In This Article
Affiliate marketing is a great way to add an additional revenue channel to your business — especially if you are an expert or an enthusiast in just about any area.
Now, there are folks you will tell you that you can become a millionaire with an affiliate
In this article, I wanted to share a few things that you need to be successful if you want to use affiliate marketing as a strategy. Along the way, you’ll meet some of our community who are sharing their own experiences and ideas.
Focus on Something You Love
If you want to be successful (and make money) with affiliate marketing, you’ve got to focus on something you love, or have experience with. You don’t have to be a massive expert, but you do have to have enough energy and motivation around a topic to generate a lot of content day in and day out.
Promote Brands You Are Passionate About
The Internet is flooded with stories of successful affiliate marketers who went from earning less to earning a good amount of money. To achieve anything great in life, you have to work for things you love. The same is the case with affiliate marketing, where you need to choose brands that are also your personal choice.
Let’s be honest, to achieve something great, you need to look beyond high paychecks. Money follows if you put all your hard work and effort into something. If you are working with some brands only to earn a good amount, your audience will eventually see through it, and the possibility of the marketing not doing well will become high. a
Also, making genuine recommendations will make you stand out as more accountable among the users. If you promote genuine products that you truly believe in as an individual, your users will trust you more, and they will click on your affiliate links again and again.
Janie Doyle, Marketing Director, SC Vehicle Hire
Find Your Niche
I’ve worked with several affiliate networks during my career, advertising digital products online and earning rewards when I make a sale. I would admit that I had no idea how many various topics I needed to know, research, study, and get experience in before I truly looked into affiliate marketing. Prior to delving far into knowing about it, it seemed easy. You need a niche market that you can reach with your advertising strategies if you want to succeed at affiliate marketing. Additionally, you must be able to turn visitors into customers. Finally, you must be well-versed in the operation of the affiliate marketing system. You can earn money with affiliate marketing if you are able to complete all of these tasks. To get there, though, requires patience, hard work, and perseverance.
Timothy Woods, Director, Carnivore Style
Drive a LOT of Traffic
Now here’s the thing few people tell you.
To make any money with affiliate marketing, you’re going to need A LOT of traffic. Whether you’re selling Amazon products, software, or electronics, most affiliate programs pay something like 20% or 30% of the total price, and if that price is small — then you’re going to have to generate a lot of volume.
The average conversion rate for anything is about 1% to click on the link and another 1% to actually purchase. That’s why you need a lot of traffic.
And the best way to get that traffic and conversion is to…
Create High-Quality Content
Yes, I am currently making more than $500 per month with affiliate marketing. My experience has been very positive so far – I’ve been able to generate a steady stream of income that I use to supplement my other sources of income. My biggest tip is to focus on creating quality content that is targeted to your audience. By providing valuable information and engaging content, you can increase your chances of making sales, as well as increase the likelihood of people returning to your site. I also believe that it’s important to build relationships with other affiliates and influencers in the space who can help you promote your products and services. With these strategies, you should be able to start making far better than $500 per month.
Shaun Connell, Founder, Writing Tips Institute
Instill a Feeling of Urgency
Creating targeted audiences is essential. In order to be successful, it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies that can boost your online presence. Additionally, effective use of time-limited offers can help create a sense of urgency for potential customers. Furthermore, optimizing keywords for search engine ranking as well as utilizing email marketing techniques have been found to be especially useful in increasing sales through affiliate marketing. Following these tips may lead to higher revenues than previously anticipated.
Jim Campbell, Owner, Camp Media
Know Every Aspect of What You’re Recommending
Unfortunately, affiliate marketing is a component of almost every “earn money fast!” fraud. Along with that, a flood of people is solely concerned with making quick money rather than helping their audience. They frequently perform poorly and quickly.
To stand out as an affiliate, people must recognize you as an expert in your field or, at the very least, have a website where people can learn more about the things you are promoting. Affiliates often pick a few vendors without researching them because they believe they will appeal to their audience. You still need to understand how and why these items are used, even if all you want to do is learn about them.
Do your homework before registering with a new service provider to accomplish this. Even if it’s just the demo version, consider the opinions of others before using it. Even though it may take longer to generate sales for your affiliate products, people are more likely to trust what you advocate.
Samantha Odo, Real Estate Expert & Chief Operating Officer at Precondo, Precondo
If you have experience in an industry or topic area, you can share that experience and the nuances of using that product or service in your content
Start Now
I started earning $500 per month in affiliate marketing about six months ago. I was working on a side project that was taking off, and I started writing about it to help boost my brand’s visibility.
When I first started writing about affiliate marketing, it felt like a lot of work for a little reward. But as my readership grew, so did the opportunities for me to make money through affiliate marketing. The best advice I can give is: Don’t wait until you’ve reached a certain level of success before you make money from your blog—start now!
The sooner you get into the habit of writing about things that interest you and sharing them with people who will find them valuable, the sooner your blog will feel like something worth investing time in. And when your blog feels that way, it’s easier to make real money from it too!
