What is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a very popular way of earning money on the internet. However to be successful in affiliate marketing business one need to understand what actually is affiliate marketing. If you already know what is affiliate marketing and how to succeed in this business, I advise not to proceed.

Here in this post, I am going to explain in detail what is affiliate marketing and how to make money out of this business.

Firstly let us understand the basics of affiliate marketing business. Affiliate Marketing Business is a method of earning commissions for promoting someone else product or service on the internet. Say, for example, you choose a product in a marketplace like Amazon and refer that product or service through social networking, blogging, Email, etc. through a referral link. To get this link you have to sign up as an affiliate of the Amazon marketplace.

There are plenty of marketplace like Amazon where you can sign up as an affiliate. Every merchant will provide you with a unique referral link of yours to promote their product. Whenever someone clicks that link for an inquiry or signup on the website, you get paid.
So basically affiliate marketing involves four steps,
— Finding a right product to promote.
— Sign up as an affiliate partner
— Get your referral promotion link and paste into your blog, social networking pages, Emails, etc.
— You earn commission for every successful transaction.

Where to Promote Products in Affiliate Marketing Business
You can promote affiliate products or services through social media sites like Facebook advertising, YouTube, Pinterest, article submission sites, guest posting, banners ads on other blogs, classified sites, etc. However, to be really successful in affiliate marketing business, blogging is the best platform. All successful affiliate marketers around the world have a successful blog. If you already have a blog, then choose the product related to the theme of your blog. Write honest reviews of those products on your blog. This will attract visitors to your blog and chances of conversion becomes higher.

Where to find Products for Affiliate Marketing Business
For most online merchants selling products or services, creating affiliate program is extremely difficult. It is because running an affiliate program requires a lot of money, a high expense of running affiliate tracking system and the lack of time to handle the system.

There are thousands of online stores and e-commerce sites like Amazon, eBay, ClickBank, Commission Junction, Flipkart, have their own affiliate marketing system. These marketplaces provide millions of product for sale. So for a beginner, it is always advised to start affiliate marketing with an affiliate marketing network than a single merchant because you have the option of choosing the product and advertiser of your choice.
Why you Should Start Affiliate Marketing Business
The biggest benefit of running an affiliate marketing venture is that you don’t have to buy and ship the products you sell. The entire responsibility of shipment lies with the product owner or the merchant. You just provide the customer with them with the referral link. Everything else is taken care of the merchant who sells the product. Just by referring you earn commission up to 90 % depending on the product. Some merchants provide even lifetime commission as long as the referred customer buy products.

Affiliate marketing business is truly a business opportunity with endless money-making potential. If you really interested in giving a serious try, follow the step by step guide mentioned below:

How to Start

1. Start a blog
   To start affiliate marketing business, you must have your own blog on a particular topic. Write good content and product review posts till you get at least 500 – 750 unique visits daily. You need to have customers to sell a product. Your visitors are your customers. If you do not have a blog, no need to get worried. If you don’t have a blog read my post How to start a blog for more information.

2. Join an affiliate program
   Choose one affiliate marketing platform to start with. Spend some time with the program and try to understand the features and benefits of the program. You can take help from my post of recommended list of affiliate programs if you want.

3. Choose the Product
   Choose a product which relates to the content matter of the blog. You can also take the help of AdWords Planner Tool, Google Trends, etc. If your blog is related to say for example on musical instruments, find products accordingly.

4. How to Promote the Product
   Write an honest review posted on the subject on your blog. Promote that article on social networking sites like Facebook, Pinterest, etc. You can also submit that article on article submission sites, mobile advertising, Emails, etc. The success rate of selling affiliate products increases when you yourself are a user of that product.

You need to be careful when promoting a product. If the product you promote does not deliver as per your review, you will face difficulty in selling products hence.
Finally, let us understand one thing. Affiliate marketing is not a quick rich scheme. To be successful in affiliate marketing business, you need to have dedication and willingness to put in hard work. It will take some time to get success. But, once you get success the gain is much more than the pain. Assured..