How to make money with affiliate marketing

Today’s post will be a little different than usual: in fact, it is not a tutorial. Rather, we will talk about how to make money online with affiliate marketing.

Recently, I happened to read a very interesting affiliation report and I decided to bring back the highlights. The report focuses mainly on the US but includes data on 21 countries.

So if you are thinking of creating a website and are wondering in what ways you can make money online, seriously consider the idea of ​​creating a blog with content aimed at making you generate this type of passive income.

So if you are thinking of starting a website and wondering in what ways you can make money online, seriously consider the idea of ​​starting a blog with content aimed at making you generate this type of passive income.

Let’s see now how to make money with affiliate marketing

Affiliations are one of the passive income strategies favored by marketers as I also explain in my guide on how to make money with a blog.

In fact, they allow you to earn often generous commissions (up to 70% of the amount paid by the customer in the case of digital products), with relatively little work.

Indeed, if the recommended products are of quality and the affiliate links placed in a valid context (that is, within a blog or site where the user finds really useful information), they allow you to earn money even while you sleep.

This does not mean, however, that making money with affiliate marketing is easy, quite the contrary. Among the various ways to make money online, it is one of the slowest to get going, even if it is one of the easiest to implement.

In fact, you will have to:

• be able to generate a good volume of traffic. Probably, only a small percentage of visits to your site will result in real conversions;
• provide useful and comprehensive information to your readers, so as to be credible;
• finally, being able to select products/services to promote that are similar to the interests of your readers and that have a fair price.

As you can see, there are several variables at play. To find some interesting ideas, let’s analyze the salient points of the AddStat report. We will find out who the “typical affiliate” is, how they promote their site, how much they earn, and more.

A quick presentation of the “typical affiliate”

I state that the AffStat report summarizes the responses of the affiliates of 21 countries who responded to the survey. It is therefore a small number compared to those who use this earning strategy globally. I think reading this data is important for those aspiring to make money with affiliate marketing, if only because they reflect current trends.

• The percentage of male affiliates is higher than that of women (54.23% against 42.97%). The difference has been significantly reduced compared to 2014 when there was talk of a gap of over 30 percentage points.
  
• Most affiliates are between 25 and 44 years old (specifically, 27.558% between 25 and 34, 31.86% between 35 and 44).
  
• Affiliates between the ages of 45 and 54 also increased, representing 22.41% of respondents in 2016.

How to attract traffic to the site

As I have already mentioned in the introduction, having a good volume of traffic is always important to generate sales and, therefore, commissions.

There are several ways to attract users to the site, let’s see those favored by the affiliates who participated in the study:

• 69.22% SEO – that is, search engine optimization and organic traffic. This is a very high percentage from which we understand how important positioning on Google is. If you have never done it, I recommend that you start using SEO for your site or blog.
  
• 67.32% Social Network – It is now known that to have a valid online presence, it is essential to be present on the social networks used by our potential users. The weight of social media has grown compared to 2014, surpassing blogging in importance. Both your shares and those of those who read your blog are effectively free advertising. It is therefore important to optimize your WordPress site with social media.
  
• 64.48% Blogging – Blogging takes time, but it can transform users from casual visitors to loyal readers. Writing regularly helps to increase your credibility and, if the posts are optimized, also to greatly improve the ranking of your site on Google. Not surprisingly, more than half of the affiliates who participated in the study have a blog.

These three main strategies are followed by Email Marketing (41.47%), Pay-per-Click, that is, AdSense advertising & co. (34.28%), word of mouth (22.16%) and others.

Content marketing and Comment marketing

It is interesting to note how Content marketing is taking over as regards online promotion strategies: the focus is on informative content, optimized for search engines, and shared on social networks and via newsletters.

Comment marketing only attracts 3.17% of the traffic. This is an activity practiced by less business than a few years ago. There is less talk about it, but it represents an interesting opportunity, precisely because fewer people do it.

What do affiliates promote who make really good money online?

Another interesting aspect.

By now, most of the companies that sell online also offer an affiliate program.

However, it is important not to be tempted by all the earning possibilities. Rather, select what you promote carefully. Too much advertising usually annoys users.

First of all, it is important to note that as much as 59.32% of the affiliates interviewed promote B2C products, that is, physical products aimed at consumers (22.08% instead promote services, always B2C); this is a growing category compared to two years ago.

Fewer is the number of affiliates who instead promote products and/or services aimed at companies, which represent 18.6% of the total.

If you want to make money with affiliate marketing, remember that the 5 most promoted product categories are:

• computers and electronics: 41.04%;
• clothing: 39.84%;
• online services: 29.88%;
• accessories: 29.48%;
• beauty products: 27.89%.

The predominant factor in choosing the product or service to promote is the relevance to its website and the interests of users (18.15% of interested parties chose this answer).

This last aspect is very interesting. Affiliates want to participate in initiatives that are credible, with a good reputation, and which are likely not to cause problems for them or for users. However, they are looking for a platform on which it is possible to measure results and have a reliable infrastructure.

They also want to learn how to improve: when the affiliation relationship is not granted to them, they contact the program manager to understand the reasons for the refusal and how to solve the problem.

If you want to create an affiliate program to promote your business, keep this in mind. Make sure your network and managers are professional and it will be easier to attract affiliates.

Quality prevails over quantity

42.17% of study participants participate in 1-10 affiliate programs. The percentage drops as the number of affiliation relationships increases. Let’s go back to the point above: if you want to make money online with affiliations, you prefer quality programs, products, and services, rather than quantity.

Also, keep in mind that having so many plans doesn’t allow you to focus your efforts and can become difficult to manage.

Don’t underestimate affiliate support

As I’ve already mentioned, implementing an affiliate marketing strategy can be more complex than it sounds. It is not enough to add a banner to the page and forget about it … that is the final goal!

In this context, the support of those who offer the affiliate program is very important:

• as many as 49.58% of respondents said that they support of an affiliate manager (the person who runs the affiliate program) is important.
  
• 32.26% said it is crucial to their business.

The lessons to be learned from this data are:

• if you are an affiliate, get in touch with your affiliate manager and ask for advice on how to improve your campaigns. Probably, you will receive useful tips.
  
• if you offer an affiliate program, be sure to offer support to your affiliates and keep in touch via email.

All these efforts… but how much can you earn online with affiliations?

Profits vary widely, but as many as 9.55% of study participants earn more than $ 100,000. Of these, 3.16% more than 150 thousand. Obviously, this isn’t the norm (48.36% earn less than $ 20,000), but it’s certainly a good indication of the potential of this strategy.