In this article I first explain what affiliation is and how to find products or services to promote. Then I then present to you different solutions that can make it possible to earn money with the affiliation.
To summarize. Affiliation consists of promoting the products or services of a company (which can be called “the affiliate” or “the advertiser” ). Whoever promotes ( “the Affiliate” ) an Affiliate’s products or services is paid for each sale they initiate.
So the goal of affiliates is to send as many potential customers as possible to advertiser sites. In general, affiliates are remunerated in two different ways:
- Either the affiliates are paid according to their sales in the form of a fixed commission or a percentage of the price for each product / service sold,
- Either the affiliates are paid for each Internet user sent who fills out a specific form (creation of a member account, subscription to a newsletter, etc.) on the site of an advertiser.
The size of the commissions depends on several criteria : the advertiser, the price of the products / services, the supply and demand, etc … So the amount of a commission can be very low (but not necessarily uninteresting as we will see more low) or very enticing.
To promote the products or services of an advertiser site, the affiliate uses text links or banner ads . Each Internet user who clicks on these links or these banners could potentially earn a commission to the affiliate who will have set them up.
Develop an audience
To earn money through membership you have to be successful in acquiring an audience . You have to get visibility one way or another. Because you have to find potential customers for the affiliates.
To develop an audience, we can consider several possibilities:
- Create and develop a blog, or other content site.
- Share videos on a YouTube channel.
- Try to gain visibility on social networks.
- Collect email addresses for email marketing.
All of its solutions can be used at the same time and become very complementary, but be careful not to disperse too much anyway.
Once we have gained visibility, we must ask ourselves this question:
“What kind of product / service would interest / help my audience? “
Or conversely, sometimes we ask ourselves this question: “What type of audience do I need to acquire to sell this product / service?” “ .
Then you just have to present to your audience the products / services you want to recommend, regularly.
3 solutions to find products / services to sell in affiliation
Sponsorship
At the very beginning, when you don’t have a site, no visibility on social networks, no mailing list… It is not easy to find affiliate partners. So at the beginning we can start by simply looking at the sponsorship systems that we find on many sites that have something to sell.
Currently, there is for example sponsorship for online banks which is very successful:
The screenshot above is no longer relevant, but we still find this kind of offers.
The first advantage of referral programs is that they are found everywhere in almost all areas . And the second advantage is that the referral programs are accessible to everyone, no need to have a site for example.
Sponsorship and affiliation are based on the same principle. That is to say to promote a site and to be paid according to the performances. This is ideal for a start, although some referral programs pay in the form of discounts or freebies.
Affiliate platforms
Then I recommend that you take an interest in affiliate platforms . These sites are intermediaries between affiliates and affiliates. Some affiliate platforms are specialized in very specific themes, such as weight loss for example. But the most well-known affiliate platforms usually offer campaigns in almost all areas.
However, to register on an affiliate platform, you generally have to present your communication tool (websites, social networks, etc.). So these sites are not necessarily accessible to everyone. You must already have visibility on the internet to be able to register. Hence the interest, at the beginning, of the sponsorship programs that I told you about above.
There are several advantages to registering on affiliate platforms. Already, we have access to a good number of affiliate programs. Then, we don’t need to invoice each affiliate one by one, nor do we need to be in contact with each advertiser, the platform takes care of all that. In general, the only person that comes into contact with on the affiliate platforms is our “affiliate manager” . We just have to concentrate on promoting the campaigns. 🙂
Some examples of general affiliate platforms: TradeTracker , Effiliation , Daisycon , Affilinet , Awin … These affiliate platforms however require a site to be able to register.
But there are also other affiliate platforms that don’t necessarily require having a site. This is often the case for affiliate platforms dedicated to digital products (training, etc.) such as systeme.io (which is a marketing tool but which also offers 600 affiliate programs, Ourwin which is dedicated to training online (50% commission on each sale), or even 1TPE on which there are all kinds of digital products to promote.
Live Affiliate Programs
Finally, some merchant sites offer their affiliate program directly , without going through an affiliate platform. This is the case, for example, of the famous Amazon site, which offers its own partner program . And which allows you to earn up to 10% commission by recommending products for sale on Amazon.
Also, you can read: How to make easy money? 13Ways To Earn Extra Income Online In 2021
So the advantage of live affiliate programs is that there is no middleman. So it can be more interesting at the level of commissions .
Some merchant sites also offer affiliate partnerships by contacting potential affiliates directly. Rather than offering a visible program directly online as is the case for Amazon.
4 solutions to earn money with affiliation
Now I will tell you a little more about the 5 solutions to earn money with affiliate. 4 solutions to develop an audience and promote affiliate links.
1 – Create a content site
This is currently the method I use the most to earn money with affiliate. I create blogs , or directories , or even sites that bring the two together. The best is to start with a simple blog. But building a profitable blog takes a considerable investment of time. Contrary to what some dream sellers claim, you don’t create a profitable blog by working just 1 hour a week (at least not at first).
