You might have heard about people making money online through Amazon, Flipkart, and similar e-commerce websites. But have you ever thought about how they do it? Hasn’t it surprised you how people make passive income in a competitive world?
Well, they do it through affiliate marketing. This easy-money-making profession is becoming popular in India. Affiliate marketing is no trick or magic. It’s a simple way of marketing that requires you to understand the basics.
Keep reading this post to learn what affiliate marketing is and how it works.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a way of marketing products and services to the target audience through recommendations. It does not require you to have a network. All you need is three parties, i.e., affiliates, consumers, and product creators.
This marketing model has become one of the most popular strategies for earning money without much effort. A recent survey revealed that the affiliate marketing industry has expanded from $5.4 billion in 2017 to $8.2 billion by 2022.
If you are also willing to enter the affiliate marketing world by recommending products, here’s how you can do it.
- Start the affiliate marketing process by identifying the services or products you want to promote.
- After that, partner with an affiliate program.
- You will then receive a special link that the company uses to track your progress, including the number of clicks, sales, conversions, and more.
- You must promote your affiliate link, so more people can click it.
- Lastly, you will receive a commission when someone buys it.
Affiliate marketing is more on the performance-based marketing side because the more people click on your link, the more you will earn. The people who want to try their luck in the affiliate marketing world must have the talent to connect with people, so the links get more clicks.
This marketing technique is better known as referred business, and it completely works on a commission basis. As an affiliate, when you recommend customers to a company, you are rewarded with commissions or tokens.
Also read: How To Become An Affiliate Marketer In India
The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing [With Infographic] 🖼️
Here is an infographic representation of the pros and cons of affiliate marketing.
Pros of Affiliate Marketing ✅
1. Zero/Minimum Investment
Did you know that affiliate marketing lets you run your business with zero costs? But how to start affiliate marketing with no money? You simply need to choose a product and content with an affiliate partner.
You can promote the affiliate links in multiple ways without spending money. Also, you do not have to invest in the development or creation of the product.
You can get a minimal cost of the domain, hosting, and purchasing of your website. Once you get confident, you can further opt for premium services to generate more links and better assistance.
2. Easy to Start
One of the main reasons people choose affiliate marketing is that it is easy to start. Anyone can start their affiliate marketing journey by performing some simple steps.
3. Billion-Dollar Business
Affiliate marketing is a billion-dollar business that is rapidly growing. As this sector is growing, it is offering numerous opportunities. So, if you have the talent, you must jump into the affiliate marketing sector and try your luck.
4. Learning Through Earning
When you are dealing with a respective responsibility, you can learn through any kind of profession. But affiliate marketing gives you more options and opportunities than any other sector.
5. Flexibility
One interesting feature of affiliate marketing is that it offers different rewards to affiliate marketers.
- Pay-Per-Sale: This is the policy where the company pays a minimum percentage of the sale price that is made by customers when they have clicked on your affiliate link.
- Pay-Per-Click: This policy requires the company to pay the affiliates for the number of users directed to the website through the link. PPC does not require the affiliates to make a sale to get paid.
- Pay-Per-Lead: This policy rewards the affiliates when they fill out the contact form by filling in their personal details.
6. Market-Ready Audience
The best thing about affiliate marketing is that it offers a wider place for the affiliates to promote products and services. The wider market results in more customers clicking the affiliate link.
In addition, different products and brands have an established reputation among the audience. So, when affiliates promote such products or brands, it helps them earn more.
7. High Income Potential
At first, you might think that affiliate marketers only get a small number of sales that have been made by customers. But when you combine the small commission made for each sale, you get a better income. If you are creative and can generate a high sales volume, you can expect unbelievable income.
8. Extensive Products and Marketplace
Lastly, affiliate marketing has extensive products and the marketplace. That means you can promote any product or service through the market. This thing helps you reach the targeted customers to earn better affiliate income.
Furthermore, you can choose to promote products that pay higher affiliate commissions. Also, if you choose popular products, you get a wider marketplace to attract customers.
Cons of Affiliate Marketing❌
While affiliate marketing is an interesting way of earning passive income, there are a few weak points as well. So, before you start your affiliate marketing journey, you must know about the weak points.
1. Commission-Based Payment
Affiliate marketing is different from other marketing campaigns as it works on a sales commission model. While affiliates still get paid for visitors who click on the link, their main mode of payment is when a sale takes place through their referred link.
2. Needs Patience and Hard Work
When you initially start your affiliate marketing journey, you require patience and hard work to create a solid presence. There might be exceptions, but the affiliate marketing journey is not easy.
You are also required to be dedicated to the product you are promoting. Try to show your creativity in a way that helps you make the product stand out from the crowd. In addition, use different strategies to get success in this industry.
3. Cannot Control Competition
One downside of being an affiliate marketer is that you do not have any legal right over your affiliate marketing programs. That means you need to follow the rules set by the service providers or product owners.
4. Uncertainty
While affiliate marketing offers plenty of opportunities, it is a risky industry. Affiliate marketing does not guarantee that you will hit a certain figure. There might be some good days and some bad.
