What is affiliate marketing and does it work? Affiliate sales are more important now than they have ever been as online shopping goes to a whole new level.
What do you sell as an Affiliate?
This is starting at the finish line but it is the most common question asked so we will answer it first.
Then we will have a look at how you go about it and the benefits you will achieve by reading further.
There are millions of products available to sell and the way to start is for you to find an interesting niche or area you want to sell in. It does not matter what it is there is a market for whatever you choose if you do it properly.
A friend of mine was a Chiropractor, a very good one with a full book of customers. John started online by recommending a bed that worked with sore backs and the benefits that a particular brand has. Within 12 months he had to give up his surgery work because the beds needed more time and were generating a better income than his daily work. Incidentally, an income we would all like to achieve.
The tyre store
Another had a Tyre store, again a good store but involved a lot of manual work that staff could do better.
He now sells Tyres Wholesale across the country to end customers with an online service. They are installed by contractors and delivered by the Brand so all he sees is the money.
Another does product reviews, picking several products to write about and rate. She is an affiliate for them all so even the bad reviews get sales and she gets a commission.
Solar energy is a big one, high-value sales and commission and a growing market although very competitive. I did some research recently for a contract and what I found were front line marketers referring to customers.
Let me explain;
They have a website or blog that gives you an understanding of solar and probably a giveaway ebook. To get the ebook you need to give your name, email address and suburb.
They then offer to send you free quotes from honest and recommended locals. If one of the three gets a job they get paid an affiliate commission, probably in the region of $500
This same scheme is done with Insurance, Health and Finance services across all countries.
What is affiliate marketing and does it work
Types of affiliate income
- One-off sales commission in dollars
- Recurring commission paid every month
- Percentage of sales from as low as 1.5% up to high 60%
Many businesses pay a fixed dollar amount
Wealthy Affiliate web hosting pays every month the member is with them
Amazon pays a percentage of the sales, sometimes pretty minor
Start thinking of ideas for affiliate commission
The best way to start is to think of an area in which you would like to participate.
It might be health, or sport, music or food any idea that holds your interest and excites you.
Next break that down further so that it is not so broad, for example health down to exercise, for old men with fat bellies and bad hearts. Just so you get the idea.
Then do a Google search like Google.com(space) fat bellies affiliates and a list will come up.
In fact, finding affiliate sites is the easy bit, finding good sites takes a bit more work. Wealthy Affiliate has a list of thousands of sites that are easy to access. Click Bank, Commission Junction, CJ affiliates, JV Zoo and many more make up a heady list.
Preparation to be an affiliate
It is not impossible to put your hand up and say I want to be an affiliate, Amazon will take you however they will lose you just as quickly.
Most businesses want some proof of the capacity that you have to sell a product
The idea is to build a page, post or funnel to get potential customers to read your stuff and then link to the buyer site and make a purchase. In return, you get paid a percentage of the sale.
However, it all revolves around finding customers.
To build a web site at a low cost or free is really easy in these modern times.
You must understand all this before you start.
You need to know the basics of a webpage building, SEO, linking and finding customers.
They are the central ingredients of your future.
I cannot teach you this in a short post however you can learn all the basics by clicking the above and for free if you so chose. This will give you good grounding and a Free Web page set up and ready to earn.
Retailers want good affiliates because it means extra sales at a low cost.
Why are affiliates good for business?
You are probably thinking affiliates don't add a lot to your business, but in fact, they are a great return in income.
Any business has to attract customers and there is what we call a cost-of-sale.
Your premises, painting, web page, marketing, branding and image all contribute to your cost of sale. All of these things add up and get amortized over the sales.
In many cases, this could be 40-50% of the margin. They advertise and market to get sales and this requires people and expertise all adding to the cost.
An Affiliate sale is virtually free of encumbrances because you have done all the work.
For the Seller to package the product and send it out is low cost so to give you 20-30% of the deal is worthwhile.
There is a chance they may have 1000 affiliates all selling on average one product a month
so they rack up 1000 extra sales.
Wealthy Affiliate has many hundreds of thousands of affiliates because that is their market. So if everyone brings in a new paying customer a month you will see how they are miles ahead.
Plus as a term contract, you get paid part of every month's bill as long as the customer lasts.
furthermore, Wealthy affiliate earns every month as well thus growing their income.
This is often the case in Web Hosting, Data Storing, Training or where consistent monthly billing is paid.
The best business in town.
If you get paid a recurring income for every customer you introduce you can build a business.
One customer might earn you $24 a month or $288 per year but what about a hundred customers? All in a full year is $ $28,800 a year for what?
Because you introduced them to the business. This could go on for many years.
What is affiliate marketing and does it work.
Don't confuse affiliate marketing with MLM
Multi-level marketing is where you sell the product on behalf of the company. Take examples like Amway, Herbalife etc.
You handle the transaction on their behalf by following their rules.
This then leads into Pyramid selling which we all know is illegal. In most cases, you are only introducing people to a scheme and not providing a real product. This is generally associated with very slick marketing and promises of untold wealth, fast cars and extravagant boats.
Don't be caught in the vortex because when you come out you will be damaged forever.
Conclusion
It does not take a big skill set or a large pot of money to become a successful affiliate. Yes, some time and training are needed but you can grow quickly to master the ways of wealth creation.
I talked about it at 5 Steps with no money if you want some other ideas.
What is affiliate marketing and does it work by Peter Hanley
Home
