You don’t have to be a genius in order to make money with affiliate marketing. In fact, in this article we’re going to show you how anyone can earn income with affiliate marketing.
When we say anyone, we mean it in every sense of the word. Affiliate marketing is so powerful because it enables people to utilize the reputation and credibility of other entities in order to make money.
There’s no real risk on the part of the affiliate marketer and the amount of money they can make it completely up to them.
In this article I’m going let you in on the truth about affiliate marketing, what type of person you have to be in order to succeed as well as different ways to earn as an affiliate.
THE TRUTH ABOUT AFFILIATE MARKETING
First, affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
You’ll have to be willing to work in order to be successful as an affiliate.
You will be earning a commission by means of promoting someone else’s product or service.
The process is quite simple. You find a product/service you know will help your customers and start recommending it to them. When a sale is made via your affiliate link, then you’ll earn a profit for every sale.
Commissions can be big or small and you can promote virtually anything. There are products out there where you can earn over $1,000 commission per sale.
Affiliate marketing offers a chance at a life most people can only dream about who have a conventional job. How do these perks sound to you?
Having time and freedom to do whatever you want because a lot of your business is run on autopilot and is mostly passive. (I have to add that it will take a LOT of work to get to this point).
- Having the chance to have the amount of money you make be unlimited and based on your performance, not the time you put in like at a regular job.
- Having a chance to provide value and help people solve problems. The bulk of the items you’d be promoting are going to be geared towards helping people solve problems or you can choose to focus solely on these types of products.
- Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.
You are your own boss and you have complete control over your earning potential with affiliate marketing.
WHAT DO I MEAN BY “ANYONE”
Anyone can be successful as an affiliate because there’s no real hard qualifications required.
There’s no barrier to entry. Most of what’s required to be successful is intrinsic. Answer the questions below and if your answer is yes to all of them (except the last one ????), then you can be a successful affiliate marketer.
Are you willing to work hard, especially in the beginning to get things off the ground? As you grow you’ll be able to delegate, automate and scale down your actual efforts.
Do you have patience? You’re going to need patience, because you’ll need to find out what works and what doesn’t. You’ll need to see what your niche is and what type of effort it’s going to take before you start seeing significant results. You will also need patience because chances are you will not earn much in the first 3 to 6 months.
Are you consistent? When we say consistent we mean you’ll have to be willing to put in consistent effort in order to earn money, especially in the beginning. Consistency is what will build your business over time. Without it, you will find it harder to succeed.
Do you want to get-rich-quick? There is no getting rich quick with affiliate marketing. So anyone who goes in with this mentality is going to give up as soon as things get even a little tough.
If you answered yes to the first 3 questions, then you’re ready to get started as an affiliate marketer.
WAYS TO EARN ONLINE
The ways you can earn money as an affiliate are virtually endless and some will work better for some than others. Here’s a list of some of the ways you can earn money:
You can promote products and services you already use-The reason this would work is because you’d already have extensive knowledge about such products and services. You’ll be able to talk about them in depth and offer unbiased opinions about them.
You can write reviews-In order to do this right you need to have actually used the product/service that you’re promoting. People want unbiased reviews they can really use in order to make a purchasing decision. You could leave your affiliate link somewhere in the review or a link to another product if the review isn’t good overall. You can do written reviews, audio reviews or even make video product reviews.
You can write tutorials-Tutorials are another means to help drive targeted traffic. If you do them correctly then you can get consistent traffic, but you’d need to make sure you branded yourself well. This way people would know who they were dealing with and that the tutorials you create are top-notch.
Build lists-Building lists requires you to ask people to provide their name and email address. You would usually ask for this in exchange for a free report or some other free content you’re providing. You build a targeted list, build a relationship with the people on it and then recommend products you’re an affiliate for.
You can be a freelancer-Being a freelancer isn’t affiliate marketing, but you can use your blog or website to promote you or someone else’s services. You could work out a deal with another freelancer where you’d get paid for leads you send them or when they get a paying client due to your efforts.
You can provide solutions for the people in your niche-The solutions you provide will have to be genuine and effective if you want to be trusted and eventually be successful. You can sometimes offer free information and sometimes paid. You want to be as authentic as possible though. This is called Affiliate marketing!
The beauty of affiliate marketing is that it doesn’t discriminate. If you have the drive and the desire, then you can build a serious income being an affiliate. You’ll need the right tools and advice as you go, but as you get going you’ll see how through diligence alone you can make more than what the majority of people make in a regular job.
HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL AFFILIATE MARKETER?
I believe affiliate marketing is the best way to earn an income online. The business model is simple (not easy) and scalable. There is very little, if any, up front cost and the risk is minimal. All you need is the determination and the drive to carry it through.
The model is simple:
- pick an audience. This is often called a niche
- create a blog
- attract an audience by delivering the best possible content.
- monetize
If you follow these steps, you will be successful in affiliate marketing. The problem is that it is very hard to perform the tasks needed to implement these steps for enough time to see any results.
You see, most people don’t make a dime in affiliate marketing. Not because it is hard. They fail because they don’t have the discipline to put in the work for months without seeing income.
They expect money “right away”. And that is just not the way affiliate marketing works. You need to invest a ton of time and effort up front. You will only start reaping the rewards months after you get started.
But the wait will be worth it!
NEED A LITTLE HELP GETTING STARTED?
As I mentioned above, affiliate marketing is not hard. It just takes hard work. If you are willing to do the hard work, I can help you get things going with a blueprint and the tools you need.
I will point you to FREE resources that will walk you through step-by-step on how to pick a niche, and create a working website (in less than a minute).
You will have 10 free lessons that will give you the foundation you need to find success in affiliate marketing – for FREE
I hope you found the content of this post helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please put them in the section below. I love to hear from you and I try hard to answer every question to the best of my abilities.
To your affiliate success,
Mike
Finding the right niche is really important. I’m getting into affiliate marketing recently and picked the new mom niche. I just did all kinds of research myself on the topic. So I’m marketing to the demographic I was just a customer for and so know it well. I’m really enjoying the part about helping people learn the things I spent hours researching. I think it’s worth it!
Hi Nicole,
I am glad you found a niche that you enjoy. The good news is that you will be able to provide a ton of actionable content to your audience because you know it so well. Good luck to you and to new baby!
Thanks for the thorough review Mike about affiliate marketing. I personally agree with you, I think affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways in making a lot of money online without creating any products. All you have to do is promote other people’s product and earn a commission for it.
However, people also needs to understand that they need to invest the time, money and effort in getting started. But once the program is up and running, the money keeps flowing and flowing. For me I will definitely encourage people to give affiliate program a chance and sign up for your number 1 recommendation. It’s life changing.
Kuu,
Thank you so much for your insightful comment! Affiliate marketing is, in my humble opinion, the best way to start an online business. With a good blueprint and some patience, the sky is the limit. The program I recommend is amazing. I know it works because I use it!
I have been trying to do affiliate marketing for some time now, but did not know about some of the ways you have shared in this post. Basically, I have been promoting products and writing reviews. However, I would really like to build a list. I am not sure of the best approach. What is the best way to start my list? Any suggestions to start will be appreciated.
Hi Carol! Thanks for your question. Building a list is a fantastic way to generate passive income. The easiest way to start is to offer your readers something in exchange for their email address. Most people will create a mini-course to offer their readers. Give it a shot and let me know how you do!