Understanding how to make money affiliate marketing is huge. This is the age of technology, and making money through the internet can be very lucrative.
Did you realize you could be missing out on thousands of dollars in revenue per month? That’s exactly the change it’s made for me. It’s time for Affiliate Marketing 101: “What is affiliate marketing and does it work?”
When I first started in online business I knew nothing about affiliate marketing. I got the training I was looking for and realized affiliate marketing is the real deal. In less than a year I built a website that made $4k in one month! Affiliate marketing is a $6 BILLION/YEAR industry and it’s only GROWING MORE!
Consider this article a ow to make money with affiliate marketing for beginners” training. You can now master how to make money affiliate marketing & earn thousands per month doing it.
Grab a pen, take notes, and prepare to feel like you’ve just found your golden ticket.
How to Make Money Affiliate Marketing 2018- What is Affiliate Marketing and Does It Work?
Watch the following video to understand all the basics of affiliate marketing. You’ll understand how affiliate marketing works, how much money you can make with affiliate marketing, and how fast you can make it.
Affiliate marketing allows you, the affiliate, to be able to earn a commission on products or services you promote through your website for companies, or merchants. Just about every single one of the tens of thousands of merchants you’ve shopped with online has an affiliate program.
Let’s use an extremely popular merchant like Amazon.com as an example. You can buy just about anything on Amazon. As a result, no matter how unique the product, you can make money promoting it through an affiliate program.
Does Affiliate Marketing Really Work?
Let’s take a look at how to do affiliate marketing step by step. When was the last time you bought something online and researched it before buying it? We all do this. Understanding how to make money affiliate marketing means realizing that there is a HUGE demand here. Let me explain how affiliate marketing works.
Let’s say you’re looking for an honest review for this Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm lens (suuuuch a good starter lens for photographers in case you were wondering).
You find a review you like that thoroughly explains all the bells and whistles for this lens. It goes through the pros and cons, and gives you the specs you’re looking for. Finally at the end of the review you see a link that will take you to Amazon so you can make this purchase.
You click the link, buy your lens from Amazon, and a few days later, it’s in your hands. This is the process we’ve all gone through a hundred times, right?
Well did you know that the link you clicked on in that review is an affiliate link? That reviewer actually received a commission for connecting you to that product you were looking for. He didn’t have to ship it to you and doesn’t have to carry any inventory. He simply connected you to the product you were already looking for through his review and that is exactly what affiliate marketing is all about.
Different merchants have different affiliate commission rates. In this example, amazon pays a 6% base commission with additional performance incentives based on volume for this type of product.
This lens retails on amazon for $131.95, so a 6% commission would be $7.92. If you’re the reviewer and you wrote that article, you’d have a cool $7.92 in your pocket.
Woooohooooooo!!!!
Wait, you’re not excited about $7.92?
Well don’t write off affiliate programs just yet. Let’s say you also did a review on this Samsung curved 88 inch 4K Ultra HD television.
Just for me, right now, take a wild guess at how much you think an 88 inch television might cost and then click that link above and prepare to have your mind blown before we move on. (Do it).
Because of its hefty price tag, your 6% commission for this sale would be $1,379.94!
Not bad for writing a review and referring your traffic to the merchant.
How much can you make with affiliate marketing?
This is where knowing the basics of affiliate marketing goes hand in hand with knowing how to get traffic. The higher your traffic, the more commission potential you have.
Increasing your website’s traffic comes from a combination of creating relevant content for your site, and making the user experience a great one.
What if there was a tool that studied Google’s search data and told you exactly what your target audience was searching for? There is, and once you read this article on Jaaxy you’ll never leave home without it.
Knowing what your target audience is looking for is one of many factors you need to understand to build consistent traffic. It will also create a better user experience. And with consistent traffic, your opportunity to succeed with affiliate marketing presents itself.
Now, let’s work out some conservative numbers
Let’s say you’ve followed your training correctly, and have built a website that gets 1000 unique clicks per month, just a little over 30 per day, which is actually very realistic when you build your site right.
Out of those 1000 you have a 20% click-thru rate on your affiliate links. Click-thru rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who are actually clicking on your affiliate link which takes them to the buy page. A 20% CTR on 1000 clicks is 200 clicks per month. Don’t go buying that new ‘vette just yet, because not everyone who clicks the link actually buys the product.
Out of those 200 who click your affiliate links, we’ll say 1 out of 50 makes a purchase. This is very conservative.
That’s 4 sales in a month, and if those 4 sales were for that crazy expensive television, that’d be almost $5000 in commissions! (hurry go get the ‘vette!). But a more typical commission is closer to $25 -$30, or anywhere from $100-$120/month for those 4 sales.
Those are monthly commissions working for you even while you sleep, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is that “working smarter, not harder” concept you halfway heard while you halfway slept through that one class way back when.
Just How Lucrative Can Affiliate Marketing Be?
Let’s bump up the traffic just a bit shall we?
