Affiliate marketing is one of the major sources of funds for most bloggers. It involves using your preferred platform to sell the product or services of other content owners, manufacturers and creators.
Most bloggers and other marketers wish they had a clearer and better grasp of the entire concept around affiliate marketing; the challenge, however, is that it is no easy feat to be successful at affiliate marketing – It takes a lot of hard work, time and consistent efforts to have a breakthrough.
If you are a new blogger, chances are you might be looking for how to turn your blog into a passive income resource. Luckily, you can hit this goal through affiliate marketing.
If you stick with me, I promise this would be one of the best 10 minutes of your life. Not only would I explain the concept of affiliate marketing, but I will also dive into how you can make it become a reality in your blogging career.
The opportunity to earn passive income is a dream chased by many but achieved by very few. Affiliate marketing has proven to be one of the best ways to achieve such feats the world over.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to earn income, even while sleeping by promoting other businesses products and services.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to earn income, even while sleeping by promoting other businesses products and services. You get paid a commission for every sale made by other companies as long as such transactions get traced back to your marketing efforts.
The photo below explains the processes involved with affiliate marketing.
Here, we would go deeper into how you can become an affiliate marketer for top brands like Amazon, Instagram, Pinterest, Clickbank, and Expertnaire.
So, without further ado…
Contents
What is affiliate marketing?
Simply put, affiliate marketing is the act of promoting another brand’s or person’s product while receiving a commission for any resulting sale.
As an affiliate marketer, all you need do is to join an affiliate program, find reputable/popular products to promote and share those products with your audience. When it comes to making a passive income, affiliate marketing is usually a big catch for bloggers because they have lots of eyes on them- through the internet, of course!
Here’s what I mean: You put up a product on your blog. If it appeals to your reader and they decide to chip in their credit card details, you get a finder’s fee.
Sounds good?
I know you can’t wait to jump on it. However, to do so, you need through affiliate networks.
What are affiliate marketing networks?
Affiliate networks are middlemen who connect companies offering affiliate programs with bloggers or entrepreneurs who are interested in becoming affiliates.
In other words, affiliate networks save you the stress of manually searching for products you could promote, and give you access to hundreds of affiliate programs- on a single portal.
If that sounds good to be true, wait till you hear this.
We would save you the stress of seeking these networks out, by presenting you with the best five networks in town.
Let’s cut right to the chase…
Amazon affiliates
Here’s one of the easiest ways to monetize your blog- simply sign up, get immediate approval, and place Amazon affiliate links in your posts.
So, what’s the amazon affiliate program about and what does it offer?
Below is a quick rundown:
- Having begun in 1996, Amazon’s affiliate program one of the first internet marketing tools around.
- Through the creation of links, you can advertise products displayed on the Amazon site- and bag a referral fee whenever one of your readers clicks on the link and makes a purchase.
- Amazon pays your 60 days after the end of the month in which you earned your referral fee.
- You can choose from a variety of payment options- including Amazon gift certificate, direct deposit, or checks in mails.
- Joining the Amazon affiliate program gives your affiliate marketing campaign a heads up because of two major reasons: First, the sheer volume of the Amazon Catalog offers so many physical and digital products available to be promoted on your blog. Secondly, the conversion rates on Amazon tend to be high.
Amazon could be a great platform to begin your affiliate marketing campaign. However, some rules have also been put in place to ensure that affiliates ethical guidelines and do not cheat the system.
Noncompliance with these rules could get you banned from the program. So, you should make extra efforts to understand them before jumping on the program:
- You must not make false claims in your recommendations.
- Since prices aren’t constant, hesitate from referring to prices.
- Don’t use link shorteners on affiliate links.
- Amazon frowns on affiliates who use affiliate links for offline promotions- such as emails and eBooks.
- You must be transparent in your dealings. This means telling your readers that you are entitled to a commission if they make a purchase through your link.
If you are comfortable with these rules, visit the Amazon associates homepage to create a FREE account.
Clickbank
Asides from Amazon, Clickbank is another major player in the affiliate marketing industry. Founded in 1998, Clickbank boasts of about 200 million customers, spreading over 190 countries.
Here are some other mind-blowing statistics showing Clickbank’s influence in the marketplace:
- There are over 6 million entrepreneurs on the platform
- They boast of making about 200 million dollars in sales each year.
- They are the 87th largest retailer in North America.
…and on and on and on.
Enough of the crap- is this for you?
How is Clickbank different from other networks?
- High Commissions: They offer mouth-watering commissions- commissions of up to 75% or even 100% of the fee. Plus, they make their payment super-fast.
- Duality: Again, ClickBank’s duality feature allows you to enter the platform both as a vendor and as an affiliate. This allows you to maximize your earnings.
- Simplicity: The sign-up process takes place at lightning speed. Upon getting to their website, you can sign-up and begin trading within minutes. No complex paperwork, no administrative hooks. Easy-peasy.
However, the platform has its downsides as well. For instance, they exert charges on dormant accounts- you are charged $1 every day after 90 days of no sales, $5 per day after 180 days, and a whopping $50 after 360 days of inactivity.
Pinterest Affiliate marketing involves recommending products to your followers-and as usual; you earn a commission for your excellent work.
As a blogger who has a viable follower-base on a social network such as Pinterest, considering using it as an affiliate marketing vehicle is nothing but the right choice.
However, you should keep the following something at the back of your mind. This isn’t a place to just spread links. Just as in any other social platform, how you go about your affiliate marketing campaign must vibe well with other users.
People do not like to be spammed with links and offers. So, be creative around how you integrate your links into your posts.
How do you go about affiliate marketing on Pinterest?
Link a Pinterest pin to an actual, relatable product. Yeah! This is the most obvious way, isn’t it? To use direct linking, simply create a pin that is similar to an actual product- let say, a mattress. Once you create a pin titled ‘Best mattresses in town’, link that pin directly to your Amazon using your affiliate link.
Expertnaire
Similar to any other affiliate marketing platform, Expertnaire is a Nigeria-based platform that pays affiliates (you) for recommending high-quality digital products from top vendors to buyers.
A major downside to this platform is that, compared to its counterparts, registration is not free. After paying a one-time fee of 10,000 Naira, you are licensed to promote products. However, since the commission for some products could be up to 15,000 Naira, you could regain your registration fee after a single person purchases a product through your link.
Since you are a newbie, here are two strategies that could assist in your affiliate marketing campaign on Expertnaire:
- As usual, you could carry out an SEO-campaign on your blog. This would drive organic traffic to the digital products you promote. Although this method is a bit slower, it allows for sustainable growth.
- Secondly, you could follow a faster route through the use of targeted, promoted Ads- for instance, Facebook Ads.
Luckily, payment is made every Friday by Expertnaire.
With over a billion users, turning to Instagram a choice medium for affiliate marketing cannot be a bad idea!
Just as in Pinterest, your goal should be adding value to your followers- and then, introducing your link. Rather than spamming them with links and offers, a value-driven approach tends to yield better results.
Here, influencer marketing seems to be the right way of promoting your campaign as well.
Depending on your product, you might want to select influencers to reach a specific audience strategically.
Also, promoting your link through the Instagram Sponsored post feature could mean more eyes get to behold the products you are promoting, and hence, a higher chance of you earning some bucks!
Wrapping Up
Affiliate marketing could be a passive income resource for you while you carry out your passion- blogging. Here, we have listed five mediums through which you could take on your campaign.
Nevertheless, you are not limited to a single option. If more than one catches your attention, go for it.
However, be sure to follow the tips listed in this article. By doing so, your campaign would be a successful one!
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