What is Affiliate Marketing and How it Works?
Affiliate marketing might sound like something very complicated and hard to learn or get into, but trust me – it’s not.
But what is affiliate marketing and how it works?
I can tell you what affiliate marketing really is, and even show you how to get started today. Right after reading this post, so let’s get started.
Affiliate marketing is a very popular online business model where you join a platform full of products, get a link to a specific product, share it – and earn commission every time someone purchases a product through your link.
That’s it! That’s some pretty simple stuff, right? But how does one gets started and what are the requirements?
These are some of the questions I am going to answer in this post. But if you stick until the end, I am not only going to tell you how to get started – but I will show you and set you on the right path!
What is Affiliate Marketing?
As mentioned earlier, affiliate marketing is one of the most popular business models where you earn a commission every time your referral purchases a product using your link.
Why is it one of the most popular business models?
Because with the help of the internet, you are able to reach a large audience and even narrow it down to a specific type of audience.
With access to such a large audience, you can combine your expertise, experience, or skills and provide solutions to problems through valuable content. What you can also do is promote products you believe in and earn a commission every time someone makes a purchase.
Meaning, you get to promote products to people all around the world.
Of course, there is no one way to get start affiliate marketing business – and one size doesn’t fit everyone. So let’s get to the interesting stuff where I will show you how affiliate marketing actually works.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Works?
In order to start an affiliate marketing journey, there are only two steps you have to do.
Join an Affiliate Program
The first step every new affiliate marketer needs to do before creating his affiliate marketing business is to decide which affiliate platform or program to join.
The most popular program for affiliate marketers is the Amazon Associates program. Why? Because everyone knows Amazon and it’s one of the biggest online shopping places on the internet.
However, there are also a few other platforms such as Clickbank which is ideal for digital products, and also JVZoo & ClickJunction.
There are also individual affiliate programs offered by companies. But most of the time, platforms such as Clickbank combine different affiliate offers which come from individual businesses and companies.
My most favorite place to find affiliate programs & offers is inside the Wealthy Affiliate “Affiliate Programs” tab which is a feature that has been added just recently. It combines almost every possible affiliate program on the internet, so you don’t have to look for each platform or program individually.
What I like the most about Affiliate Programs inside Wealthy Affiliate is that it ensures I never miss on a good opportunity.
Decide Which Road to Take
When I say road, I don’t necessarily mean a road – but the way you will use to advertise your desired products.
This can be done either through a website (a personal blog or a niche site), any of the social media platforms and even with the help of Youtube or an email.
I highly recommend starting your own website since this gives you the opportunity to optimize your website, reach a specific audience and attract organic & free visitors to your site.
Of course, in order for this to work – you will need to provide a lot of value through your content. I highly recommend to always go with a niche you are passionate or have a lot of knowledge about.
Attract Visitors and Make Passive Income Money
Once you have your affiliate programs set up, have a website or a way to reach your audience, the last thing left to do is attract as many visitors as you can, and earn money every time someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link.
What’s so great about affiliate marketing business model is that it can turn into a real passive income flow – making money even when you are sleeping – as your website will be running 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – every year.
And that’s exactly what affiliate marketing is and how it works.
While this might sound too good to be true, believe me, there’s a lot more to learn so you are able to optimize your website and reach the most specific audience who are already looking for something you have to offer.
And if you are ready to take the next step and take action towards your affiliate marketing business – I highly recommend you to join an affiliate marketing university called Wealthy Affiliate.
It’s a platform which features step-by-step lessons, provides free website hosting, and has plenty of other people just like you who make a wonderful and supportive community. If you would like to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate – make sure to read my review Inside Wealthy Affiliate review article.
What are the Requirements to Start Working on Your Affiliate Marketing Business?
I believe affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make your first dollar online. Why? Because it’s an online business model which doesn’t require a lot of up-front investment, is easy to learn, and even easier to get into.
It is also very versatile so you get to do things your way, and most important – do something around the topic you are passionate about.
Most people like the idea of no-cost or a very low cost of the affiliate marketing business model. It’s true – you can start your online business for absolutely free. Wealthy Affiliate is just one of the examples where you get everything you need for free – including 2 free websites.
But what’s even better yet is that affiliate marketing is easily sustainable over the longer period of time. Once you create your own website, it’s definitely going to be empty.
However, as you create content, improve your site both visually and technically – you will slowly start to gain rankings on search engines. More people will come across your site, and that’s what’s important.
The beginning is always slow, and if you’re looking for a “get rich quick” scheme – don’t even bother trying affiliate marketing. It requires a lot of time, work, effort, and even dedication to make decent money.
But is it worth it?
It definitely is. Some people have been able to replace their 9-5 job and earn a lot more than they previously did doing a day job.
Therefore, if you are looking to create your own business, there is no better way to do so online than starting an affiliate marketing business.
The Best Place to Start? (For Free)
When I started learning about affiliate marketing, I was mostly reading blogs and watching Youtube videos.
It didn’t take me long before I quit due to the amount of conflicting and unorganized information I found online – which didn’t take me anywhere. (I didn’t even know how to create a website).
Until the point when I discovered Wealthy Affiliate which has a completely different approach. Wealthy Affiliate is a learning platform (almost like a university) which has been established 14 years ago and now has over a million active members.
What I liked the most about Wealthy Affiliate is that it has all the information sorted in video lessons where you learn things step-by-step. But what’s even better yet is that Wealthy Affiliate makes you take action after each lesson, so you can earn while you learn.
Okay, do you want to hear what’s even better yet?
Wealthy Affiliate is totally free! It doesn’t require a credit card to join, and no, it’s not a trial. If you decide to join – you can create a Starter Member account and use Wealthy Affiliate for as long as you want, with no obligations.
Alright, things can get even better from this point.
Wealthy Affiliate provides Starter Members with 2 free websites too that you can build using their simple SiteRubix editor.
Interested to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate? Feel free to join or read more about it in my Inside Wealthy Affiliate Review post.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest online business models that allows you to learn as you work on it – eventually creating an established site or your own platform with a decent amount of traffic/followers.
However, don’t be like me and don’t spend your first year just looking for information and consuming. Yet instead, take action on what you learn and start working on your business.
Oh yes, I didn’t mention this – but you should treat it as your business. The more hours you put in and the harder you work on your business, the better it will take off.
And if you start today and take action right away (instead of waiting for a year as I did), a lot of things will happen in a year. I can also guarantee that you will make money online within your first year too – if not a lot more than a couple of hundreds of dollars.
Hopefully, this post has explained what is affiliate marketing and how it works in a simple way – but if you have any further questions or need help, feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to help you out!
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