AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing is a popular advertising technique where a business recruits other businesses or individuals to promote its products or services and generate sales. These different businesses and individuals become “affiliates” for the company after they form an agreement together.
The general agreement is that each affiliate receives a commission whenever their marketing efforts generate a sale for the business. The specific percentage of the commission varies per agreement.
HOW IT WORKS?
Businesses seeking to recruit affiliates to sell their products or services are called merchants. They usually recruit them through affiliate marketing networks designed to connect merchants and affiliates for the sake of forming affiliate partnerships.
Affiliates are the ones who do the actual marketing on behalf of the merchants. Some affiliates are current business owners or website owners that have a steady flow of traffic going to them already. Others are individual social media influencers who recommend affiliate products or services to their big list of subscribers.
STEP BY STEP PROCESS
Would you like to know more about how the whole affiliate marketing process works? Below are the basic steps involved:
PRODUCT CREATION
The merchant develops a product or service that they would like to sell through affiliate marketing.
AFFILIATE MARKETING PROGRAM
The merchant will either run an independent affiliate marketing program or post their product or service on a third-party affiliate marketing network.
- AFFILIATE MARKETING NETWORK
Most merchants will seek out affiliates on third-party affiliate networks because it is easier to find qualified affiliates that way.
AFFILIATE PROSPECTS
Prospective affiliates sign up on the affiliate marketing networks. From there, they search for products or services in various categories that they would like to promote for merchants in exchange for commissions. Most merchants allow anyone to become their affiliates without screening their background or credentials. After all, the affiliates don’t get paid unless their referrals generate sales.
- QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Some merchants may require their affiliates to possess specific qualifications or credentials before approving their affiliate applications. It is really at the discretion of the merchants because it is their agreement.
AGREEMENT
When an affiliate and merchant form an agreement, the affiliate will automatically receive an exclusive affiliate tracking link for promoting the merchant’s product or service. Each time a consumer clicks on the link, cookies will track all their viewing and sales activities on the website.
- COMMISSIONS
If the consumer completes a purchase after clicking on the affiliate link, the corresponding affiliate will receive a commission payment for the purchase. The commission percentage varies per product or service, anywhere from 10% to 90% in some cases.
MARKETING METHODS
Affiliates may use all kinds of advertising methods to promote affiliate links:
· Blog posts
· YouTube videos
· X (Twitter)
· Email marketing
· Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- NOTE
Please note that some merchants or affiliate marketing networks may restrict which advertising methods affiliates can use to promote merchant products and services. For example, some merchants and networks forbid affiliates from using PPC advertising to promote affiliate links. (Google Search Ads) So, keep that in mind.
ANALYTICS
Merchants can log into their network dashboard to view all the impressions, clicks, and sales generated from their affiliates and the affiliate tracking links.
- PAYMENT TIME
The network will transfer all generated revenue to the merchant’s bank account on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis, depending on the duration set up.
GROW YOUR AFFILIATES
Merchants should continue to acquire as many affiliates as possible because more affiliates mean the likelihood of more sales and revenue.
- FREE BRAND MARKETING
Plus, all the free advertising from the affiliate marketing helps promote and raise brand awareness for the merchant’s business.
THE BENEFITS
Affiliate marketing is beneficial to merchants, affiliates, and consumers for different reasons. Here is an overview of these benefits:
ELIMINATES ADVERTISING COSTS FOR MERCHANTS
Merchants don’t need to devote time and money to marketing their products or services because they can have their affiliate marketers do it for them. That way, the merchants can solely focus on producing more high-quality products and services to resell through affiliate marketing.
AFFILIATES CAN MAKE MONEY WITHOUT CREATING PRODUCTS
Businesses and individuals agree to become affiliates because it allows them to make money without creating their own products or services. Instead, they can utilize their marketing skills to promote other merchants’ products and services to earn commissions.
The best part is that businesses and individuals can become affiliates for hundreds of different products or services to maximize their earning potential.
CONSUMERS CAN DISCOVER NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Affiliates help merchants expose new products and services to consumers. If it weren’t for these affiliate marketing efforts, most consumers might have never heard of these products and services before. Plus, if the consumers trust the affiliates and their recommendations, merchants gain the trust of those consumers as well.
POPULAR AFFILIATE MARKETING NETWORKS
Are you ready to discover the most popular affiliate marketing networks on the internet for merchants and affiliates? Here are the top three below:
CLICKBANK
ClickBank is one of the oldest and most widely used affiliate marketing networks. It is a marketplace filled with digital products, such as software, e-books, and courses, in various categories ranging from food to business.
Affiliates love ClickBank because it is easy to sign up as an affiliate for the products and services on the network. All they need to do is log into their ClickBank affiliate accounts, find something to promote from the digital catalog, and then generate an exclusive affiliate link.
- COMMISSIONS
The commission rates are usually more than 50% on most items in the marketplace. Some companies offer 75% commission on sales.
AMAZON
Amazon Associates is a large affiliate marketing program connected to the enormous Amazon marketplace. Everyone from website owners to social media content creators can become affiliates on Amazon Associates to promote any of the millions of products listed on Amazon. purchases.
- COMMISSIONS
Although the commission rates are only between 1% and 10%, most consumers trust Amazon enough to complete their
CJ AFFILIATE
CJ Affiliate, previously known as Commission Junction, is an advanced affiliate marketing network more suited for experienced affiliates with high-traffic advertising resources. Many merchants on CJ Affiliate require affiliates to meet strict requirements before partnering with them to promote their items.
The upside is that CJ Affiliate features product and service brands from around the world. International merchants and affiliates can connect on the platform to sell premium branded items not available on any other network. Some of the network’s most notable brands include Barnes & Noble, GoPro, and Priceline.
- COMMISSIONS
CJ Affiliates usually pay between 3-10% on commissions for physical items and 20-50% for digital items.
CONCLUSION
Affiliate marketing is an incredible opportunity for merchants and affiliates to generate revenue by utilizing their best skills. Merchants can focus on creating products and services, while affiliates can focus on promoting those products and services. It is a win-win situation for both sides.