From the conservative 1000 clicks/month let’s ramp up to a steady 3000 clicks/month. And from the conservative $25-$30 affiliate commission, let’s go up to the very nice round number of $100 per sale.
There are many products out there offering this high of a commission that you can earn repeatedly.
Read my review here for my #1 recommendation which not only offers great training on affiliate marketing and building massive traffic, but also has an affiliate program that meets and exceeds that average of $100 per customer after retention.
So, at 3000 clicks/month, keeping the same 20% CTR, this is 600 people clicking through your affiliate links every single month. And from the 1 out of 50 conservative scenario we had earlier for customers who actually buy, let’s also ramp up to a very doable 1 out of 20.
That would lead to 30 purchases/month, and if you’re promoting something that returns a $100/sale commission, that would be $3000/month!
Especially relevant is the fact that there is no ceiling to how much you can make with affiliate marketing. Some have even boasted of over $1000/day consistently.
And now that you understand it and finally know what that little “affiliate” link at the bottom of every merchant’s site leads to, it’s time for the obvious next step: partnering with merchants.
What are the Top Paying Affiliate Programs?
There are literally tens of thousands of affiliate programs out there. But if you’re thinking of a top 5, the most popular affiliate programs are:
- Commission Junction
- Affiliate Window
- Clickbank
- ShareASale
- Rakuten Affiliate Network (formerly Linkshare)
These affiliate programs have a huge number of merchants within their catalogue. When searching out a merchant to partner with, don’t be surprised to find them within one of these affiliate programs listed above.
You don’t have to partner with the big guys though. No matter what niche you’re in, you can find a wide variety of affiliate programs that may be smaller but still offer great commissions. Try doing a google search of “(Your niche) + affiliate programs” to find some that fit your needs.
While some affiliate programs require you to have a certain amount of traffic to your site, others will accept you even if you’re just starting out.
How to Make Money Affiliate Marketing 2018 – Conclusion
Understanding and mastering how to make money affiliate marketing will be very lucrative to you with the right training. Build your site right, and you can be on top of a huge pile of commissions relatively quickly.
The training community I’m a part of is the best mentoring community you’ll find online for building a successful affiliate marketing business. Take the training for a test drive first to see if the training is a good fit for you. I’ve had nothing but positives and I think you will too.
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Still have questions on how to make money affiliate marketing? What products do you love and use regularly? Don’t think there’s an affiliate program in your niche? Think again. Share your ideas and questions! Leave me a comment below. Ask away.
In conclusion, I hope this information on affiliate marketing helps you. Take the right steps, and you’ll be well on your way to financial and time freedom and a very successful online business.
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Miller G says
November 15, 2018 at 3:50 amHi Eric,
i am blogger, almost a year and half back i got the grew the passion to blog and i DID, with adsense i was able to earn a little off it as well. But after good time of engagement and hard work i have built and good number of following and traffic that makes me feel like i should integrate with affiliate market and earn some commission as well now.
I have got the medium but the program is what i need now, one that can help me monetize my socials as well. I have been searching and so many programs and different kind of setups with services. Some are not even accepting new comers or should i say too complex for beginners.
Here is UK i found this one program that is offering those kinda needed tools for free and 100% commission on sales and 80% on socials which caught my eye but i have no insight on this program or any program out there for that matter.
Thank you
Eric Cantu says
November 19, 2018 at 3:02 amThat program you sent me is a WordPress plugin… I’m not sure how that would help you build your traffic and monetize your site so you’re making consistent revenue in affiliate marketing. The training platform and mentoring community I’m a part of is hands down the best one I’ve found online and you can start free to see if it’s for you. I’ve had nothing but positives from it starting off as a complete newbie and it sounds to me like it’s exactly what you’re looking for. Read my review here and create your free starter account! Thanks for the comment!
Dean Pahed says
July 10, 2018 at 5:37 amVery helpful. Thank you so much!
Eric Cantu says
July 19, 2018 at 11:23 pmVery happy to help! Affiliate marketing has been really big for me and the training platform I link to in the article above is the reason why. If you’re interested in building a business affiliate marketing, I highly recommend checking out the link above 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Manish says
June 28, 2018 at 7:36 amHi,
This is very helpful especially for beginners like me. Thanks for sharing such a valuable information.
Eric Cantu says
June 30, 2018 at 4:07 pmAbsolutely. If this is something that interests you I highly recommend creating your free starter account with the training platform I link to in this article 🙂 I owe all my success to that platform. Nothing but positives from it and the training delivers. Thanks for the comment!
Satpal Singh says
May 7, 2018 at 10:02 amHi,
This is very helpful especially for beginners like me. Thanks for sharing such a valuable information.
Eric Cantu says
May 7, 2018 at 7:22 pmVery glad to help! And if you’re a beginner looking for more great training, I highly recommend creating your free starter account with the training platform & mentoring community I recommend in the article 🙂 Hope to see you on the inside!
