Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for any internet user to earn money, whether you are running an online business or not. However, before you run off to spread the word about a product or service with an affiliate link, there are some relevant facts and fundamentals that you should know.
In this article, we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about affiliate marketing.
Q: What Is Affiliate Marketing?
A: Entrepreneurs and businesses have used affiliate marketing to earn money for many years. It is a form of marketing where a preset commission is paid to a person (affiliate) who refers traffic to a merchant’s site resulting in sales or other kinds of commissionable events. Thousands of online vendors, brands and businesses use this type of marketing technique to generate website traffic and increase sales.
Similar to referral marketing, affiliate marketing relies on third parties to send website visitors and generate sales for the business or merchant.
Q: How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
A: This type of marketing involves three kinds of people:
The Vendor or Merchant – This person is the creator or owner of the service/products which are available.
The Affiliate – This is the person who is responsible for promoting said service or product.
The Customer – The person who buys the product or service.
The affiliate gets paid a commission for every commissionable event happens because of the vendor. A commissionable event could be a sale, website visit, or email subscription. The amount varies depending on the product, service, or provider. However, it is usually a set percentage of the sale.
Q: How Do Affiliates Benefit Vendors?
A: As a vendor and website owner, affiliate marketing can greatly benefit you in a multitude of ways.
Having affiliates help you promote your product or service allows you access to a wider global audience without shelling out a ton of money. This type of marketing may help you increase your earnings by a significant amount each year. You will only need to pay for this kind of promotion when an actual sale happens, not for the promotional advertising.
Q: What Are The Benefits Of Being An Affiliate?
A: As we have mentioned in our previous article, Selling Your Own Product Vs. An Affiliate Product, the benefits of being an affiliate are many. You do not have to create a product, own a website, deal with customer service or much of anything, actually, except send traffic and generate sales.
All the hard work is done for you by the product vendor, leaving you to do the promotion and collect commissions. You will have an unlimited earning potential and many different products from which to choose. There is no need to spend weeks planning and creating a new product before you can earn money from its sale. You just pick a product or service that is ready right now and request to become an affiliate for it.
Q: What Are The Requirements To Become An Affiliate Marketer?
A: There are no actual requirements for this kind of work. However, vendors do have the option of turning down any affiliate application. Some programs only accept those possessing certain qualities such as a high-quality website, a certain number of previous sales or an established email list. They do this so that they get the optimal amount of website traffic, and so their sites are not blocked by Google for being spammy.
Q: How Does The Vendor Know What Their Affiliates Are Doing?
A: Vendors are ale to track commissions, referrals and sales through web cookies and tracking links that embed in the affiliate’s link. These use a personal ID that is assigned to each and every affiliate.
Each member gets a unique link that can be tracked by the merchant. Theis enables the vendor to keep track of all actions made through their link.
Q: How Much Money Can I Make As An Affiliate?
A: There is no way we can answer that question as every person is different. There are those who earn millions and those who never make a cent. We have no way of knowing which kind of person you are.
We will tell you that if you study the different marketing methods available to affiliates, apply your knowledge and do not give up; you have a serious advantage over other marketers.
Your earnings will entirely depend on how you choose to work this business. But, the earning potential is unlimited.
Q: Where Do I Find Affiliate Programs?
A: Here Is A List Of The Most Popular Affiliate Programs & Networks:
• JVZoo
• Amazon
• Warrior Plus
• Commission Junction
• eBay
• Clickbank
• ShareASale
• PayDotCom
• LinkShare
