It’s just not possible neither acceptable. These days everything can be turned into a business idea and no matter how exclusive your passion might be. All you need to do is identify it and look for products on the market accordingly.
There is another thing you can try. If you have money to invest and are willing to, then you can try to develop new products to test. You never know what might click.
If you do not want to be the only one to take all the risk then you can look for other product creators and collaborate with them. You can look areas in the niche that have worth and can be materialized. Once you find out via testing what clicks, you have cracked the code!
- Diversity Is The Key To Establishing Your Business
The initial three years of a business are critical for setting up a successful blog, 75% business can’t seem to make through. In case of an online business, the rate of failing businesses is even higher. But on the plus side, for an online business you do not need a fancy degree or years and years of experience.
What you can do is try to work with multiple niches instead of just one. In case your niche is not in demand anymore or not trending, then you have a plan B.
To be successful as an affiliate marketer you need to be aware of all the possible consequences you can face and have guidance from someone who has experience. All the help that you need is available online, you need only find it.
