Affiliate marketing is a method of earning money that allows individuals or businesses to earn a commission by promoting another company’s products or services to consumers. The way it works is simple – an affiliate finds a product they like, promotes it, and receives a percentage of the profit from each sale made through their referral link. For instance, if an affiliate promotes an e-book on their website or social media and a reader buys it, the affiliate earns a commission from the sale of the book.
Affiliate Marketing as a Skill
Affiliate marketing is a very simple and effective concept where affiliates are people who promote a merchant’s products or services to other customers. The digital nature of this advertising model allows businesses to reach more potential customers than traditional marketing methods, all while reducing costs. Furthermore, affiliates can earn passive income, making it a mutually beneficial relationship. In the online world, affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for both businesses and those who affiliate with them.
Affiliate Marketing Quick View
For a quick snapshot, affiliate marketing involves four key players:
- The Affiliate: This is someone like you, promoting the merchant’s product or service.
- The Merchant: The business that is selling the product or service that you are promoting.
- The Affiliate Network: An affiliate program that connects affiliates and merchants.
- The Customer: The individual who purchases the merchant’s product through your promotional affiliate activities.
In this business, each person’s job is different, but they all work together to make affiliate marketing easier and more profitable.
What is affiliate marketing in simple terms?
In the simplest terms, affiliate marketing is a revenue-sharing marketing model where an affiliate earns a commission for directly selling another company’s products or services. With the help of affiliate marketing, the company capitalizes on boosts in potential sales from the affiliate’s marketer efforts, while the affiliate earns a commission for each sale or lead they generate.
How does affiliate marketing work for beginners?
If you’re a beginner who is struggling to figure out the concept of affiliate marketing, you can consider it as a referral program with a digital approach. Here are the simple steps to start an affiliate marketing:
- Join an affiliate program: The first step is to join an affiliate program, where most of these programs are usually free to join and provide you with unique affiliate links that track the traffic and sales you make by selling their products.
- Promote products or services: As an affiliate, you promote the company’s products or services on your digital platforms, such as a blog, social media, even a YouTube channel, or any other source you want to use.
- Earn a commission: When a potential customer clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission, where the commission rate can vary widely depending on the company and the product.
The Key Players in Affiliate Marketing: Affiliates, Merchants, and Customers
When it comes to affiliate marketing, there are three key players: the affiliates, the merchants, and the customers.
- Affiliates: The affiliates are the third-party publishers who promote the company’s products or services through bloggers, social media influencers, or website owners.
- Merchants: These are the companies or individuals who own the products or services being promoted. They set up affiliate programs to give a proper dashboard and unique links to affiliates their products or offerings.
- Customers: These are the users (the source of the affiliate’s commission) who click on the affiliate links and make purchases.
The Different Types of Affiliate Marketing: Unattached, Related, and Involved
There are three main types of affiliate marketing: unattached, related, and involved affiliate marketing.
- Unattached Affiliate Marketing: This is the most basic form of affiliate marketing, where the affiliate has no connection or attachment to the product or service they are promoting. They simply use their digital platforms to generate traffic or leads for the company.
- Related Affiliate Marketing: In this type, the affiliate has a certain level of knowledge or interest in the product or service, but they don’t necessarily make use of it to their advantage.
- Involved Affiliate Marketing: In the involved affiliate marketing, the affiliate uses the product or service they are promoting. They use the products in their lives and share their personal experiences with them, which helps customers to buy products according to their recommendations.
The Affiliate marketers earn money based on the products they sell at a particular time, depending on their amount of revenue. Their income is not fixed, but it can vary anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month to more than six figures a year. For instance, on Amazon, most categories can give around 3-4% commissions and sometimes more depending on the products, so in a promotion of a $100 product, they earn $3 per sale.
