What is affiliate marketing?
… Only one of the most lucrative ways to go about making money online!
I too had no clue what it was before I started out! However, isn’t it funny how once you become familiar with something, it’s suddenly everywhere?
For example, have you ever noticed after you learn the definition for a word, that word starts showing up everywhere? Even though you swear you never even heard that word before? But the truth is, if we aren’t familiar with something, often times our brain will just tune it out.
It was exactly like that with affiliate marketing for me. Once I learned what it was, and got familiar with how it worked–I started seeing it everywhere. It’s all over the internet. THOUSANDS of people are doing this every day, and making money.
Essentially, it comes down to this: Companies want people to advertise their products!
Think about it–there are hundreds of thousands of companies out there with products to sell, and almost every company sells online these days. Companies like it when other people promote their products and services, that’s why almost every major company out there has an affiliate program.
You’re essentially providing companies with free advertising, so in turn, they pay you commission when someone buys a product that was recommended by you.
Just type in any niche product or company within Google, then + affiliate program, and one will probably pop up!
For example, I typed electronics + affiliate program:
Or if you’re curious if a specific company within your niche has an affiliate program, you could try that same technique:
Let’s try Best Buy + Affiliate Program:
You could also try example this with more targeted electronic terms such as computers, cell phones, video cameras, etc. Whatever it may be the case remains the same–if you can buy it, you’ll probably find an affiliate program for it!
One of the biggest affiliate programs out there in the world today is Amazon.com!
Amazon sells nearly everything these days, that’s why so many affiliate marketers use the Amazon Associates program. They pay out 4-8% commission depending upon how many sales you make. Amazon is a HUGE company, and very credible.
It can be quite lucrative if you sell a lot of products!
Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks are large umbrella networks that house many different companies and take care of all the payments and dirty work. To get started, you’ll first have to sign up for an affiliate network, but once approved you can search the companies and apply for whatever programs you wish. Here are some of the top affiliate networks:
- Commission Junction
- Linkshare
- Clickbank
- Flexoffers
You can sign up for all of these networks if you wish. Many affiliate marketers aren’t just associated with one company, but rely on different sources for their revenue.
Some affiliate programs are more lucrative than others
I’ve seen some affiliate companies offer a 1% commission rate! Obviously that’s not worth your time or effort. The idea is to make money! Look for programs that offer at least 4%, if not more. Often times you can find ones offering 7%, 8%, 50% commission rates. It just depends what type of products you are marketing!
If you want to understand more about how affiliate marketing works and the potential for making money, check out the review for my #1 ranked product for affiliate marketing training on the internet! Feel free to sign up for the program–it’s FREE to get started!
The great thing about affiliate marketing is, you pay virtually no up-front cost. Aside from your web domain and hosting, you can sign up for these companies for free, and they’ll only pay you when you make sales. It’s a win-win situation you have nothing to lose!
Any further questions about affiliate marketing? Drop a comment down below!
Wendy
Owner, SurvivingAfterCollege.com
JGHB says
What would you recommend a complete newbie, are the “better” affiliate programmes that guarantee constant (reliable) income?
Wendy says
No affiliate program can guarentee you income as it’s dependent on what you put into it. That being said, there are definitely more profitible affiliate programs than others. However, you really need to start out by building a business and then think about the best affiliate programs that would be relevant. If you’d like more information, you can sign up for my email course within the right hand sidebar.
fatemeh says
hi,I’m from Iran,I liked what you said about this kind of jobs,but I don’t know how they pay you when you’re in a different country??do you know about it? could you please answer it to my e-mail??
thank you so muchhhhhh