Affiliate Marketing For Beginners: What Is It, How It Works & How To Get Started
In this article, I'm going to give you a detailed explanation about a business model called affiliate marketing.
I’m going to break down the basic fundamentals of affiliate marketing which you need to know as a beginner.
I’m also going to reveal a ‘secret method’ that you can use to get started ASAP as a complete beginner – NO CAP!
So stick till the very end if you want to learn more about this business model.
What You'll Learn:
Without further ado, let me jump straight into the meat & potatoes.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
In simple terms, it’s a business model whereby you partner with product sellers, advertise their products on their behalf, – and in return, you earn commissions i.e. for sales made through your link(s).
Affiliate marketing has become more popular these days – since it’s regarded as one of the best ways to earn true passive income.
Amazon is believed to be the first company to officially launch an affiliate program i.e. back in 1996.
However, others argue that, affiliate marketing existed way back (before 1996), but it’s only that Amazon was the first company to make it official.
After achieving great results from this form of marketing, other big companies like Apple, Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, etc. were inspired to adopt this performance-based form of marketing.
Companies saw it as a fair approach to marketing – since they only pay someone {only} if he/she makes a sale.
This pushes marketers to work harder i.e. in order to get more sales – which in turn, help to get more commissions.
There’s also some CPA forms of affiliate marketing such as pay per click & pay per lead.
This is whereby you get paid when your visitors performs specific actions like submitting an email, filling-out a form, signing-up for something, – or even, just clicking your link.
There's people like Pat Flynn who earns incredible amounts ‘passively’ from this business model.
This is witnessed by his monthly income reports which he normally shares on his blog called Smart Passive Income.
In December 2017, he racked-in $167k passively i.e. just by promoting other people's products & services – which is just insane😋!
Below is a screenshot of the income proof which he shared on his website.
NB: As of 2022, he's now pulling-in more than 200 bands💵 every month {passively} – which is unbelievable!
There's also people like Franklin Hatchett, Jono Armstrong, ODi Productions, amongst others who also earns incredible amounts from this business model – and they also show their earnings on YouTube.
By seeing all these success stories, more & more people are getting inspired to venture into this business model – so as to yield that same level of success.
And the beauty part is that, most of these successful guys are sharing their knowledge & experience i.e. through their YT channels & courses – thus, helping other fellow aspiring affiliates.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? (Step by Step)
This business model isn't that complicated at all!
Generally, sellers/companies creates affiliate programs – so as to allow regular people like you & me to promote their products.
Alternatively, companies can opt to join an ‘affiliate network’ – so as to leverage existing affiliates that're already available on these networks.
Examples includes ClickBank, JVZoo, WarriorPlus, Amazon Associates, Commission Junction, ShareASale, Impact Radius – just to name a few.
Affiliates are required to apply i.e. in order to get permission to promote these products. Based on different approval criteria, the seller/company can either accept or reject the application.
Just to give you a clue, the main reason why most applications gets rejected is the issue of not having a website.
Most affiliate programs only accepts people with legit websites – since this proves that you have a platform for promoting their offers.
Thus, it's important to create yours ASAP i.e. if you haven't already.
NB: You can also get accepted in some programs if you have a functional YouTube channel.
For those who gets approved, they’ll be given some links – known as affiliate links.
The key is to send traffic to those links i.e. in order to get leads & sales – which in turn, help to earn commissions.
You can promote those links using either free or paid methods i.e. SEO, paid ads, social media, email marketing, etc.
When someone clicks on your link(s) & buys the product, you’ll get paid – and the commissions varies from one affiliate program to another.
Ideally, the commissions ranges anywhere between 0% to 10% i.e. for Amazon Associates.
The main reason why Amazon pays lower commissions is that, most of their products are physical in nature.
And as we all know, physical products involves a lot of overheads i.e. manufacturing, shipping, storage, handling, etc.
Also, physical products are difficult to replicate i.e. if you sale one item, you have to produce another one in order to replace the one that you've sold.
There’s also a lot of returns & refunds involved in physical products i.e. due to various factors like wrong sizes, wrong colours, breakages, etc.
On the contrary, softwares & digital products have less overheads.
This is so because, there’s no shipping required, they’ve low refunds, there's no warehousing needed, etc.
Also, these types of products can be easily replicated i.e. you can create one copy of a product – and that copy can serve multitudes of people e.g. downloadable files like eBooks, applications, cloud-based softwares, etc.
For these reasons, companies that specialises in these types of products can afford to pay up to 50% in commissions – since they incur less overheads i.e. compared to those which specialises in physical products.
So to sum up this section, sellers/companies invites affiliates to promote their offers i.e. through their in-house affiliate program – or maybe through a network.
Willing affiliates will then apply – and once they get approved, they’ll be given some affiliate links.
