When it comes to earning money, the internet now offers endless possibilities. More workers than ever before are now doing some kind of online freelance work, with many saying that technology makes it easier. With the growth of the gig economy, making money online has never been easier. Affiliate marketing is one popular way to make money on the internet. Some people use it as a way to make some extra cash in their spare time while others make a full-time income from it. Let’s take a look at how affiliate marketing works and how to make money from it.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Put simply, affiliate marketing involves selling goods and services on behalf of another company or person. It works similar to a referral service, where you will set up a blog or website and join relevant affiliate programs that your audience may be interested in. You connect with these programs through affiliate networks, which give you a link that you can include on your site for your viewers to click through to the products or services that you are promoting. When somebody clicks the link and purchases the product, you will earn a portion of the sale as a commission.
How Much Can You Earn?
The industry of affiliate marketing is growing at a steady pace. According to Statista, spending on affiliate marketing was predicted to reach more than $8bn by 2022, which is up significantly from just over $5bn in 2007 and just over $1.5bn in 2010. Another study looked closer at the amount of money that affiliate marketers are bringing in. A survey of affiliate marketers in 2016 found that just under 10% of marketers earned over $50k in the year. A huge number of companies that work with affiliate marketers earned between five and twenty percent of their revenue from affiliate programs. There was also a clear link between revenue and experience, with 60% of the merchants that had the most revenue working as affiliate marketers for more than five years.
Benefits and Downsides of Affiliate Marketing:
The main benefit of this type of marketing is that you can pretty much earn as little or as much revenue as you want on autopilot once you have set the affiliate marketing site up and got it running. All you will need is a steady flow of traffic to your website or blog to continue making money. However, there are some downsides to consider. For example, if a company changes the terms of its affiliate program, this might directly affect your revenue. In addition, it’s important to make sure that you become an affiliate for the right reasons because your revenue might be affected otherwise. If you’re not passionate about what you are promoting, your audience might not feel compelled to buy the services or products that you list. And finally, you’ll need to keep up with posting fresh content to your website to keep your audience interested.
Developing a Successful Affiliate Marketing Strategy:
Getting started in affiliate marketing is relatively easy, but it’s not always quite as easy to use it to generate a sustainable website based passive income. If you are considering trying it out, laying the groundwork first is essential. Begin by thinking about your audience – what kinds of services and products do they want? What products or services do you currently use that you would be able to recommend to your audience? Research individual affiliate programs to compare the structures of each, considering factors such as the size of the commission and how often affiliates are paid by the company. Make sure that you thoroughly read the rules for members and that you understand and are in agreement with them.
