Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful ways for people to generate revenue online. You'll soon see why.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, affiliate marketing became even more popular with the global increase in job losses.
Table of Contents:
Why do Affiliate Marketers Fail? Things to Avoid.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful forms of earning an income online. It's an advertising model in which a company (merchant) compensates third-party publishers (affiliate marketers) to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. Affiliates are incentivized by way of a reward from sales generated. Generally, in the form of commissions.
81% Of Brands Worldwide Implement an Affiliate Marketing Program as Part of Their Marketing Strategy. (source: zippia)
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is when a person (affiliate or publisher) can generate revenue by promoting a company's (merchant or vendor) products or services in return for a commission. If you're new to the concept, here's an overly simplified summary of how it works.
Let's Delve a Little Bit Deeper into How You Can Use the Affiliate Marketing Model.
There are 2 main strategies that the affiliate model can be used. We'll start with the most basic way and one that is widely used by many social media influencers.
Example 1:
The Influencer will:
Create content on something they're interested in or passionate about. This could be fashion, food, or working out at the gym...
This is how they build their targeted audience.
The influencer will seek out an affiliate product that best matches their content and sign up for the affiliate program.
They will generally use the product in their videos and photos and discuss its benefits.
Last but not least, the influencer will then tell their audience how they can get their hands on the same product simply by clicking on the link in their bio. From every sale made, the influencer will earn a commission.
This second example takes a little more time to set up and is a bit more technical, but it's beneficial for a strong foundation and lasting residual commissions.
Example 2: This option is powerfully structured and one that should be taken into consideration.
The super affiliate will:
Decide on a product or service to promote.
Build a targeted audience.
Create an opt-in page. This is also known as a squeeze page, a lead capture page that is designed to capture your lead's details.
Level up your opt-in page by offering something for free to your lead. This can be as simple as offering a free e-book in return for your lead's details.
Set up an email autoresponder.
Create a bridge page with a CTA button. The CTA (call to action) button will redirect the lead to the merchant's sales page.
If the affiliate program doesn't have a sales page. You can create one and hyperlink your CTA button to the merchant's product page.
Quick Tip: (optional)
You can level up your sales revenue by adding an upsell page, a down-sell page, and even an order bump.
Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing.
Affiliate Marketing is a Great Way to Earn an Income Online with Many Great Benefits... But What Are the Negatives About Affiliate Marketing?
Let's Take a Look:
Pros:
Multi-billion-dollar industry.
An incredibly huge industry that is only going to continue growing. The affiliate marketing industry is a great way to build multiple streams of income outside of what you're currently doing. Get your slice of this multi-billion-dollar cake.
You don't need inventory
The merchant has put their resources in to provide the products, so you don't have to.
You don't need product storage space
The merchant has this burden so there's no stress on you.
You don't need staff members
You can do this by yourself or it's optional for you to outsource your marketing efforts to freelancers but there is no need to hire any staff which will save you a lot of money.
You don't need an office
Because it's online. You can do this from your smart device in any location that suits you. In bed, at the beach, at a cafe. The choice is yours.
Minimal overheads
As long as you have a smart device and internet access. You can build your own affiliate business. The overheads a relatively low compared to building a company from scratch. Some costs could include website hosting, domain name, and any paid marketing efforts such as paid ads.
You don't need to deal with customers
The merchant will have a customer support team that will deal with any customer inquiries, so you don't have to talk to anyone.
You don't need to deal with refunds
The merchant deals with the headache of customer refunds and returns.
You don't need any special expertise
Although some knowledge in marketing will be beneficial, it's not necessary and can be learned online if you put in the time and effort to learn.
You decide when and where you want to work on your affiliate business.
You control when you want to work on your affiliate business and where. Whether it's 10 am at the beach or 10 pm in your bed. The choice is yours.
Most companies will provide free marketing and promotional materials such as banners, logos, videos, graphic images, and prewritten scripts.
Many affiliate programs provide a marketing kit to help you to hit the ground running. If you want to create your own, be sure to read their terms and conditions first to ensure you're staying within the rules.
Cons:
High failure rate
There are several reasons for this. Lazy affiliates, unrealistic expectations, affiliates quitting too soon... the list goes on.
You don't have control over the affiliate program.
Affiliates need to realize that they are a part of the affiliate program not the owner of it. There are terms, conditions, and guidelines that need to be adhered to or an affiliate could see themselves being kicked out of the program.
Fierce competition / Oversaturated niches.
The odds of thousands of affiliates promoting the same product as you are realistic, and they too will be working hard to make their website seen first.
Repeat customers may not purchase through your affiliate link again.
Unfortunately, if the customer remembers the website name after the initial purchase. They'll tend to just type in the website name and not bother with your affiliate link which loses you a lot of commissions. To build a bigger picture on this. Here's an article that can give your more insight into affiliate tracking cookies and what it is.
No guarantee of revenue
Unless you have a solid growing audience within your chosen niche and data to go by, there is no guarantee of revenue.
Spammers / The company has a bad reputation because of unprofessional affiliates
This grinds my gears. Some affiliates try to use unethical and even illegal methods to generate tons of traffic to promote their affiliate product. Unfortunately, if you are promoting the same product and are reaching the same shoppers, this could hurt you.
The company itself is unprofessional
This is where due diligence comes in. Before committing to an affiliate program, take some time and do a little research.
The affiliate is unrealistic
Wanting to be rich overnight with no effort and for free. The end.
Can take a lot of time and/or money before making your first sale
It can take a bit of time to wrap your head around everything. Give yourself time to research and learn. Have your goals, make a plan and commit to taking action. If something doesn't work, be flexible and make the changes. Tweak and test. Keep moving forward.
50 Affiliate Marketing Statistics You Need to Know.
Take a deeper look into affiliate marketing and see how these statistics can help you strengthen your marketing strategies.
Top 3 Categories Affiliate Marketers Prefer to Promote.
Computer and Electronics 41.04% (Source: hosting tribunal)
Clothing & Apparel 39.84% (Source: bloggingX)
Online Service 29.98% (Source: hosting tribunal)
Affiliate Marketing During Covid-19
37% of online shoppers were first-time customers of brands they purchased from using an affiliate link. (Source: awin)
The increasing number of affiliate marketing publishers that applied on Amazon in July 2020 was 150%. (Source: awin)
Amazon cut its affiliate program commission rates across categories to as low as 1% (Source: Christie.com)
General Affiliate Marketing Statistics.
33.67% of the affiliate marketers are single while 55.32% of the affiliate marketers are married.
Only 10% of the affiliates generate approximately 90% of the sales in most of the affiliate programs.
A one-second delay in the website’s loading time results in 7 percent fewer conversions.
62% of affiliates worry about the quality of the content they publish while promoting affiliate products.
With optimized keyword targeting, affiliate sites can get 7 times more conversions.
About 76% of publishers like affiliate marketing because it monetizes their content. (Awin)
85% of consumers turn to Google for information on a product they want to purchase.
Commissions per sale for dating programs like match.com and cougar life in the US are as high as 80%.
The health and wellness industry is considered one of the best areas for affiliate marketing, projected to reach $6 trillion by 2025.
Why do Affiliate Marketers Fail? Things to Avoid.
The affiliate marketing industry is successful. However, the majority of affiliate marketers fail.
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