So what exactly is affiliate marketing? Put simply it’s the business of marketing somebody else’ product or service in return for a commission or payment. There are tens of thousands of merchants looking for more sales and willing to pay from 5% to 70% of the sale value to whoever introduces the customer. This tends to work best with website sales as it is relatively simple to automate the administration involved in tracking which customer was introduces by which affiliate.
Check out the Wealthy Affiliate Here
Typically the lower commission shares are on high value physical products where there is limited margin to begin with, however 5% of a $500 dollar product is still $25 just for introducing a customer. Downloadable products like software and ebooks tend to have higher commissions as there is little physical cost involved in copying the item to the customer therefore the merchant has a high profit margin after recouping the initial development cost.
There are several affiliate networks that make the whole process simple. By signing up with Clickbank, Commission Junction, Linkshare.com or the other big guys you can access thousands of products to sell and know your sales will be safely tracked through their systems. (Until you’re more experienced I’d certainly recommend sticking with the big guys.) Once registered you’ll be able to choose a product to sell, get a special link which carries your account number, then use that link on your website or other marketing methods. The affiliate network will track any sales that arise from your link and credit you with the commission that applies.
Now it’s important to understand – You don’t have to have a website to be an affiliate marketer! While it is probably fair to say most affiliates do have websites, some of the most successful affiliates do not (and when I say successful I mean there are many top affiliates around the world earning thousands of dollars per day at affiliate marketing). Some use pay per click ads on search engines like Google’s adwords to send traffic to their affiliate link, others have ezine or newsletter owners include their links in emails and others write articles on sites like squidoo or for other website owners to publish. These articles all carry the affiliates links of course.
If you’re interested in learning more in a detailed step by step guide I can highly recommend The Wealthy Affiliate an online training resource that teaches affiliate marketing methods in detail. You’ll find complete lessons and lots of great advice from other marketers both old and new. Just about every affiliate marketing method is covered here and the private forum alone is an absolute treasure chest! After several years of successful affiliate marketing it still amazes me how much I learn there every month. That’s one of the best things about it – it provides for both beginner and advanced affiliates alike! Top marks to Kyle and Carson, the guys who run the show over there.
Check out the Wealthy Affiliate Here
Posted under Affiliate Marketing, Marketing
This post was written by admin on September 23, 2007
