How Affiliate Marketing Works: A Step-by-Step Guide

If only people knew they could come out of the rat race through affiliate marketing, they’d jump right in. We’re not trying to sugar-coat here. Many bloggers make six-figure income per month through affiliate marketing alone, but that doesn’t happen easily.

According to Statista, the U.S.’s affiliate marketing expenditure is likely to hit $8.2 billion by 2022.

Even though you may not make six-figure incomes overnight, you will eventually get there if you keep going at it. And for that, you’ve got to get started somewhere. Maybe this post will help you do that.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is basically promoting another company’s product or service. In return, the company will provide a commission for each purchase made through your affiliate link. Traditionally, this is a role of a salesperson. But the difference is you don’t have to stick to one company. Instead, you can partner with as many companies as you want.

By joining affiliate programs, you can find products that are worth discussing and sharing with others. You can earn a commission when someone makes a purchase reading the content you published about a product or service.

The affiliate and merchant/company are the main participants in affiliate marketing.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

For those just testing the waters, affiliate marketing can be very daunting. We fully agree that there is a major technical aspect to affiliate marketing, but let’s look at a simpler version to properly understand how it works.

When you join a merchant program, you will be offered a customized URL and unique ID. So, when you are promoting their products or services, you must use the personalized URL provided to you.

The best part is, you are free to decide how you want to promote the merchant’s product or service. For instance, if you plan to promote it through your blog, you can embed the affiliate link(s) within the content. So, when a reader or potential buyer clicks on it and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission.

But how does the merchant know when someone purchase something through your link? Simple! Through cookies. No, not the yummy cookies we gobble, but the tech-cookie that stores data. It identifies that an affiliate is connected to your device. Thus, it makes sure that you’re given the due credit for the referral.

Once a buyer clicks on the URL, the tech-cookie enters his/her device. This affiliate cookie will do two things:

• It accredits the right person when a purchase happens.
• It has a long expiration date. So even if the potential customer doesn’t purchase right away and delays the payment, you will still get paid.

So that’s how affiliate marketing works. It’s not complicated at all when you decode the technical process behind it.

People also often wonder how much money a person can make by doing affiliate marketing. The answer is – it depends.

But there are bloggers like Ryan Robinson and Pat Flynn who make six-figure income or more through affiliate marketing. So, it’s not impossible to create a steady income if you are patient and persistent.

How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing?

It’s important to understand that becoming an affiliate marketer is all about giving readers valuable information on the products/services they plan to purchase.

For example, Dyson is a famous brand for vacuums. They have different vacuums for different floors. But most buyers have no idea as to which vacuum works on their specific floor.

That’s where you come in. Your responsibility is to educate and provide them with information to select the ideal vacuum for their needs. Thus, you get a commission for educating people to make better decisions.

Simplified Guide to Becoming an Affiliate Marketer

Step 1: Plan out your marketing strategy.

Step 2: Define your niche to set up your domain name, website and other elements.

Step 3: Select an affiliate network that you want to sign up with and choose the deals to your liking.

Step 4: Start creating content around those deals and subtly promote or recommend them (ideally at the end) to the reader.

Step 5: Promote your content as much as possible. Create a robust online presence through ads, email broadcasts, and online communities, and increase organic traffic to yield the maximum affiliate income.

Step 6: Focus on your KPIs through the implemented analytics to analyze and enhance your performance.

Step 7: Keep track of revenue and expenses so that you know whether you’re making a profit or not. Sometimes you may struggle to cover the cost incurred for marketing strategies. Therefore, keep an eye on the gain.

Step 8: Try to optimize your affiliate marketing website as much as possible to increase conversion rate and lower bounce rate.

Step 9: Test new marketing strategies and techniques to double your audience.

Step 10: Work on enhancing the profits while reducing the effort exerted on the strategy.

Take one step at a time and you will eventually get to where you want to be.

Now, we do realize most readers don’t have a solid marketing background or experience, but don’t worry. We have a 7-day digital marketing course where we teach our students everything, from how to build a free website to how to get free traffic from Google and social media.

For more information about our course, click this link: https://inboundcollege.com/