Creating a blog that makes money with affiliate money… this is a topic where there is a lot to say. I can’t explain everything to you in this article. Otherwise this article would become very long and I will stray from the main topic. And do not hesitate to train yourself on the internet by reading blog articles, or by reading certain books such as: BlogBuster: Making Money with a Blog , available on Amazon. I read this book, it’s a very good guide that summarizes the essentials to know to create your first profitable blog.
Some tips for optimizing blog income
Before moving on to the following solutions, I will still give you some tips to better optimize the income from your affiliate blog :
– Start monetizing your blog as quickly as possible
I see a lot of bloggers waiting to get traffic to start monetizing their blog. For me this is a mistake. Logically, the first sources of visitors to a blog are the first articles that have been published on it. Partly thanks to natural referencing. And these first sources of visitors are potentially the first sources of income if you put a few links there. In addition, many bloggers end up giving up for lack of results. And I think they wouldn’t give up if they won a little coin every now and then. Even a small result can be enough to give a little motivation again :).
Certainly, at the start of a blog you cannot have access to certain partnerships. A newly created blog, therefore without traffic, does not interest many affiliates. But if our theme allows it, we can try to monetize these articles from the start via sponsorship programs as I explained above. And you can also go through affiliate platforms that are not very demanding once you have published 4 or 5 articles and installed a beautiful design.
– Give good visibility to affiliate links
No wonder you don’t make money with affiliate if you have posted 30 articles on your blog and only 2 of them contain an affiliate link. You have to try to sow affiliate links all over your blog , as long as it remains consistent with the content.
We can also create and promote certain pages whose primary objective is to generate money in affiliate . This is what I do on all my sites , and it works great:
In this menu, the two framed tabs lead to pages that are designed with the objective of promoting affiliate links . Unlike blog articles which can be created for lots of different reasons: feed the machine, attract traffic, attract inbound links, make the blog “weight”, etc … And therefore the affiliate links therein often find they have a lower conversion rate .
To gain visibility for some of my affiliate links I also use a popup on some blogs, like this one:
I install this kind of popup thanks to the site HelloBar. Currently I only use it to promote affiliate links (with the agreement of the affiliates because they do not always agree), which allows me to increase my earnings considerably. But, as we will see later in this article, it can also be interesting to use this kind of popup to grow a mailing list .
Update 2021: From now on I no longer use HelloBar since its evolutions do not affect me anymore. Now the popups that I display on my sites are managed with the GetSiteControl tool .
– Do not neglect the design of your blog
I see a lot of bloggers who consider the design of their blog to be something secondary. This is also a mistake. For me the design of a blog is almost as important as its content.
I know this because I had the opportunity to experience it.
At the end of 2015 I had two main blogs on the same subject, therefore with the same type of content (they even went so far as to compete in Google). One had a very ugly design and not very worked out presentation (and it still is, this is the site asthune.com) and was turning in about 350 to 400 visitors per day. The other was a more recent blog, with a more refined design (it’s empocher.net), but it only had 100 to 150 visitors per day. These two blogs therefore offered the same content.
Asthune was refused by a number of affiliates . But these same affiliates generally accepted empochet.net which had 2 to 4 times less traffic than Asthune and similar content. The only element that played in favor of pocketing.net was its design which was a little more “pro”. So since then I try to devote more time to the design of my sites because obviously that can make the difference, and not only for the affiliates.
2- Create a YouTube channel
Developing an audience on YouTube is also a great way to be successful in making money with affiliate marketing. Personally, I am not present on YouTube, but I know that video is the content format that converts the best, when done well.
To promote affiliate links on YouTube you can add them directly to the video, it seems to me, as well as to the description.
I am not yet using this platform to generate income so I am not in a good position to give advice on the subject. But I feel like developing a YouTube channel is a bit like developing a blog in the end. Indeed, we must try to create quality content regularly, rely on natural referencing to obtain views, try to retain the traffic we get (by encouraging them to subscribe to the channel or to join us. on social networks), etc …
If you are interested in YouTube I think this book might interest you: YouTuber: Creating Videos and Millions of Views on YouTube , available on Amazon. I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve read the other two books by the same author and wasn’t disappointed so I think this one too should be filled with good advice.
And if you already have a YouTube channel, you can also take an interest in the Influence4Brands site which offers a large number of advertising campaigns.
3- Social networks
To earn money with the affiliation I occasionally use social networks. I mainly use my Facebook or Twitter pages. In general I get more results with Facebook, except maybe for a few topics.
The downside of Facebook or Twitter is that publications on these social networks have a very short “lifespan” . Only a few hours on average. Unlike YouTube videos and blog posts which can attract traffic for several weeks, months or even years.
