Affiliate Marketing is similar to commissioned sales
Think of it this way; Affiliate Marketing is much like a commissioned sales position. You are paid based on your performance by merchants, or Affiliate Networks. You are paid a commission for bringing a paying customer, or in some cases, a referral.
The Affiliate Marketing process works when a company who has something to sell, like Amazon, offers up customized links to their site. You place those customized links on your website, and in social media.
Let's say one of your readers clicks on a link on your site taking it to the merchant. They make a purchase and then the merchant rewards you with a part of that sale in with a commission.
Merchants work either directly with you or through Affiliate Networks.
Affiliate Networks are like an agency that sits in between Merchants and Affiliates. They manage transactions and can bundle deals with multiple merchants to pay out commissions to the Affiliate.
Some merchants manage their relationship with Affiliate Marketers internally. Amazon is an example. They are so large, they do not need a third-party affiliate network to manage their transactions.
You will find many links on my site that are affiliate links. They allow me to profit from purchases done through links on my site.
Ways to use Affiliate Marketing Relationships
Many ways exist to use Affiliate Marketing relationships, and in my case, I use content marketing strategies. That is, I build out natural search content and get it indexed in the search engines.
My primary focus is on companies that appear on Shark Tank. I have published over 350 posts on the subject in the first three months of 2018. I am in the process of listing nearly 800 companies which appear on Shark Tank. Each post containing affiliate links as well as display advertising.
You may believe that display advertising produces more revenue affiliate marketing, it does not. The best source of revenue is in article affiliate marketing links.
Earning are influenced by how much a merchant or affiliate network, such as ShareASale, is willing to pay for an action(sale or referral). How much traffic is coming to your site, and the quality of that traffic including your subject matter influences results.
My site contains nearly a thousand posts, with over 350 of them done in the last couple months. My traffic has skyrocketed to about ten percent of what I want it to be, and yet this blog is in the top 200,000 in the USA, out of over 350 million blogs/websites.
Generating Returns with Affiliate Marketing
This site is now just starting to generate returns from affiliate marketing. There are two reasons that it should generate more than what I currently have.
The first reason is I have not focused much time on building in revenue sources, or affiliate links that convert into sales and cash. The reason being is I have focused on developing a significant audience to this site.
The second reason I am not earning more with affiliate marketing is the merchant selection for this site is not optimized for my audience.
Now, I can shift a portion of my time to integrating the right merchants into my site, and at the same time stay committed to developing content.
There is a third opportunity that I am starting to work on, and that is product creation. I am putting together a product that will teach anyone my process and the tools I am using to build this site.
It is likely that my product will become the most lucrative sales channel on this site because after all, most people will want to know how do entrepreneurs make money doing what we love?
Affiliate Marketing is a Get Rich Slow Process
That brings me to another point. Affiliate Marketing is a get rich slow process, but this is a business that is done with minimal cash investment and relies on your sweat equity.
You are building a business that is essentially an annuity based, or residual based revenue business. It takes time to get a significant return on the hours you invest in your business.
The average Blog/Website takes years to develop a significant enough audience to make money like Super Affiliate Bloggers(John Chow). To be reasonable, you should plan on working diligently on your website or blog for six to nine months before you have a reasonable revenue stream. That is, you are dedicated and working your site properly.
Of course, you can power through content like I am doing right now. I average at least eight posts a day, and my record day is 19 posts. That is a lot of work and writing, but I am on a mission to hit a livable wage as fast as possible. I have done it before, and I am in the process of doing it on this blog right now.
Keeping you up to date on my Affiliate Marketing Progress
I will keep you posted on my Affiliate Marketing progress and let you know when I hit that mark, giving you a gage to work as a marker. Keep in mind; I do this because I am passionate about what I am doing. I love doing the blog. You need to love what you do. Otherwise, it is not worth doing.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I let's get you started today!