Let’s face it: there are a lot of ways you can supposedly earn money online. Some are legit – ask Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the world’s richest person. Some are frauds. But one of the most common, real, and legal ways to make some money online is through affiliate marketing.
That’s not to say affiliate marketing is a way to get rich quick. Nor is it a guaranteed path to success. It takes a lot of hard work, research, and perhaps even some luck to do it right. But before we get into any of that, let’s take a look at what it is and how it works.
Affiliate Marketing: The Concept
The premise behind affiliate marketing is that you can earn a commission from a seller when you refer a buyer to them. It’s a tried-and-true practice that goes back long before the internet was even thought of. Heck, we’re pretty sure it dates to before the printing press was developed. Or even before written language! It’s the basic principle that if you help me to get ahead, I should give you something in return.
Nowadays, affiliate marketing is a term for the same concept when it comes to online sales. You can become an “affiliate” of someone else’s site and help promote their sales. You might do that through your website or social media. If the user clicks your link to the seller’s site then makes the purchase, you get a percentage (or sometimes a flat rate) of the sale.
Short form: you get someone to click on a link on your site to go to another site to make a purchase. And you get part of the profits.
How Much Can You Earn?
Payments for affiliates can vary widely. Some people struggle to make a few dollars a month while others make thousands. Commission rates can range from 1% to over 10% depending on who you partner with.
A lot of success depends on finding the right niche. You have to pick a topic or theme for the site that’s narrow enough to focus on but broad enough to cover a range of related topics – and products.
For instance, you might consider “home decor.” A quick disclaimer, though: we haven’t researched this to know if it would be a good idea or not!
Anyway, you want to write about home decor. You have a lot of ideas, you have access to tons of photos. And you know you could become an affiliate of a site (or even several sites) that sell a lot of products you would recommend.
Before going any further, we’d suggest you do a lot of research. What’s the competition like? Are there a lot of other sites in this same niche? What would make your site unique? “Home decor” might be too broad, but perhaps you could concentrate on loft apartments. That’s a more limited audience, but still a sizable one.
Then you have to develop website content that will attract people to your site. In our experience, it’s never a good idea to create a site that simply does review articles. You’ll need something broader. How-to pieces, photo articles, ideas on managing space, and other ideas are more likely to attract users to your site than a piece on “best area carpet.”
Of course, that type of article is going to allow you to create other branches on your site that do contain reviews.
As you might expect, not every online review is drawn from personal experience. But the best ones are. However, you also have a wide range of places to draw information from. Most major e-commerce sites allow customer reviews. You can also find information on other sites.
It’s important to not rave about a product in the hopes of making a big commission, though. Be as honest as possible; that’s what will keep people coming back to your site. Share the information you’ve discovered through your research – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Your users will appreciate it.
Where To Find Affiliate Partners
Many e-commerce platforms offer affiliate programs. Amazon is the best known and biggest of course. But it may not carry the types of products you’re interested in reviewing.
Home Depot and Lowe’s have affiliate programs as well. So does Walmart.com. But we’ve also seen smaller, more specialized sellers that have programs. Shop around and check out commission rates and program rules, too! A higher rate shouldn’t be the only deciding factor. For instance, if your partner pays you 8% on the item you linked to, it could still be worse than getting 5% on everything the user buys within 24 hours.
That is to say that some partners pay on the entire purchase, not just a single item. You may review fuzzy dice, and your user clicks on that. But they end up buying a new muffler and tires, too. That could mean you get a commission on all of that!
Search around carefully to find the right partner. There are a lot of options. Read what they have to offer. Read the fine print – it can be a pain! But it’s important to know, and follow, all their rules to the “T” or you’re likely to lose your affiliate status.
Skills Needed
A lot of the skills for affiliate marketing are the same as those for SEO. You have to do a lot of keyword research to understand what people are searching for. You need to be able to create good, clear, and thorough content. You have to have a site that offers a great user experience.
You also have to understand the psychology of the consumer. What do they want to know? What will be interesting to them?
And of course, you should know the area you’re writing about – or hire someone who does. Otherwise, you run the risk of providing inaccurate information, and that can quickly doom your website. You want to establish yourself as a trustworthy advisor in your niche, so it’s essential to get the facts right.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is one way you can make money online. There are no guarantees and it does take a lot of research to find the right niche and develop the proper content. However, once you do this, you can attract users to your site. They’ll gladly follow your recommendations and make purchases from your e-commerce partner, allowing you to earn great commissions! Be patient, and feel free to contact us with any questions.