What is affiliate marketing about?

Affiliate Marketing is one of the most frequently discussed term among internet marketers around the world. It is also the fastest way a person can start an internet marketing business without incurring much capital (get 10 free lessons to start your affiliate marketing here).

Today, I will be sharing with you the complete basic knowledge and answer you all the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about affiliate marketing. This will definitely help many fresh bloggers or newbies in this industry. I would say this is the most profitable source of income you can get by just promoting product that does not belong to you.

In very simple term, Affiliate Marketing is basically a reward given to a person for promoting any goods or services to anyone online whereby this action resulted in a sale made. In this context, reward normally refers to commission.

If you are very new to affiliate marketing, you can read my recently written “Affiliate Marketing for The Beginners” to have better understanding.

How Affiliate Marketing Works?

There are 4 parties involved for affiliate marketing to work.

1. The Merchant (also know as “retailer” or “company”)

2. The Network (it contains offers for affiliates to choose which to promote and also takes care of payments)

3. The Publisher (also known as “affiliate” or anyone who wants to promote the product)

4. The Customers

Where To Find Products To Promote?

There are many well-established networks which are very popular among internet marketers around the world.  Here are some which I think is more than enough for you to choose from. Do take note that some networks recommended here are merely allowing you to promote digital products but some contain both.

1. Amazon.com

2. ClickBank.com

3. JVZoo.com

4. ShareASale.com

5. CJ.com

6. LinkShare.com

7. Peerfly.com

8. VCommission.com

Why Advanced Internet Marketers Still Want to Sell Own Products?

You must be wondering why many advanced internet marketers still want to develop their own product to sell despite knowing that affiliate marketing can be easy to do. Well, for newbies, a 50% commission may sounds good but for advanced marketers, they would rather offer this commission to thousands of other marketers to sell their products for them. In this way, they will be able to earn a lot more faster – this we call “leveraging”.

When you are an affiliate marketer, basically you are also building buyer list for the product creator. Imagine if this list were accessible to you (which normally will not happen unless you created additional opt-in page for yourself), won't you promote other relevant or complimenting products to them too? Then you can earn more money. Now, being an affiliate, you wont' get a share of future sales by product creator to the customers you brought in.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – What is Affiliate Marketing About?

How to know which network a particular affiliate product is attached with?

Not all affiliate products are attached with 3rd party networks. Some creators have many products and therefore would setup their own mini network platform. You just need to search for the phrase “product name … affiliate program” and you will be doing just fine.

How to promote affiliate products?

You need to obtain the affiliate link from the network and drive traffic to this link via banner ads, solo ads, social media post sharing, content SEO or by promoting in your blog.

How to track visitors source?

Yes, this is really important if you are promoting any products online. In order to find out effectiveness of your campaign strategy, you need to track from where your traffic comes from and how many are converted to sales. With these information, you will be able to make wise decision for future campaign. You can try LinkTrackr which I personally think is very simple to use, with comprehensive functions and yet it is not expensive. Alternatively, you may want to consider free options such as www.bitly.com, http://goo.gl, or https://www.clixtrac.com that come with some limitations.

Can Google Adsense and Affiliate Marketing be combined on one single blog or website?

Yes, it is permissible to do this.

Is there any requirement to join the affiliate network?

Different network impose different criteria when accepting an affiliate request. From my experience, ClickBank and Amazon offer less stringent requirement whereas Commission Junction and ShareASale may require you to have some sort of traffic or experience before approving your application.

Is it necessary to have a blog or website to promote affiliate products?

No, it is not. However, it a must to have a website if you are serious about building a sustainable business online (here's how you learn how to build website for FREE). Let me explain further. If you are only promoting affiliate products via social media like Facebook or Twitter, you will be bound by the stringent rules and regulations imposed by these social platforms. There will be limitations on how you can promote. You also risk of having your entire campaign stopped by these 3rd parties due to their changing of terms. This definitely will leave a huge impact on your income. I have my website build the very first day I started to embark online. It is tougher this way but it really pays off in the long run.

Here comes the popular question many people have been asking.

How much money can I earn from affiliate marketing?

I doubt anyone can really give a figure here… lol.

You can earn as much as you can. This is true. It really depends very much on the strategy that you employ to run your campaign. Some people that I know even earn $50k from a single campaign.

If you are really keen to learn affiliate marketing, then I recommend you to join the community that helped me start this blog. You can read my review of this community here.

I hope this simple introduction to affiliate marketing leaves you with better understanding. If have any question on What Affiliate Marketing Is About, do leave me a comment below. I would love to hear from you.