Those affiliates will then promote those products on behalf of the companies i.e. through various mechanisms (free or paid).
When a sale is made through your affiliate link, you’ll earn a commission i.e. based on the commission rates of the company.
Components Of Affiliate Marketing
Seller/Creator
This is the starting point of the affiliate marketing cycle.
Creators/sellers are those individuals or companies who produces the products or services.
Without these creators, affiliate marketing cease to exist – since there wont be any products/services to promote.
Sellers may opt to run their own in-house affiliate program – or they may opt to run it via a network.
If you have an established brand, it might be easier to run your own affiliate program – since affiliates will already know of your existence e.g. Clickfunnels.
However, if you’re still brand new, you might need to consider choosing an affiliate network that's already established – and has some readily available affiliates who’re willing to promote your offers.
Affiliate Network
Affiliate networks have become more & more popular these days – since they’re regarded as one of the ‘easiest’ ways of getting your products out there👉.
The most popular affiliate networks are ClickBank, JV Zoo, WarriorPlus, Amazon Associates, Commission Junction, Share A Sale, Impact Radius, Flex Offers, VigLink, Paykickstart, amongst others.
For new product creators who might not have any authority in the industry, an affiliate network might be good to leverage – since affiliate networks receives a ton of affiliates everyday who’re willing to promote your offers.
Thus, it's highly advisable to register on different affiliate networks i.e. if you want a quick way to get traction as a seller.
Affiliate
It's the middleman who promotes other people's products for a commission.
The industry is now saturated with affiliates these days i.e. due to low barriers of entry.
People are also becoming affiliates in order to live the true passive income lifestyle – because you can set-up a system that works for you on autopilot e.g. a website.
As an affiliate, you don't have to worry about product creation, customer service, shipping, inventory, etc.
Your main duty is to connect customers to the right products – and in return, you’ll get paid a commission (affiliate commission).
Customer
This is the end user of a product or service.
Customers benefits from this business model since they’re assisted by affiliates to make the right purchasing decisions.
This is done through various means like product reviews & comparisons – or even through tutorials on how to use a product.
Comparisons helps customers to choose the best product amongst available options – because they're able to spot the key differences between various products i.e. before they make their final purchasing decision.
On the contrary, reviews helps to provide information about a certain product to customers i.e. features, pricing, ratings, demo, etc.
Reviews are ideal for new products – since customers will be curious to know ‘what the product is all about’ i.e. before making their purchasing decisions.
Forms Of Commissions
Pay Per Click
As the name says, an affiliate will get paid whenever someone clicks on his/her link(s).
This form of advertising is mostly done by companies who want to increase their brand awareness – thus, these companies are willing to pay affiliates for clicks.
In their view, getting more clicks is a sign that their offers are being pushed to more people.
Most companies in the travel niche normally uses this form of advertising e.g. airline companies like TripAdvisor, Cheapflights, Momondo, etc.
The commissions varies anywhere between $0.10 to $1.00 per click i.e. for most companies.
It's also important to mention that, desktop clicks pays more than mobile clicks – since companies believes that, people who browse the web using desktop devices are more likely to convert into paying customers – than someone who's surfing using his/her phone.
Thus, it's important to keep that in mind before getting started with PPC based offers.
It's also important to mention that, it's difficult to make significant income from these low ticket offers – or let me just say, it takes a lot of effort to make $10k whilst promoting offers that only pays few cents per click.
Pay Per Lead
This is whereby an affiliate gets paid when someone completes specific actions like email sign-up, form submission, survey completion, etc.
This form of advertising is normally done by companies in the finance niche e.g. Capitalist Exploits, Kabbage, Sage Financials, amongst others.
These pays much higher rates compared to PPC offers – because these companies gets more profits in the long run from those leads – thus, they’re willing to pay decent commissions to affiliates.
Others companies like Kabbage pays up to $250 per lead.
The reason being that, they offer loans to customers & they’re able to yield huge returns in the long run i.e. when the customer repays the loan.
For example, if they lend $50k to someone, the customer might be required to pay back the loan with a 5% - 7% interest.
Meaning, the customer will pay back around $52 500 to $53 500 – hence, the company will profit around $2.5k to $3.5k.
For this reason, they wont hesitate to pay you 250 bucks for a lead that’ll generate thousands of bucks for them.
👉NB: You can also check out other CPA networks like MaxyBounty, CPAGrip, Adworkmedia
Pay Per Sale
This is the most common form of affiliate marketing whereby you get paid for sales made through your affiliate link(s).
This encourages affiliates to work harder in order to make sales – otherwise, you wont get paid.
Most companies find it more efficient – because it's performance based in nature i.e. more sales = more commissions & vice versa.
Unlike CPA forms of marketing, there’s less fraud involved in pay per sale affiliate marketing.
