How to Make Money with an Affiliate Program
If you’ve been looking for ways to make money online – the chances are that you’ve come across affiliate programs. But what are affiliate programs and how to make money with an affiliate program is definitely something you’re wondering about right now.
Affiliate programs are a part of affiliate marketing and with such a large number of daily internet users – making money online with affiliate programs is definitely a possibility.
But how does someone make money with an affiliate program and what do you have to do?
These are just some of the questions I’ll explain in the post below – so keep on reading and stay tuned for the guide!
What is an Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is a program that is often released by companies who are looking to get help from marketers to promote & sell their products.
Every affiliate program is different so I highly recommend you read the terms of conditions before joining. However, even some of the largest companies out there offer affiliate programs such as Amazon.
One thing you shouldn’t do is mistaken the affiliate programs for multi-level marketing programs you can join.
I believe that multi-level marketing is definitely a scam and I even wrote a full post explaining this so I recommend reading it.
Affiliate programs are related to affiliate marketing which is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s or company’s products.
Who Can Join These Affiliate Programs?
The great thing about affiliate marketing is that affiliate programs are free to join by almost anyone.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, every affiliate program will be a bit different. However, some of them might require at least an established social media profile or a website.
But the best thing about the affiliate program is that they’re free to join and you won’t have to pay a penny.
If you’re still wondering how to make money with an affiliate program – keep on reading as that’s exactly what I’ll touch on next!
How Does Someone Make Money With an Affiliate Program?
Making money with an affiliate program is simple in theory – however, but it takes time to get there if you’re just starting from scratch.
Therefore, don’t think of affiliate programs as get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, think of them as opportunities to monetize on anything you own online whether it’s a blog or a website, or even a social media profile.
To make money with an affiliate program, you have to join, acquire the unique affiliate links that you then share with your audience, followers, subscribers…
From there, whenever someone clicks on your affiliate link and purchases something from the store – you’ll be rewarded with a commission.
I told you – it sounds simple in theory, but it’s definitely something that can’t happen overnight. Even though the internet has billions of daily users, it still takes time to reach out to the audience and gain a following.
If you’re wondering what you need to do to make money with an affiliate program – keep on reading to find a step-by-step process!
How to Make Money With an Affiliate Program
Now when you know the process of how affiliate programs work – it’s the time to learn how to get started as an affiliate marketer.
The great thing about affiliate marketing is that there isn’t only one way to earn money online. You can do it through a website, through a YouTube channel, through a social media profile, through an email, or any other type of following.
And it all comes down to the following process:
- Build an audience
- Build a genuine connection
- Don’t chase numbers
- Promote only products you believe in
- Work on your conversion rate
S0 let’s get down to it.
Build an Audience
You can’t make money with an affiliate program if you don’t have an audience who might like what you have to offer through these programs.
Giving out links to your family and friends isn’t always allowed, and even for the programs it is allowed – it might not yield a lot of results.
Instead, everything is in building an audience whether you do it by ranking your website organically (organic exposure), building an email list, having YouTube followers or Instagram followers.
There are many other ways to do it and there’s a lot of room to get creative. What might have worked for one person, might not work for another person.
And if two people work in the same way – they’ll still have different business plans, goals, and even results.
The hardest part is building the audience, but once you have an audience – you’ll be able to easily work your way through and make decent money with affiliate programs.
I have written a full post on how to build an audience around something you’re passionate about so I recommend reading this post before continuing!
Build Connection
Once you have an audience, no matter how small or big it is – you have to build connections. This means you have to be active, engage with your audience, ask them more about themselves, and share more about yourself.
You have to keep things interesting, show that you’re worth the following, and be genuine.
If you’re trying to be fake, you’re pushing affiliate programs that you don’t believe in or are suspicious of – your audience won’t provide any results no matter how big it is.
It’s all about building connections and making a brand out of yourself – no matter what it is you are doing.
Don’t Chase Numbers
What I mean by not chasing numbers is that you shouldn’t only care about how big your audience is. While it might be a good feeling to tell yourself that you have 100K followers – it might not be helpful at all.
The last thing you want to do is collect as many inactive followers or even bots that aren’t interested in what you’re all about or won’t engage with the content you put out there.
Again, it’s all about making a genuine connection and gaining the trust of your followers, but also showing that you care about your audience and don’t think of them only as a number.
It’s a lot harder to build a decent following the organic way but it’s the better way for the long-run.
Promote Only Products You Believe In
This one is very simple. If you promote hard and keep on promoting anything that comes your way – your audience will not be happy.
Not only that they won’t be happy, but they won’t be interested in seeing anything you have to offer even when it is a good offer!
I recommend promoting products that you truly believe in and the products that you use. Trust me, your audience will know if you’ve used the product and if you’re a true fan of it so this is also something that you can hardly fake.
After all, there are millions of products out there and all you need is a couple of products that you truly like.
If you’re having a problem finding quality affiliate programs – I recommend you check out my post on how to find & join affiliate programs as that’s the only guide you’ll need on this topic.
Work on Your Conversion Rate
Nobody is a born marketer but don’t think of yourself as just another person who’s promoting something online.
Instead, think of yourself as a business. If you join an affiliate program, you’re then an affiliate marketer and you’ll be doing online marketing.
And with marketing, statistics come into place with conversion rates being the one that every marketer likes the most.
The conversion rate will depend on your audience, your marketing strategies, and it can even depend on the geo-location of your audience.
However, the conversion rate is a great indicator that you don’t need to have millions of followers to be a successful affiliate marketer.
I’ve seen a lot smaller audiences that produced a higher conversion rate which is definitely a sweet spot you should be aiming for when you’re starting.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular online business models because anyone can get started with it and even though it requires a lot of work – it can definitely pay itself off in the long run.
A lot of people associate affiliate marketing with passive income as once you set up your blog, have visitors, and your links are in place – you can make money even when you’re sleeping.
This is one of the benefits of affiliate marketing and the existence of affiliate programs. Even though some of the largest and most known programs out there don’t offer a high commission rate – it’s still a potential source of income that shouldn’t be ignored!
And this is everything you need to know how to make money with an affiliate program – but if you still have questions, keep on browsing my blog!
Where did you first hear about affiliate programs? Did you ever give affiliate marketing a chance?
I’d love to hear from you so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below! If you have any questions – please drop them down below and I’ll do my best to respond and help you all out!