It is for this reason that in order to earn money with affiliate I will tend to recommend starting a YouTube channel or starting a blog or directory. And to use social networks as a source of additional traffic and as a way to stay in touch with part of the audience.
But a simple Facebook post can also go viral and be seen by tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people. And if it contains a relevant affiliate link it can make money easily and quickly.
Another advantage. When you have a Facebook or Twitter page with a lot of subscribers you can also earn money by sharing sponsored posts .
Develop your number of subscribers as well as engagement
To try to earn money with a Facebook page for example, you must of course have subscribers. But the main difficulty is to ensure that the engagement rate of its subscribers is developed. Engagement is the number of “likes”, comments, shares, clicks… on publications. And it’s all these criteria that can make a post go viral.
There’s no point having an FB page with thousands of subscribers if 99% of them aren’t interested in posts. In addition, when the engagement rate is good (likes, comments, etc.) a post is seen by a greater number of people.
The second important criterion is the thematic . A Facebook page on a humorous subject will be easy to promote, but will be more difficult to monetize than a Facebook page on a more serious subject. And this is also valid for blogging, the development of a YouTube channel, etc …
Share affiliate links on Facebook and Twitter
It’s not always easy to share affiliate links on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Especially since on social networks criticism is easy there towards advertising. Here again we have to ask ourselves this question:
“What product / service would be likely to interest / help my audience? “
You have to try to promote relevant products and services. And don’t overdo it, trying to promote an affiliate link on every post is not a good solution. You have to vary the publications .
On Facebook pages, there is an option that allows you to write articles , like on a blog. We can therefore write an article with a nice formatting, illustrations, external links … We can even mention other Facebook pages to try to get additional shares. The advantage is that on Facebook we do not need to ask questions about natural referencing in Google. So we can afford to write short articles of 400 to 1000 words.
An article can help promote an affiliate link in a more relevant way, by integrating it into its content. We can thus transform advertising into information . Posting videos can also go a long way in promoting affiliate links.
A little tip too, in addition to promoting affiliate products or services, you can also promote job offers through sites like Myjob Company . According to the topic approached obviously. In this type of affiliation the commissions can go up to 1000 euros, so it can be more than interesting.
Earn money with affiliate… on Instagram?
So far I’m only talking about Facebook, and a little bit about Twitter. But there are other interesting networks, like Instagram for example. If you have an Instagram account with a lot of engaged subscribers you can earn money with the affiliation.
The problem is that you cannot put a link in the description of the photos that you publish on Instagram. So the solution to making a bit of affiliate is to put an affiliate link in the description of your profile. And clearly indicated in the description of the photos the location of the link. For example if you wear a T-Shirt in a photo and you want to recommend it to an affiliate, and in the description you can say: “If you want to get the same t-shirt as me, click on the link in my bio ” .
The downside is that each time you want to recommend another product / service, you have to modify your profile to change the affiliate link.
Again, affiliate is not the only way to earn money. For example, you can do your own advertising , or take an interest in product placements via platforms such as Influence4Brands or Reech .
4- Email marketing
Finally, to earn money with affiliation, you can also take an interest in email marketing. The objective is to develop a list of subscribers (a “mailing list” ), using a blog, a YouTube channel and other social networks. For example, you can use MailChimp to create, manage and send emails to your list of subscribers. This autoresponder, in English, is free up to a certain number of subscribers so ideal for getting started.
In general, to encourage Internet users to subscribe to their list of subscribers, bloggers and YouTubers offer something in return . Often they offer private content (such as a guide in PDF format for example), which Internet users automatically receive by email as soon as they register.
If you have a blog you can also boost your number of subscribers by displaying a registration form in a small popup (or other highlight formats) with HelloBar or OptinMonster.
We can then regularly send an email to subscribers to keep them coming back to our blog (and others), always give more information, maintain contact, create a commitment, etc … And of course we can also use this mailing list to promote affiliate links consistent with the theme .
Automate the sending of emails
A good strategy is to prepare a series of emails in advance that will be sent automatically to subscribers. This saves precious time. For example, we can prepare a series of ten information emails, containing tips, advice, tips, etc …
You can then plan to send your emails using an autoresponder. For example, we send the first email as soon as a new subscriber has registered, then the second 3 days later, then the third, etc …
And in some of the emails you can embed one or more affiliate links to products or services that may interest / help subscribers.
On the other hand, it requires an investment of at least ten euros per month I think. It seems to me that no autoresponder can automate the sending of emails for free. To implement this kind of strategy, you can use autoresponders such as MailChimp (in English), Aweber (in English) or SG Autoresponder.
Conclusion
This is where this article ends. Hope it helped you come up with some ideas for making money with affiliate.
I was not able to detail the different solutions as much as I wanted in this article. Otherwise it would have taken even longer. But I’ll come back to blogging, social media, emailing and YouTube in more detail in future articles.
Also, we have a premium make money online course. If you are Interested then you can enroll.
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