With CPA affiliate marketing, there’s a lot of fraud that occurs – because most affiliates provides fake leads which aren't genuine.
In my opinion, pay per sale is the best form of affiliate marketing – because it weeds out these type of black-hat marketers.
Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing
Freedom
Affiliate marketing helps to achieve true financial freedom💵, time freedom🕐 & location freedom🏖.
Financial Freedom – in the sense that you have the potential to earn huge amounts – because internet based businesses are highly scalable i.e. through paid ads.
This is unlike the case of working a 9 to 5 job whereby you get paid a fixed salary (artificial bribe) – which is too little considering your contribution to the company.
With affiliate marketing, you can fire your boss & earn an equivalent of your annual salary in just few months.
Time Freedom – in the sense that you can design your own work schedule & work any amount of hours that you feel like i.e. you'll be your own boss.
Location Freedom – in the sense that you can work from anywhere around the world🌍 – as long as you have your laptop & internet connection.
Passive Income
Through leveraging various tool & softwares, you can automate your business – thus, allowing you to generate leads & sales on autopilot.
For example, if you have a blog that ranks on Google, you can get unlimited visitors to your site on autopilot.
With the aid of an email marketing software, you can take your leads to a landing page, – and those leads will be automatically added to your email list – which will comprise of automated follow-up emails.
Thus, your business can work for you whilst you focus on other things – or maybe whilst travelling✈ the world.
However, it’s important to note that, you need to invest a lot of time or money upfront in order to create an automated business.
But once it’s built, it can generate leads & sales for you on autopilot.
No Overhead Costs Involved
Affiliate marketing is regarded as one of the ‘easiest’ businesses to start – because you don't have to worry about production costs, shipping costs, customer service, returns & refunds, etc.
You can get started with zero dollars – since most affiliate programs are free to join – and you can get some free traffic from various platforms.
However, you might need to invest some money in a proven mentor – so as to reduce your learning curve.
You might also need to build a custom website – which costs a little bit of money to setup.
Disadvantages Of Affiliate Marketing
Closure Of Some Affiliate Programs
The main drawback of this business model is that, some companies might decide to shutdown their affiliate program(s) without any notice.
Recently, Siteground decided to shutdown its affiliate program in some parts of the world for unknown reasons.
This left some affiliates staggered – as they were heavily reliant on this company.
And some had pending commissions which were not yet paid – thus, they made huge loses!
Can You Really Make Money With Affiliate Marketing?
Most beginners are always concerned about this topic – because they want to know if it's really worth it or not i.e. before they venture-in.
Most people are sceptical when it comes to this whole ‘make money online’ thing – since there's a lot of scummy staff on the internet.
But the truth is;
There’s a lot of money in this industry!
Affiliate marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry where multiple business transactions are performed each and every second.
Most customers looks for product reviews & comparisons i.e. before making their final purchasing decision.
And if they get some value from the article/video, they end up buying through the links of the content creator.
There’s a ton of bloggers & YouTubers out there who makes six or even seven figures every year from affiliate marketing – since most customers are constantly looking for product reviews & comparisons online.
However, it's also important to mention that, there’s also a ton of affiliates out there who’re struggling to make money – because this grind is not for everyone.
Unlike a job where you get paid for your time, affiliate marketing is performance based in nature i.e. more sales = more commissions, zero sales = zero commissions.
And as we all know, most people aren't willing to put-in the required work i.e. they just spam their links everywhere on the web – which doesn't yield much results in most cases.
But if you're willing to put-in the hard work, you can make a fortune in this industry.
(Stop looking for short-cuts)
The Easiest Way To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
Now that you have a basic understanding of affiliate marketing, I'm going to show you how to get started the easiest way.
One of the main questions that’s asked by most beginners is;
‘How can l succeed in this competitive industry?’
Looking at the industry, there’s a lot of established affiliates who has more authority in this business.
Thus, it might seem difficult for beginners to penetrate this competitive playground.
But don't worry!
I’m going to show you a strategy that you can utilise to get customers ASAP!
It's called launch jacking – and I'm going to walk you through how you can get started with this method.
Launch Jacking Method
This is a technique whereby you find products that are about to launch & you seek approval to promote them.
Once you get approved, you create content based around those products i.e. product reviews in most cases.
When a product is still new on the market, there’ll be less competition i.e. there'll be few affiliates promoting those products.
But, the search volumes for those products will be much higher – since most customers will be eager to know about the new product(s).
Thus, if you create a review of that product, you’ll have high chances of ranking on Google or YouTube – thus, allowing you to get some free organic traffic ASAP!
If you look at Jono Armstrong’s YouTube channel, he has a ton of review videos – and he has established some authority.... to the extent that some people now call him ‘the king of launch jacking’.
