Affiliate marketing pretty much levels the playing field when it comes to earning money online. This is because anyone can become an affiliate marketer.
The good thing is that once the momentum has picked up, you will be able to have a steady stream of income without having to work fulltime on your marketing strategies.
Once you have your affiliate website in place, it can run like clockwork, even when you are asleep.
If there is a product that you like and you are using, and you will readily recommend them to others, there’s no reason you shouldn’t earn from every recommendation. That is what affiliate marketing is all about.
To start earning money from affiliate marketing, you need to identify the right method for it first.
Ways to Earn Money with Affiliate Marketing
There are different ways to use affiliate marketing to earn money. In this artile, I will take you through 3 of such ways.
Let’s get started:
1: Do Affiliate Promotions with YouTube Videos.
YouTube is a huge platform and many affiliate marketers have found huge success with it. You can create variety of videos, from product tutorials, informational content, interviews, to comparison videos.
You may also want to ensure that videos are properly edited before uploading them to YouTube. If you’ve mentioned particular tools or products in the video, then be sure to include the links in the description and ask viewers to check them out.
To create a YouTube Channel, follow the steps below:
- Go to YouTube and create an account if you haven’t already.
- Create your video content and edit it through a video editing software.
- Upload your content to your channel.
- Put your affiliate links in the description box.
- Start promoting your YouTube video.
Pros: What is great about using YouTube as a way to earn money from affiliate marketing is that it has a broad reach. It’s a popular platform, so you can easily reach your target market. Google also has a video section in its search engine platform, allowing your videos to show up more in searches.
It’s easier to establish credibility because they can see and feel you. Make sure your personality shows up so as to establish your own personal brand that people can easily trust. Videos are more effective in closing sales as the prospects can see how the product works establishing a sense of realism in your viewers.
Cons: To get views, your videos have to rank, and needless to say, the platform is quite competitive. You will have to learn how its algorithm works as well as find topics that can easily go viral
Starting Cost: It doesn’t cost anything to start a YouTube channel. There are also free applications that you can use to create your videos. However, to create better and high-quality content, you will need to spend more on your equipment such as cameras, microphones, and editing software.
You can take up video editing lessons from platforms such as Skillshare and Udemy. They can help you learn skills that will boost the quality of your videos and make them more viewable for your audience.
2: Run an Affiliate Blog (Using Organic Traffic)
To do affiliate marketing effectively, you need a blog. This is because of the flexibility that you have with your own website: You can publish content, build an email list or display promotional graphics. You can post written content or upload your videos directly on your blog and include the links to your affiliate programs.
To Start a Blog:
- Come up with a niche for your blog. A niche pertains to the topic you want to talk about in your blog. This is what you want to focus on and the affiliate products you promote here should be related to your niche.
- Register for your domain and web hosting
- Install WordPress and start building your site Many people use WordPress because of its user-friendly functions.
- Design your site yourself or with the hire PennyMatters to do it for you.
- Start blogging. You can upload written or video content. Source images as well to make your blog posts look more interesting.
- Upload your content and add your affiliate links.
- Promote your blog to attract your ideal audience and grow from there
Pros: The upside of starting your own blog is that you can go in any direction, especially when it comes to the design and layout. This will allow you to maximize affiliate marketing strategies that you otherwise won’t be able to do with other platforms that can have restrictions such as YouTube.
For instance, with YouTube, your links can only be placed in the description box. With blogs, you can set up your links in a way that their exposure would be maximized.
Blogging allows you to be as creative as you can, not just with your content, but also with the blog design. You can personalize it to create your own brand.
Cons: It’s no secret that starting a blog from scratch and filling it up with content is not a walk in the park. It takes a lot of time and effort; however, creating evergreen content will ensure that your blog will continuously work and earn money for you in the long run.
Another downside is the marketing. You won’t get organic traffic overnight. Promoting your blog is a continuous effort.
Starting Cost: $100-$500
These costs are mainly web hosting and design charges. Good hosting is essential for the faster loading speed of your website and reliability.
You can cut down on expenses by building the website yourself. However, if you want it professionally done, you need to hire a web developer to do the work for you. You might also need to include features and use SEO tools that will help your website show up in search engines more and that can cost extra money.
3. Run PPC Affiliate Programs
Some programs such as Sovrn offer PPC programs which means your referrals do not have to make a purchase for you to earn.
While these programs pay well less, you can still manage to earn decent income if your website is big enough.
If you want to learn what PPC programs to can join, then this article by Diggity Marketing is the best place to start.
4: Social Promotions
You can try social promotions through platforms like Facebook; however, it requires a different approach so as not to come out as spammy.
You need to first build a relationship with your readers and make them like you more. Otherwise, no one would be interested in what you have to say, let alone click on those links.
Also promote the products that will help your audience accomplish their goals.
You can try social media ads if you have a budget. I suggest running ads to your most performing affiliate programs and continue to do so only if its working.
Pros: One good thing about social promotions is that it will surely get your products across the platform. It ensures visibility on your chosen platform, so you can reach your target market faster.
Cons: It’s not a direct approach. You will have to direct them to an external source to explain your products more and give them more value. For instance, you might need to get them to sign up for your emailing list rather than just hand them the links right there on your Facebook page.
Starting Cost: It doesn’t cost anything to open a Facebook account; however, you do need to fund your Facebook page if you are going to launch an affiliate marketing program through this platform.
To get started with PPC advertising:
- Determine where you want to do your paid advertising. (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google ads)
- Create an engaging post that will encourage people to learn more about it or sign up to your emailing list.
- Make a kick-ass email or valuable content that includes your affiliate link.
- Disseminate the email or content.
Now, you don’t have to stick with one method. You can combine all the three if you can. YouTube can be a great way to drive traffic to your blog and even boost that traffic by running a few PPC campaigns per month.