Everyday, more people are buying products and services over the internet and affiliate marketing provides an easy way to start an online business that gives you access to these online sales transactions.
To understand affiliate marketing in simple terms, you need to start with the ABC of affiliate marketing.
A is for Affiliate
Many business provide affiliate programs for their products and services.You sign up to become an affiliate for a product or service. You’re called an affiliate as you are selling their products but you are not part of their business. As an affiliate you can sell physical products that have to be shipped, or digital products that can be downloaded instantly after purchase. You then promote that product and when you make a sale, you get a commission.
Take your time in choosing products to sell as an affiliate. Remember that you only get paid when you make a sale. If you try and sell any old rubbish you won’t make any sales and it will be a waste of time.
B is for Businesses
There are many affiliate networks and businesses to work with as an affiliate. Amazon became the world’s most successful online retailer by using the affiliate marketing model. You can sign-up to become an Amazon affiliate and sell anything that is on the Amazon website.
ClickBank is one of the most popular digital retailers that sells virtual, information products. These are items that a customer can download immediately after purchase. There are many affiliates who make quite a good living promoting just ClickBank products.
C is for Commissions
Amazon starts you off with a 4% commission rate, which gets larger when you sell more products. On ClickBank you can earn commissions of 25%, 50% and even 75%. There are other affiliate marketing programs which offer a wide variety of commissions, products and services, so you need to review more than one to see which is the perfect fit for you.
When you start affiliate marketing don’t get too obsessed with earning commissions from day one. It takes time to build a base of prospects and customers who want to buy from you.
It’s not one long sales pitch. Think of it as ‘telling’ rather than ‘selling’. Your job is help people find the products or information that they are looking for. The key to making reliable, consistent money as an affiliate is to find a product that is in high demand, pays a good commission to you, and is backed by a company that takes care of their customers.