If you do not have a better strategy, your affiliate marketing can become a total failure. Therefore, you must perform your best to get the maximum income. Once you grow a label and a wider range of audiences, you can expect a steady income.
5. High Competition
Affiliate marketing is considered one of the most competitive industries, as promoting a product or service in the market is not easy. There is a high chance of other established affiliate marketers already promoting the product or service that you want to promote.
So, in such a situation, you might find a hard time getting the attention of the right people.
6. Choosing the Right Product
Choosing a product from tons of options is not easy because there is always a risk of choosing the wrong one. If you want to succeed in the affiliate marketing world, you must do your homework and find the right product that suits your style.
Also, read our detailed blog on The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing in 2022
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Affiliate marketing is a commission-based marketing method where a company pays a third party to promote its products or services. For example, affiliate marketers can be social media influencers or podcasters promoting any product as they get paid for it.
After selecting a product and choosing an affiliate partner, you get an affiliate link or code. Companies and brands use this code or link to track the number of customers redirected to their website. The customer needs to purchase from your affiliate link otherwise, you won’t earn a commission.
Here’s how a standard affiliate program works.
- As an affiliate marketer, you are required to promote the product of Store A through your website, social network, or blog. You must use the given affiliate link.
- The company records the transaction when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase from store A.
- When the purchase is confirmed by Store A, you get a commission.
Affiliate marketing for beginners or professionals requires three to four players:
- Affiliates: The person who promotes the product
- Sellers: The person who sells or creates the products
- Networks: The one that manages affiliates (it’s optional)
- Consumers: The end-users
Affiliates
Affiliates are businesses or individuals that promote a product or service through the affiliate link. These are sometimes called publishers. The affiliates usually promote products or services through blogs, videos, or other creative content.
Affiliates can also take the help of paid ads to increase traffic and sales. However, they can only use certain keywords for the promotion.
Sellers
Sellers are the ones who create the product or service that the affiliates promote to targeted customers. The seller can either be a company or an individual paying the affiliates to target customers towards the product.
In some situations, the sellers are not the creator of the service or product. For example, Amazon Associates Program.
Networks (Optional)
Sometimes, sellers take the help of affiliate networks to manage the affiliate marketers and marketing programs. The role of an affiliate network is to handle the third-party checks and the relationship between affiliates and sellers.
Consumers
Consumers are the individuals who are targeted by the affiliated products or services. They are important because they purchase the services or products through affiliate links.
How to Do Affiliate Marketing in 7 Steps? [With Infographic]🖼️
Here’s how you can start affiliate marketing.
1. Pick a Platform and a Niche
If you want to become a successful affiliate marketer, you must make an impact. The best thing you can do is establish a blog or website that truly focuses on the niche that you want to promote.
You can choose a niche from different options, including personal health, pets, finance, e-business products, online gaming, technology, fashion, and more.
2. Build An Audience
Any blog or website needs to have a large number of engaged audiences. After all, the visitors read, see, and finally engage with the content. It is how you can make them click on the affiliate link and earn income.
The first step to developing the audience is understanding your targeted audience. You can find your target by checking your competitors, conducting surveys, and monitoring your traffic.
After finding the targeted audience, you need to develop them and keep them engaged through creative content and emails. Try to engage with your audiences as much as you can so they find a factor to purchase what you have recommended.
3. Register for an Affiliate Program
If you are serious about affiliate marketing, you can sign up for affiliate programs like Amazon Associates or similar ones. After you sign up, you can get an idea of the most appropriate products for your niche. This way, you can select the right product for affiliate marketing.
Usually, you do not have to pay to sign up for an affiliate program. But if you wish to run paid ads or do similar things that require money, you must bear the cost.
4. Choose Which Item to Promote
As an affiliate marketer, you must select the right product and cultivate relationships. Also, you must deal with the right business and update the materials required for affiliate marketing.
It’s advised that you must select a product that you are familiar with or have exceptional knowledge about. That’s because if you are not confident about the product, you might not be able to promote it properly.
Whenever you are choosing a product, you should think about three factors:
- Your targeted audience
- Will your target audience find the promoted product or service useful? Will they be thankful and encourage it?
- Will the product resonate with your targeted audience?
If you are getting confused, ask yourself whether you will recommend it to your friends or family?
5. Create Attractive Content for Your Affiliated Products
This year has seen the rise of many affiliate marketers. So, if you want to make your product stand out from the crowd, promote it using the best and most creative technique.
You can create a write-up post, create a video, use images, tell a story, or create something interesting that engages your audience. Avoid promoting products or services that you have not used yourself.
6. Enhance and Track
When your targeted audience clicks your affiliate link, the cookie placed on their browser tracks their activities. After that, when they submit a form or make a purchase, the merchant can record and set up with Facebook pixel code or plugin.
It helps the company or the merchant reward the affiliate with payment without delay.
You can track your affiliate content to understand which of your strategies have performed well. Tracking also helps you understand what strategies you can implement in the future to target and engage more audiences.