Joanna Blake says
May 7, 2018 at 7:18 amI like your nice call to action to click on your Amazon link to test something. Everything else one buys on Amazon within 24 hours through your link will earn you a commission because of the rules of their affiliate program. Nicely done 🙂
Eric Cantu says
May 7, 2018 at 7:26 pmBy test do you mean the part where I ask to guess how much the TV costs? Yeah I thought that was clever myself. Thanks Amazon! lol. Thanks for the comment!
Harish Kumar says
April 16, 2018 at 7:13 amThanks for the tips man, I am a newbie affiliate marketer, I faced difficulties in choosing affiliate programs, now I got a clear picture, I am going to choose ShareASale, all the tips and pieces of information are really useful for every beginner, keep doing these quality work.
Eric Cantu says
April 17, 2018 at 12:23 amThanks for the comment, Harish! I appreciate it. And good luck with ShareASale! That’s one of the popular ones 🙂
usadigitaloff says
April 14, 2018 at 10:08 amI am indulged in affiliate marketing for over a period of 6 months now and doing great figures.
But I believe that by using your tips in my strategy, I’ll be doing much better.
Eric Cantu says
April 14, 2018 at 8:17 pmVery happy to add a few tips to your tool belt! Thanks so much for the comment!
gbnaija.com says
April 1, 2018 at 10:17 pmwhat a nice tip…i just got another money making method…this is great
Eric Cantu says
April 2, 2018 at 2:52 amThank you so much! Glad to help!
Remus Yee says
March 22, 2018 at 11:12 amGreat advise for all new affiliates. It takes a long time to get a reasonable amount of traffic. This will help a lot of people out
Eric Cantu says
March 22, 2018 at 5:43 pmTraffic is all about consistency, patience, good practices, and quality content. Very good point. Thank you and I appreciate you taking the time to chime in 🙂
Richcrooke says
March 22, 2018 at 8:38 amReally great article, a lot of info to make you think where your strategy might be placed, especially if you are just starting with this like I am.
Eric Cantu says
March 22, 2018 at 5:46 pmThanks for the comment, Rich! If you’re looking for some solid training especially for a starter, I got mine from this affiliate marketing training platform and have had nothing but positives from it. Take it for a test drive and see how you like it. It delivers and you’ll get me as a support coach 🙂 Thanks for chiming in!
Joshua Mushauri says
March 22, 2018 at 8:17 amYou are a very smart dude. Thanks for this article I look forward to trying new things. If there is any other information your open to sharing I’m all ears.
Eric Cantu says
March 22, 2018 at 5:49 pmI appreciate that! Thank you! If there’s a top recommendation I have it’s to join the training and mentoring community I’m a part of. You can read my full review here. Thank you!
ken kirsten says
March 22, 2018 at 8:08 amLovely list of tips on how to work with affiliate marketing. I have been doing it for quite some time now but you still had some great points I really hadn’t thought about too much before.
Eric Cantu says
March 23, 2018 at 9:30 pmI appreciate the comment, brother! Thanks for chiming in 🙂 I owe everything I know to the training and mentoring community I’m a part of! Thanks again!
Cameron Cofield says
March 12, 2018 at 6:36 amThis is a really excellent article, I was especially impressed by the range of different tips you explained. This would be so useful to newbie marketers. Did you learn everything you write about here from the training platform you mentioned?
Eric Cantu says
March 12, 2018 at 4:43 pmVery glad to help! Thanks for the support. These are the tips and strategies that have worked for me and I’ve found when you put them into practice with consistency they deliver 🙂 And yes, I owe EVERYTHING to WA. I highly recommend trying it out for yourself and seeing if it’s for you. Create your free account through my link in this article and you’ll get to try it free and you’ll also have me as a coach to help you out. Thanks again!
Kenneth Stoner says
March 12, 2018 at 6:31 amThis post is super relevant. I personally see a lot of benefit with marketing affiliate products over social media. I think it can be a lot easier and profitable if the right strategies are put in place. thank you for sharing.
Eric Cantu says
March 12, 2018 at 4:44 pmThanks for the comment, Kenneth! Agreed!
Michael Selmes says
March 12, 2018 at 6:27 amI did launch my affiliate marketing site and I was having trouble making sales unto it. I do hope that after applying what you said will make my site better. How long does it take to build traffic? Many thanks to you for sharing those tips.
Eric Cantu says
March 12, 2018 at 4:44 pmAs with anything, it just takes time and consistency. When you apply the right strategies consistently, you see the results you’re looking for. Building traffic is all about momentum. A trickle of traffic becomes a stream, and a stream becomes a river. Here’s an article on increasing traffic I think you’ll love. Thanks for the comment, Michael!
Eva Sturchio says
March 12, 2018 at 6:22 amThat was a really good read. Do you think there are more profitable niches than others? The tips and techniques listed here are very true. Well done!
Eric Cantu says
March 12, 2018 at 4:45 pmThanks for the support! And absolutely, different niches will bring different results. But, what I’ve found is that ANY niche can be profitable when marketed right. It’s all about consistent quality content creation and great keyword research. Thanks so much for the comment!