Whether
you are running an online business or a regular internet user who wants to make
extra cash, affiliate marketing can be a great and lucrative way for you to
earn online. But before you embark on this money-making opportunity, it is
essential for you to know the fundamentals and important facts about affiliate
marketing.
Luckily,
this guide can help you achieve that. Here are some of the most frequently
asked questions about affiliate marketing:
Q: What is affiliate marketing?
A: Affiliate marketing is a marketing
scheme that has been practiced by businesses and entrepreneurs for many years.
Basically, it is a form of marketing based on performance, where a preset commission
is paid to the affiliate who refers traffic to a merchant’s site that performs
the requisite action, such as making a purchase.
It is now used by thousands of online
merchants, brands and companies to generate traffic and sales.
In
many ways, it is similar to referral marketing since both marketing forms rely
on third parties to drive traffic and revenues to the business or retailer.
Q: How does affiliate marketing work?
A: There are three major
players involved in this marketing practice, namely:
·
Merchant or retailer – This is a person or business selling a
service or product.
·
Affiliate – The person responsible for promoting the service
or product
·
Customer – The individual buying the service or product
As
a reward for the publisher’s marketing efforts, the merchant pays a commission
to the publisher for every successful sale or when a commissionable event
happens, such as, filling out a form or subscribing to a newsletter. The
commission given to the affiliate varies program to program, often it is a
percentage of the sale.
Q: What are the benefits offered by affiliate marketing to
merchants?
A: As a merchant and website
owner, affiliate marketing can greatly benefit you in many different ways.
For
one, it helps you promote your product and brand to a wider global audience
without having to spend a fortune. In fact, having affiliates can increase
earnings by hundreds and even thousands of sales each month. Keep in mind that
you will only have to spend money once a sale is made or an internet user
responds to the CTA (Call to action).
Thus, with affiliate marketing, your cash flow will become a lot easier
to account for and predict.
Besides
merchants and online businesses, affiliates can enjoy a few benefits from this
form of marketing as well. With affiliate marketing, affiliates enjoy unlimited
earning potential from methods, such as, email marketing, blogging, or building
an affiliate niche site without the need to develop or support a product.
In
affiliate marketing, all an affiliate has to do is to promote and pitch the
product to their own web traffic and then send them via an affiliate link to
the merchant’s site.
Q: Are there any qualifications in
order to become an affiliate marketer?
A: There are no general
qualifications for this kind of work. But, merchants have the full authority to
turn down or approve an application from an affiliate. Some affiliate programs look
for a particular set of qualities from their publishers and high quality
websites that get the optimal amount of traffic.
But,
there are plenty of programs that approve all affiliates, such as Amazon
Associates.
Most
conventional programs reject affiliates with sites that have violent or
sexually explicit content, as well as those that promote political or
religious views, advocate discrimination and violate a few international laws.
Q: How can a
merchant monitor his or her affiliate’s performance?
A: Merchants track
commissions, sales and referral through web cookies and tracking links that
embedded in affiliate links that use a personal identification that is assigned
to each affiliate.
In
a nutshell, a tracking URL is a unique link provided by the merchant to his or
her affiliate. With this link, a merchant can keep track of all the sales and
traffic that are made through affiliate’s link.
Q: Is a degree required to become
an affiliate marketer?
A: No, only the knowledge of
specific skills, and their implementation is required to start an affiliate
marketing business.
Q: How much can
I earn as an affiliate?
A: This is not a question
that can be answered in numbers, there are affiliates who are millionaires,
they are known as super affiliates. Then there are those who make very little
and everything in between. Earnings depend on the type of methods that are used,
the level of commitment and work that is put in, and learning proper techniques
which are implemented in the correct manner. One thing is guaranteed, the
earning potential is unlimited.
Q: What are the most popular affiliate programs?
A: These are the most popular
affiliate programs and networks:
·
Commission Junction
·
LinkShare
·
Amazon
·
eBay
·
Clickbank
·
JVZoo
·
PayDotCom
Of the above options, ShareASale and JVZoo are my two personal favorites. I find their products and merchants to be of very high caliber, and their payments are timely. I have used Amazon as well, but am not as active with them. However, I do know some people who have had incredible success using Amazon, and make the majority of their monthly income with them. So they are definitely worth a go!
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