Rengie Wisper, Marketing Manager, Check CPS
Generate Comprehensive Product Review Articles
The biggest tip to earn lucrative income through affiliate marketing is to create comprehensive but easy-to-digest product review articles. We have been using this strategy since our early days.
We aim to provide readers with high-quality water filtration information and connect them to proven product manufacturers that can address their pressing water concerns. Create those articles from a friendly point of view. Show your readers that you truly understand their struggles by developing rapport through no-nonsense facts.
Last, improve your services by reviewing results from affiliate marketing programs, as these can be great metrics for your product review articles’ effectiveness.
Brian Campbell, Founder, WaterFilterGuru
Produce a LOT of Content
In order to generate a lot of traffic, you’re going to have to produce a lot of content day in and day out.
Be Consistent
The most successful affiliate marketers are those who work on their business every day, not just when they feel like it. You will get better at it over time, but you have to put in the work. Do not give up if something does not work right away—try something else instead! Do not spend money on things that do not matter (like expensive courses or tools). Focus on building relationships with other people in your niche instead of buying things from them.
Nathan Hughes, Founder, Art Ignition
Focus on Products that Pay Higher Commissions
I am the co-founder of a health and lifestyle publication, and we run affiliate links in our content for innovative health and wellness products. Our monthly turnover is way above $500, and while the journey toward this milestone has not been easy, we have learned many lessons along the way.
My best tip is to focus on products that pay higher commissions. This seems like a straightforward thing, but it seems a lot of affiliates don’t prioritize it. It’s better to focus your resources on marketing a few high-commission products than a ton of low-paying products. The ROI is just so high with high-value products. The finance niche typically has some of the highest affiliate commissions, but we have seen the same trend taking hold in the health and wellness sector.
Logan Nguyen, Co-Founder, MIDSS
Refine Your Writing With a Blog
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make with affiliate marketing is thinking that they can just put up a bunch of affiliate links with brief descriptions and an SEO strategy and think that people will click. You may be good at getting people to your site, but unless you give them a compelling reason to click on a product link, your conversion rates are going to be horrible.
My company specializes in medical emergency certifications like BLS (Basic Life Support). I used to run an affiliate marketing program on my website that was very successful for medical emergency equipment. We have since shifted our strategy to focus only on certifications, as that is our main profit line, but a couple of years ago, I was making over $8,500 per month with affiliate marketing.
My single biggest tip to drive more than $500 a month is to refine your writing and channel it into a blog on your site. A blog is the best place to release content about items you want people to buy.
Brian Clark, CEO & Marketing Director, United Medical Education
Run Multiple Sites
I run two websites, Trivia Bliss and another site where I blog daily about Magic: The Gathering cards, which experience high financial rewards due to affiliate marketing. This is because the subject matter is my passion, and I regularly post high-value sponsored content across the online Magic space.
My advice would be that it is simpler to generate good content when you are writing for a specific niche audience that you know and intrinsically understand. Also, writing highly contentious posts that are guaranteed to create engagement really spurs traffic; it just takes some digital sweat and perseverance.
Significant posts that created drama in the comments kept people coming back to see what the next installment was and led them down the affiliate rabbit hole, which made more money for me and allowed me to continue starting up new websites and blogs linked to my interests.
Dan Troha, Founder, Trivia Bliss
How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing
Instead of diving in head-first. Select a few products, services, and even coaches and experts with whom you are familiar and have had positive experiences.
You’re already recommending the tools and experts you like, you might as well generate a few bucks here and there.
Post on Social
While a lot of affiliate marketers post their links on a website, you can also share your affiliate links via social media channels such as Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok and any others where you are active.
Share in Your Emails
You can also share affiliate links via emails. This is all assuming that you have relationships with your email list. Be careful of “denylisted URLs” — this is something MailChimp regulates.
Since a lot of DIYMarketers use MailChimp, here are their recommendations:
- Assess Your Affiliate Links
Advertisements for another company in your campaign should appear under your branding, be in your voice, and be relevant to your contacts. Recommending products or services is also perfectly acceptable as long as the content and industries aren’t prohibited under our Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. - Research Domain Reputation
Many ISPs don’t make their denylists public, so it’s hard to be absolutely sure an affiliate link isn’t on a denylist somewhere. But these resources can help you determine the reputation of a domain before you link to it in your campaign.
Google Safe Browsing Lookup API
SURBL
URIBL
Spamcop
Spamhaus
FAQ’s About Affiliate Marketing Strategies
What is the hardest part of affiliate marketing?
The hardest part of affiliate marketing is generating qualified traffic to your offers. When choosing the products or services that you want to promote, be sure that you can reach enough people.
What are the biggest reasons people fail at affiliate marketing?
There are 3 big reasons people fail. First, they try to promote and manage too many products and services. Another reason people fail is that they don’t generate enough traffic to the product or service they are promoting. Finally, they aren’t knowledgable enough about what they are selling.
TL:DR Summary
Affiliate marketing is a terrific way to add another revenue stream to your business without having to develop new products and services.
If you are a subject matter expert or a business that regularly recommends specific products, services, programs, or experts, consider making some money from your recommendations.