Are you interested in becoming an affiliate marketer? Have you been considering working with affiliates? Or are you simply curious about how affiliate marketing works?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, and you have limited knowledge about how affiliate marketing works, then you’re in the right place. The concept isn’t hard to grasp. By the end of this blog post, you should have a solid understanding. So let’s get going!
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
In short, affiliate marketing is a strategy in which a brand pays a commission to an individual (an affiliate) based on sales generated through their referrals.
In a nutshell, if you’re an affiliate (also referred to as a publisher), you use your skills as an online marketer to refer your audience to a product. When someone in your audience decides to buy a product or take an action based on your recommendation, you get a commission.
Who Are Affiliates?
An affiliate can be an individual or a company. Most of the time, affiliates are bloggers or other content producers. They usually work in industries that are the same or closely related to that of the company whose products they’re promoting.
Affiliates are individuals who help promote a product or service by writing posts, making videos, and conducting other marketing efforts. When an affiliate’s visitor makes a purchase or submits a lead form on the affiliate company’s website, the affiliate gets paid.
How much and for what (lead or purchase) the affiliate gets paid for depends on the affiliate program terms. Generally speaking, the commission is often based on a fixed percentage of the product in question. It can also be another amount agreed upon between the advertiser and publisher.
Who Are The Companies?
An affiliate company (also known as a merchant, advertiser, retailer, or brand) is any company willing to pay commissions to affiliates who promote their products.
Affiliate companies pay their affiliates for helping them increase traffic and sales. Payments are usually determined on a pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, or pay-per-sale basis (more on these later). This structure is sometimes referred to as performance marketing.
As of 2021, more than 84% of companies in the U.S offer an affiliate marketing program to help raise brand awareness, encourage customer engagement, and increase online sales.
What Are Affiliate Networks?
Affiliate Networks act as a middleman between companies and their affiliates. They manage the relationship and providing third-party checks and balances.
These networks track, report, and manage payments to affiliates. When you sign up with an affiliate network, you usually gain access to all the affiliate companies managed within the network.
Some popular affiliate networks include ClickBank, Commission Junction, and ShareASale. These three networks work with all kinds of brands, or advertisers as they are sometimes called.
There are also more niche networks that are notable for their specialized affiliate tools, expertise, and bringing together brands from a single niche. For example, Travelpayouts provides access to 80 travel affiliate programs from the biggest brands on the market. They would be a good fit for travel bloggers or webmasters with traffic interested in travel.
What are Affiliate Links?
After signing up with an affiliate program, you’ll get an affiliate link. This is a special URL that contains your affiliate username or ID. You’ll use this link whenever you mention the advertiser’s product on your website or in other marketing efforts, such as in a blog post or on social media.
How Do Affiliates Get Paid?
As an affiliate, you’re paid for performance. Following are the three types of performance-based models common in affiliate marketing:
- Pay–Per–Click (PPC): An affiliate gets paid for all the valid clicks generated, regardless of whether these clicks result in sales or leads.
- Pay–Per–Lead (PPL): Companies pay a fixed commission for every qualified action a click generates. This action might include things like installation of an app, online form submission, free trial sign-up, or completion of a short survey.
- Pay–Per–Sale (PPS): Companies pay a percentage of all qualified sales. This percentage is agreed upon by the company and its affiliate. Among the most common PPS programs is Amazon Associates, where a publisher can earn up to 15% depending on the products sold.
Commission payouts usually occur on a monthly basis. But this varies depending on the terms of the affiliate program. Affiliate marketers can get paid in many different ways, including monetary commission, credit commission, and discount commission.
Monetary Commission
The most common and popular way affiliates are paid is through monetary commission. When
an affiliate generates a sale and earns a commission, the business pays them with actual money. Popular online payment processing systems include PayPal, Stripe, Skrill, and Venmo.
Credit Commission
Some affiliate programs also allow affiliates to use their affiliate earnings as credit toward that online business’ products or services. For example, if a publisher has a subscription with a stock photo site, their affiliate earnings may be used as credit toward subscription renewal. This type of payment is favorable to some affiliates because it helps save money on subscriptions and business expenses.
Discount Commission
Some programs offer discounts to affiliates who create enough referrals. This type of payout is popular with retail and health-related affiliate programs. After a certain number of sales and conversions, the publisher’s discounts can increase, which gives them more buying power on products they love from companies they trust.
Does it Cost to Join an Affiliate Program?
Most affiliate programs are free to join. However, some promotion strategies will cost if you choose to use them. For example, while your blog won’t cost you anything but your time, pay-per-click marketing, email campaigns, and social media ads will require an investment.
What are the Qualifications to Become an Affiliate Marketer?
Anyone can become an affiliate marketer. There are no standard qualifications.
However, knowing how to write a blog post, string a great review together, or do video are all a big plus because they mean you don’t have to pay for content in the beginning. Also, any existing marketing knowledge you have will be a great advantage to you.
Start Earning Today!
There’s no limit to what you can earn with affiliate marketing. It’s up to you to learn how affiliate marketing works and see how far you can scale this incredible business model.
The amount you earn will depend on a number of factors:
- The program you’re promoting
- The conversion rate
- How many visitors you’re sending through your links
- The buyer’s motivation
But when you hit that sweet spot and everything aligns, it’s a great feeling.
Now that you know how affiliate marketing works, why not test the waters? After all, it could be your golden goose, but you’ll never know unless you try!