7. Get Paid
When it comes to payment, numerous frameworks and patterns are involved. But these patterns vary depending on the affiliate promotion and marketing program. So, before you join any affiliate program, you must carefully read the terms and conditions. This way, you can keep yourself safe from payment-related troubles.
Usually, the commission-based payments are made at the month-end. But it greatly varies depending on the affiliate programs. You can be rewarded with a weekly or monthly payment for all the leads or sales you have made.
While choosing an affiliate provider, focus on the payment structure. Depending on your requirements, choose a commission per lead produced, a percentage per sale, or a repeating continuing commission percentage. You can also choose a one-off payment commission percentage.
Also read: How to Create an Affiliate Website [Step by Step Guide]
How Much Can You Make An Affiliate Marketer? 💵
Affiliate marketing sounds interesting, but the real question is how much can you earn through it? Honestly, the commission rates vary as different companies have different rules.
On average, the Amazon Associates Program offers somewhere between 1% to 10% on each sale. But ButcherBox and Thrive Market offer around 20% flat commission per sale. Some affiliates also offer a 30% commission.
That means how much you can earn as an affiliate marketer depends on you. If you selected a familiar niche, have a good strategy and partnered with a reputed affiliate partner, you can expect a better earn.
Affiliate marketing is a growing industry. There is no limit to how much you can earn. But if you want to increase your income, you must work hard. Affiliate income has become a smart way of earning money online. It requires little effort and time but offers great rewards.
Also read: Top 10 Ways to Earn Money from Affiliate Marketing in 2022
Affiliate Marketing Programs in India
As you have learned how to start affiliate marketing, it’s important to know how to make money with affiliate marketing. Below are some popular affiliate marketing programs that you can choose from.
1. Reseller Club
If you want to earn big commissions, choose Reseller Club. It’s a reseller hosting company that requires affiliates to promote them worldwide.
2. Amazon India
Amazon India is a well-known affiliate partner that has taken India’s e-commerce to the next level. You can expect high commissions and high website conversion rates. What’s better? Well, signing up on Amazon is easy as you can do it using an existing Amazon account.
Affiliate marketers also get access to different tools that they can use to promote the products effectively. Not to mention, when you work with Amazon, you get commissions even for different products that users buy by clicking on your affiliate link. But it is only valid when the user purchases within 24 hours of clicking the link.
Once the purchase has been successfully made, you can expect your commission within the next 24 hours.
3. Flipkart
Flipkart is another popular name in the Indian eCommerce industry that offers a high conversion rate. Different products have different commission rates, which you can quickly check from their affiliate marketing program page.
Like Amazon, Flipkart also provides marketers with helpful tools like widgets, banners, sets of products, and more. You can use these tools to increase traffic.
4. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the popular domain name registrar providers. It has started an affiliate program for India where the commission rates are as high as 100%. You can start your affiliate marketing journey in India with GoDaddy, as it offers a variety of plans and products.
GoDaddy lets affiliate marketers earn huge commission rates in email accounts, hosting plans, domains, and reseller plans. What’s better? Well, customer support is available round the clock. Also, you can get access to ready-made banners with a single click.
5. VCommission
The last affiliate partner that you can choose is VCommission. It’s a CPA network and home to leading e-commerce sites like Myntra, eBay, HomeShop 18, and Snapdeal. This affiliate partner gives you a chance to earn better commissions through e-commerce sales, installed apps, and lead generation.
Common Affiliate Marketing Channels
If you plan to start affiliate marketing, you can promote the products or services through numerous channels. Some of the common ones include:
Blogging
If you want to drive traffic by ranking your affiliate higher in the search engine, take the help of blogging. Usually, bloggers promote affiliate products through writing tutorials, educational content, reviews, and how-tos. They link the seller’s affiliate link to their post for sale.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is probably one of the trendiest forms of affiliate marketing as it can reach a great number of audiences in no time. Influencers use social media platforms to promote their product to the people who follow them.
Paid Search Microsites
Microsites are branded pages that are separated from the main website. You can take the help of these sites to offer detailed information for promoting affiliate products or services. Microsites offer a chance to generate more traffic.
Email Marketing
It’s an older way of marketing, which helps generate better ROI. You can use your email list as it can be a great source of potential affiliate sales. Sending promotional mail is helpful, and it does not require you to spend money.
Coupon Sites
Over time, coupon sites have become quite popular. If you post your affiliate link on one of the coupon sites, it can help you bring in a lot of sales.
Also Read: Top 6 Affiliate Marketing Programs With High Returns in 2022
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is an interesting way of earning money online. If you are trying to explore new ways of earning extra income, you can choose affiliate marketing. This unique marketing model does not require you to take up any course.
You can simply understand what affiliate marketing is, how it works, and what methods can be used to increase the traffic towards your affiliate link.
Overall, affiliate marketing is worth it. You can be rewarded with a huge commission for doing minimum work. If you are serious about affiliate marketing, properly go through this post to understand the ins and outs of this marketing model.