And he makes a consistent $80k to $150k every month from this method – according to his income statements which he showed in one of his webinars.
And he's now teaching this same strategy to his students – and some of them are getting insane results!
Franklin Hatchett also discussed about this technique in one of his YouTube videos – and he even showed some income proof from JVZoo i.e. to prove that this sh*t actually works!
But the biggest question is;
‘How to get started with this method?’
🤐Pay closer attention because I'm about to spit the beans now i.e. step by step!
Disclaimer: Results are not typical, implied or guaranteed – they’re based on your individual efforts.
🛠Tools Required For Launch Jacking
You need to create either a blog or a YouTube channel.
Launch Jacking Process
The first step is to visit a website called Muncheye.
For those of you who’re not familiar with this website, it's basically a launch calendar which shows the products that are launching in the near future i.e. on JVZoo, WarriorPlus, or ClickBank.
Product creators lists their products on this platform – so as to inform interested affiliates about their upcoming launches.
The platform is divided into various sections i.e. Big Launches, All Launches, Just Launched.
I normally go on the ‘Big Launches tab’ – since these products sells better compared to normal launches.
But you can also pick products from the All Launches section & see if they work for you!
The key is to find products that are launching at least 5 days from now – so that you can get more time to thoroughly prepare your content.
Once you find the products, you should seek approval from the vendors.
This can be done through clicking on a link that reads ‘JV Page’ – and you’ll be taken to a page with application details.
Keep in mind that, some vendors might reject your application i.e. if you don't have any sales records.
But that's not an issue – because there's still some vendors that are more lenient.
2. Create A Review About The Product
Once you get approved, you should start creating content about the product i.e. blog article or YouTube video.
Some vendors might give you a review access – which allows you to get access to the product i.e. for review purposes.
This helps to create better content about the product – since you’ll have a better understanding about the product.
You should aim to publish your article or YouTube video at least 2 days before the launch date – so as to increase your chances of ranking.
Another important thing is to create some bonuses – so as to incentivise customers to buy through your links.
This gives customers more reasons to buy through your links – rather than your competitors’ links.
In order to get these bonuses, you can go to PLR websites like InDigitalWorks, IDplr, Master-Resale-Rights, amongst others.
On these sites, you can get unlimited access to eBooks, pdf guides, softwares, courses, etc. – which are free from copyright.
If you choose the blogging route, try to write longer articles than your competitors – so as to increase your chances of ranking.
And you can also outsource the content on freelance sites like Fiverr i.e. if you aren't a good writer – though this cost some few bucks.
If you choose the YouTube route, try to optimise the title(s) & description(s) of your videos i.e. for the right keywords that you're trying to rank for.
Also, try to be confident on camera – so that customers can trust your recommendation.
Wrapping Up
Shuuuu😴.
I know this has been a long post – but if you’ve manage to read till this point, then l applaud you👏.
I know it ain't easy to pay attention for such a long time – especially in this digital era where there's a lot of distractions (social media).
I hope that you’ve gained some value from this long post – since I've invested a lot of time & energy writing this long-detailed post.
I hope that you'll use some of this info to start your own affiliate business – so that you can put what you've learnt into practice.
The key is to take action & start something ASAP – otherwise, all this knowledge will be useless if you don't apply it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does It Cost To Join An Affiliate Program?
Most affiliate programs are 100% free to join.
Most companies don't charge any money – since they’re the ones who're looking for people to promote their offers.
However, there’s some few programs which asks people to buy their products in order to become eligible to promote them e.g. Legendary Marketer.
They argue that, a person cannot promote a product that he/she doesn't know – thus, they argue that someone should first use the product before promoting it.
But the majority of affiliate programs are 100% free to join.
What Qualifications Do I Need To Become An Affiliate Marketer?
There’s no qualifications needed to become an affiliate!
This is one of the few business models where you can make a ton sh*t of money without any crazy educational qualifications i.e. the market doesn't care about your qualifications.
The market only cares about valuable content i.e. can you help people in making the right purchasing decisions?
Even the companies don't give an F about your qualifications – they’re only concerned about your ability to bring customers.
Simple!
Is Affiliate Marketing Harmful or Illegal?
Affiliate marketing is 100% legit & it's not harmful in any way!
That’s why most big companies have affiliate programs – since they believe that it’s a legit business model.
Companies like Apple, Amazon, Nike, Adidas, etc. all have affiliate programs – since they believe that they can get more leads & sales from this business model.
The issue is that, most people confuse affiliate marketing with multi-level marketing i.e. MLM.
Unlike MLM, affiliate marketing is whereby you partner with some of the biggest companies – and you advertise their products on their behalf (for a commission).
So if you were sceptical about affiliate marketing, then you should open up your mind & give this business model a try.
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