We are all conscious and aware of the growing internet users and the extent of dependence on it. Digital marketing has a big role to play here since it connects businesses to their customers via the virtual medium. The emergence of digital marketing saw a burst of avenues paving way for new business opportunities and job roles. One such emerging business opportunity is affiliate marketing which has become very lucrative.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
While most people are aware belonging to the industry are aware of it, here’s a concise idea about affiliate marketing, for those who aren’t aware. It’s inspired from the oldest kind of marketing, previously done offline, where you refer a product to someone and when he/ she purchases it you make a certain amount of commission.
This same idea is used in affiliate marketing which a small change. The modification is that you, the business owner would be showcasing products from various clients on his website that already has a huge traffic coming in through quality blogging. The commission gained could however range from $1 to $10,000 depending on the kind of product being promoted. The person promoting the products is referred to as the ‘Affiliate’.
How does it work?
For someone who wants to engage into affiliate marketing, he/she has to get a website made. Once done, they need to sign up for the affiliate marketing program with companies who consider this. Registering for the program will generate a unique tracking code which would be used by the company to track your promotional activities and sales.
When you’ve successfully registered for the program and received the unique tracking code, you need to begin blogging about the products. Depending on the quality of your content and how successfully who are able to project and recommend the products sales will occur. In a similar way you can affiliate with multiple brands to promote their products. Opting for more brands helps you increase your scope of earning.
How can you make your blog successful is a topic in itself which will help you understand the various ways n which you can promote your blog and the tools that can help leverage it.
Skills required for Affiliate Marketing
There is no such skill that required for being an affiliate. However, you should have a fair to good writing skills and should have an inclination to read. Reading is required because you not only gain an idea about products and services but you’re also able to develop an opinion on them and when it comes to affiliate marketing, consumers do give importance and value personal opinion and recommendation.
How can SEO and PPC training help you manage affiliate marketing successfully?
This is a common question that most individuals ask when they approach us for trainings on Affiliate Marketing and we suggest them SEO and PPC training for it. For a novice, SEO/ PPC training for gaining an insight on affiliate marketing may make no sense. However, they are interconnected.
Affiliate Marketing banks on the volume of traffic that your website has. The more the traffic, the better the visibility and the more you’re able to sell. Essentially to gain visibility for your blog you would need SEO and PPC as tools. Knowing SEO will help you gain organic visibility and an insight and training on PPC will help you gain good visibility over the internet by creating campaigns that work.
Hence, enrolling for a PPC and SEO training is beneficial for being successful in Affiliate Marketing.
Case Study: John Chow
An entrepreneur, blogger and speaker, John Chow is one of the renowned names in the internet arena. Ranked 16 in Ad Age’s Power 150, John’s blogging took off when he came across affiliate marketing, promoting his blog from earning nothing to over $40,000 a month, in a matter of two years.
Working 2 hours a day, John managed to set an example to the internet community as to how blogging can be monetized. He has promoted brands like ReviewMe, Kontera, AdSense, BuyMeABeer, etc. Today, he is an author of various e-books like Make Money Online: Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul, John Chow’s Secrets Revealed and many more. He has over 200,000 daily readers who actively read and comment on his blogs and has featured in a number of eminent magazines and shows worldwide.
Find John Chow’s Earning Report
Case Study: Harsh Aggarwal
Begun as a passion but developed into a full time job, blogging gave young Harsh Aggarwal much more than gratifying earnings. Born and brought up in New Delhi, India, Harsh’s first stint in Affiliate Marketing was with Dreamhost where he earned $47 though he had begun blogging long before.
Harsh has had immense success in his blogging endeavors and suggests all individuals with an inclination to be an entrepreneur, to try it. His earnings over a period of 5 years have been $80,410 which is commendable. Harsh has been an affiliate for various brands like Hostgator, Amazon, Theme-Junkie, Media Temple and many more. In his blog ‘A Blogger’s 5 Year Affiliate Earning For Inspiration : $80410’ he has provided a comprehensive report on his earnings in the past 5 years, where he has been fairly eloquent about the brands he worked for and how much he earned from each of them.
Find Harsh Agarwal’s Adsense and Affiliate Earning Report
The Future: Will It Sustain?
For individuals looking out for an opportunity to earn money with little investment, this is one of the best considerations to make. The future is bright as the markets for affiliate marketing are improving over time. More and more brands are coming out of their shells and shedding their inhibitions about considering it.
If done systematically with due diligence, Affiliate marketing can be very rewarding, sometimes way above your expectations too!
What are your thoughts on Affiliate Marketing? Do you consider it as a lucrative business opportunity? Post your thoughts, opinions or queries; we’d love to hear from you.
