What is Affiliate Marketing – Is it Right For You?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Dictionary Definition of Affiliate Marketing: a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.

Affiliate Marketing is where you earn a % commission from companies whose products you promote on your website.

This type of work is perfect for stay-at-home Mums as it’s flexible, fun and I find it very calming too – which some days can be a God send.

Your website content could be focussed on reviews with a product link, a blog or a selling page.  You see them all over the internet. Practically every page that you search or read has an affiliate link in it somewhere unless the website is the manufacturer website ie. Apple.

It doesn’t cost the customer any extra money, the price of the product doesn’t change, it’s just the website with the product link on gets paid a % commission for promoting that particular company’s product or service.

OK, so the title of this post is What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does it Work? So let’s delve deeper….. You now have a good understanding of what Affiliate Marketing is, I hope, let’s look at the other half of the question.

 

Does it Work? If so, How?

Affiliate Marketing is worth billions every single year and is growing. There are more than 4bn people on line at any one time and guess what they’re doing…. exactly the same as you and I when we go on-line. In fact, just the same as you did just now which bought you here to my site.

People are looking for information – reviews, products to buy, research etc. etc. the list is endless but the bottom line is they are all looking on websites for their answers. And when they find their answers they click on the various links to go to that product or service to find out even more and sometimes they then buy that product.

It is at that point, when they buy the product or service using the link from the website that they were on that a commission is logged to be paid to the owner of that website.

 

Taking into account the billions of people on-line at any one time, then YES, Affiliate Marketing does work and it works extremely well!

It works well for all concerned in the transaction:

• the customer – they found the information that they required to make their purchase
• the Affiliate Marketer – they were able to help the visitor on their site and earned some money in the process
• the Product Manufacturer/distributor – they made another sale and also their products are getting a wider reach across the internet.

 

Who is it Good For?

Because Affiliate Marketing is so flexible it is suitable for a wide range of people, for example:

 

– Ideal for stay-at-home Mums who have given up their job to look after the kids

– For new Mums who want to stay at home with their little additions

– People who want to earn an additional wage on top of their normal job

– Students find this works perfectly around their learning hours

 

The list is pretty much endless but all of these people need to have one thing in common….. they must be committed to working hard and putting in the hours otherwise you will be dabbling at a website which never earns you any money.

Surely you’d much rather earn a passive income further down the line whilst you sleep at night! Put the hard work in first to earn the money later.

 

How Much Can You Earn From it?

How long is a piece of string?

The earning potential is uncapped – there is literally no limit to how much could be earned.

Earnings can come from so many sources once you have your on-line business set up:

• obviously from the Affiliate Links on your website
• Pay Per Click Advertising (Google Adsense)
• selling your own space on your website to advertisers directly who are looking for a presence on certain blogs
• produce and sell your own digital products such as an e-book or e-course – it’s a one-off piece of work which generates sales over and over again
• create an invaluable email list – this is where you get a loyal fan base of your blog or website and they sign up for regular info or offers by giving their email details – but always appreciate your followers, build a relationship with them. Never fill their inboxes with spam or unwanted irrelevant offers as they will unsubscribe in a heart beat.

And the beauty of this business is that you can earn money whilst you sleep! You website is global. People from all over the World can and will visit your site. You can wake up in the morning, check your earnings and start the day with a big smile on your face – surely it doesn’t get better than that?

Warning

This is NOT a Get Rich Quick Scheme! 

 

Do not be under any illusion, this is not for the impatient or fainthearted. You will only get out of your business what you are prepared to put into it!

If you imagine setting up your own business, a shop for instance in the High Street. Everybody knows that your business is unlikely to start seeing a profit for at least the first year or two.

But still people do it.

They work hard, planning and preparing for the set up and the opening of the shop. They continue to work hard all through the year – putting everything in place to give them the best chance of success.

Promotions and marketing have to be planned, suppliers are set up and how will they get more customers through the door? These determined people work tirelessly because they want to reap the benefits of being their own boss and earning their own profits.

This is the same process. Your website is your shop. Your blogs or reviews are your products that customers come into the shop for.

You need to work on getting as much traffic onto your website by adding content to your website. Interesting, informative content. Up to date and accurate information to help your visitors find the answers they are looking for.

Which products or services will you focus on? You will need to sign up to Affiliate Programs so that you can use the links on your website. Think about how else you want to make money on your site?

There are lots of things to think about and a whole load of work to be done.

 

How Long Does it Take?

It all takes time and is dependent upon how much time, work and effort you put into your new business.

After around 6 months you should start seeing some regular commissions coming in – at 12-18 months you could be in a position to quit your full time job because your website is earning you a full-time wage which matches or exceeds your current wage.  In 2-3 years you could be earning double what you’re earning now if not much more.

As I said before, the earnings potential is uncapped.  And these timings may be shorter if you work hard and put the time in.

It is totally up to you. Only you can motivate yourself and do the work.

If you work a full time job and can only start this business as a side line then obviously it takes longer than somebody who might start earning in their 3rd or 4th month if they are working on their websites full time from the off.

If you do have to work on it part-time get into a routine where you spend at least 30 mins to an hour every single day.

Work your butt off at the beginning to reap the benefits later.

 

But How Can I Do It – I Know Nothing About This Stuff?

If you know very little about setting up your own website or digital marketing this must all sound very out of reach and if you are doing it on your own, then yes, it can be very daunting and an extremely slow process with many mistakes made along the way.

The best way to learn all about it is to join an Affiliate training program which uses a step by step process. Learn from people who have done it and know the best route to success.

Be careful though, the internet is full of so-called Affiliate teachers and specialists out there who make unrealistic promises and try to charge you extortionate amounts for their training.

Do not hand over big money based on the promise of instant success and money beyond your wildest dreams coming in after one month – don’t get me wrong, it has been done in the odd exception but certainly not by learning from these people.

Be cautious and make sure you’re certain before parting with any of your hard-earned cash.

From my own personal experience I whole-heartedly  recommend Wealthy Affiliate – they have 2m members at this time – so they must be doing something right! Surely 2m people can’t be wrong!  That’s the question I asked myself prior to joining.

Have a look around the Wealthy Affiliate website and see what it’s all about. Wealthy Affiliate is the number one training program in the industry and there’s a reason for that – IT WORKS!!   Read my full review here.

If you like what you see sign up for the FREE membership and have a really good look around. It’s FREE – no credit card required. No continuous spam emails hounding you to join. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

And the best thing about it is…. it’s so much fun!  

Fun and the potential of unlimited earnings – that’s not a real job is it??!